We’re delighted to welcome Grant Water to the team as Payroll Professional..
Grant brings a broad base of payroll and tronc experience to Ascend, having worked across corporate payroll and specialist tipping schemes for clients spanning healthcare, hospitality and beyond.
“Grant joined us because he wanted to be somewhere that puts people first, not just numbers on a spreadsheet, and that’s exactly what he brings to the role every day. He’s got a real eye for detail and genuinely cares about getting it right for clients, which is exactly the kind of attitude we want in this team.” Josh Donner, Operations Director
Why payroll expertise matters
Payroll is often seen from the outside as a straightforward, predictable job. In reality, it rarely looks the same two days running. Deadlines shift, last-minute changes land without warning, and a small piece of misinformation can throw an entire run off course. That’s before you factor in sectors like hospitality, where seasonal spikes, agency staff and constant starters and leavers add another layer of complexity on top of an already demanding compliance landscape, from National Minimum Wage to the Fair Work Agency and evolving tronc record-keeping rules.
Getting it right takes more than just processing numbers. It means understanding the pressures each client is under, catching problems before they become client-facing issues, and being someone clients can talk to directly and trust to sort things out.
Grant’s experience
Grant’s route into payroll came about by chance rather than design (as many do). He joined a managed payroll provider in 2022 after hearing the sector was recruiting and spent his first two years working on corporate clients before joining the growing tronc services team, which offered him the chance to move into a hybrid payroll and tronc role, and eventually transition fully into tronc processing.
He made the move to Ascend for the culture and the company’s direction, valuing a workplace built around people rather than numbers on a spreadsheet.
At Ascend, Grant now works as a Payroll Professional across a diverse client base, including healthcare and hospitality, and is enjoying the opportunity to use his tronc experience alongside his payroll clients.
“It’s the variety that keeps things interesting,” Grant explains. “You can think you know what your day looks like, and then half an hour before you’re due to finish, you’ve got three or four clients needing something. It keeps your mind sharp.”
For Grant, it always comes back to the client. “It’s about making sure everything’s right for them, not shying away from problems or putting things on hold. When you know the company is doing right by a client, it makes every conversation with them a much more positive one.”
In his role as Payroll Specialist, Grant will continue supporting Ascend’s clients across payroll and tronc, bringing the same hands-on, client-first approach that brought him to the team in the first place.
