Mélanie Benoit, PCP
Payroll Department Manager, Ubisoft, Montreal, QC
Mélanie Benoit is a dedicated and reliable payroll professional. As a native Montrealer, she soon felt the call of the north and made her way to the Laurentians. Though her original plan was to study Media Arts and Technology at the CÉGEP de Jonquière, she eventually found her place as a payroll professional in the video game industry.
After a car accident in the Mont-Tremblant region, she abandoned her initial academic plans and decided to look for a major with strong added value. That focus led her to accounting. After her studies, she got an internship at her sister-in-law’s company, Groupe Option Retraite, a financial services broker. When an employee left on maternity leave, Mélanie took over her position. She ended up working there for five years. Her supervisor suggested that she take courses with the National Payroll Institute. She earned her designation in the early 2000s. She then continued her career by joining Ubisoft in 2002 for another maternity leave replacement. At the time, she knew nothing about the video game industry.
Twenty years later, Mélanie is still working for the multinational corporation. The business culture and the company’s acquisitions over the past few years keep her constantly busy. Today, this experienced manager leads a four-person team that manages payroll for five studios.
She appreciates the respect that people have for payroll professionals’ expertise.
“We’re not just people who learned our skills on the job. We’re really highly valued because we know how to find answers and we have essential expertise.”
In the past few years, she’s seen a lot of changes in payroll processes – including file transfers, which were once quite a stressful exercise. Nowadays, they’re a much simpler responsibility.
“When I started, a lot of file transfers were done manually,” she explains. She also recalls that when Records of Employment first became available online, it was a real revolution for Ubisoft. Lots of interns had short-term contracts, while other professionals often had to deal with changing locations. The electronic format made the process much easier.
The pandemic also showed her how essential payroll was in the process of applying for government aid.
“There’s a certain versatility that you acquire in this field, because we’re at the crossroads of multiple services and departments and we communicate with upper management, human resources, communications, the legal department, and so on,” she says.
As for the future of her profession, Mélanie is optimistic. In her opinion, the government will opt for more direct communication with the introduction of ePayroll. Round tables and discussions among professionals will help to optimize processes in connection with this major change.
Dedicated and driven, she strongly believes in certification as a powerful tool for pursuing a career in payroll.
In her free time, she and her partner are big fans of barbecues and good food. She’s known as the “friendly organizer” in her circle of friends because she takes charge of planning group vacations and cruises. The passion apparently runs in the family, as her 14-year-old daughter also recently put together a surprise party to celebrate Mélanie’s birthday.
