The Heart of Business Award recognizes a payroll team exemplifying professionalism, dedication, and collaboration and contributing to their employer’s overall success.

A “team” includes the payroll department from the same organization, as well as individual payroll professionals who comprise a department of one who demonstrates consistent and ongoing collaboration with colleagues from information technology, accounting, human resources, and other departments.

Here are some examples of what a high-performing team might have accomplished:

• Integrating payroll information, legislative changes, innovations or technology to increase organizational effectiveness or efficiency
• Developing new work methods to reduce administrative burden or to stretch existing resources (e.g. improving efficiencies and productivity in the organization, or introducing key performance indicators to measure effectiveness)
• Elevating payroll as a strategic function in the organization and gaining recognition from the management team for this contribution
• Educating and promoting the value and benefits that payroll provides to the employees such as “Pay Yourself First” programs
• Supporting the financial wellness of the workforce
• Providing great customer service
• Other reasons specific to your team or organization

Nominees for the Heart of Business Award must:

• Be members in good standing
• Be at least a team of two or more employees of the same organization (all team members do not need to work in the ‘payroll department’)
• Demonstrate accomplishments from 2025 to the present
• Not have been a previous Heart of Business - Payroll Team of the Year winner in the past two years 
• Team members must not currently serve on the Board of Directors

Complete the entry form today to highlight your payroll team’s accomplishments!