How To Become A Payroll Representative: What It Is and Career Path

What is a payroll representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a payroll representative, you'll perform one of the key roles for any organization. Your main responsibility will be to ensure that everyone gets the pay they deserve. Payroll representatives can perform a range of functions, depending on the size and structure of the company. Generally speaking, these representatives are in charge of answering employee inquiries about salaries and benefits, preparing and processing requests, and resolving issues and concerns.

Other tasks that payroll representatives may perform include tracking employee work hours, processing payroll tax returns including year-end w-2's, updating payroll records by entering changes in exemptions, insurance coverage, savings deductions, and resolving payroll discrepancies by collecting and analyzing employee information.

To perform this job well, payroll representatives must be detail-oriented individuals with superb data entry skills. They must also excel at analyzing information. They must also respect employee confidentiality. Many employers look for payroll clerks with at least an Associate's degree or certificate in bookkeeping or payroll administration. Certification is available through the American Payroll Association (APA).

ScorePayroll RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $45,054

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.52%

Asian 6.10%

Black or African American 9.48%

Hispanic or Latino 18.79%

Unknown 6.08%

White 58.02%

Gender

female 80.47%

male 19.53%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a payroll representative

Explore payroll representative education requirements

Most common payroll representative degrees

Bachelor's

49.9 %

Associate

29.8 %

High School Diploma

8.8 %

Start to develop specific payroll representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Entry	7.48%
Payroll Data	7.17%
Payroll System	6.39%
Human Resources	6.11%
Kronos	4.42%

Complete relevant payroll representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New payroll representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a payroll representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real payroll representative resumes.

Research payroll representative duties and responsibilities

Initial set up of associates and day to day processes within Kronos
Field and answer employee payroll questions, assisting staff with determining quota balances, union contract terms, and proper timekeeping.
Prepare tax reports and reconciliations.
Provide individual assistance with timekeeping system as needed.

Prepare your payroll representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your payroll representative resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a payroll representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable payroll representative resume templates

Build a professional payroll representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your payroll representative resume.