Continuous Learning in Payroll with Laurel Serra, CPP

[00:00:00] You talk about leveling up your service. How many times has somebody asked you how to fill out a W-4? And we always say, I can't help you with that. But why can't we? Why can't I tell you which steps increase your liability and which steps decrease your liability? Welcome back, folks. This is episode 153. We got an amazing guest with us tonight, today. But before we get into it, what's good, Walt?

[00:00:26] What's good, Brian? I'm good over here. Just had a nice healthy helping of eating. Ooh, okay. And some salad. I was going to say, okay. Everything. That fitness going. Yeah, man. It was good. I'm good, man. I'm grateful. How are you? I'm good, bro. Good, man. Yeah, feeling good. Progress, not perfection. Every day trying to do a little better.

[00:00:53] Got to finally finish my analysis for financial fitness. Like my 2024. Yeah. And yeah, this is always an eye opener. And again, like every year is the same category where we overspend in eating out. It's convenient.

[00:01:13] Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That'll be the number one area to count to concentrate on. I do have, I did find a S no CFP, a certified financial planner that really, we had a conversation and it was really good, really like humble dude. And I think, I think he'll be a great help to trying to, one of the things he talked about was a budget. And I didn't realize like he, he said a budget will take you a year just to get a budget together.

[00:01:40] A good budget. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't know that at all. I thought, I thought getting a budget together was just putting the numbers down and boom, trying to execute. And he was, so I could learn something there. He's take a year to just to figure out what it should be. And then another year to execute. Yeah. These things take time. And that doesn't mean the results are in two years. It means that you will have successfully built a budget in two years. Yes. Yeah. That's all it means. I mean,

[00:02:08] Like you said, to your point, progress, not perfection. Yup. Yeah, man. What you got for us today? So look, man, I wanted to talk about this because it's something that is impacting all of us. Yup. So I basically Googled this and this is the response that AI, Google's AI. Okay. So I basically said like, how are the, how are terrorists, what ways could terrorists impact the payroll industry? This is the response that it gave, right?

[00:02:37] It said that it can indirectly impact the payroll industry through increased business costs, potentially leading to reduced hiring. Layoffs and businesses, especially those reliant on international trade and supply chains may face higher input costs due to tariffs, forcing them to reevaluate their workforce planning and budgets.

[00:02:58] Additionally, these tariffs can contribute to inflation, potentially increasing the cost of living and requiring payroll professionals to adjust compensation to maintain competitiveness. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And unfortunately I'm hearing stories, real stories about all these things that are impacting companies. A buddy of mine told me about a story about their company.

[00:03:24] Like they do retail and they're because of the tariffs. They may lose all the profit that they were projecting on a particular shipment coming from China because while these tariffs were being made, the shipment was on the water on the way. So when it left, they had in mind profits. A certain thing. Is a number we're going to make. Yeah. In the middle of the ocean, Trump says tariffs. Holy crap.

[00:03:50] It could be a loss in the other way because of that tariff. So it's, this stuff is real man. And yeah, it's impacting folks. That's good stuff. That's a good call out. Yeah. So what do you got for us? I got might be old news by the time this posts, but the paychecks completed the acquisition of pay core. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. They're looking, uh, we'll see how that plays out now with I'm interested to see what happens and how they just how they move. Right.

[00:04:19] Cause it's literally two different systems that were built two different ways. Right. As we know, as, but business owners, how do we're not developers, but we're developing software, right? We know things can be written in different languages and it not, may not be immediately compatible. But when what Pete said, they may use one, one product for up market, down market. So that made a lot of sense. I was like, okay, cool. So anyway, it's done. And now payroll pros can sit back and watch it play out. Yeah.

[00:04:48] We'll see what comes forward. Let me slide it to see what transpires. Yeah. You want to tell us a little bit about our guests that we have on today? Well, we'll pay the bills first, as we're talking about systems, right? If you're looking for a more efficient way to manage employee time track, go is the solution. And time track, go turns an ordinary tablet into a state of the art time clock in just minutes with its mobile app and web portal. Employees can clock in from anywhere, but wait, it gets better.

[00:05:16] Time track go also automates PTO, simplifies time off requests. That's the important thing for employees, right? And making life easier for both you and your team, meaning you as the employee and your team and the payroll pro and the HR pros and the managers. So stop wasting time with them outdated systems and get something like time track go. Yes, indeed. So look, time track go has a special offer for our it's about payroll listeners. Yes.

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[00:06:12] Let's go. Yes. I'm so excited today. We have Laurel, Sarah, CPP joining us on this episode is the director of education services at Payroll Org, AKA PayO. With a rich background in payroll education, Laurel has been instrumental in shaping learning programs that empower payroll professionals across the industry.

[00:06:36] Her journey from teaching IRS tax law and fringe benefits to leading educational initiatives at Payroll Org showcases her dedication to the field. Laurel has transformative power in the payroll space. And whether you're new to payroll or a seasoned expert, her perspectives will offer valuable guidance on advancing your career and embracing continuing learning. Welcome to continuous learning.

[00:07:06] Welcome to the show, Laurel Sarah. Welcome to the show, Laurel. How you doing? I'm good. How are you guys? Amazing. Honored. Yes. So happy to have you on. Laurel pop up on another podcast and I was like, wait a minute, they could do podcasts? Because like I just said, I don't know, there was the restrictions and this and I was like, I didn't know that you could do it. And like I hit her up right. I was like, hey.

[00:07:36] Yeah. I'm happy to do it. I'm happy to join and always chat. Listen, anytime someone wants to talk to me about payroll. I know, right? Much to my husband's dismay. Oh my gosh. I'm going to talk about payroll. That's crazy. Yeah. No doubt. I mean, wait, wait. Do you come across that in like normal everyday life? Like outside of work or like just like, really? Yes. I am that nerd. I am like the person who.

[00:08:02] So I was at a quinceañera and I was at the bar getting a drink and the guy had just got there late. I was like, what are you running around leave for? And he said, I just got here from my other job. I was like, oh, what do you do? He's all. I'm a programmer for UKG. Wow. I think it just finds you. Yeah. It does. I was hiking on top of grandfather mountain. That's crazy. And I saw someone walking across the mile high bridge and they had this hat on that said work day. And my husband saw it too. And he looked at me. He goes, don't do it. Yeah.

[00:08:32] I can't. I can't. Do it. Talking to him. And he was in the exact same sales group as my sales guy from when I was at the state college. Oh my gosh. I actually knew who I was because I used to do sales calls for them. And I used to teach classes at Workday Rising too. Well, yep. It just finds it. Yeah. Well, well, then speaking of tell us, you know, we always start with the origin story. What got you into payroll? And then with the great Jodi Parsons says, why did you stay in payroll?

[00:09:03] It's funny that Jodi says that because I always think about where she is and who she works for. Of course, she's amazing. And I had a conversation with Nick Day previously about it, where we always have this idea of, I fell into payroll, which gives it this negative connotation. Exactly. And we really don't want to do that. Exactly. Like, we did make a concerted effort and choice to stay here and to be better at what we do. And back in the day, working at the PEO, I was like, I cannot get out of payroll fast enough. Like, I was done.

[00:09:30] And I remember helping some people there sit for their CPP exam, and I was teaching them about garnishments. And I remember thinking, like, why would I want to put themselves through this? I was like 21 years old. Fair. Fair. I really was not thinking long term. And then fast forward, here I am. And when I had left the PEO, I went to work for the state college. But when I was at the PEO, I had moved up into an implementation role. So I was bringing clients onto our services. And I was really enjoying that.

[00:10:00] But at the same time, I was like, when you work for a service provider, it is a different beast to work for. And while I learned so much about payroll, I learned about everything I wanted to be as an employee and a manager and everything I didn't want to be as an employee and a manager. But this opportunity arose at the state college. And one of my dear friends, Autumn D. Rinald, who also worked with us, she had said, hey, Palm Beach State College is hiring for an assistant supervisor. You should apply.

[00:10:29] And I was newly married. Knew I wanted to have a kid. Started to think about I needed to slow down a little. And so I applied. And I didn't hear anything for three months. Oh, my God. Yes. It was in November. And then they closed during the holidays. And I did not start until after spring break in mid-March. And I was there for 10 years. Wow. We went from three people to nine people by the time I left. Wow. Implemented a whole new ERP system plus a...

[00:10:56] We did a pay cycle change, everything at the exact same time. Nice. Wow. And it ended up being a really rewarding time there. I love having worked there. I still talk as often as I can with the team that is there. I got to help hire the person who replaced me. So, you know... That's awesome. I'm always around. Yeah. It's been a really cool journey to see how it's come around and where I've landed. And now to be at Payo is just... Yeah, I'm going on five years. Wow.

[00:11:24] I still remember getting that call and thinking, are you sure you're calling who you're calling? You're the right, Laurel. All the time I'm like, I read my bio and I'm like, who is that chick? She seems like she has her stuff together. Yes. What is going on? I don't know. I don't know. It's been wild. How'd you get into the PEO initially? Through a temp agency, ironically. Good old AOL chat rooms back then. Oh my gosh.

[00:11:54] You guys are elder millennials like I am. Yep. And I got really good at that 10 key and typing, getting in those chat rooms. And so when I went to the temp agency and they make you do the typing test, they go, you're a really fast typer. You'd be great at payroll. Okay. I was like, you're going to pay me? Whatever. I'll do whatever you pay me for. Sure. And so they placed me at a PEO. That one actually went under about three months. Yeah. That's probably going to be one of your horror stories. Oh my gosh. Three months I spent there.

[00:12:24] And a high school friend, now Margarita Zambrano, she worked at the PEO with us. She was Margarita Blythe or Melissa Blythe at the time. And so she was working at that PEO and said, hey, I know they're hiring. You should go talk to them. And so I came in as a new hire specialist instead of payroll. Nice. And that was just literally all day long loading employees. Wow. Having to key them in?

[00:12:53] Non-stop. Ooh. Yeah. It worked out for me because I learned a lot about I-9 compliance, the EEO forms, the W-4, what you can and can't provide. And then from there, I was able to move into the lead garnishment specialist when someone else was promoted, which was amazing. And that was quite the interesting job doing garnishment for a while. I really actually enjoyed that. There's a lot of background stories you can make up in your head when you're doing garnishment. Oh, that's so funny.

[00:13:23] Yes, of course. Yeah. Oh, gosh. And like, I forget what class it was in, but I was in a class and they were like telling us how many garnishments for one person that they had, how like max that you had to give for one person. I can't say necessarily how many total garnishments, but I think the biggest garnishment I ever saw was over a million dollars. Ooh. Yeah. And it had to do with a business that went under. Dang.

[00:13:53] Wife, divorced. Dang. That whole nine. So I always tell people, you have no idea what a garnishment could be for, whether it's from the IRS or Capital One. Yep. You have no idea. They could be for a bankruptcy. Someone was trying to save their house. That's right. Or a child that they wish they had custody of, or you just never know. Yeah. You know, until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes. Yeah. You just got to do the best you can. But I learned a lot about how to help people through those things. Because that's crazy.

[00:14:20] If you find out you're going to have a garnishment and they're leaving you with $174 a week for the IRS. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Trying to explain to people who can help them. And that's what I, when I'm teaching bootcamp and we're talking about garnishments, I always tell them, we have this knee-jerk reaction in payroll that we say, talk to your tax accountant or talk to a tax advisor or I can't help you with that. But we can. You can. Yeah. We see those documents all day, every day. That's right. And we're familiar with them. So why can't I point someone in the right direction?

[00:14:50] Like in IRS lobby, the first thing I say is call the taxpayer advocate's office. Nice. There is one in every major area and they are there to help you. Amazing. It's a free service. It's been eye-opening to see things like that and be able to know how to help people a little more. So a little goes a long way. Yeah. Sounds like one up your service that you give. You know, it's great. All right. You talk about leveling up your service. How many times has somebody asked you how to fill out a W-4?

[00:15:18] And we always say, I can't help you with that. But why can't we? Why can't I tell you which steps increase your liability and which steps decrease your liability? I'm not telling you need to file singles. That's right. I'm just telling you how these little pieces. Yes. Yes. You know who put that bug in my ear was Gerard Hall. He's the one that was like, stop saying that you can't help your people. Like you can. We can help. And I was like, you know what? You're right.

[00:15:45] And then, you know, limits and you got to be careful and kind of, you know, say like, hey, look, this is going to make it more. This is going to make it less. You got to make it no decision type of thing. Now I use his Excel spreadsheet he put out for the W-4 to help folks when they get into a jam. And they're like, how do I fill this out? I'm like, hold on. Let me send you a link. You know, shout out to Gerard. It's funny. One of my friends, she started a new job and she said, I have no idea how to fill this out. What am I doing?

[00:16:15] Wow. So I walked her through it and it was so funny because she ended up at the beginning of the year, owing a ton of money. And so when I walked her through the W-4 the next year, she ended up getting a little bit of a refund. And so part of what I did was I told her, take what you owed. Hey, this is William Tencup, Work to Fun. Hey, listen, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about Inside the C-Suite, the podcast.

[00:16:40] It's a look into the journey of how one goes from high school, college, whatever, all the way to the C-Suite, all the ups and downs, failures, successes, all that stuff. Give it a listen. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Divide it up over the number of paychecks that you're going to have and consider adding that as an additional amount just to make sure your basis is covered. And she did end up getting a refund and she was so thankful. They ended up taking me out to dinner and I'm always down for a meal. I heard that word.

[00:17:10] Let's go. For real. Okay. Awesome. All right. So let's go ahead. Hold just for the listeners. And you can ask the next question. Referencing back to PEO because Walt and Laurel actually go way back in the day. They started off at that PEO together. So they have history there. I love that part of it. We were young. We were snappers. That's right. We were. Go purple team. The purple team. All right, gosh. That was so fun. Lots of stories, but we'll save those for another time. Yeah.

[00:17:38] It's got to be like a fireside chat somewhere. Yeah. Some s'mores. Yeah. Okay. Look, what do you see as one of the biggest knowledge gaps in the payroll industry right now and how is payroll org working to help close those? Oh, that is a good one. I think one of the things that we face the most right now is that people assume that their

[00:18:06] system or their service provider is doing it right. Yes. Oh my gosh. And if you don't have the knowledge or the skill set to be able to double check, cross those T's and dot those I's, you're going to find yourself in hot water. I remember going to sit and I took the payroll 201 course in Las Vegas to get my CPP exam, CPP certification. And she started to explain how overtime was calculated.

[00:18:35] And there's a knee jerk reaction. When you ask anybody what they make in overtime, they tell you time and a half. But overtime isn't time and a half. It's the half. That's the premium. Because you're still entitled to your regular pay for every hour you work. And I proceeded to argue with the teacher. Wait, were you already at pay-o when this was happening? No. Oh my God. I was going to say. I was a student, but I proceeded to argue with her. I was like, no, I work for a state agency. I think I know how to do it.

[00:19:04] And I went back and I was reading the book and I remember calling my team going, I think we're doing this wrong. Which we were. We corrected it and we back paid people and everything. Anywhere we found that we owed anyone money, it was paid out. Oh, wow. I had one employee. We went back a couple of years actually and made it whole. Yeah, absolutely. Let me actually hear what that though. Did you have to get permission to pay all those back wages? So here's the thing.

[00:19:31] I see a lot of payroll professionals who are afraid to be confident in what they know and to stand up for that. And the right thing to do when you find out that your organization is out of compliance and not paying someone appropriately is to make sure they get paid right. And I used to joke that the controller would say, we don't have the budget for that. And my response to him was always, the budget isn't my job. My job is to keep you compliant and to pay them. No doubt. Now, if somebody's working overtime and they're not supposed to be because they don't have

[00:20:01] a budget, that is a disciplinary issue. That's right. That's something you need to take up with HR. But you hired me to do a job and that is to keep you compliant. And I assure you that I am not trying to over or underpay anyone. I want it. The only thing I have is my name. That's right. I got to where I am now because I am going to fight for what's right. And when you find these companies who aren't paying appropriately, it can be really hard to break that down to them and say, it's not right.

[00:20:29] I have people ask me all the time, oh, my son got their first check. Why is their overtime showing up this way or that way? Or why is it separated here? And I always tell people, bring me your time sheets. I'll look at them. Bring me your paycheck. I'll look at them. No doubt. I've had friends bring me jump drives, follow W2 information, and I'm auditing it. Awesome. They're getting their premiums. But to circle back to what you said, it's a certain amount of helping people learn.

[00:20:56] It's also helping them understand that they have to take ownership of that as well. We teach these classes in and out all day. Whether it's a CPB boot camp or it's an hour and a half webinar, just because we're leaving the horse to water doesn't mean we're making them drink. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And so one of the things I've really been focused on with Dan Dykus, he's the senior director of education services, is really trying to elevate what we're doing.

[00:21:22] Not just a regular webinar where everybody's logging in to get the RCH credits, but really interacting with people and engaging them so that they are actually getting those cogs turning in their head and they're actually going, oh, wow, maybe we're not doing that. Or maybe we need to be applying this here or there, like double checking your service provider, making sure they've updated the tax tables at the end of the year. Are they ready for secure 2.0? Yep. Were they ready for the electronic transmittal of your informational returns?

[00:21:51] There's a lot of things coming, especially with Tax Cut and Jobs Act. So we are constantly thinking about different ways that we can approach a program, different ways that we can deliver the program and really just to figure out how we can make sure that in a day of instant gratification, that we're still getting them to understand the value of either certifying and getting that certification or at least doing continuing education to continue

[00:22:20] to upskill themselves so that they can be a bigger, better professional out there in the workforce. Amazing. Amazing. So in your opinion, how have training and speaking of certification, how have training and certification, how the needs for them evolved over the last few years, especially with remote work and maybe global payroll becoming more common? Yeah.

[00:22:48] Global payroll is a whole nother beast and we can touch on that in a moment. It's all, yeah, for real. If you look over the last year or so, the last few years, obviously we had this push to remote work with the pandemic. Many people found themselves working from home, sheltering in place. Payroll.org was already teaching remote classes at that point. Bootcamp was already remote. They already had a platform going live.

[00:23:14] So the cool thing is at Payo, which I joined in July of 2020. Oh, wow. They were already teaching classes and they pivoted their Congress that year of 2020 into a virtual delivery so that people could still partake in it and still come together and network, whether it's through the chat room or other things. But they are constantly trying to consider different ways to approach. Now, the thing that I find the best is as you see this transition of generations in and out of the

[00:23:44] workforce, you're seeing Gen Z and millennials who are a little more conscious or rather maybe they're watching the different ways that people need to learn. Not everyone learns the same way. Not everyone is neurotypical. Some people are neurodiverse. Whether it's I need you to have closed captioning for me because I'm hearing impaired or if I

[00:24:08] need you to have a more dynamic presentation where you're asking questions to keep my attention because I can't focus. Those are all things that we're constantly trying to consider and adapt to. Whether it's looking at the color difference and variance between the background and the foreground of words. That's how deep sometimes we get. And for myself, I manage the Patreon product, which is part of Bootcamp, but also separate. And that is my baby. I work so hard on Patreon.

[00:24:37] And I already started on 2026 updates. Nice. Even though 2025 just launched a month ago. Literally a month ago. Yeah. And it's because there's always more that we can do. Whether we're adding more dynamic questions or our 2025 product launched. And now we have audio capabilities of the books. Awesome. Or we have an interactive e-reader of that program where it now pops up these questions. Oh, wow. To check your understanding. Yeah.

[00:25:05] So we have a whole new user interface on Patreon this year. I'm so excited. That's awesome.

[00:25:35] You told me this is what we're supposed to do. Yeah. But you're going to be in a better position when you say, I'm a CPP. I'm certified. Yes. I assure you this is what you're supposed to do. I have tested on this knowledge. I know what we're supposed to be doing. Awesome. No doubt. So what advice would you give someone new to payroll who's unsure where to start, how to grow? Where to start and how to grow?

[00:26:02] My first question is always to somebody, what kind of experience do you have in general? And I always said, even when I worked at the college, I could teach anyone to do payroll. Anyone can do payroll. Anyone can learn it. If you have a will and a desire to learn and grow. And although there was a point in time when payroll was this back office solution, we still have to up our game when it comes to customer service and being involved with people because we are a people side of the organization.

[00:26:31] Even though there's this struggle of HR payroll at times, we're still supposed to be working cohesively together. So we have to understand that dynamic. And if you can face that challenge and understand that and you have that willingness, you can learn. I've had people in our classes. I had a woman in there who was a single mom going through a program that covered so that she could take the fundamental payroll certification bootcamp. Wow. I was blown away. It's amazing.

[00:26:59] When we start a series of classes like that, our FPC bootcamp is 12 classes long and then CBP is 21. We always start with who are you? How long have you been in payroll? What industry are you in? What's the thing that scares you the most? And we always get taxes, stock, benefits. And I get everything from six months in payroll to 32 years in payroll. Wow. It's always all over the spectrum.

[00:27:24] And I always tell everybody there's so many different nuances within payroll that just processing a check, so to speak, is not all it is. Some people are very focused on analytics as far as what our costs are. Where can we have savings? Can we earn interest on deposits? Are there other areas? What about the benefit side of it? Are we offering good benefits to our employees to have high value compensation plans? Or am I doing configuration?

[00:27:53] Am I doing HRIS systems? Or am I the one overseeing the team who's making sure it all comes together? So there's a little bit for everyone depending on where they want to be. You can still be a back office person and you can be a report writer, a number cruncher, an analytics person. So you got to find something that speaks to you and then dive in wholeheartedly and learn as much as you possibly can. Yeah. Yeah. I was just reading, um, uh, payroll.

[00:28:21] He was just covering that about like, you know, have, if you, if you were talking about how folks, you know, find themselves like at rock bottom and may. But if you have that will to reinvent yourself, if you have that gumption to just kind of, you know what, I'm going to dive into this. I'm going to make the best out of this. And I'm going to come at it really, you know, enthusiastic that you can change your career. You can change your trajectory. So that spoke to me a lot. Um, so yeah. It's wild.

[00:28:49] I'm telling you, there's really, my son's in seventh grade and it's so funny because he'll hear me talking about a payroll issue and he's like, even I know about those taxes. Oh my God. So he really listens to you. He's over here in your whole deal. There was one day he came home and he said, how much do you make? And I said, one day, Bubby, I will tell you because I do believe in transparency. Sure. And I will share that with you. I want you to know what I make and what's out there. I said, but how much do you think I make? He's, I don't know, like $400,000.

[00:29:19] I'm like, I wish I did, but I don't. And I said, how much do you think per hour that is? And he goes, $20. Oh my God. I said, if mommy works 40 hours, how much is that? And so he did the calculation. This is the kid who used to write math tests on the tip receipt for the waitress saying she'd love it. Oh my gosh. And so he wrote it out and I said, okay, don't forget. We have to pay taxes, but let's first make sure we know how much that is.

[00:29:44] So I made him do 52 weeks and we got the year and he was like, okay, so how much comes out for tax? I said, which tax? Let's just use 22% for now for federal income tax. I said, we've got social security and Medicare. And he's okay. What are those? So I explained them to him. And then I said, he goes, okay, do you get to take home everything after that? I said, no, because I got to pay for you to go to the doctor. So I got to have health insurance and I got to have retirement. And so we did this calculation where we compared the $20 earnings and it ended up being like a $14 take home pay.

[00:30:14] And he was just blown away by that. But it's interesting that his mind was able to wrap around the whole concept that there's so many different nuances within it. And they push for STEM. It's really important for even that next generation that's moving from high school into college either to at least understand their pay and what's coming out of it. Yes.

[00:30:40] And or knowing that this is a profession worth pursuing because people will always have to be paid. Yep. It's going to be here no matter what. It doesn't matter if there's AI or not. If there's AI, then we're going to need engineers who know how to work AI. That's right. Or people who know how to prompt AI. That's right. Or who know how to check it and tell it when it's hallucinating. That's right. That's right. Right. Oh, my gosh. Anita Latink brought that up in one of the posts. She was talking about it and now she said something about hallucination.

[00:31:09] And I was like, oh, my God, I hadn't even thought about that. And that's definitely something that needs to be thought out as we progress into the AI world. And I rant Dave about this all the time on this show that we will become payroll pilots. Right. Like there's no doubt that AI will become a part of our world. I don't know if we'll be still working to see it, but it will be there. And it's a game for us for sure.

[00:31:36] ServiceNow unterstützt Ihre Business Transformation mit der KI-Plattform. Alle reden über KI, aber die KI ist nur so leistungsfähig wie die Plattform, auf der sie aufbaut. Lassen Sie die KI arbeiten, für alle. Beseitigen Sie Reibung und Frustration Ihrer Mitarbeiter und nutzen Sie das volle Potenzial Ihrer Entwickler. Mit intelligenten Tools für Ihren Service, um Kunden zu begeistern. All das auf einer einzigen Plattform. Deshalb funktioniert die Welt mit ServiceNow. Mehr auf servicenow.de slash AI for people.

[00:32:06] It's funny because a member of our team recently took one of our questions. So part of Payroll Congress right now is we're doing this challenge, this trivia challenge, asking these payroll questions. And they took one of the questions about group term life insurance. And they put it into an AI platform and asked it to solve it. And the response was so eloquent and so professional. And then it proceeded to break down how it came up with the calculation. It looked so incredibly official, but it was incredibly wrong.

[00:32:36] Wow. It even cited the wrong sources. Oh my gosh. It did not comprehend properly. But it seemed so official. If I hadn't known any better, if they'd not known any better, someone would have taken that and just ran with it. So yeah, you got to watch out for that AI. For sure. I mean, at the time, like double check your sources regardless of where they come from, because the state and the federal are the truth. And they're going to tell it. They're not hiding foe. They want you to have it. So you can always double check it against there.

[00:33:06] Yeah. Amazing. All right. I'm connected on payroll, right? My little one is 10 years old and she goes to, um, they're here in Broward. That's called biz town. And the pubs go there and they do mock working and this stuff like that. And I was able to go with her chaperoned the trip and she got the role of CFO.

[00:33:32] And as they prepared the kids for it, it's two things happened. And one, it was very interesting that they boiled the CFO role down to payroll, cutting checks. So when they did that big screen, all the kids is like movie theater style. She's, she's looked at me and was like payroll. And it was such an amazing moment for me, right? As a payroll to see my daughter connect with it because not the kids, right?

[00:34:01] Like they don't connect to this stuff and it's hard to get them to connect to it. And now every Friday, she's like Friday. Nice. You got a little cheerleader over there, but if you think back to when we were kids about the adults in our lives, whether it's a parent or a grandparent, unless they were a nurse, a teacher or a doctor, did we really grasp and understand what they did for a profession? No. Because I certainly did. Not at all. Yeah.

[00:34:28] But I have such a bigger appreciation now for all of those people in my lives who did work hard, especially being on the other side of payroll where we see so much. Yep. What people make, what's coming out, what they want to come out and what they don't want coming out. So we have access to this information that it really gives a little bit of perspective. And when we worked for the service provider, I worked for Kathy Lively in our compliance and underwriting department.

[00:34:56] We were always doing some form of motivational book or something for team building. And there was this program that we did. I want to say it was Gung Ho with Ken Blanchard. And it was all about worthwhile work. And it came from a Native American who would observe all of the different people and animals and what they were doing, whether they were foraging food for the winter. They always took joy and pride in what they were doing because they saw the bigger picture.

[00:35:23] And I'll never forget it because it's always given me this perspective of I need to look at the bigger picture of what I'm doing. Am I cutting a paycheck? Yes. Yes. But I'm helping everyone who works for this organization put food on the table for their family, have medical coverage for themselves, to be able to go out and live their day-to-day life. And if they don't ever have to speak to me, then I've done a good job. Word. It reminds me of something that Adrian Stowe and I connected on when we had him on.

[00:35:52] And he said that payroll is life. It is, right? Because one missed pay or one short pay can drastically impact someone's life, you know, and could cause them stress. Stress. And it could impact them in such a major way that they can throw their whole livelihood off. Yeah. And not only that, it throws their livelihood off and the entire organization out of sleep. Yep.

[00:36:18] If that person is now stressed, they're not performing to where they should be. Absolutely. Or could be. And if they don't come in because they're upset that they're not going to get paid, that's putting stress on other people in the organization. And it just has this total snowball. Yeah. I think that's why so many of us just take it seriously. We always aim for that perfect paycheck. And we know that a lot of times it doesn't happen.

[00:36:42] But it's all that grace and compassion that we approach it with that helps people understand that we really are trying to make sure that it's good for them. For sure. All right. So, what skills or competencies do you think the payroll professional of the future will need to thrive? Humor. No doubt. Humor. I think there has to be always problem solving.

[00:37:12] Problem solving is like the biggest thing that we do, right? Yes. We're investigating a new law, a new regulation. Is it pending? Is it not? Is it in the system? Is it not? Are people loaded? Always figuring it out. Even if it's someone who just calls and says, I didn't get my check. And you go, okay, hold on. Let's take a step back. First, let's figure out if we paid you. Did you submit a timesheet? Did you change your direct deposit? Did your timesheet go over to your supervisor and they not approve it? So, we're always constantly dealing with these challenges and trying to help find solutions for them.

[00:37:41] I don't think that will ever go away. So, whether you have that now or later, you're always going to need it. And it's only going to help you in everything else in your life anyway because if you can easily adapt and overcome, then you can handle anything. For real. But I also think that you always have to maintain a certain amount of curiosity and challenge. Always challenge what's happening. Challenge what's going on. Challenge the system. Yes.

[00:38:08] Challenge that perfect check that came out to see if it truly is. They used to laugh at me if I was looking for a penny variance because I want to know where that penny variance came from. And I need to know where that penny variance came from. And if I know where it came from, why did it happen? Or how can I fix it? How can we make it better?

[00:38:27] If you constantly have that curiosity and that drive to push forward and challenge things, it definitely, one, will show how much you are a strategic partner to an organization. As well as that you're the person they need to watch. That you're going to be the one who's going to be rising to the top because you're constantly pushing the organization to be better and do better. So always have that drive. I love it. I had a control that scared me.

[00:38:57] Really, my first payroll job, he said, penny up way could be a million dollars the other way. And I was like, that always stuck with me. So I never took any variances for granted. I would just always be like, sure, like you said, how to dip in. I encourage teams always, don't worry about the mistakes. Tell me, let's talk about the mistakes. And Ray Dalio, it's in his book and principles about like, you want the errors to be documented.

[00:39:26] So you know how to driving those errors, how to fix them. You only get better from it. Right. If you're not sharing the errors and the mistakes and can't cover stuff up, like there's no covering. I made a rookie mistake the other day and I immediately told my leaders, like, guys, I just made a rookie mistake. Just letting you know, just so if it comes back on somewhere else, you be here first. Right. Like, you about something else who I forgot now. Oh, my purpose. Cause well, I'm talking about it.

[00:39:53] And I was like, you know what, what is my, I mean, we've been having this conversation for a while and I don't think it's the cutting the check and all payroll is life. It's the problem solving for me. It's the part that, that drives me. You know, when I'm fortunately, like it's, it's a sword when payroll is quiet because score payday, right? Payday is quiet. I won, but like, damn bored. When did I do now?

[00:40:22] You know, it was like, uh-huh. And you're like, okay. I don't get, you know, but then that's, then it's got to propel you into solving the future problems. Right. And looking, challenging things. And I told, we talked about the handbook, the employee handbook. And I was like, you know, not everything in there is right for the process. So you can challenge the, cause back in the day, these handbooks were written without automation and without all this, like, and the handbook and updated in 20 years. Then guess what? The automation now is different.

[00:40:52] It'll actually drive policy change because you can do it better now. So don't be afraid to say, wait, why do we do this? You know, I tell my two juniors that look any, like if any of the change, let's try to change it. Let's challenge that. So. It's funny you say that because there's this, there's a story of a young woman getting married. Right. And she goes to her grandmother and says, I want to make a roast. He goes, oh, I'll tell you later how I make my roast.

[00:41:19] And so she goes to the mom and mom goes, okay, you get the roast, you cut it in half, put it in the pan and you put it in the oven for so long. And she goes, why do I cut it in half? She goes, I don't know. That's the way we always did it. So we just cut it in half, save it for later. And you cut it. And so the girl finally sits down with the grandmother and the grandmother goes, I only cut it because my pan was too small. So when I was at the state college, I questioned everything. So during the summer, they close on Fridays. They work four 10 hour days.

[00:41:46] And during the winter, they close for that week of Christmas, New Year, usually about two weeks. If payday fell on one of those days, they paid the last working day. So when you're close for two weeks and you're on a semi-monthly payroll, we would pay December 15th. And then the December 31st check would get paid on the 17th. And then no one got paid again until January 15th. Wow. I don't know about you. Like, okay, I'm halfway decent with balancing finances, but I'm not that decent. That's right. A week before Christmas. Oh, no, it's not.

[00:42:16] It's not going to look good, yo. I would ask. I don't know. That's the way we always did it. That's the way we always did it. And I finally ended up in someone's office who had been there since they were a student worker at the age of 17. Wow. And they said, oh, I can tell you why we do that. Because we used to take the hard disk and bring it over to the bank so that they could take the ACH file off of it. Wow. This is 2018.

[00:42:44] In 2018, they were doing that. Yep. So that got changed. We immediately changed. There's no reason why you can't pay someone on the day that your company is closed. Exactly. As long as you've had a bank day. You've got to constantly challenge those different things. Whether it's the handbook or a way someone does it. And I got to sit at, I went up to the National Payroll Institute's conference in Halifax last year.

[00:43:07] And I was doing these tech roundtables where I would talk with people about their different technical things that they're facing and issues. And this woman says, stop asking why. And start asking, wow, that's fascinating. Tell me more. Because when people hear why, they have this knee-jerk reaction of that's how I do it. And why are you questioning me? They get defensive. When you start telling people. When you say, oh, that's interesting. Tell me more.

[00:43:35] People want to talk about themselves because the approach is completely different. And you have to do the same thing at your organization, whether you're new there or you're old there. Tell me more. How did we fall into this? Where did this come from? It's very fascinating. It's a good one. I like that. You can really find a lot that way. I like that. I like that. Honestly, we could probably talk to you for hours. So as we wrap it up here, what excites you the most about the direction of the payroll industry?

[00:44:04] The Use Case Podcast is where technology vendors get to talk about themselves. And it's a wonderful place for vendors, investors, and practitioners to listen to the story of the solution, the features, the benefits, the attributes, etc. And we get to know the CEO or founder during the call. And we also get to know the tech. So subscribe to the Use Case Podcast.

[00:44:32] I think right now it's seeing the new people rise. When I came on board at Payroll Org, I was the youngest instructor they ever had. Oh, wow. I was the only one who ever had a school-aged child. My son was in like third grade at the time. Everyone else had older children or grandchildren. They had been in their careers for 30, 40 years. We've got Larry who's been at Payroll Org for 17 years as an instructor. Wow. He's been in the industry a long time.

[00:45:01] Or Jim Medlock who's been at payroll Congress. I know Jim, yo. Yo, many of his classes. He said to me last year, I bet I've been to more payroll Congresses than you are years old. I said actually I'm the same age as Congress, so stop. But I think the really cool thing is getting to sit back and see this shift of no longer are we talking so poorly about millennials. It's shifted a bit to Gen Z, but they don't deserve it.

[00:45:30] It's always adapting and changing it way better. But it's seeing the new wave of professionals come through in their curiosity, what's fueling them, and seeing how that is driving industry changes, benefits, EWA, work-life balance programs that companies are looking at, or compensation plans other than just salary adjustments.

[00:45:51] So it's very interesting to see as this new wave of professionals start to come to the top and start teaching and speaking out and sharing what they've learned. It's a really cool time to be at Payroll Org for myself. And I came in. This will be my 11th Congress that I go to. Wow. Yes. And my first one, I was like, this is going to be the most boring and mundane thing I've ever seen in my life. Oh, thank God I'm in Vegas so I can gamble. And I didn't gamble a single time.

[00:46:20] I had the best time. Everyone was incredible. Good. And it really lit a fire under me seeing how people were so passionate about what we did in this profession. And for me, it really helped me with my career and seeing that there was a path and that this is worthwhile. And to see others get that bug, it's really cool to watch. I'm really excited to see the next 10 years. That's awesome.

[00:46:48] So any initiatives, courses, events that you want to share for the listeners? Of course, we've got Payroll Congress next month, which is incredible. Very exciting. If you are in Florida, there is no reason why you should not be going. It is going to be May. I want to make sure I give you right. I always say the wrong. May 13th. I was going to say 12th. May 13th through the 16th. Okay. At the Gaylord in Orlando. Okay. So you should be there if you're in Florida.

[00:47:18] And what's the website that folks could go to? Is it payrollorg.com? You can go to payroll.org or payrollcongress.com. Okay. And then at the end of April, we are kicking off our CPP boot camps for the 2025 exam period. They're going to be the last week of April and the first week of May that we'll start the next 21 segments with the brand new program. So that's going to be incredible. Amazing. Awesome. All right.

[00:47:48] Well, thanks folks for joining us and more of Laurel Sarah to come. Check her out on Nick Day's podcast as well. Check her out on LinkedIn. She's just a titan of payroll. Yes. So we love you. Peace. Hold on. Don't leave. Before we sign off, here are a couple of quick things.

[00:48:18] Don't forget to follow. It's about payroll on LinkedIn. And it's about your paycheck on Facebook and TikTok. Thank you for being part of our payroll community. And thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Until the next time, keep learning, keep growing. And most importantly, keep going. Keep going.