This course is the third core course of the Payroll Leadership Professional (PLP) designation program.
The final core course in the designation program empowers payroll leaders to navigate complexity with empathy, critical thinking, and foresight. Students will explore advanced leadership practices, resolve conflicts, and drive innovation while reflecting on their personal growth and leadership journey.
Prerequisites: Foundations of Payroll Leadership and Payroll as a Strategic Partner
Students enrolled at a post-secondary institution must first register with the school and pay the tuition fees. Students must also register with the National Payroll Institute and pay the Institute’s course fee, and membership fee, if applicable.
Upon completion of Empowered Payroll Leadership (EPL), students should be able to:
- Demonstrate Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in payroll leadership by applying self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management to foster trust and collaboration.
- Communicate payroll-related information effectively, including delivering difficult news with empathy and cultural sensitivity to maintain employee engagement.
- Apply ethical decision-making frameworks to resolve payroll dilemmas, ensuring compliance, fairness, and alignment with organizational values.
- Analyze and address breaches of payroll policy to rebuild employee trust and reinforce organizational integrity.
- Utilize conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques to manage payroll disputes, balancing assertiveness with empathy to achieve inclusive solutions.
- Employ structured problem-solving and critical thinking methods to identify root causes of payroll issues and design actionable solutions.
- Integrate future-focused leadership practices, including coaching and mentoring, to develop payroll team capabilities and ensure succession planning.
- Create a personalized career development plan that incorporates self-management, stress reduction, and time management strategies for effective payroll leadership.
- Evaluate and implement innovative payroll technologies while addressing security, compliance, and operational challenges.
- Collaborate with diverse stakeholders to enhance payroll decision-making processes, ensuring equity, transparency, and cultural inclusivity in all practices.
Online Courses: Online directly through the National Payroll Institute (excluding challenge)
The National Payroll Institute offers online courses, which are primarily self-directed, meaning that, for the most part, there are no scheduled class times or lectures. Students work through the material at their own pace; however, students must complete assignments, discussion questions, and exams by the dates outlined at the start of the course. Students are assigned to an instructor and can email course-related questions to them at any time during the course.
In addition, there are instructor-student live “Check-in” sessions, scheduled at various intervals throughout the course. These live sessions are opportunities for students to meet virtually with their instructor, to ask any questions they might have about the content, and to understand more about the exam experience, including a review of the exams proctoring requirements. The sessions will be recorded for students who cannot attend
The assignments, discussion activities, and exams have pre-determined due dates. All of the coursework is completed online through the Institute’s Learning Management System, Brightspace.
The online final exam is remotely proctored through Integrity Advocate. The remote proctoring fee is included in the online course fee.
Live Courses: Post-Secondary Classroom and Virtual Classroom
Live, in-class and virtual courses, completed through a post-secondary institution, are directed by the post-secondary institution’s instructor. Students will attend and participate in classes and lectures at the same time as their peers.
The online final exam is remotely proctored through Integrity Advocate. The remote proctoring fee is included in the classroom course fee.
Both an overall grade of 65% and a mark of at least 65% on the final exam are required to pass the course. An online grade report will be available four weeks after the official end date of the course. For confidentiality reasons, marks cannot be given by phone, fax, or email.
Withdrawal Policy
Students who withdraw within the first three weeks of the term will receive a full refund from the National Payroll Institute, less a withdrawal fee of $100.00, plus applicable taxes.
PLP Designation Completion Timeline
Students must complete all of the PLP courses, including the transfer of credit courses, within 5 years from the start of their first successful FPL course.
Maximum Course Attempts
Students are permitted a maximum of three attempts at any individual PLP course. If a student fails a given PLP course three times (through the classroom, or online study option), they will no longer be permitted to register for the course.