Thankyou Payroll is a Wellington based social business that aims to create holistic benefits. We provide free payroll intermediary services to SMEs and charities all over New Zealand.
We use an IRD subsidy to cover our costs and we put 25 cents per person, per pay (up to $1.25 per client) into the Thankyou Charitable Trust, which distributes funds to community
organisations around New Zealand.
It all began in 2009, in Dunedin when Hugh Davidson saw an opportunity to leverage an IRD payroll subsidy to create community good. From the musty depths of a Port Chalmers garage,
version one of the online payroll system emerged. Steady improvement and word of mouth saw the company grow in clients, staff and service features. In 2013 we launched version two of Thankyou
Payroll, with a complete redesign, greater versatility, easier integration with external services like Xero and a range of other client focused features.
We now work with thousands of clients all over New Zealand and process millions of dollars worth of pays each week. We have opened a Wellington office, which has become our HQ and we continue to
focus on maintaining a great work environment because dang! it makes life more fun when you love the work.
From left to right, top row first: Rogue team photobomber & board member Steve Walker, Bjorn Gronberg, Teesh Nicholas, Hugh Davidson, Lesleigh Ramond, Saima Ali and Tom Bond. And in the front row we have Christina Bellis, Caro Timms, Elliot Ashton-Stretch, Nat Dromgool and Heather Allott. In the lap of Caro we have Hale Bopp and Tomoe.
Tom and Caro hold the fort in the deep south (Dunedin) now and the rest of the team is based in Wellington (and loving it).
Christina comes to us from Sustainability Trust, where she was senior manager, orchestrating a multitude of successful, award winning community programmes and driving significant growth in
her six and a half year term. She also serves on 3 not-for-profit boards and has a rich history of work in the community and environmental sector both here and in her home country of Canada.
Christina brings a wealth of skills and organisational experience that will help Thankyou Payroll consolidate our consistently strong growth in readiness for world domination.
She is deeply fond of classic bicycles and is usually seen commuting on one of at least two that she owns, and sometimes with Aiko the dog in tow!
In 2009 after a stint as service design at the IRD, Hugh identified a gap in the payroll service market and decided to build a unique social enterprise. The concept: a free-to-user, cloud based social enterprise.
Two versions, 3560 coffees, and 5 years later, Thankyou Payroll is working! Working for SMEs and not-for-profits all over New Zealand, for the IRD, and for local communities throughout NZ via the Thankyou Charitable Trust.
It’s a good story! It's proof that innovative ideas, hard work and a good team can affect positive change across multiple sectors.
Hugh has double degrees in Design for technology and Philosophy, brews delicious beer, makes exemplary coffee, owns the cutest dog at his house and is world famous
for his seven-year streak winning the Alexandra Blossom Festival Trolley Derby.
Tom joined Thankyou Payroll in 2012 and was integral to the comprehensive 2013 redesign and continues to work to improve client experience through design. With considerable time in client support as well Tom has a comprehensive knowledge of the system but also of payroll in general.
He brings a broad range of creative and technical expertise to the fore with years of design related work both in NZ and the UK and is not above photoshopping anomalous hair pieces onto photos of staff.
Tom has also represented New Zealand and Scotland in ultimate frisbee. No really, it's a thing.
He has also recently returned to motorsport after a long hiatus driving a subaru, won the NZ Autocross Championship in 2016 and has re mortgaged his house to enter the Otago Rally 2017. Kidding about re-mortgaging, but there's still time.
Saima moved to Wellington from Christchurch to be with the team (formerly worked remotely). She joined us in 2015 in her very capable capacity as a developer and is driving the considerable increase in speed of the updates that we have had on 'the list' for a long time.
Outside of work, Saima loves hanging out with her family, friends and exploring wonderful Wellington! Saima is a delight to work with, bringing warmth humour and sharing a strong desire to make the TYP experience even better for our clients.
Heather kayaks across the Cook Strait for fun in the weekends, so you know, in terms of sanity she fits right in here! She also comes to us with considerable banking experience, payroll knowledge and has a long history of involvement with not-for-profit groups and sports clubs.
Heather is a very active person, regularly taking groups out on the water and loves Wellington for it's proximity to our wonderful, wild coastline.
Lesleigh is a colourful individual, with tremendous warmth, a quirky sense of humour and a genuine affinity with people. She brings considerable experience to Thankyou Payroll after working with many other forward thinking agencies both here and in her former US based work.
Lesleigh is also firmly of the opinion that business expansion starts with staff waistlines, regularly arriving with sublime baking. She adores spending time with her family including her 3 SPCA fur babies - Pixie, Poppy and Tuck!
Elliot is a telephonic charmer and the office speedster with hands that blur when wielding keyboard and mouse. He is also a creative animal, enjoying writing in various forms.
Elliot also diligently helps to eat Lesleigh's baking and distributes office dog cuddles despite the inherent dangers.
Silvana regularly guides our clients through the deep, dark, and complex world of payroll, helping them see the light at the end of the spreadsheet!
An animal lover, she regularly volunteers at the SPCA, where she gets her dose of furry love and kisses! (We just won't tell her cat Floofie that!) Silvana loves Wellington as the people are super friendly and laid back, and it has the best coffee in the world.
Karyn is the friendly human we all love to hear on the other side of the line when it all feels too much.
When she's not saving the payroll world one phone call and email at a time, she loves spending time with her family and vigorously knitting, spinning and crafting. All in a days work!
Brendan doesn't rest until the job has been done, and done with flair and perfection - kinda like 007. His priority always puts the customer first.
He plays a mean banjo and mandolin - we have yet to hear him, but we imagine he's right up there with Abigail Washburn and Jethro Burns and will be discovered any day now. Persimmon the corgi is Brendan's cuddly companion - she's a rascal, but the best kind of rascal!
Bjorn means bear apparently, but we know, Bjorn is really a Ninja. He be like a bear-ninja. A Beanja. Bjorn is clever. He has degrees, diplomas and certificates in ninja'ing and is always up for adventures in codeland. At home, he's a maniac.
TV/movie marathons, gaming, building flying robot (ninja) suits, keeping the Ninja den clean and drinking more tea and coffee than non-ninja people.
Hailing from Zimbabwe, Nazlee spent several years in the desert oasis of Dubai before relocating to the land of the long white cloud. Nazlee's forte is in promotion and marketing and she actively stalks her colleagues, their dogs, the competition, and everything that's cool on social media.
When she is not chasing her 3 year old around, she's annoying all of Thankyou Payroll's busy staff into a team photo. What she doesn't particularly love is Wellington winter.
Caro makes sure our now considerable batch processes run like they should. She is a sharp cookie, and must operate across all areas to make sure people get paid and PAYE gets filed. She also know's an awful lot about rocks.
Caro is also a new Mum, likes to paddleboard, walk around, climb over and wade through the wild places, which is one of the many attractions of living in the South.
Alex has been hanging out at the Thankyou Payroll office space in Dunedin for a while, so when he decided to formally join the team, nobody really noticed. He has been self-employed as a designer, and has taught design and art at high school and university.
His main achievement is winning the mini-Olympics at Camp Iona in standard four.
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