Senior Officer, Payroll

University of Ottawa · Main Campus · $69,393–$86,741 (stated in the posting)

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Reporting to the Manager of Payroll and Leaves, the primary purpose of this position is to act as the primary point of contact to manage and resolve payroll, time off, and leave inquiries of varying complexity from university employees and HR partners. Incumbents are required to ensure compliance with federal and provincial law, university policies, collective agreements, and industry best practices. This is achieved by completing detailed transaction analysis, data auditing, and collaborating with stakeholders in various capacities with the intention of supporting the projects, initiatives, and regular activities of the global remuneration sector.

In this job, your responsibilities will include:

• Payroll Processing: Addresses payroll inquiries via formal & informal channels. Uses critical thinking to analyze Workday system functionality, business process execution, and determine corrective actions needed to ensure the accuracy of payroll results for current, future, and off-cycle pay periods. Reviews payroll errors identified during the payroll process and takes immediate action to clarify and make the corrections to rectify the errors that are preventing the pay from being completed. Processes transactions within strict inflexible deadlines for each pay cycle as well as for tasks independent of the payroll processing cycle. Required to manage workload independently completing all assigned to guarantee timely and accurate payment for all employees. Inputs and validates data for T4s. Audits amounts for pension adjustment (PA), government earnings & deductions (CPP/EI), payroll earnings, and taxable benefits validations. Applies corrections to employee files to amend employee tax documents for current and prior tax periods. Responds to faculty questions regarding payroll costing allocations and conducts a thorough analysis of earnings & benefits (deductions) while working closely with faculty to ensure that costs are accurately allocated to the appropriate FDMs. 
• Payroll Recovery: Analyzes and validates overpayment requests submitted by faculties. Calculates payroll overpayments which occur as of a result of data errors. Communicates with employees to explain payroll and tax implications and administers’ an overpayment repayment plan. Monitors ongoing overpayment payroll deductions and updates repayment plans when faced with file changes such as position changes, absences, retroactive adjustments, and departures with the intention of minimizing the financial risk of not recovering full overpayments. Receives overpayment repayment amounts daily via Cheque, E-Transfer, or Cash Payment and processes weekly deposits. Completes required system entries to record the payments, including journal entries, T4 adjustments, and cost allocations to ensure accurate and timely financial reporting for departmental budgets. Responds to inquiries from internal stakeholders through multiple channels, ensuring prompt, clear, and professional communication to enhance service quality and foster trust in HR operations.
• Absence Management: Collaborates with Health & Wellness to process Progressive Return to Work plans. Manually calculates Semi-Monthly employee payroll and time off accruals based on the established schedule with the intention of providing a smooth transition for employees returning from leave. Evaluate and processes employee leave requests for approval ensuring data is correct by verifying eligibility based on legislation & university policies. Completes follow-up with employees on their leave accruals and regarding their SUB Plan (top-up), benefits, and pension during leave and updates files to ensure a cohesive experience for employees. Identifies anomalies in employee time off data such as eligibility, accruals, missing policies, missing payouts, and time entry errors to ensure compliance with various legislation. Provides guidance to stakeholders on complex leave cases in accordance with company policies and collective agreements. 
• Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement: Contributes to institutional projects and reporting requirements by providing subject-matter expertise, complex data analysis, and operational support to advance strategic initiatives and support data-driven decision-making. Reports and addresses system & business process anomalies to Workday Sustainment. Collaborates in the development, testing, and documentation of system enhancements and business processes to increase operational efficiency and improve system functionality. Develops, revises and maintains procedure manuals and transaction records to ensure knowledge continuity, process consistency, and audit readiness.

What you will bring:

• Knowledge and experience relating to payroll, human resources administration, finance or related fields acquired through post-secondary education (college or university degree) or equivalent experience.
• Three (3) years’ experience in payroll processing in a large-scale complex environment (unionized environment will be considered an asset).
• Accreditations in Payroll Compliance Professional (PCP), Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) or other related Human Resource certifications will be considered an asset.
• In-depth knowledge and experience using integrated human resource & payroll systems and software programs such as spreadsheets and databases.
• In-depth knowledge of federal and provincial laws, employment standards and other regulations related to payroll and compensation.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with experience serving clients in situations that require conflict mitigation and de-escalation. Ability to provide explanations of complex processes, regulations, and calculations.
• Proficiency with payroll systems (e.g., Workday, SAP, Banner, ADP) and understanding system functionalities, integrations, and reporting tools.
• Advanced knowledge of Excel with knowledge of other software and systems such as Windows, word processors, presentation software, databases, email and the internet.
• High level of accuracy in data entry, calculations, auditing, and problem resolution.
• Excellent attention to detail, effective time management skills and sound organizational skills.
• Initiative, autonomy, excellent judgment; self-starting and self-motivated; flexibility and adaptability.
• Ability to prioritize while multitasking with very firm deadline.
• Tact, diplomacy, respect for confidentiality and ability to maintain proactive and effective service orientation and awareness of and sensitivity to diversity.
• Bilingualism — English/French (spoken and written).

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact hrtalentmanagement@uottawa.ca to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.

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