How to get hired
Payroll jobs come in three settings, and each hires a slightly different person.
In-house India payroll
A payroll executive at a company collects attendance, leave, joiners, leavers and variable pay each month, runs the salary in the payroll system or Excel, and then handles the statutory side: PF contributions and the ECR on the EPFO portal, ESI for employees within the wage limit, professional tax by state, labour welfare fund where it applies, and income tax deduction. Mid-size companies often have one or two payroll people, so you learn everything quickly. B.Com graduates with Tally or Excel, and HR operations staff, move into these roles.
Payroll outsourcing and staffing firms
Payroll service providers, staffing companies and employer-of-record firms run payroll for many clients at once. This is the most common way in for freshers and people with a year of accounts or HR work: you handle a few client companies, each with its own pay structure and states. Volume is high and month-end is intense, but you see more variety in a year than an in-house executive sees in three.
Global payroll
Big 4 firms, global business services centres and EOR companies run UK, US, European and Middle East payroll from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurugram. Titles: "Payroll Analyst", "Senior Analyst – Global Payroll", "Delivery Manager – UK Payroll". You learn the other country's tax and social security rules on the job. Workday, ADP, SAP SuccessFactors and UKG are the systems named most; shifts follow the client's time zone.
What changed, and what interviews now ask
Interviewers test whether you know current law, not the old acts:
- The wage definition under the Code on Wages: allowances excluded from "wages" cannot exceed 50% of total pay, and any excess is added back. This affects PF, gratuity and other calculations, so restructured salaries need checking.
- Gratuity for fixed-term employees after one year of continuous service instead of five.
- Final settlement: under the Code on Wages, wages due to an employee who resigns or is removed must be paid within two working days. How companies apply this to items like leave encashment is still being worked out; know your employer's policy.
- TDS on salary now falls under section 392 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 for salary from April 2026. The annual certificate is Form 130 (earlier Form 16) and the quarterly salary TDS statement is Form 138 (earlier Form 24Q).
Labour Code rules were still being finalised by states during 2026; check your state's notified rules before you rely on a specific figure.
Skills and certificates
No licence is required. Employers ask for strong Excel (lookups, pivots, reconciliation), one payroll system, and statutory knowledge. Global payroll teams value vendor certifications (Workday, ADP) and, for US or UK payroll, the payroll associations' own qualifications. A CA is not needed; CA Inter and CMA Inter candidates do well in payroll accounting and audit roles.
From executive to C&B
Payroll executive, senior executive or specialist, payroll lead, then payroll manager and head of payroll or total rewards. The compensation and benefits (C&B) side, which designs pay structures, runs salary benchmarking and the annual increment cycle, is a natural next step after four to six years.
What the work is like
The month has a hard rhythm: inputs close around the 20th, salary is processed and checked in the last week, money goes out on payday, and statutory payments and returns follow in the first fortnight. A single wrong number reaches every employee's bank account, so maker-checker reviews and reconciliations are constant. April (new tax year, appraisal cycle and increments) and the months when employees submit tax proofs are the heaviest. The work is confidential; you see everyone's salary, and discretion is part of the job.