As we celebrate National Payroll Week, we’re highlighting the work of the Central Payroll Operations Team which ensure that all employees are paid accurately and on time every pay period. 

Central Payroll Operations works hard to ensure paychecks are received in a timely, smooth manner, with no hiccups or inconveniences to employees. The team also handles payroll taxes and provides employees with annual W-2 forms. 

“Payroll seems like it would be really simple: department timekeepers report time and time off, Human Resources reports changes to positions or pay rates and employees magically get a paycheck or direct deposit,” said Pam Bell, Payroll Operations Supervisor. “But the truth of the matter is something is always changing, like state laws, union contracts, or federal laws. Honestly, there’s never a dull moment.” 

Pam joined King County in 2004 and has been in her current role since then, including the team’s transition to the Department of Human Resources from the Department of Executive Services on Jan. 1, 2021. 

The team and the payroll community across the County have a rigid production schedule they follow to meet payroll deadlines, and to do so means regularly adapting to constant changes. This includes potential changes in multiple County systems (such as Oracle and PeopleSoft), adjusting to support employee needs, and relying on current, up-to-the-minute information from timekeepers and departments. Doing this work efficiently and quickly means utilizing Lean methods and implementing continuous improvement methods. 

“We always try to do things as streamlined as possible to get work done, but success really depends on our ability to work with others, like the Business Resource Center (BRC),” Pam said. “If there is a new law or regulation, for example a new medical leave type, then we have to work with our business partners and the BRC to make sure it can get done for employees.” 

“We are always looking for continuous improvement as we have a short period for turn-around time to ensure pay is delivered to employees every two weeks, so we have to be quick,” she adds. 

The team works to be agile and nimble so new codes can be implemented and tested for things like extended family medical leave, COVID-19 leave, emergency leave bank, identifying wage types, and filing payroll taxes for the County.  

“To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone being successful in this group of professionals if they weren’t agile or able to make quick decisions,” Pam said. “You can’t say ‘Oh I’ll do that tomorrow or next week’ because things have to be done within the next hour. To be happy in this work, you have to be very present in what you are doing all the time.” 

Pam credits her team and the focus they bring to their work for being continuously successful in providing employees an essential service. 

“We also deal with the output from payroll, meaning everything you see on your paycheck, every deduction you see, our section, the Benefits, Payroll, and Retirement team does,” she said. “Our work is essential, but ‘behind the scene.’ and we work closely with the department payroll and HR representatives.” 

If employees have payroll issues, they speak with their department payroll representative to review the data that was submitted by the department for her team to process.  Once all the data has been received from all those processing payroll across the county, her team ensures taxes and deductions are applied and payments from all payroll deductions are made to federal and state agencies, unions, and vendors are made timely. 

Pam and the Central Payroll Operations Team take great pride in their work, for the value it brings each employee, and for the role it plays in King County as a community leader. They view their mission is to support everyone across the county who plays a part in processing payroll, and there are close to two hundred people outside of the central team who do this work.  

“We pay everybody across the County. It doesn’t matter where you work, what you do, or who you are, our mission is to make sure that you have a paycheck on payday and that it’s right,” Pam said. “Besides being a team who is comprised of people who are very good at what they do and enjoy working with the payroll community across the County, we enjoy working in the public sector and are grateful that employees can count on us because they bring such value and service to all of King County.” 

“During National Payroll Week, remember to thank your department or agency timekeeper for their continued work for the important work they do, every day, to ensure that you are paid each payday. We, in Central Payroll, are grateful that we work with such a caring and hard-working a payroll community.”