View Vacancy - MNL - Regional Pay and Benefits Manager, B3 (L)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Operations and Corporate Services)
HR

The British Embassy Manila is a large diplomatic mission (around 250 staff) delivering a dynamic and rapidly expanding programme of activity in support of the UK’s objectives on prosperity, security and consular matters. The Embassy is a modern, diverse and inclusive employer where everyone contributes to the Embassy’s CORE Values of Collaboration, Opportunity, Respect and Excellence. 

Main purpose of job:

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has a Regional Finance, Human Resources and Procurement hub based in Manila, overseeing 34 High Commissions, British Embassies and Consulates in 20 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

The HR hub is an integral part of the global HR team serving staff working in the overseas network for the UK Government. The role of Regional HR Hub is to provide key HR services (recruitment, pay and benefits, talent and performance management, HR enquiries, employee relations and learning & development through regional teams) to customers in the region and to provide a strategic and professional HR capability to support Regional Senior Leaders in delivery of business objectives.

The Payroll Manager will take oversight of payroll delivery for locally employed staff working at British Embassies, High Commissions and other HM government departments in the Asia Pacific region. These services will be tendered from the Regional HR Hub in Manila within the Pay and Benefits team. This role will report to the Regional Deputy Head of HR Hub Pay & Benefits.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

Payroll and Operations Management (60%)

  • Manage Payroll Officers by monitoring performance, providing guidance, coaching, and timely feedback.
  • Ensure proper distribution of work load and resilience within the Payroll team.
  • Ensure accurate and timely fulfilment of payroll for all hubbed-in Posts.
  • Ensure the team is updated on any upgrades or changes in the payroll software. Arrange/request for software training with the provider if necessary.
  • As the super-user of the payroll software, this role is expected to ensure that specific payroll modules are accurately working and changes are timely implemented.
  • Raise technical issues to the payroll software provider as needed.
  • Responsible for the successful delivery of agreed SLAs/KPIs in payroll for hubbed-in Posts in Asia Pacific.
  • Review new engagements, social security & benefits, allowances, overtime, final payments in alignment with HR policies such as Terms and Conditions of Service and Local Labour Law provisions as advised by Post and Regional HR Advisors.
  • Create payroll calendars by incorporating HR Hub and Post holidays and Global Transaction Processing Centre (GTPC) timelines.
  • Ensure clear communication and coordination with Posts and GTPC on the payroll cut-off dates.
  • Conduct quality checks for the payroll processed by the Payroll Officers through completion of monthly variance report per Post, check accuracy of calculations and that all files are secured with passwords.
  • Maintain data confidentiality for all payroll-related matters. This includes actively managing Payroll folders on the SharePoint site, payroll mailbox and payroll folders.
  • Lead the team in safeguarding payroll information. Ensure that the team adheres with data privacy policies and handling of sensitive information.
  • Provide expert payroll advice and make recommendations on process improvements.
  • Resolve payroll-related issues by coordinating with Post and Global Transactional Processing Centre team.
  • Troubleshoot payroll related issues and respond to payroll related enquiries.
  • Transition remaining payrolls that are processed at Post in the HR Hub.
  • Create incident reports for missed SLAs and/or escalations as necessary.
  • Ensure that Business Continuity Plan for payroll is up to date.
  • Engage, motivate and develop payroll team to effectively deliver payroll including driving strong customer service.

Reporting of Management Information (20%)

  • Provide accurate data for Monthly Post Reports, quarterly HR Dashboards and standardised reports to provide meaningful information to stakeholders.
  • Provide accurate salary information for pay reviews, pay scale creation and annual data collection exercise.
  • Assist in providing analysis during annual data collection exercise.
  • Process and present payroll Management Information on an agreed and ad hoc basis.
  • Produce and process regular and ad hoc payroll reports.
  • Ensure that process documentation is updated and maintain process flow for payroll.

Stakeholder Engagement (20%)

  • Attend regular catch up calls with Posts and provide updates on Pay & Benefits.
  • Work closely with Corporate Services Managers to ensure that issues are addressed in a timely manner.
  • Deliver presentations to the network and stakeholders about Payroll.
  • Represent the HR Hub during Post visits.
  • Engage with Pay and Benefits leads in other geographical directorates on practices allowing for global standardisation where appropriate.
  • Provide feedback and input into Local Staff Pay Policy with particular reference to Pay Reviews and Payroll practices.
  • Maintain strong customer engagement to ensure proper delivery of services and providing guidance to avoid errors.
  • Maintain open dialogue and good working relationships across different teams in service delivery.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure): Line Manager for 3x A2 (L) Regional Payroll Officers

  • 3-5 years’ experience relevant payroll experience with some supervisory oversight
  • Experience in operating customised payroll software.
  • Experience in handling and managing Asia Pacific payrolls.
  • Proficient in all MS Office applications and advanced knowledge in MS Excel.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills as well as organizational skills.
  • Good interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work with people at all levels in a fast-paced environment.
  • Ability to handle confidential employee issues/information and interact with employees in a professional and sensitive manner at all times.
  • Must be able to work with less supervision and has strong commitment and accountability.
  • High detail-orientation, organisation and prioritisation skills.
  • Self-motivated, results driven and customer service oriented.
  • Experience in project management such as payroll due diligence and payroll process cut-over.
13 November 2020
Executive Officer (EO)
Full-time, Permanent
36
Asia Pacific
Philippines
Manila
British Embassy
1
PHP
52,500
14 December 2020

The British Embassy offers a competitive compensation package, 36-hour work week, guaranteed 13th and 14th month pay, 20 days paid annual leave (calculated on Pro-rata basis if joined after 1 January), extensive medical insurance, life insurance and access to a guaranteed 5 days of learning opportunities a year. 

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have work authorisation for the Philippines in order to apply.

Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment checks. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Manila is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Philippine employment law.

Candidates are expected to have a valid NBI Clearance.

All applications must be received before 23:55 local time at the specified application deadline.

Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above. 

The indicated start date is provisional and would depend on completion of necessary pre-employment and security checks.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.