Mercer Advisors hiring Manager, Payroll in United States | LinkedIn (2024)

Why Work at Mercer Advisors?For nearly 40 years, Mercer Advisors has worked with families to help them amplify and simplify their financial lives. How? By integrating expertise in financial planning, investment management, tax, estate, insurance, and more, all managed by a single team. Today we proudly serve over 31,200 families in more than 90 cities across the U.S. We are an independent, national fiduciary committed to always working in our clients’ best interests.

Mercer Advisors offers a distinct work environment that we believe stands out in the financial industry. Our overall employee base and client-facing team are composed of 50% women, reflecting our commitment to diversity. We attract top talent from across the country, with no formal headquarters and flexible working arrangements, allowing us to assemble the best team possible.

Join us and be a part of a team dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the financial lives of families across the country.

Job Summary: The Manager, Payroll is a hands-on management role for a critical business function within the Human Resources team. The Manager, Payroll role is responsible for processing payroll, managing timely tax filings, year-end processing and managing the day-to-day technology system (UKG Pro/Ready) in a fast-paced and growing organization. A service mindset combined with a pro-active approach to projects, tasks and excellent service to the employees is a must.

This position is responsible for managing, overseeing, and processing full-cycle, multi-state payrolls for one FEIN, with the possibility of additional FEINs with company growth, with exempt and non-exempt employees on a semi-monthly basis. Will be responsible for managing and auditing the associated federal, state, and local tax filings plus understanding and driving the success of UKG Pro/Ready for payroll, benefit enrollments, and reporting. The role is responsible for in-depth understanding of the UKG Pro/Ready technology which consists of the payroll module and 360-demographic and benefit vendor file feeds which the payroll area is responsible for auditing to and pro-actively troubleshooting. This role is responsible for managing payroll including earning and deductions audits for accuracy with the dedicated third-party vendor to ensure the system is operating at optimal efficiency in all processes.

The Manager, Payroll will supervise payroll professionals who work within the HR team to resolve pay questions and issues proactively and most importantly with a sense of urgency to ensure the company is compliant with applicable federal, state, and local pay laws and minimum wage standards. Further responsibilities include providing for accurate and timely responses to the explanation of the timekeeping system, pay stubs, pay calculations (earnings and deduction understanding) with a compliance to company policies and interpretation, and positively focused behaviors around problem resolution and solutions. The position reports to the Sr. Director, HR Operations and works collaboratively within a broader HR Team and Accounting/Finance professionals as individual and team contributor.

Essential Job Functions will include:

• Administering, interpreting, and understanding all company policies, programs, and practices to assist all employees and managers in implementing payroll best practices for semi-monthly payroll. This includes understanding benefit plan structure and set-up in the payroll module and providing per pay period audits of all earnings and deductions for accurate pay.
• Possessing a full understanding of foundational tactical payroll compliance tasks, including FLSA, state, local labor and employment practices of a multi-state company.
• Providing best practice solutions to educating all employees including understanding on the “why” tasks must be completed by deadlines in an educational manner. Consistently looking for process improvement and training opportunities for all employees and managers.
• Educating and partnering with HR and Accounting team members on existing and new payroll practices and/or processes that may affect other areas of the organization to minimize risk and impact to company and/or employees.
• Contributing and vetting communication plans when implementing best practices with the ever-evolving labor laws, minimum wage updates, mandatory paid state leave programs, and local law taxing impacts to employees.
• Ensuring self-education and research to stay abreast of federal, state and local changes to laws as they occur via payroll association website, third party vendor continuous training university, and other payroll and HR resources.
• Understanding the tax implications of all benefit plans for education to employees, including the implications of adding new earnings codes and the broader impact to benefit calculations (i.e., Annual Benefits Base Rate (ABBR)) for total compensation calculations for benefit compliance.
• Compliant for payment of all compensation due to employee (missed hours, bonuses) within required state and local guidelines.
• Understanding of UKG Pro and Cognos/BI for reporting development, dashboard implementation for people analytics.
• Manage a team of professionals with day-to-day tasks and strategic projects to continue to develop UKG into a confident source of record for the company.
• Developing the annual payroll calendar timekeeping deadlines, timekeeping practices, responsibilities and the impact of proper pay and correction to pay to employees and managers effectively in simple terms while maintaining integrity.
• Educate new employees and managers on timekeeping best practices and importance of time approval and correction with a helpful and educational manner.
• Benefits reconciliation based on per pay period reporting to assist in accurate billing expense to the company. Work collaboratively with Benefits Team on problem resolution on file feeds, funding, and more.
• Oversee the verification of employment for mortgage and employment matters. Provide recommendations on streamlining and/or automating this process.
• Respond to report requests for various payroll, finance, HR and general business needs as required.
• Liaison with Newport Group on 401k Retirement Plan – portal administration, working with employees on contributions, loan set-up and payoff, etc.
• Other duties as required.

Competencies:

• Solutions Oriented – embrace new concepts, ideas, and challenges openly with a mindset of resolution evaluating risk.
• Critical evaluation – interprets information to make business decisions and recommendations.
• Self-Motivated – continually seeks to understand and educate on payroll and HR best practices and business operation’s needs.
• Service Mindset – manages interactions to provide a positive service to tasks, interactions, and situations for a great customer experience for the employee.
• Ethical Practice – the ability to support and uphold the values of the organization while mitigating risk.
• Communication – participates in effective exchanges with stakeholders (executives, managers, employees, and within the HR and Accounting teams) in a positive, helpful, and professional manner.

Education and Skills:

• College degree preferred, extensive hands-on payroll and HR systems management experience will be considered in lieu of degree.
• Multi-state payroll a requirement, deep understanding of state specific employment pay laws.
• Certification designation of Certification Payroll Professional (CPP) and/or SHRM certifications a plus.

Experience:

• 5 - 10 years of multi-state payroll experience required; in-house payroll experience a must.
• 5 -10 years of extensive knowledge and experience with HR Systems development, understanding and ownership.
• UKG Pro experience required; UKG Ready for timekeeping is helpful; other system experience with an adept learning ability to find efficiencies with embracing system functionality.
• Prior management experience with a lens of development, encouragement while standardizing processes.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00AM – 5:00PM, extended hours for payroll processing.

Working Conditions: Working inside, siting, standing. Will be assigned to a workstation. Remote position with flexibility for team meetings and conference trainings.

Benefits:Mercer Advisors offers a competitive and robust benefit package to our employees. Our benefit programs are focused on meeting all of our employees and their eligible dependents health and welfare needs. We offer the following:

• Company Paid Basic Life & AD&D Insurance
• Company Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Supplemental Life & AD&D; Short-Term Disability; Accident; Critical Illness; and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
• Three medical plans offerings including two High Deductible Health Plans and a Traditional Co-Pay medical plan.
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contributions on a per pay period basis if enrolled in either HDHP medical plan.
• Two comprehensive Dental Plans
• Vision Insurance Plan
• Dependent Care Savings Account for child and dependent care.
• 14 Company Paid Holidays with a full week off at Thanksgiving.
• Generous paid time off program for vacation and sick days
• Employee Assistance Plan
• Family Medical Leave
• Paid Parental Leave (6 weeks)
• Maternity benefits utilizing company paid STD, any supplemental STD, plus Parental Leave (6 weeks) to provide time for recovery, baby bonding, and enjoying your family time.
• Adoption Assistance Reimbursem*nt Program
• Company Paid Concierge Services for you and your loved ones for the spectrum of caring needs for your aging parents, young children, life’s challenges and more.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with both Traditional and Roth plans with per pay period match
• Pet Insurance

We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from agencies and/or search firms for this job posting.Mercer Advisors provides equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without regard to age, color, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical or mental disability, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or any other characteristic protected by law in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Mercer Advisors provides equal employment opportunity in all aspects of employment and employee relations, including recruitment, hiring, training and development, promotion, transfer, demotion, termination, layoff, compensation, benefits, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.