Jennifer Merz

• Managed a team of 6 payroll specialists of varying levels, providing training and guidance to ensure timely and accurate payroll processing for 4500+ Employees, including expatriates, Canada payroll, and unionized employees in both countries during tenure.
• Developed additional internal audit controls using system available reporting and advanced excel manipulation to determine legislative compliance and improve efficiency and accuracy for tax filing and W-2/W2-PR/T4/RL-1 distribution
• Addressed employee inquiries regarding pay issues promptly, fostering positive relationships between management and staff members.
• Interdepartmental partnerships with Benefits, HR, and Finance including customized payroll report creation, providing valuable insights into labor costs and financial budget planning.
• Reduced payroll errors via KPI tracking for trends and use of standards in operating procedures
• Partnered with external auditors during periodic reviews, providing necessary documentation to ensure clean audit results related to payroll transactions.
• Provided backup support for fellow team members during peak periods or absences, ensuring uninterrupted payroll processing continuity.
• Coordinated efforts between multiple departments during company-wide initiatives affecting employee compensation, such as merit increase and bonus payouts programs.
• Project work includes merger, divestiture, payroll system changes, and control implementations

• Managed a team of 6 payroll specialists of varying levels, providing training and guidance to ensure timely and accurate employee info data entry and payroll processing for 4000+ employees across 100+ payrolls processed each two week period, for a primarily unionized population across of US
• Report writing and data analysis for payroll, HR, and Finance data for cross functional collaboration and efficiency using combinations of system functionality and advanced excel formulas
• Internal audit controls & Standard Operations Procedure validations
• Coordinated efforts between multiple departments during company-wide initiatives affecting employee compensation, such as merit increase and bonus payouts programs.
• Quarter & Year End Reconciliation Reviews
• Project Work included multiple acquisitions onboarding included a large scale acquisition to onboard and harmonize current and new entities payroll and time & attendance tools going from 66 with paper timesheets to over 100 entities with automated time & attendance systems in 2012, and transitioning to UKG UltiPro for Payroll and T&A in 2018

• Responsible for in house payroll with weekly, biweekly, and semi-monthly payrolls for several legal entities with a highly unionized population across much of the US states.
• Collaborated with HR department to enter, update, or review employee records within Payroll from new hire paperwork through termination, ensuring seamless integration with the payroll system.
• Review and implementation of payroll related changes within the union Certified Bargaining Agreements or company policy changes
• Timesheet review and entry for accurate payroll processing
• Provided customer service to employees and managers regarding payroll inquiries and issues to improve relations at all levels

Graduated Summa Cum Laude