We Were Losing 700 Hours a Year to Payroll. Givver Helped Us Get It Back.

We Were Losing 700 Hours a Year to Payroll. Givver Helped Us Get It Back.

— A finance lead at a 356-person company

In finance, you’re always trying to be more efficient. But despite our processes, payroll kept tripping us up. It was draining over 700 hours a year—about £30,000 in lost time, or half a headcount we could’ve used elsewhere.

Here’s how Givver helped us simplify payroll and shift from firefighting to full control.

Where the Time Was Going

We weren’t being sloppy—just dealing with a process that had too many manual steps and too much room for error:

• New starters meant chasing paperwork
  We constantly had to follow up on missing P45s, NI numbers, or HMRC starter info. Often, the employee received a tax code update before our software did, triggering confusion and queries.

• Overtime created extra admin every single month
  People worked extra hours, and we had to calculate enhanced rates—e.g. 20 hours at 1.5x. That wasn’t automated. We’d manually enter the hours, apply rate multipliers, and double-check for errors. Now with Givver, the system knows the rules—whether it’s standard time, time and a half, or anything else. No manual inputs. No mental maths.

• Holiday purchase schemes added more layers
  Staff could buy extra days, and we had to reflect that correctly in payslips, reconcile any balance at the end of employment, and ensure tax compliance. This alone introduced multiple reconciliation steps.

• Leaver processing was laborious
  Every time someone left, we had to work out pro-rata salary, holiday entitlement, and refund any unused purchased days—manually.

• Pension files were constantly failing
  Our pension provider, Royal London, isn’t the most tech-enabled. Nine times out of ten, our upload would fail, and we wouldn’t know why. Plus, it had to be submitted before payroll closed, so it was always a last-minute panic.

• And planning? Let’s not even go there
  With no single source of truth, we couldn’t confidently forecast payroll outgoings. We had data—but not clarity.

When You Hit a Wall, You Need Expertise

Even as a finance team with decent payroll knowledge, things kept popping up. Rule changes. One-off bonuses. Redundancy pay scenarios. We didn’t want to trawl through guidance docs or ping a chatbot—we wanted to speak to a payroll specialist who’d seen it before and could help us make the right call.

That’s exactly what we got with Givver.

What Givver Changed

• New starters? Handled.
  The system collects and validates all HMRC data before day one. No more chasing P45s.

• Overtime and variable pay? Automated.
  Givver applies enhanced rates based on configured rules—e.g. 1.5x, 2x—without us lifting a finger. We just approve, and it’s in.

• Holiday schemes? Built in.
  Purchased days are reflected in payroll, reported accurately, and reconciled automatically at exit.

• Leavers? Click and done.
  Givver calculates final pay, adjusts for holidays, and processes refunds. All audit-compliant.

• Pensions? Seamless.
  Givver handles formatting and submission. We haven’t had a failed upload in months.

• Expert support, on tap.
  Whether it’s a policy query or an edge-case scenario, we speak to someone who understands both compliance and context.

The Outcome

With Givver, we’ve:

• Saved over 700 hours a year in payroll admin

• Reduced manual errors and staff queries

• Improved forecasting accuracy

• Gained real support from payroll experts

If payroll is eating into your finance team's time, Givver is the system that gives it back. We’ve felt the difference—and it’s more than just software. It’s peace of mind.