A payroll associate is an individual who is responsible for managing employee and staff payrolls, timesheets, as well as entering payroll and salary documentation. These individuals calculate employee federal, state, and social security taxes, as well as the employer's social security, unemployment, and workers compensation benefits. They also update payroll records and manage exemptions, insurance coverage, and retirement deductions.
Payroll associates typically work in an office environment during a typical workweek and often report to the accounting department of a company. They work to prepare reports by compiling summaries of employee earnings, taxes, deductions, vacation, and disability. The payroll associate must ensure that employees are paid on time and accurately and should possess excellent organizational, math, accounting, computer, and communication skills.
In addition to maintaining and processing payroll information, payroll clerks also must be adept at using computers and spreadsheets and should have a basic understanding of bank transfers and financials as well. Most payroll clerks may have an equivalent of a High School diploma or an advanced degree, but these may not be necessary provided the individual has comparable skills and knowledge for the job. Depending on the company or organization, many payroll clerks can expect to make up to $44,000 per year in the US.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a payroll associate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.17 an hour? That's $39,882 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 72,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many payroll associates have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, math skills and organizational skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a payroll associate, we found that a lot of resumes listed 34.0% of payroll associates included payroll, while 10.0% of resumes included customer service, and 7.3% of resumes included adp. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the payroll associate job title. But what industry to start with? Most payroll associates actually find jobs in the retail and professional industries.
If you're interested in becoming a payroll associate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.7% of payroll associates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.6% of payroll associates have master's degrees. Even though most payroll associates have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a payroll associate. When we researched the most common majors for a payroll associate, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on payroll associate resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a payroll associate. In fact, many payroll associate jobs require experience in a role such as payroll administrator. Meanwhile, many payroll associates also have previous career experience in roles such as payroll specialist or administrative assistant.