Senior Financial Specialist - Payroll

Staff - Union

Job Category
CUPE 2950

Job Profile
CUPE 2950 Salaried - Senior Financial Spec 1a (Gr9)

Job Title
Senior Financial Specialist - Payroll

Department
Payroll Services & Analytics | Payroll | Financial Operations | VP Finance and Operations

Compensation Range
$4,959.00 - $5,532.00 CAD Monthly

Posting End Date
April 22, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary

The position is responsible for supporting and providing training and technical direction to a large specialty area including leave of absence, tuition waiver, and Payroll Accounting Adjustment (PAA) various staff regarding financial, payroll, benefits functions and workflow and serves as their point of contact. The position drives increased efficiency using technical knowledge and data analysis. It also maintains training documentation and coordinates training for immediate team members. This position also coordinates submitting files for PAAs to be processed by the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) application; and leads improvements to the RPA Application including coordinating with the Automation team at UBC.
Organizational Status

Reports to the Manager, Payroll Services and Analytics. This position interacts with other areas in Payroll, IT, Finance, ISC, and the broad UBC community.

Work Performed

• Reviews and verifies accuracy, adequacy, completeness and authorization of information for benefits, tuition waivers, and payroll accounting.

• Supports and provides technical direction to the leave of absence, tuition waiver, and Payroll Accounting Adjustment (PAA) staff  regarding financial, payroll, benefits functions and workflow and serves as their point of contact.

• Ensures that the University policies, procedures, and government regulations are maintained with respect to benefits, tuition waivers and payroll accounting.

Benefit Support:

• Performs complex reconciliations on benefit premiums that have been paid by employee, unions and employer during leaves and at year-end, and makes any corrections in Workday.

• Processes monthly integration to withdraw benefit payments from employee’s bank accounts that are on leave with benefits, as well as monthly Workday mass entry to clear paid amounts from arrears balances.

• Reviews faculty and staff eligibility for applicable benefits such as Optional Life Insurance and sub top-up benefit payments and ensures Workday is set up correctly for the duration of leaves.

• Assists in designing, then maintaining (ongoing due to changing payroll legislation etc.) a complex programmed solution designed for more efficient Leave of Absence (LOA) Audits using data analytics software.

• Reviews semi-monthly hourly benefits report to determine if benefits eligibility is in compliance with Union Agreement.

Documentation and Training:

• Coordinates and provides training and keeping it in a digestible progressive format as well as creating and maintaining business process documentation.

• Ensures team compliance to standards based on established policies and procedures by monitoring and evaluating the quality of service provided, identifying areas of improvement, following up, training and coaching staff.

Payroll Accounting Adjustment (PAA):

• Runs Payroll Accounting Adjustment (PAA) report and submit to PAA bot (Robotic Process Automation bot). Then monitor bot progress and assign manual follow up to team member resulting from bot fallout (what the bot failed to submit). This is a complex procedure involving multiple steps. Ability to identify when there are issues and escalates to the Business Analysts. (every two weeks)

• Assists PAA submitters when there are issues with bot submission and manual PAA entries including investigating and rectifying discrepancies related to payroll accounting. (ongoing)

• Works closely and collaboratively with IT and ISC to review releases, enhancements, and changes for PAA.

• Participates in user testing and supporting through the automation solution for PAA and serves as subject matter expert on PAA complex issues and provides ongoing operational support for the RPA application.

Tuition Waiver:

• Performs complex reconciliations on tuition waivers by semester and at year-end.

• Reviews aculty and staff eligibility for tuition waivers according to employee profile in Workday and from exceptions approved by Central Human Resources.

• Updates and maintains employees’ records regarding tuition waiver history.

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Coordinates work processes, establishes work schedules and priorities to resolves complex issues for leave of absence, tuition waiver, and PAA colleagues.

• Anticipates work backlog and communicates to manager along with a solution-oriented plan to avoid a backlog of tickets.

• Follows up on requests to other UBC technical teams.

• Relies on Workday, utilizes Excel, Salesforce, Student Information System (SISC), and other programs and systems.

• Required to work certain evenings, weekends and holidays due to strict deadlines and process restrictions.

• Responsible for ensuring communication to appropriate groups advising of critical dates reflecting cut-off dates and scheduled deadlines to ensure accurate processing of information.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

The position is responsible for ensuring maximum accuracy, efficiency and reliability of input and output data for Workday Payroll Module.  Loss of data, scheduling errors, and missed cut-offs will result in incomplete or incorrect employee payments, potential under or over remitted taxes, inaccurate financial and budget reporting, some of which may result in UBC being subject to grievances, penalties or fines. It may also cause departments to make incorrect assumptions regarding their financial status, internally and externally, as well as affect budgets.

The position requires the ability to identify and execute process improvements and a talent for people development.  The position will assume responsibility for the training, coaching and mentoring of a team of up to 4 staff in addition to implementing process improvements and efficiency.

Incorrect entry of data or incorrectly processed monthly integration for benefits payments withdrawals would result in incorrect debits from employees bank accounts causing financial hardship, confusion, and frustration for employees who are on leave and who may be experiencing significant health issues.
Supervision Received

Reports to the Manager, Payroll Services and Analytics. Works with minimum supervision, but under administrative direction and strict deadlines.
Supervision Given

Provides technical direction to the leave of absence, tuition waiver, and PAA colleagues regarding financial, payroll, benefits functions and workflow and serves as their point of contact. Coordinates and communicates with the Payroll Manager to ensure process completion, meeting of deadlines and work coverage.

Minimum Qualifications

High school graduation, plus Diploma in Accounting or Payroll CPA Level 2, plus four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and related experience.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Payroll Compliance Certification (PCP) preferred, working towards PCP acceptable.  Aptitude for understanding of accounting, finance and business functions required. 

 

Experience with Workday or other Enterprise Resource Planning systems preferred. Proven ability to learn new computer systems required. Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft suite required, including Excel experience with vlookups, pivot tables, and formulas.

 

Proven ability to understand and create complex material such as training material and business process documents. Have a solution focused attitude coupled with a focus on delivering a high level of customer service to all stakeholders. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as ability to work as a team player.

 

Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to multi-task and prioritize work. Excellent reading, comprehension, and communication skills oral & written and interpersonal skills, including proven ability to adapt and to work effectively in a dynamic and rapidly evolving environment.