In this conversation
The context behind the clip.
Payroll analyst Pete Tiliakos joins the crew for a conversation about the profession's visibility, the way technology buyers use analyst reports, and the relationships between payroll and the rest of the business. He introduces his Payroll Profession Confidence Index work and discusses his payroll-excellence framework.
For: Payroll practitioners and leaders who want the value of their work to be understood.
What we get into
- Pete challenges how buyers interpret analyst rankings and discusses looking beyond a single report.
- The conversation puts payroll's relationship with HR and its wider organizational role under the spotlight.
- The crew explores payroll excellence, people and process, and the direction of automation.
Questions this conversation opens up
How can payroll teams make their contribution more visible?
Pete's conversation brings payroll's professional standing and payroll excellence into view. The interview introduces his Payroll Profession Confidence Index research in its 2025 context; it does not establish a current statistic for every payroll team.
Try this with your team: Turn one recent example into a short impact note: what could have gone wrong, what the team did, and what changed. Use evidence you can explain, such as an exception resolved before cutoff or a handoff completed without rework. Keep employee details out of a public story.
How should a payroll buyer use an analyst report?
Pete and the crew discuss the influence of analysts on technology decisions. The conversation encourages buyers to look beyond a single ranking when considering what will work for their organization.
Try this with your team: Use a report to develop questions. Then ask shortlisted vendors to demonstrate the same payroll scenario using your requirements: countries, integrations, exception handling, reporting, and support. Record where the demonstration answers the question and where you still need evidence.
What should a payroll team review before adding automation?
The later discussion brings people, process, and technology together before looking toward payroll's future. It is a useful starting point for examining how work moves between teams, rather than treating a new tool as the whole answer.
Try this with your team: Follow one recurring exception from its first appearance to resolution. Note each handoff, wait, correction, and decision owner. Choose an improvement that addresses the actual source of the delay, then compare the same process after the change.
Bring it back to your team
Use this discussion as a prompt to make payroll's contribution visible in your own organization. Bring a specific example of a prevented problem, a smoother handoff, or time returned to the team. Distinguish the guest's opinions and research discussed in 2025 from a claim about every payroll team today.
- What important payroll work is missing from the current performance report?
- Which handoff with HR or finance causes the most avoidable friction?
- What evidence does your team need before trusting a vendor comparison?
