Business finance is a complex entity, whether you are a large corporation or a Mom and Pop small business, and at TransForm, a non-profit shared service organization which evolved from providing services to hospitals in the region, can be even more challenging.
TransForm’s Finance department provides many services not only to hospitals, but also to TransForm itself. Paul Earle, Finance Analyst and the person responsible for the many tasks involved with payroll, has the day-to-day workings of his role down to a science.
In his 15 years at TransForm, Earle has seen numerous changes, including the evolution of PROcure and CHIS into TransForm 10 years ago. He is one of the few employees still at TransForm who worked at all three iterations of the organization. Today, his position is a hybrid one, with him at the Richmond Street office Tuesday and Wednesday and at home Monday, Thursday and Friday.
On an office day, Earle logs in at home first and then heads to work for an 8:30 a.m. start, keeping his coffee within easy reach on his tidy desk. Looking around his office, it is readily apparent Earle is organized and uses calendars and other tools to keep track of his daily and monthly tasks.
Payroll is one of his main responsibilities, ensuring staff have submitted their hours in the TransTracker program and managers have approved the submissions for the preceding week.
“Payroll operates on a two-week cycle, Week 1 and Week 2. So, on a Monday morning, I review the prior weeks’ TransTracker entries that have already been approved and signed off by management,” Earle explained. “I will look at the reports, see if there are any discrepancies in the coding, and then I start entering that into the payroll system.”
When it comes to year-end for payroll, it is different than the financial year end. Finance runs on the fiscal year from April 1 – March 31, while payroll runs on the calendar year from January 1 to December 31. For Earle, January to March is his year end when things get busy, doing reconciliations for government payroll remittances such as income tax, CPP and EI, Employer Health Tax and WSIB. In January, he said it’s a six-week process to prepare T4s for staff for income tax purposes.
Keeping up with strict deadlines for government remittances is an important part of his job and in his 15 years at TransForm, he has never missed a deadline or incurred a penalty, which he noted can be very steep and isn’t something he wants to happen on his watch.
Processing pay isn’t the only part of his day. Earle said there are other tasks related to payroll he takes care of, such as benefit payments for staff or social committee and United Way donations made each pay period.
“Benefits are a key part of my job. I get the information on billings from Human Resources (HR), review them and remit them for payment. After pays are processed, I go back over each individual employee record and make sure that the benefits Green Shield or Desjardins are charging, that the applicable rates for that employee are being picked up correctly, so it’s basically reconciling the benefits on the off days,” Earle explained.
When he’s not concentrating on processing pay, he noted a lot of his time is spent reconciling information for about 178 plus TransForm employees, a number that fluctuates constantly.
Staying organized and knowing what needs to be done and when is a large part of Earle’s daily process and how he successfully stays on track and error free.
“You set a schedule for yourself and you know what needs to be done,” he noted. “The hybrid model here, I don’t mind it. It does give you a break because when you work from home you don’t see anybody; it was just me and my dog during the pandemic. Coming into the office, you see your colleagues and have that collaboration face-to-face so it’s a good mix. It works for me.”
For some people, finance isn’t what would be considered a “fun” job, but for Earle, it is a job he likes, he is good at, and he finds satisfaction doing.
“I always use the analogy that payroll is like a picket fence – payroll is in the middle and on one side is HR and on the other side is finance. I work with both departments. HR feeds me the information I need from employees and I take it and put it in the system, and that information feeds the finance side,” he mused. “Yes, payroll is day-to-day and it can be repetitive, but it’s never a dull moment because I’m always looking at what can we do for improvements, keeping up on the latest Ontario and federal legislation and seeing how it’s going to affect our payroll.”
Issues such as minimum wage increases, changes to statutory holidays and the Employment Standards Act are all items Earle has to stay on top off to make sure TransForm is always in compliance with current laws.
As a member of the National Payroll Institute, Earle said he is always reading articles to keep up with what is required for accreditation from that overseeing body, and acknowledges it is an excellent resource for information and advice.
Another part of his duties includes dealing with Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) for employees who enroll during onboarding. He remits HOOPP payments and determines how much is employer and employee based on a monthly basis, and when employees leave the organization, he is responsible for terminating their HOOPP so they can decide to cash it in or transfer to a new employer with a reciprocal agreement with pension plans like the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System (OMERS).
Onboarding, terminations, anniversary and pay grid increases, WSIB claims and employee leaves of absence are other duties he has to stay on top of on a daily basis.
“A lot of people think that for me, I just key in their time, hit the button and that’s it, but there are a lot of background tasks that keep me busy,” he added.
Over the years, he noted that technology has changed a great deal but, interestingly enough, changes in payroll have not.
“I’m still on the same application I started with 15 years ago. We’ve always worked with MediSolutions and I have a great rapport with them,” Earle noted.
One important part of Earle’s day he said it’s important to note is that he always wants staff to feel like he is available to them for any questions, whether via email or over a Teams call. Once new employees are onboarded, he makes a point to welcome them to TransForm and introduce them to TransTracker and provide his contact information in case of any questions.
It might not be a job that people find exciting, but Earle takes a great deal of pride in looking after employees, ensuring they get paid properly and on time and being available to help with any questions. A day in the life of finance is more complex than most of us realize, but from his perspective, nearly every day is an interesting one.
