Poetic Prose Reveals Payroll Professional Winners

Poetic Prose Reveals Payroll Professional Winners

The judges of MYOB's National Payroll Professional of Year Competition have felt a range of emotions since entries for the competition began flooding in. Quite often ending up in fits of laughter, they have been surprised and inspired by the entries they have received.

Friday 5 October is MYOB National Payroll Professional Day, and to celebrate MYOB urged all businesses to put on their creative caps and come up with a novel way to nominate their payroll person for the title: MYOB National Payroll Professional of the Year.

The competition to find New Zealand's most dedicated and loved payroll professional saw MYOB receive inventive and expressive entries ranging from one-liners to full-length rhymes and limericks.

Many entries were received, with strong support for the competition from the North Island, says MYOB's Employer Services Manager Jo Lobb.

"It's been amazing to see so many people taking time to recognise the hard, behind the scenes work that all payroll professionals carry out on a day to day basis.

People have really raised the creative bar with their entries, and we have received some outstanding poems and letters, which made choosing just two winners a tough task.

People obviously hold their payroll person in really high regard and we saw this in the amount of time and effort they have put in to their submissions," says Ms Lobb.

Two winners have been chosen, Teresa Whittaker from Mortlock McCormack Law in Christchurch and Lyn Holly from Auckland Vehicle Deliveries in Auckland.

Both women will receive an overnight Air New Zealand Great Mystery Break for two people.

Teresa was nominated as the South Island's Payroll Professional of the Year by her firm's general manager, Jan Crooks, who impressed the judges with a series of limericks about her abilities as accounts administrator.

"There once was a lady Theresa, We did what we could to please her, When you ask Why? We say, "She's in charge of the pay", It's essential we all Headcheese her.

Teresa is awfully smart, With a wonderfully generous heart, She lets us work late, And feeds us some cake, She really is such a sweetheart.

Teresa is awfully nice, Is happy to give us advice, When we're away on sick leave, She will always believe, We don't have to pay the price.

Teresa really is the best, Of that we can all attest, She pays us on time, And never does whine, To us she's the most worthiest."

While several poems were submitted nominating Lyn, it was a letter from her general manager, Lawrence Busch, at Auckland Vehicle Deliveries that sealed the deal for judges.

Mr Busch says he nominated Lyn for a number of reasons to recognise her length of service to the company, her ability to adapt to new technologies and legislation and her role as the 'company mother'.

"Lyn is one who knows intimately each employee's background and what rewards they expect to receive. She takes a personal interest in employees' welfare and is not afraid to offer advice on all matters of an employee's life, both business and personal. In fact she is treated as the company 'mother' who is held in high regard by both management and staff."

"While we would love to be able to reward everyone, we feel these women are especially deserving of the title," says Ms Lobb.

"More than 70 percent of New Zealand's workforce is employed in organisations with over 20 employees, requiring the services of a payroll professional, and after such a difficult year, we want to see as many of these hardworking and dedicated people recognised as possible, she says.

"I believe the competition has raised awareness of the hard work carried out by payroll professionals across the country and I hope businesses, whether they submitted an entry or not, will take time to recognise their own staff on MYOB National Payroll Professional Day on Friday."

ENDS

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