Payroll Specialist

The Payroll Specialist is responsible for managing the full-cycle payroll process and overseeing day-to-day payroll activities in Canada. They ensure the payroll is accurate, timely and compliant with federal and provincial payroll legislation, company policies and best practices.

 Duties and Responsibilities

• Administers, verifies, and commits semi-monthly payroll including any required adjustments
• Reviews and approves employee payroll form submissions, including direct deposit details and tax withholding elections
• Ensures payroll reflects changes in employee profiles, including updates to tax obligations and benefit eligibility
• Reviews employee retirement savings contribution elections and uploads contribution reports to the retirement plan administrator
• Audits, corrects and posts weekly timesheets and expense reports in the accounting system
• Imports time sheets and expenses into payroll; ensures all payments, (e.g. overtime), comply with regional labour laws and company pay policy
• Runs and reconciles weekly benefit accruals after regional timesheets have been posted
• Processes other payroll transactions, including off-cycle adjustments, wage garnishments, taxes withholdings and government remittances.
• Manages and reconciles Workers’ Compensation payments and audits for each applicable region
• Performs quarterly payroll reconciliations, including taxes and adjustments, in preparation for year-end reporting.
• Reviews and commits year-end documents; audits employee regional tax forms (e.g., T4) for accuracy
• Annually, in January, sets up the semi-monthly payroll processing calendar in Dayforce
• Publishes the annual timesheet and expense report schedule to the company intranet
• Processes end-of-employment payments and documentation (e.g., ROE) in compliance with applicable legislation
• Ensures payroll practices comply with all applicable regional and local regulations, as well as internal company policies
• Monitors and evaluates changes in regional and local legislation, ensuring timely and accurate implementation into payroll processes
• Identifies opportunities to improve payroll processes and recommends and implements enhancements to increase accuracy, efficiency, and compliance
• Generates payroll reports and conducts audits to ensure payroll accuracy
• Prepares and submits required payroll reports to government agencies in a timely manner
• Completes year-end payroll reconciliations to meet all legislative and regulatory requirements
• Coordinates responses and documentation for internal and external payroll audits, ensuring timely and accurate information delivery
• Maintains strict confidentiality of employee records and ensures that all sensitive payroll data is only securely stored within the designated payroll system
• Acts as the primary point of contact for employees and external payroll-related inquiries
• Conducts payroll onboarding for all new hires, ensuring accurate data entry and compliance with payroll procedures.
• Communicates payroll-related information to employees, government entities, and financial institutions in compliance with company policies and regulatory requirements

 Required Skills

• Have successfully completed relevant post-secondary education
• Proficiency in Dayforce payroll software and in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel is required. Familiarity with Vantagepoint is an asset
• Detail oriented
• Strong understanding of federal and provincial payroll legislation and year-end processing
• Registration with a relevant professional payroll association is required

Required Experience

• Experience in Dayforce payroll software
• 7-10 years of payroll experience in the professional services industry and/or experience in processing semi-monthly payroll