Employee Spotlight – Claire Lodge
What is your job title?
Head of Payroll and Benefits
How long have you been at Xpediator?
I joined in October 2020 during the pandemic.
How would you describe your job in 3 words?
Enjoyable, Rewarding and Disciplined
What is your day-to-day in your role?
The objective of a payroll department is to go unnoticed, by ensuring all employees are paid on time and with 100% accuracy. When we are faced with queries they are dealt with swiftly and ensuring the employee feels satisfied and heard.
A Payroll day to day would look like:
- Ensuring input for the group payrolls are kept up to date
- Managing the Cascade HR/Payroll database
- Business partnering with other areas of the business to ensure we are providing the best service to our employees
- Business insight reporting with data analysis
- Continuously reviewing processes
What is your favourite part of your role?
I really enjoy working in payroll, every day can bring something new. It is not just about pressing the ‘magic button’ I take great pride in my work and it gives me great pleasure providing support to our employees and colleagues alike. Ever changing legislation brings new challenges but that keeps the job exciting.
What led you to your current role?
I stumbled into payroll directly from school and 18 years later I am still in this industry and I absolutely love payroll.
I joined Xpediator as they required not just a payroll manager but a project focused individual, my experience of managing numerous migration projects alongside BAU, meant that Xpediator could benefit from my experience to centralise heir payroll function. Which is what I have achieved.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
Wow… I have heaps of inspirational people directly and indirectly around me and that I take my inspiration from.
However, if i had to say one it would be Morrie Schwartz, he was an American sociology professor and his outlook on life is something I regularly refocus my mind with.
A quote of his:
“Giving to other people makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house. Nor what I look like in the mirror. When I give my time, when I can make someone smile after they were feeling sad…”
I would urge anyone to read about him and his outlook and then take stock of your outlook – it can be profoundly life altering.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I live with my husband and our young son, we adore spending time together as a family and with our family/friends. We are a very social household that are fortunate enough to travel the world. We like to find new and exciting places to explore with a focus on seeing animals in the wild.
I have recently been working on our house renovation which has taken up a lot of time … and left little room for our hobbies.
Where is your end goal for your career?
I would say that the next level for me in the payroll world, would be to progress into a Payroll Director. I am very focused and determined and I look forward to achieving this within my career.
