Personnel, payroll manager places emphasis on teamwork

Columns profiles Franklin College staffer Jill Talmadge, a new team manager in our business services office. Her experience and knowledge of the university gives Talmadge first-hand experience with a variety of subject areas, crucial expertise that flows into the college's everyday business and creates opportunities to advance her career:

After taking two trips to Tanzania as part of a study abroad program at the University of Georgia, Talmadge found a love for the African Outback that stemmed from her background in environmental economics and management. She has debated going back to school for a Ph.D. in ecology—once her children are out of school—to learn more about the ecosystems that make Eastern Africa so unique.

In the meantime, Talmadge manages another landscape: the personnel and payroll team of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Talmadge has spent the past 12 years at the University of Georgia but only recently joined the staff at Franklin College. She stepped into a new role in May 2021, helping to lead a new team through Franklin College’s business services office.

“Eventually we will have a team of 10 that will come in, and I’ll help lead that team to hopefully create an even more accurate, compliant payroll run,” she said.

As part of the “Franklin Works” initiative, the business services office is working to consolidate the business staff for the college as a whole into one office. While each department will still have business services staff, the central team will work to increase efficiency and accuracy in their personnel and payroll services.

“This initiative is brand new across the campus. There is no one who has done this to this extent,” Talmadge said, hopeful for the success of the project. “The whole new initiative is something that we’re starting from scratch, bringing other people’s dreams into fruition.”

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Image: Jill Talmadge leads the personnel and payroll team in Franklin College’s business services office. (Photo by Peter Frey/UGA)