Seeking Advice: Employer Changing Payslip Delivery Method

FonsoBoy123

Hello everyone,

I’m reaching out for advice regarding a situation that’s affecting my husband and oldest son, who both work at the same company. My son has Autism, and this change has been particularly upsetting for him.

For over four years, they’ve received their payslips via email as password-protected documents, which has worked perfectly for them. However, today my son received an email stating that he now has to sign up for Paydashboard to access his payslips. This change has caused a lot of stress for him, as he struggles with adapting to new systems. My husband is also unhappy about this and feels uncomfortable signing up for Paydashboard.

We’ve looked into Paydashboard and found poor reviews, along with concerns about data security, as it’s owned by Experian, a company known for past data breaches. We’re worried about their personal data being stored on these servers.

Our question is: Can the employer force them to sign up for Paydashboard, or can they request to continue receiving payslips via email or another method? If they make this request, can the employer refuse?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

ButterCheese

Is it a private company?  I work in public sector so can only comment on that.  Due to data protection, they have to put payslips on a password protected site.  We have to log in to the intranet to view payslips.  You could just explain and see what they come back with.  Otherwise, could you not just obtain your son's credentials, log in for him and download>email him the payslip? 

FonsoBoy123

It's a small private company. I could set it up and sign in for my son but As have said we do not feel comfortable using this website or company. If you research Paydashboard they have terrible reviews most people complaining they can never accesses there payslips due to continuous problems with website and app.

We also have sercurity concerns. We would rather avoid all the hassle and not go there. 

la531983

I suspect they arent going to make an exception just for one or two people unless everyone raises concerns.

Marcon

FonsoBoy123 said:

Hello everyone,

I’m reaching out for advice regarding a situation that’s affecting my husband and oldest son, who both work at the same company. My son has Autism, and this change has been particularly upsetting for him.

For over four years, they’ve received their payslips via email as password-protected documents, which has worked perfectly for them. However, today my son received an email stating that he now has to sign up for Paydashboard to access his payslips. This change has caused a lot of stress for him, as he struggles with adapting to new systems. My husband is also unhappy about this and feels uncomfortable signing up for Paydashboard.

We’ve looked into Paydashboard and found poor reviews, along with concerns about data security, as it’s owned by Experian, a company known for past data breaches. We’re worried about their personal data being stored on these servers.

Our question is: Can the employer force them to sign up for Paydashboard, or can they request to continue receiving payslips via email or another method? If they make this request, can the employer refuse?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

I have just had a look at the reviews and they aren't anything like the disaster zone I was expecting from your post.  The company has responded promptly and constructively to negative reviews, which in my book is always a good sign.

I have every sympathy for your son, given how difficult it is for those with autism to cope with change. It's worth asking the employer if they are willing to make an exception for him ('to maximise his ability to cope independently of his parents' or something similar), which as a small company they might be willing to do. Otherwise yes - the employer can insist on all employees signing up for Paydashboard; it's not an unreasonable thing to do, particularly as payslips have previously been supplied electronically.

Savvy_Sue

I'd just like to say that even running a small payroll it's very tricky to do something different for one or two members of staff. You have to 'remember' every month that you've got to do that different thing: there was no way to have most people getting one method of notification, and everyone else something different. 

Jude57

FonsoBoy123 said:

It's a small private company. I could set it up and sign in for my son but As have said we do not feel comfortable using this website or company. If you research Paydashboard they have terrible reviews most people complaining they can never accesses there payslips due to continuous problems with website and app.

We also have sercurity concerns. We would rather avoid all the hassle and not go there. 

When looking at online reviews I always look at how the company/organisation responds to criticism. With the best will in the world, mistakes happen; it's how those mistakes are dealt with that gives a fuller picture. Any online system is vulnerable to hacking, and we've seen recently that the mighty Marks & Spencer's have been subjected to an attempt on their system. Your husband and son could certainly raise their concerns with the Payroll team but it's impossible to 100% guarantee the system's security, just as it has always been impossible to 100%guarantee that your bank won't be robbed by masked and with firearms.

Consider, too, that it's simply human nature to complain when things go wrong. We might also write a glowing review for exceptional service although that's far less common than complaints. Even less common is recognition for acceptable service. Being honest, how often do you take the time to write a note of thanks to an individual or organisation for simply doing their job? It's likely that the vast majority of people using this payslip system are perfectly content with it and so have no need to write a review.

Brie

Presumably the company knows about his autism.  In that case they should also know that they need to make "reasonable adjustments" regarding his employment.  I don't know if having a special process to provide an emailed payslip for just him would qualify or not. I do know that a previous employer of mine had alternative ways to provide pay information for those who were blind or had vision issues but they had a huge payroll and therefore also quite a few individuals who needed a special process.  

It's possible that the adjustment the company makes for him is to coach him through the access/download process over a number of months while expecting others to be told just once.  

EnPointe

FonsoBoy123 said:

It's a small private company. I could set it up and sign in for my son but As have said we do not feel comfortable using this website or company. If you research Paydashboard they have terrible reviews most people complaining they can never accesses there payslips due to continuous problems with website and app.

We also have sercurity concerns. We would rather avoid all the hassle and not go there. 

what you have to remember is that  most 'review' sites are filled iwth negative reviews   often by peopel  who are unable to follow basic instructions 

what are you  security concerns ?  are they real and meaningful  or just  based ina lack of understanding of  modern security systems 

my last 4  employers / £ jobs ( one was Tuped) all use   web based payslips but all were big enough to have their platforms  ( a larger retailer  tuped to a logistics firm, the NHS, and a while employed by a franchise the parent  company provides payslip support  in my current role  with a  fast food company) 

Undervalued

I would echo Jude75's and EnPointe's comments about online reviews.

Presumably this company must deal with 10s or 100s of thousands payslips? TrustPilot (who I would trust about as far as I could pilot them!) has just 16 reviews for Paydashboard.

DullGreyGuy

FonsoBoy123 said:

Hello everyone,

I’m reaching out for advice regarding a situation that’s affecting my husband and oldest son, who both work at the same company. My son has Autism, and this change has been particularly upsetting for him.

For over four years, they’ve received their payslips via email as password-protected documents, which has worked perfectly for them. However, today my son received an email stating that he now has to sign up for Paydashboard to access his payslips. This change has caused a lot of stress for him, as he struggles with adapting to new systems. My husband is also unhappy about this and feels uncomfortable signing up for Paydashboard.

We’ve looked into Paydashboard and found poor reviews, along with concerns about data security, as it’s owned by Experian, a company known for past data breaches. We’re worried about their personal data being stored on these servers.

Our question is: Can the employer force them to sign up for Paydashboard, or can they request to continue receiving payslips via email or another method? If they make this request, can the employer refuse?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Experian holds vasts amount of your data, most here will know them as a CRA but they also run a vast number of other databases and services for both public and private sector in the UK and globally. As a consequence they are prime targets for people trying to hack them. 

I know their one data breach that was in the US, not the UK, but all things considered its highly likely the data is vastly safer there than on the employers email system.

Your husband, unless also disabled, will have no grounds for complaint. Nothing stops anyone from asking something but no grounds to demand it and most employers won't entertain incurring additional costs for an employee unless they C-Suite and instead may get their card marked. 

Your son has a disability and therefore they do have grounds to ask under reasonable adjustments however the company may not consider it reasonable. There is undoubtedly a reason why they have made the change and it could be part of a wider payroll change, eg they may have switched payroll provider and the new provider only offers the online payslip distribution. 

Maybe someone could create the account for your son and then download his payslips from the portal and email it to him?