10 Engaging Ideas to Involve Your Team in National Payroll Week

National Payroll Week is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the unsung heroes of your company—the payroll team!

Whether you want to celebrate your in-house payroll team or draw attention to payroll as a topic through your outsourced payroll provider there’s many creative ways to get involved.

When is National Payroll Week 2024?

National Payroll Week 2024 is 2nd to 6th September and lasts all week

Why get involved in National Payroll Week?

This is a great way to raise awareness of the important role payroll plays in other areas of the business including employee retention through timely payments and employee benefits. Payroll and HR teams often work together on initiatives such as pay equity through gender pay gap reporting and senior management can use this data for hiring strategies.

Here’s our infamous payroll iceberg drawing attention to many of the hidden payroll tasks teams deal with.

How to make the most of National Payroll Week

To make this week especially memorable for your team, we’ve curated a list of engaging activities that will not only boost team spirit but also enhance your company’s culture too. Here are ten creative ideas to involve your team in National Payroll Week.

1. Payroll Karaoke

Kick off National Payroll Week with a fun-filled Payroll Karaoke session! It’s a personal favourite of ours:

Set up a stage in the office or organise a virtual karaoke event where team members and your customers can belt out their favourite tunes. Create a special playlist with songs related to money and work, including classics such as “Money, Money, Money” by ABBA or “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer. This activity is sure to break the ice and get everyone in a great mood to celebrate payroll.

2. Share Payroll Fun Facts

Educate and entertain your team by sharing interesting payroll fun facts throughout the week. Did you know that the first recorded payroll dates back to 3000 B.C. in ancient Egypt? Post these facts on your company’s social media channels or send them out to the teams in engaging daily emails to keep the knowledge flowing and the conversation going.

Here’s some payroll fun facts to get you started

3. Host a Payroll Quiz

Test your team’s knowledge with a payroll quiz. Our Debbie is a natural at this! Create a mix of questions ranging from general payroll knowledge to specific facts about your company’s payroll processes. Offer prizes for the top scorers to add a competitive edge. This not only makes for a fun activity but also helps your team brush up on important payroll information such as new payroll legislation and facts around statutory pay. Need ideas? Just give me a shout.

4. Engage in Social Media Competitions

Encourage your team to participate in social media competitions related to National Payroll Week. Look out for contests hosted by professional payroll organisations such as CIPD and get your team involved. Share your participation on your company’s social media pages to boost engagement and showcase your team’s personality!

Here’s an example of our competition entry for the Payroll Movie Tagline during National Payroll Week last year!

To Payroll and Beyond

You can also use puns around movies, songs and other popular culture references to keep things light on your own social media channels

5. Share Themed Gifts with Clients

Show appreciation to your clients by sharing thoughtful gifts during National Payroll Week. Consider sending branded merchandise, gourmet treats, or personalized thank-you notes. This gesture will not only strengthen your client relationships but also highlight the importance of payroll professionals in ensuring smooth business operations, an often-overlooked side of the business.

6. Organize a Themed Dress-Up Day

Add some fun to the workweek by organizing a themed dress-up day. Encourage your team to come to work dressed as their favourite finance-related characters or in payroll-themed costumes. This light-hearted activity helps strengthen team relationships and extra opportunities to share payroll stories.

Are your team hybrid working? Celebrate dress up at a pivotal point in the day online or perhaps team it with your payroll quiz. And of course you need a prize for best dressed employee!

7. Host a Lunch and Learn

Arrange a Lunch and Learn session where an expert can speak about the latest trends and best practices in payroll management. You may even want to pair this with coaching on topics on everything from wellbeing sessions (tying in the burnout payroll teams often experience during busy periods or managing difficult conversations.

Provide lunch for your team, perhaps with some payroll themed treats such as cupcakes and use this time to foster learning and team development. This is a great way to show appreciation for your payroll team’s hard work and dedication.

8. Create a Payroll Hall of Fame

Celebrate the achievements of your payroll team by creating a Payroll Hall of Fame. Highlight the contributions of team members with photos and stories about their exceptional work or showcase your outsourced payroll team. Display this in a prominent area of the office or share it digitally if your team is remote. Recognising their efforts will boost morale and inspire others. Maybe you’ll expand this into days to celebrate other departments too such as HR, in-house recruitment or people development teams too!

9. Plan a Team Building Activity

Use National Payroll Week as an opportunity to organise a team-building activity. Whether it’s a fun outing, a collaborative project, or a virtual escape room (payroll themed perhaps or even attend a VR one!) these activities help build stronger relationships and improve teamwork. Choose an activity that aligns with your team’s interests and more sure to keep things inclusive.

10. Reflect and Appreciate

End the week with a reflective session where team members can share their experiences and express their appreciation for each other’s contributions. Maybe come up with ideas for National Payroll Week 2025 whilst it’s top of mind!

This can be done in a casual meeting or through an online platform where everyone can participate. Recognising each other’s efforts will reinforce a positive work environment and close the week on a high note. It’ll also help people feel involved in the payroll function of your business.

National Payroll Week is more than just a celebration; it’s a chance to bring your team together, educate them, and have some fun. By implementing these ideas, you can create a memorable and engaging week that honours the hard work of your payroll professionals.

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💙 Need a payroll team to celebrate with? 💙

Ok, National Payroll Week might not be a reason to partner with an outsourced payroll provider just for the understandable karaoke opportunity…but it is a great time to assess if you have the right payroll support. What’s more the summer can be a great time to bring a payroll provider on board whilst other tasks become less burdensome.

Enjoy the sun and leave the payroll admin to us!

Get a payroll quote from our responsive team today

Last Updated on 6 months by Hannah Ingram