The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report: How 1,000 professionals are adapting to change
Explore key insights from 1,000 HR and payroll leaders on workload, skills gaps, and AI. Download the HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report.
HR and payroll leaders are being asked to do more than ever, often with limited time and growing expectations.
Expectations are rising, ways of working are shifting and technology is advancing faster than many teams can comfortably absorb.
At the same time, the fundamentals have not changed.
People still expect to be paid accurately and on time.
Managers still need support. Employees still expect clarity, fairness, and trust.
To understand how HR and payroll professionals are navigating this reality, Sage surveyed 1,000 HR and payroll leaders at small and medium-sized businesses across the UK, Ireland, and South Africa.
The findings reveal a profession that feels confident in its purpose, but under growing pressure.
Leaders are optimistic about the future of HR and payroll, yet many are carrying heavier workloads, facing widening skills gaps, and weighing up how to adopt AI responsibly.
The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report explores these challenges in depth and sets out where leaders are focusing their attention next.
Download the report to learn:
- How HR and payroll leaders really feel about their roles today, including where confidence is growing and where concern remains
- Why skills gaps, workload pressure, and trust in technology are shaping priorities across organisations
- What practical steps leaders are taking to modernise HR and payroll while protecting accuracy, compliance, and employee confidence
Download The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Confident in the profession, uncertain about the future
More than 90% of HR and payroll leaders say they feel satisfied and successful in their roles, according to the Sage research.
Many feel energised by the direction of the profession and the chance to play a more strategic role.
At the same time, 48% say they feel anxious about the future of their own role.
That tension runs through the research.
Leaders believe HR and payroll are more important than ever, yet workloads are increasing and expectations continue to grow.
Across both small and medium-sized businesses, leaders say they feel responsible for culture, wellbeing, compliance, skills planning, and technology adoption.
For leaders in medium-sized organisations, technology and systems integration often feature more heavily, while leaders in smaller businesses place greater emphasis on culture and day-to-day people support.
This mix of confidence and concern reflects a shift in how the HR and payroll role is defined and experienced.
HR leaders are being asked to do more, influence more, and adapt faster than before.
“Strategically align HR function with business objectives to improve organisation performance”
Personnel Director, Business services
E-Book: The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report
Valuable insights, practical advice, and next steps for HR and payroll professionals in South Africa.
The pressure behind the progress
One of the clearest findings from the research is the strain many leaders are working under.
71% of HR and payroll leaders say their workload has increased over the past year, and more than half report feeling a sense of burnout.
Administrative and compliance tasks still take up a large share of the working week, even as strategic expectations rise.
Many leaders say their impact is not always fully understood by the wider business.
HR is still too often seen as process-led, rather than as a driver of long-term value.
This creates a difficult balance.
You’re expected to lead change while keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly.
You’re asked to support managers and employees, while also building future capability across the organisation.
“I would prioritise the development of strong wellbeing initiatives, equitable opportunities for growth and open communication”
HR recruiter, Business services
Skills gaps are widening, not shrinking
The research also points to a growing skills challenge, both within HR teams and across the wider workforce.
More than half of leaders say skills gaps in their organisation have increased over the past two years.
Technology, data, and AI skills are now seen as essential, yet many teams lack the training or confidence to use new tools fully.
In response, HR leaders are shifting how they think about talent.
Skills-based hiring, workforce planning, and long-term development are becoming more important than relying on job titles alone when making people decisions.
This puts HR and payroll at the centre of future readiness.
But it also adds to the pressure.
Closing skills gaps takes time, data, and support.
Without the right foundations in place, this can feel like another responsibility added by the wider business onto an already full role.
“To make sure every employee has a clear career growth path”
Head of HR, Professional services
E-Book: The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report
Valuable insights, practical advice, and next steps for HR and payroll professionals in South Africa.
Artificial Intelligence brings opportunity and risk
AI is widely seen as a major opportunity for HR and payroll.
86% of HR and payroll leaders believe AI will transform the function, largely by freeing up time and improving accuracy.
Yet it’s also one of the areas causing the most concern.
Many leaders worry about compliance, particularly around the use of AI in HR and payroll, and the potential impact on employee trust.
Fragmented HR and payroll systems, alongside limited training, make it harder to adopt AI and automation with confidence.
The research shows a clear desire for responsible use.
Leaders want tools that reduce administrative effort while supporting employees to do their best work and enabling informed human judgement.
They want technology that supports human judgement, not replaces it.
Payroll plays a critical role in responsible technology adoption.
When automation or AI is involved, accuracy and timeliness become even more important for maintaining trust.
When HR and payroll systems are well connected, it becomes easier to introduce automation and AI in a controlled way, particularly in areas such as pay, compliance checks, and workforce data.
When those systems are fragmented, even small AI‑supported decisions can create errors or uncertainty, which can quickly undermine trust.
“I wish I could build an AI employee management system that automates repetitive tasks. Allowing more time to focus on people”
Recruitment Manager, Technology
What this means for HR and payroll leaders
Taken together, the findings highlight a choice facing HR and payroll leaders.
There’s strong belief in the future of HR and payroll.
At the same time, leaders point to the need for better support for HR teams and more connected HR and payroll systems.
Progress doesn’t require doing everything at once.
Many leaders are already taking practical steps, from automating repetitive tasks to building clearer skills plans and putting simple governance around new technology.
The most successful changes tend to start by focusing on a small number of priorities, such as:
- Reducing administrative load.
- Protecting trust.
- Creating space to spend more time on people and less time on process.
“Fully integrated, AI-driven analytics platform that combines all HR Data…into one intelligent dashboard”
HR Director, Construction
Explore the full findings
This article offers a snapshot of the themes shaping HR and payroll today.
The full HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report goes deeper, with detailed insights, practical frameworks and clear next steps drawn from the experiences of 1,000 leaders.
If you want to benchmark your challenges, understand how peers are responding to the challenges highlighted in the research and see where to focus next, download the report now.
Download The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report
E-Book: The HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report
Valuable insights, practical advice, and next steps for HR and payroll professionals in South Africa.
