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Meet the team: Claire Galvin

Meet the team: Claire Galvin

This month, we talk to Claire Galvin, Operations Team Manager at our SONAS office in Glasgow. Claire was recently shortlisted for the Rising Star Award at the Payroll World Awards, and has been recognised internally as one of the leading lights within Ceridian.

What did you do before you came to Ceridian?

I worked in HR shared service environments for 7 years, firstly in-house for an airports authority and then for an outsourcing provider. Varied roles from Customer Service, Payroll, HR / Recruitment and back to Payroll again because I missed it! Prior to that I worked at Glasgow Airport for 6 years firstly at check in and then as an Aircraft Load Controller / Dispatcher – completely different to what I do now!

What made you go into payroll?

While working in Customer Service in a telephone support role I worked closely with the payroll team to assist my team in answering queries. This got me interested in payroll and a change of role when a payroll vacancy arose.

What was your role when you joined Ceridian, and how has this developed?

I started as a Payroll Executive in August 2008. I was aiming to move to Senior Payroll Executive and I was able to do so in April 2009. Since January 2011 I’ve been on a secondment to Operations Team Manager. My OTM role has recently been made permanent.

What does your current role entail?

Working in a team, we have a mixture of corporate and smaller payrolls. My role is to lead and manage the team, aiming to deliver an excellent payroll service and create value for our customers.

What do you like most about your job?

I’m constantly learning, there are always opportunities to get involved in different projects. I really enjoy any coaching I get to do with the team and helping others to develop themselves.

What is most challenging about your current role?

Getting the balance right between business needs and people needs, and time management to fit everything in!

All Glasgow colleagues moved to the new Shared Service Centre, Sonas, in June. Has it changed how you work?

The new building is great, so nice to work in and a great place for customers to visit. There’s more interaction with other teams and departments now too.

What’s the most interesting company/payroll you’ve worked on?

Each are interesting in their own way as they all have their own challenges and quirks. I love how we have so many different types of customer.

What’s it like working with the CIPP Chair Ian Walters?

Great, Ian is really approachable and it’s good to have someone in his position with so much payroll and Ceridian experience.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking about Payroll as a profession?

You should enjoy working to deadlines, attention to detail and breaking down information for others and customers. My advice would be to share your knowledge as you learn and to take advice and coaching from others. Never be afraid of asking for help – there is so much to remember in payroll it will really help if you have a good network of people around you.