As we build our crack team, we are delighted to introduce our latest recruit.
Jane Sleight has joined as Project Manager and brings with her 40 years of payroll experience.
She started her payroll journey as a mere slip of a girl when she began work with British Rail as a school leaver on the YTS (Youth Training Scheme). After trying a number of roles, Jane settled on payroll, and the rest is history!
In her early years, payroll was a purely manual process with calculations being done long hand and wages delivered by hand in a big yellow British Rail van!
After 22 years working in payroll for British Rail, Jane joined a local payroll team for an accountancy practice. It was in this role that Jane first worked with the two founders of Ascend Payroll, Richard Rowell and Stewart Waddell.
A pioneer in education payroll
Jane was instrumental in the growth of this team as they moved to an independent payroll bureau. One of the significant drivers of this growth was the development of an Education Payroll and pension service. Jane’s in-depth knowledge of public sector payroll with British Rail was a great help in defining this education service as it differs from standard business payrolls.
The move to Ascend
With many years now under her belt working in an outsourced service, Jane has joined Ascend Payroll as Project Manager, where she will be working on developing our best practice systems and processes as well as onboarding our new clients.
When asked what makes for a great payroll professional, Jane explained,
“Payroll itself isn’t that difficult when everything is straightforward, without quirks or complications. The true skill emerges when things get complex – that’s when fundamental client understanding, combined with deep payroll knowledge and years of experience, becomes invaluable.”
