A survey reveals that UK frontline shift workers frequently lose out on earned pay due to errors in their pay slips.
60% of respondents believe they need more money, 38% report late payments, and 23% say they have not received pay slips.
The research highlights the difficulties of managing complex shift schedules and the need for better real-time integration between shift planning and payroll systems.
Nearly half of the shift workers surveyed said their changing shifts make it hard to track hours worked and ensure accurate pay. Overtime is often missed or not recorded (44%), and employers are sometimes blamed for inaccurate timekeeping (36%).
These issues result in workers being underpaid. As a result, half of all shift workers check their pay slips more than once a month to verify accuracy.
Over half of shift workers compare their pay slips with colleagues instead of contacting HR or payroll to identify potential errors. This is partly because many have needed help to get satisfactory answers from HR or payroll when they suspected pay inaccuracies.
With over 3.5 million people in the UK working shifts, managing payroll complexities is a significant challenge. Only 12% of the surveyed workers haven’t taken any action regarding their pay, indicating that 88% have felt the need to check or share information related to their pay.
Many workers in this sector feel that they have little control over their pay and that the responsibility lies solely with the employer. This needs to change. Payroll should be seen as a tool for keeping employees engaged, happy, and productive rather than a source of frustration.