Now in its third year, the global research initiative expands its focus on professional sentiment, business relationships, strategic value, and AI readiness
Payroll Influences, the independent HR and payroll technology research and advisory firm founded by industry analyst Pete A. Tiliakos, today announced the launch of its 2026 Payroll Profession Confidence Index (PPCI) survey. The third annual edition of this unique global research initiative focuses on measuring the confidence, sentiment, relationships, value impact, and eminence of the payroll profession.
Initially published in 2024, the PPCI was created to amplify the collective voice of payroll professionals and to raise awareness for the critical role payroll plays in business performance, workforce trust, compliance, and organizational agility. The 2025 PPCI report expanded its global engagement, gathering perspectives and sentiment from payroll professionals and stakeholders across more than 30 countries and five continents.
The 2026 PPCI builds on this foundation, exploring how payroll professionals and stakeholders view the future of the profession, the strategic value of payroll, the maturity of payroll operations, the strength and impact of cross-functional and executive relationships, and the readiness of payroll teams to operate in an increasingly digital and AI-enabled future.
Unlike traditional payroll benchmarking studies that focus primarily on cost, staffing, process, systems, or country complexity, the PPCI is designed to measure the human, operational, relational, and strategic confidence layer of payroll transformation. The research examines whether payroll is positioned, enabled, respected, and trusted to create the level of value organizations now require from one of their most critical business functions.
“The PPCI is specifically designed to help executive leaders better understand the operational realities and strategic potential of payroll at a time when the critical function is increasingly tied to business outcomes, risk, and agility,” said Pete A. Tiliakos, Founder of Payroll Influences.
Beyond its distinct approach, the PPCI further differentiates itself from legacy payroll research by being completely anonymous, with no PII required to participate or download the complimentary report. Most importantly, the PPCI maintains 100 percent independence, with no monetization, sponsorship, or third-party control.
The 2026 report will also continue advancing and measuring two industry-first frameworks introduced through the PPCI research platform: “The Five Pillars of Modern Payroll,” which provides a strategic framework for defining how payroll creates business value, and “The Modern Payroll ROI Scorecard,” which aims to shape a new lens for measuring payroll’s value beyond traditional cost control, efficiency, and headcount reduction, reframing payroll ROI around strategic impact, advisory value, risk avoidance, agility enablement, employee pay experience, compliance readiness, and the organization’s ability to respond to business change with confidence.
The PPCI survey is open now through September 30, 2026, to all payroll professionals, payroll leaders, HR leaders, finance leaders, operations leaders, technology stakeholders, consultants, and payroll service providers with direct oversight, visibility, or remit into payroll operations. Findings from the 2026 Payroll Profession Confidence Index report will be published at payrollinfluences.com later this year.
Payroll professionals and stakeholders interested in participating in the research can complete the survey at: payrollinfluences.com/ppci-2026.
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