Payroll Conversations w/ Nov Omana, HRIP (Episode 103)

[00:00:00] So, financial wellness is getting into what I call the things that didn't teach in school. Balance

[00:00:07] in your check, how to play your bills correctly, how to understand what APR means, what does

[00:00:12] it mean to have a balanced transfer from one credit card to the other?

[00:00:30] We have something for you. Welcome back, folks. This is episode 103. It's about payroll.

[00:00:41] We're talking about... we actually have a guest today, knob O. Omana, but before that

[00:00:47] we got some pay news for you and how are you doing today, sir?

[00:00:51] I am doing good, sir. Let's get right into it, sir.

[00:00:54] All right, my first article is about AI. 39% of employees believe that the current level

[00:01:02] of AI involvement in the HR process is appropriate, whereas 20% prefer more. So it's the AI conversation.

[00:01:12] Paycheck did a study and they revealed that benefits and challenges of AI and how the

[00:01:20] opinions vary across HR professionals. This study found that 41% of employees surveyed prefer

[00:01:28] less AI involvement in their company, whereas 39% say just leave it out how it is and 20% said

[00:01:38] no they want more AI. The professionals who responded to the survey, 85% say that AI provides

[00:01:46] useful data and analytics at 79% believe it's helping to reduce bias. So almost all of them

[00:01:54] think that it's good, but they're so split on whether it should increase, stay the same

[00:02:00] or not. It's interesting because we're honestly talking about this subject. The link is in

[00:02:05] the show notes if you want to dig on in. So I just wanted to share that little bit of it

[00:02:09] which you guys are. I also have something really quick. It's so much

[00:02:15] information that I'm not going to go through a little bit, but I will also share the document or

[00:02:21] the link for it in the show notes as well. But the Pew PW Research Center did some research

[00:02:29] about AI and the exposure to jobs, workers and stuff like that. Fascinating data on that that

[00:02:35] you can go find out for yourself. And I'll just give you three different percentage points

[00:02:40] and then we'll move on from here. From all workers that are currently employed in the US,

[00:02:46] team percent of our own workers have jobs that are exposed to AI. Right? Meaning that mess right

[00:02:54] now so that was as of 2022 percentage is definitely going up. So think about that was 2022

[00:03:01] as we involved more that's going to impact more. But at this time of this article it was 19%

[00:03:07] put that into a more of a different understanding. Women at that time were impacted by 21%

[00:03:15] and men, 17% of workers in the US had exposure to AI. They're coming up with all these

[00:03:24] different tools. They're coming up with all these things like chat GPT or open AI rather. They

[00:03:30] have something that's called Sora that's out there as this text video and they're saying like how

[00:03:36] a lot of these editors would be impacted by that. A lot of these video people are going to be

[00:03:41] impacted by that but just pipe something in and it can create what you want in an instant and make

[00:03:46] it look very real. It's going to be impacting those people. Now on the flip side with the last

[00:03:53] couple of steps that I have is from the education piece of how people with degrees are going to

[00:03:59] versus people who have some college and high school degrees. It says your exposure to AI that

[00:04:04] you don't have a GAB or don't have a high school diploma or less 3%. If you are a high school grad

[00:04:14] have 12% exposure. Have some college it goes up to 19%. Here's the tricky point when it gets to

[00:04:22] plus this 2022 it was 27% almost 30% jobs that was back in 2022 so and that's what we

[00:04:33] found interesting because I know we talked about that before. It's man like while the people with

[00:04:37] the degrees be impacted more so than the people don't have degrees and my idea for that was like oh

[00:04:45] companies may be able to save money because they won't have to pay those higher salaries they

[00:04:49] can pay some money. Maybe not has a little bit lower standard education but it could do the job.

[00:04:55] You know, we're going to continue to see how it shapes the workforce but it's definitely going

[00:05:01] to have impact as HR and payroll professionals I urge us to just stay on top of it get in the

[00:05:07] know learn more be the liaison be the practitioner that kind of implements and usheres into AI

[00:05:15] and the technology instead of being a victim of it really. So yeah good stuff man because our

[00:05:21] guest should jump on any second his name is Nav Olmana and we're honored to have this

[00:05:27] end of the HR technology field renowned for his expertise in shaping HR technology strategies

[00:05:33] processes and systems our guest stands out for their thought leadership innovative use of

[00:05:38] technology and deep knowledge of HR technology vendor community excelling in creating new solutions

[00:05:45] to complex business problems. All right, they're strategic thinker with a knack for operational

[00:05:51] efficiencies known for their role in transforming workforce and HR practices through cutting edge

[00:05:57] technology and strategic planning. Join us as we dive into a conversation that promises to shed light

[00:06:04] on the future of HR technology operational transformation strategic planning payroll all

[00:06:11] through the lens of our distinguished guests. No or no, find out in a second. Welcome

[00:06:19] no to the show. How you doing today sir? Doing fine thank you we're I think on the tail end of a

[00:06:25] very large rainstorm so I'm dressed up a little on the warm side and you're on the west coast right?

[00:06:32] Yeah yeah I'm in San Francisco and we've got the records no in our mountains. Oh wow

[00:06:38] I heard last night 195 mile an hour winds at the top of the peaks and it long goodness

[00:06:44] I didn't sound right but what can I say wow yeah crazy I'm not I haven't been to San Francisco

[00:06:53] is it do you get the four seasons there? No we wait like I say it's a very more west post laid back

[00:07:00] we get the fog we get a little bit of rain we had a drought for a while but I think we have

[00:07:05] certainly come out of that we don't have a snow in the city but we have had snow in the hills

[00:07:10] type of thing but yeah go go is four hours away and it's like another world wow wow that's

[00:07:17] awesome I got to visit the west coast summa all right so no tell us how'd you get into payroll

[00:07:23] how did your work begin over lapel piece he seems to give a strong HR technology but you tell us

[00:07:31] well it's I I getingly say to most of the people in both H.A.R. and payroll you fall into this

[00:07:37] discipline oh god yeah I always say and I'm still looking for the exit and I can't seem to find it

[00:07:42] though what's there in that's it we keep you I had worked for Bank of America for quite some time

[00:07:49] and as a teenager just working if you will Saturdays and so on and when I got out of college they

[00:07:54] offered me an opportunity to go through data processing which at that time was relatively new

[00:08:00] to what was going on in the bank they'd always had a lot of electronics going on but human resources

[00:08:05] and that became a little more prevalent so I was assigned to their internal project to upgrade

[00:08:11] their payroll system I will tell you I will put it to you this way we had never imagined

[00:08:18] that taxes would go over $990 999 99 cents well the first time that Social Security went

[00:08:27] over that 10,000 mark we scrambled so it's time to get a new system but that's I literally found

[00:08:33] myself working on a brand new payroll system from the scratch I won't tell you how many vendors were

[00:08:39] but there were that many in the field it's not a whole lot of choices but once you get into payroll

[00:08:47] because you begin to appreciate its importance if you will and I to me there's just a lot about payroll

[00:08:55] that we'll certainly talk about it but it's just it's at the heart and soul of a lot of things

[00:08:59] are going on these days that's right awesome that's great so now so let's talk a little bit about

[00:09:06] what you do right we brought up these topics about what does payroll look like as an end product and

[00:09:12] what does that mean I think I know what it means but I'd love to hear well what you mean by

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[00:10:19] go dot com or you can call 888 321 9922 that's 888 321 9922 let's go well I guess I would

[00:10:35] characterize my career literally from day one it has been in the human resources payroll and I

[00:10:41] always say human resources but it really does include human resources benefit payroll all of the

[00:10:47] popular terms of recruiting and engagement and all the South waves so I just call it HR just for

[00:10:53] yeah briefest situation but literally I have been in that HR technology area looking at and working

[00:11:01] with the technology that supports this growing area has become even more important as we've

[00:11:05] gone to a hybrid workforce but the interesting thing about payroll which has always been the

[00:11:11] mechanics at the back end of my phone systems and that's why I think people look at payroll

[00:11:16] if it literally payroll is the system that touches everybody from the CEO all the way down to do

[00:11:23] if you well the janitor if they're being paid by the company so you look at that and say there's

[00:11:28] no other system and I truly mean that there is no other system in any organization that touches

[00:11:34] everyone and so we stop think about that payroll is the heart and soul of the workforce

[00:11:42] and I will save for my experience and I won't go into a great detail but I certainly know when

[00:11:47] you make a mistake in payroll everybody knows it and it's one of those kind of things where

[00:11:54] it has always been the mainstay in fact like I say my first career in that HR technology space was

[00:12:00] working on a payroll system that was you had to pay the fee and take the taxes and all that

[00:12:05] stuff and the mechanics of payroll has always been pretty straightforward there's a gross

[00:12:09] that aren't going to be paid and take out all my taxes and then you give me some net at the end

[00:12:13] and maybe that's a check or a direct deposit or whatever it's all the things between gross and net

[00:12:19] has changed a vast taxes of change new taxes are being brought in if I'm working in two or three

[00:12:26] different little cows there's different taxes in there there's benefits in a pre-tax and post-tax

[00:12:32] and so on you garnishing so that whole range between gross and net has become very volatile and

[00:12:40] again staying on top of it is part of that payroll world state very much in compliance

[00:12:46] and to me payroll is like I say the hard and sole of what we're trying to do sometimes and it

[00:12:51] does touch everyone wow yeah you're right and it's like you phrased it the end product and it's

[00:12:59] the end product that everybody we had somebody on the show that says payroll is life

[00:13:05] and I have a generous story Adrian Resto yep and Adrian shout out because I have I'm trying to

[00:13:11] reach out somebody so busy any who we hope we save this story a lot because me and Walt were

[00:13:18] in preparation of that first interview with Adrian we were like well gosh he's really taking

[00:13:23] this seriously payroll is life all goodness and when you hear him speak about why he thinks his

[00:13:29] life it's very similar to what you just said he said well Brian and Walter William the my hands

[00:13:37] is responsible for paying all of these employees and those employees go out and pay their mortgage

[00:13:43] and they eat and they live with the money that I am responsible for delivering and I was at

[00:13:49] a paraphrase but I was like holy crap he's right he's right we've been doing payroll over 20 years

[00:13:54] and we're like wow we just never thought about it like that when you're articulated like that

[00:14:00] it's such a different impact and you're right too because you're the one system that hits everybody

[00:14:06] in the organization as opposed to hey I use this other system here and it's just my team that

[00:14:11] touches it and then nobody else uses it it's the one thing that hits all it is the one end product

[00:14:17] and yeah that's incredible I would say that Adrian was quite right because the old adage

[00:14:22] we work to live we don't live to work and literally payroll is the end product of living fuel

[00:14:29] we get that paycheck as he say it's what it allows us to do what we need to do for ourselves and

[00:14:34] you've an extended like coming this Amphacistica one of these days yeah yeah yeah exactly

[00:14:41] exactly so now tell us a little bit about is this your company collective HR solutions yes it is

[00:14:47] okay tell us a little bit about that and what now well as you can see the sign behind me

[00:14:53] I love it a lot of things but I have to say and interestingly enough this sign was made almost 20

[00:15:00] years ago so it was just an existence 20 years it is a model that I have adopted everybody that

[00:15:07] worked for me are contractors and that model really has allowed me to bring the right types of people

[00:15:13] to the clients that I'm serving and for the most part I'm there to help them assess their

[00:15:18] technology stack do they need to upgrade it do bring in something new do we just leave shall we say

[00:15:25] clean it up sometimes but and you'll hear me say this a couple of times that the information

[00:15:31] we collect in the world of HR being HR benefits and payroll has to have the highest integrity

[00:15:37] and highest accuracy because we are now recognizing that this is an information asset that really

[00:15:44] reflects the workforce and for me to run a business I've got my financial system I've got my CRR

[00:15:50] manufacturing whatever it's wise it suddenly we recognize that the workforce as a system and

[00:15:56] information is a very important perspective to run the business as a manager of the CEO whatever

[00:16:02] the case might be you need to know what your people are doing and why you're paying because well

[00:16:07] so yeah we've been in this business for quite some time and like I said the primary sector that

[00:16:15] we serve are what I call the smaller medium business I find them to be very agile

[00:16:20] open and thinking and really in some cases they have the same big problems that the other

[00:16:25] guys have got just a limited budget and perhaps a limited resources which I'd leverage that but it's

[00:16:31] I've enjoyed the this particular sector first well a lot the great here says it all for a long time

[00:16:39] nice I love it I love it so now being in that situation how do you use analytics

[00:16:45] to help your clients make do you help do you use it to help them make decisions to see that's

[00:16:51] what analytics are for are we hope it drives great business decisions do you find that's the case

[00:16:58] it's interesting you say you're right the analytics really do drive great decisions on the data driven

[00:17:04] decision making perspective that we talk about all the time but I think people have been a little

[00:17:09] bit reluctant to move to from reporting to analytics reporting is always an especially let's go

[00:17:16] back to the world payroll very easily here's all the people are paid here's a list of people there's

[00:17:20] so much of costs here's the taxes we file etc that's great analytics is a kind of a layer on top of

[00:17:26] that basically then says what oh well one is that payroll perspective in other words let me take a

[00:17:35] look at everybody who's married but claiming only one exemption what does that indicate to me now

[00:17:42] is are they undertaking their payroll taxes and then having to pay at the end of the year so those

[00:17:49] analytics and it's not to be should we say invading the privacy but more long lines do they know

[00:17:55] that the reason I have to pay so much years they don't have the right exemptions on the W4 so

[00:18:00] analytics looking at how well people are positioned to do the right thing across the board

[00:18:07] and I love the analytics in fact I will come back again to the world of payroll and say we have not

[00:18:12] dealt very much into the world of payroll and I will say associated that the time production side

[00:18:18] in other words if I have to put my time in if I'm an hourly worker that time really is a productivity

[00:18:25] database that I would almost say most companies should say everybody feels out of time she

[00:18:31] including the CEO and the reason that is is because that shows you exactly what the work force is

[00:18:37] doing how much time they're spending if I had a manufacturing situation I know I'm tracking the

[00:18:42] time being spent on the shop floor I can relate how much time is done with the output of the product

[00:18:49] that we do a really good job if we increase our productivity and I have to go overtime and maybe

[00:18:54] put in new machinery we have seen level product but less less people time being spent to me

[00:19:00] analytics is really the thing that arrives that's collection of information and that's why I go

[00:19:05] back to the idea that the accuracy and the time in this with the information we're gathering

[00:19:09] is very key to run the business and the work force information I call it a work force

[00:19:14] information asset for like the many or two I like that so I like that I like that and it's a great

[00:19:21] example too of the I've never thought about the using that data point to really drive customer

[00:19:28] service as you were saying not to be invasive and hey you guys aren't withholding but do you know

[00:19:33] that you could be or under withholding have you had in hand this is why yeah it made me immediately

[00:19:40] think about being empowered or feeling like greatly important absolutely what you explained it

[00:19:47] that's how it made me feel and the way that he articulated that it seems like it was like

[00:19:54] to educate to empower to make sure that people and that's one of the things reason why

[00:19:59] bright night even started this podcast and the one of the other shows is because we wanted to

[00:20:04] power to help to educate and so I never thought about using analytics to do that to your point.

[00:20:09] Yeah yeah no it makes a lot of sense I'll give you another example and I say this from the standpoint

[00:20:16] having a consulting company all of my consultants have to fill out time she's why because I'm

[00:20:21] going to build a client but it also tells me what are they doing how much power they're spending

[00:20:26] can we make sure that they get the right tools but it's not so much that I want to impact the

[00:20:32] revenue being built to a client but let's say we I'm going to have an efficient operations I need

[00:20:37] to help by the way bright night you seem like you're spending half half the time necessary on this

[00:20:43] project and they will well is out here or build zoom this and the Nova's over here doing this and

[00:20:49] so the analytics are telling you an awful lot about both people their productivity

[00:20:54] what's going after the client quality it even gets in there so like I say to me the analytics are

[00:20:59] very key and so like I said to me the analytics are the next key I would like to toss one more

[00:21:06] subject on top of the analytics and that's good for it. Go up yeah yeah what can I say the

[00:21:14] fact they call it artificial intelligence kind of says it's a little closer to the Amazon I think

[00:21:19] hey what you give it credit you're right yeah I do to your point earlier about empowering I think

[00:21:27] there's a very excellent way to put it and AI will start working with the workforce and understanding

[00:21:34] a little better who I am and what I do in the company and so I might say hey no you're on the

[00:21:39] production line and we just had a brand new machine come in we're going to provide you training

[00:21:44] before you go to the shop where to do this so AI is going to look at who I am where do I work

[00:21:49] what do I do and oh by the way are all the tools I need there and here's a new tool let's get

[00:21:54] him trained on that and so on the world of benefits I just got married oh by the way here's a

[00:22:00] long list of things you should do let's get the health plan that's yeah and then done our life

[00:22:06] insurance is so it hasn't been around for a while but quite literally it might say and there's

[00:22:10] the new financial wellness which I think we will touch up on later and I'll get in more detail but

[00:22:14] the idea is as an individual company I'm here to help you understand and empower you

[00:22:22] to do the things that make you whole if you will if I am helping you and having good enough

[00:22:29] information providing you guidance and you take that guidance you come to work better prepared to

[00:22:35] just work because you don't have this financial thing sitting over here carried from home every time

[00:22:39] I have to sit down and pay the bills I'm finding that my paycheck is out of sync with one my credit

[00:22:44] coverage you do when I'm paying pre-ease all that's up that's the world of financial wellness is

[00:22:49] becoming very important these days yes why where used to give their employees and so we'll go

[00:22:54] into that more detail but yeah that's the beauty of AI is helping us try and understand how

[00:23:00] best to use our money if you all we it's great that you brought up AI we started this episode with

[00:23:08] two articles that were revolved around AI and one of the things I'll share with you is 41%

[00:23:14] of employees surveyed prefer and this is HR professionals sorry 41% of HR professional surveyed

[00:23:22] said they prefer less AI involvement in their companies HR process while more than half

[00:23:30] while more than half are content with the current rate of AI that's involved and 20%

[00:23:39] want more AI so we're very right they kind of split between oh yeah no more and leave it as it is

[00:23:47] and only 20% want more and it makes me think of you know when you think about the life cycle

[00:23:54] of a product and when you're bringing a product to market right you got your first time I forget

[00:23:59] what they call the market move your innovators at the beginning of that process right the innovators are

[00:24:06] going to and be interested in these new things whereas man the laggards and maybe the medium they're

[00:24:12] going to be like we'll see prove it first so it makes me think and I guess AI is going through that

[00:24:18] natural product life cycle where only the innovators want right so it's very interesting that so now

[00:24:26] let me actually this what how are you already planning or using AI in your consulting

[00:24:35] we are recommending and I think I mentioned okay I'll just see that I run with a color technology

[00:24:41] review counsel and this is just about 800 people on my network arranges in one thing alone that's

[00:24:45] called new technology and that's what I love so I invite vendors to come to the table present

[00:24:52] to this group they don't all show up at the same time but I do record them and quite literally I've

[00:24:57] seen over 300 products in the last three years roughly and I have to see AI is now predominantly

[00:25:04] on the front end of this perspective so when you I'd love to see that survey done maybe a year

[00:25:10] down the road I think you might find a major switch because I would say well if you've read crossing

[00:25:17] the chasm all very old work about that it's quite limited as you describe you've got the early adopters

[00:25:23] you've got people are going to be dragged in this and then you have an eight say call them

[00:25:27] lulladites but that's the people are going to be they won't even move more than today yeah what is that

[00:25:33] and so as a result of that if you do that survey you'll find that people today who are I'm okay with

[00:25:39] the AI today probably want more because they will see it's not placed in their job it is actually

[00:25:46] accentuating the kinds of things they can do and then so I'm a huge proponent of AI

[00:25:52] I used for the analytical purposes but you have to be careful I go back to the data what you give to AI to

[00:25:59] start cranking through and assess makes a huge difference in the answer you get back so if I am using my

[00:26:07] company information only that I'm looking at myself in the mirror society but you can get some pretty

[00:26:13] good understanding the moment I started opening up that to look at my competitors or maybe the people

[00:26:20] in the industry also and I get a much more insights because I'm being compared my data with other

[00:26:26] pieces of data got for but I open up to the internet it just goes out and says okay some of that

[00:26:31] information is correct some of that so you have to be a little bit cautious about and I tell my

[00:26:36] clients at all the time be cautious about what there are no bench functional writing answers per se

[00:26:41] it's really more of an indication of what to look at but it won't give you the answer of what to do

[00:26:47] at least certainly not now so so AI is a good tool to tell you here's what's going on I think

[00:26:54] yep and that's what we that's what we're urging and talking about and preaching in the payroll

[00:26:59] in both shows is that we're a long way off from AI doing payroll independently without

[00:27:08] without at least one practitioner being involved in the process not not that AI couldn't do it because

[00:27:16] I have every confidence that it actually could but I think as humans we're far from

[00:27:22] allowing it to do it on its own and we need that human interaction and it makes me think of air

[00:27:28] airplanes is another book out there crap I forget the name of it but Robert Carr I believe

[00:27:33] or Robert does that goodness gracious I forget his name then they he talks about how technology is

[00:27:39] taken over how we and he goes to planes he says he's a planes are being flown on their own those pilots

[00:27:44] are there for our well-being so that we see that there's a human up there because we probably

[00:27:49] freak out if there's no pilot and they're like and he so I have every confidence that it could

[00:27:55] but I think they would just wait far away from that where a company would say yeah no more payroll

[00:28:00] people just let the system do it that we're far from that but yeah and we say that it's

[00:28:05] if you are afraid of AI embrace it be the practitioner be the one that implements and liaisons

[00:28:12] for your company and usher it in yeah that'll ensure your place yeah it's good stuff oh yeah to

[00:28:19] your point about payroll it's truly a I also have fairly mechanical process you know I guess

[00:28:24] there's a gross to net calculation it then deposits it but it's interesting what I've seen and

[00:28:30] and it I give the credit to the payroll people being very understanding what payroll really means

[00:28:37] if I have a time system they're seeing and probably catching the errors mispunches somebody

[00:28:43] clocked in but didn't clock back out manager approved the time sheet what they're the ones

[00:28:48] as are catching at the tail end of this process before we go through payroll this is and data

[00:28:54] go back and get that corrected and they're the ones and now as much as we think that AI could catch

[00:28:59] that AI might say last time it was approved a lot of go we're done and it turns out that was wrong

[00:29:05] to your point I think we need humans and and I have to say that AI is being programmed by humans so far

[00:29:11] and we continue to make mistakes I know I do once the while my wife just to correct my quote it was

[00:29:20] Nicholas Carr and the book he wrote was the shallows oh shallows the shallows yeah it's yeah it's

[00:29:28] really good he talks about just technology and how it's changing our brains really yeah

[00:29:35] what the what the internet is doing to our brains the shallows by Nicholas Carr one of the examples

[00:29:41] he brings up is GPS where some folks were very skilled at navigating without any type of GPS and then

[00:29:48] you know how to read a map you knew how to read a map you knew how to you know how to read the sky

[00:29:53] right exactly use that yeah yeah it all means something right and how the GPS just wiped that skill set

[00:30:02] out of some folks it did I learned how to use a map so it's not gone from me yet um but yeah

[00:30:10] just it's very interesting and folks out there afraid of technology should go ahead and read this

[00:30:14] book because it's very telling about where it's going but I not not to extend beyond the GPS but

[00:30:20] you remember the yellow pages yeah yeah we were Google looking sorry yellow pages looking oh no

[00:30:27] I'm looking for plumper maybe I should go look over water maintenance or something so

[00:30:32] in a sense that's exactly what we've been doing we've just learned it differently and then

[00:30:36] somebody came up with Google and there goes the yellow pages out the door yeah I would say

[00:30:42] I would ask the person who was reluctant to look at it is it better off now and the answer is yes

[00:30:48] I suddenly have an entire world to go look for not just a book that's published for my area

[00:30:54] so like it's me it's just improvements coming in with fairly big gains but uh a little acceptance

[00:31:01] so miss you gotta you gotta embrace the change and that's the thing there's a stat I don't know

[00:31:06] about a stat but a claim that I've come across and reading that humans reject change even if it's

[00:31:16] good just instinctively we first reject it and we need to be convinced that this is good even

[00:31:22] we'd be know it's good so it and I think that will save us for a long time as far as AI is concerned

[00:31:29] you can do an entire episode on change management yes yeah you're right thank you for that idea

[00:31:36] I think we'll wander away with that right right now AI is starting to open in the

[00:31:42] out of spots but change management is undergoing a little bit of that AI touch where it says

[00:31:47] let's still profile the people are going to be backed by this and let's see how well they progress

[00:31:53] in career maybe they've been doing this for number of years and really didn't have any desire to move

[00:31:59] our others that have been more accelerated in their path and so on you start looking at how people

[00:32:04] adopt change and you could really craft a change management thing with a little bit of AI help

[00:32:10] needs a little bit more help and feedback mechanisms too you see them customer service

[00:32:14] quick them ask questions and so on get things to you know we haven't heard from you in a week are

[00:32:21] you really using this thing very well or you're still using your spreadsheet over on your desk so

[00:32:26] yeah yes William just embraced that the that surveys this last year for his team and he's gotten

[00:32:32] great return surveying his customers for payroll right and getting feedback this is how you impact

[00:32:39] change when you listen to your customers what do you need what am I what are we doing right wrong

[00:32:43] etc and I think that's become more it's becoming more of a part of our strategy and that fee that

[00:32:49] survey feedback loop is super important and I segue into financial wellness and I think that's

[00:32:55] how companies are learning wait a minute crap I need financial wellness products right yeah so

[00:33:02] like you asked know how good is your financial wellness program for employees is that something

[00:33:08] that you're asking your clients as you as you interview absolutely absolutely so if I were to put

[00:33:14] in the kind of framework that says if I care about my employees and I say that people are the most

[00:33:21] important asset etc so the question then becomes and I love that perspective this is we're getting paid

[00:33:28] for the work we're doing and that's allowing us to live to go about and do our live our lives

[00:33:34] outside of just work so financial wellness really speaks to the fact that if I have an exceedingly

[00:33:41] attractive meaningful financial wellness program it is an excellent retention

[00:33:49] device in other words people are going to look at that and say here's all the things I get from

[00:33:53] the company today and I'm going to move for five thousand dollars a year more over here

[00:34:00] and I asked the question so what did your financial wellness look like and they go what

[00:34:06] what do you mean well I'm going to pay you five thousand dollars more with more you are more money

[00:34:11] you know I mean I have financial wellness program that helped me really spend and the

[00:34:15] actual accumulate wealth and so I find a lot of companies do not understand what that really means

[00:34:21] but it is an excellent or a tensile or a device and for those people that have the wellness

[00:34:26] programs in place they are making sure that they're telling employees about it all the time and we'll

[00:34:31] come back to how that works but you look at on the flip side when you see a job description and

[00:34:36] says yeah we have 401k in an extensive vacation and blah blah blah blah I don't see financial

[00:34:43] wellness in there and yet that would be an exceedingly meaningful attraction device so you've got

[00:34:50] an attraction with financial wellness and you've got retention with financial wellness so I keep

[00:34:56] asking my clients wouldn't you put financial wealth in is you get the front end and the back end

[00:35:02] of getting people and it seems to be very important when you start putting those in there and

[00:35:06] start talking about and that's the problem a lot of times companies don't communicate really what

[00:35:11] they do for their employees and by have a recognition program I should be talking about that in the job

[00:35:19] description we recognize their employees we pick people who are either voted by their peers by

[00:35:25] their manager selected randomly because they're completed by whatever it is but we recognize our

[00:35:31] people we make a big deal about it so those are the kind of things that I say to me advertising what

[00:35:37] we do is a good certain HR is horrible and marketing. No you're right you're right yes you're right

[00:35:46] we've got a ton of examples there but I so wellness as I would describe it and the early start to

[00:35:52] this came in something they call earned wages access and literally that was simply we know you work

[00:36:02] half a paper let's say and so let's say I make a thousand dollar to pay a paper and I've earned

[00:36:08] 500 of that already halfway through the paper so I now have access to that $500 through some

[00:36:17] mechanism it used to be called an advance that goes to the payroll people or I need an advance for

[00:36:22] a hundred couple hundred bucks and they go look up pay or register and see how much I really make

[00:36:27] and all that's it. Now that's a very automated situation that doesn't even bother a payroll person

[00:36:33] you can request it it knows exactly how much you've worked how much you'd normally earn maybe

[00:36:39] the company says we're only going to give you access to 50% of what you've earned to date because we

[00:36:45] have to take taxes out as such but there's a limitation but by the same token I now have money

[00:36:51] in my pocket early in my account to pay my bills in a timely fashion and that's something again I

[00:36:58] come back to this idea that I gave you that thing but I didn't tell you why I gave you that. So here's

[00:37:03] the financial wellness includes if you will the content behind it the training that a familiarity

[00:37:10] with why do we do this for you and how do you effectively make the most of this so that you're

[00:37:15] paying your bills you know I'm going to pay lake charges or anything like that just because our payroll

[00:37:19] period is slightly out of sync with what your credit cards are due or hate by the way start sitting

[00:37:25] aside money to pay your bills early so you'd have to do this every other month and so on. So

[00:37:30] financial wellness is getting into what I call the things that didn't teach in school

[00:37:36] balancing your check how to pay your bills correctly how to understand what APR mean

[00:37:42] what does it mean to have a balanced transfer from one credit card together or by the way if you don't

[00:37:47] pay those things on time here's all the interest that you avoided came right back to you

[00:37:52] all those kind of things as part of the financial wellness and it's the phenomenal amount of people

[00:37:58] moving into that arena and adding and contributing of what it's a enormous amount of information

[00:38:04] that are really I think you'd have to see how you should have to go to my financial counselor

[00:38:09] to understand who won the same thing who has that yeah yeah yeah and here's where AI comes back

[00:38:15] into that play it says okay well let's fill out a little survey now I got a family I've got two kids

[00:38:21] there in this we're putting defend care blah blah blah what's the best way to manage my

[00:38:27] deductions and so on so I make the most effective use yes it's possible here comes AI I said yep

[00:38:34] here you know by the way you got to raise let's do this with that instead of this yeah and so

[00:38:41] it'd be nice if they can work the task code into that too oh it's okay yeah yeah I have to say

[00:38:47] the IRS code is pretty straightforward and it does shift once a while but it's pretty straightforward

[00:38:54] stuff to understand it to your point that I think that kind of financial wellness program allows that

[00:39:01] the employee to feel confident they're giving us much information to their employees as possible

[00:39:05] to manage their wealth while they're working for them and if I can do that well I probably don't

[00:39:13] if I'm doing it well myself as an individual I'm coming to work with less pressure no less

[00:39:19] stress no I'm really actually concentrating on work and and it affects the family and they're

[00:39:26] willing well being so there's just so much benefit from doing a wellness program and then you

[00:39:32] you extend that like I say the early wages was the first thing there's a lot of places that

[00:39:37] will actually offer things like legal aid financial aid and things of their nature or access to

[00:39:43] as financial counselors and that just simply so having a 401k is great but how should I be investing

[00:39:50] myself on health and my day trading yeah my 401k or my where am I really having more of a well planned

[00:39:57] retirement perspective I have to say what's interesting is I'm seeing retirement plans coming back

[00:40:03] and I thought wow that is an interesting perspective but oh really employee employers are offering

[00:40:09] retirement plans you not for a way to look at that from the standpoint not so much because

[00:40:15] they're looking for longevity in the job right but the I think that the retirement plan could

[00:40:20] potentially and I'm predicting this over time says don't put me necessarily but we're watching

[00:40:26] things like health benefits portability happening and I was talking about the long time ago

[00:40:31] simply because it just made sense to if I have a health plan and I leave an employer why can't I

[00:40:36] keep that health plan when I go over here and I keep some of the benefits that tell me what

[00:40:40] I and then players paying with what the other employee was paying it changed the whole world of

[00:40:46] benefits and broken us selling at me now but this idea being able to as a contractor for example

[00:40:53] upwork and a couple other places are actually worth offering benefits to contractors because they don't

[00:41:00] have benefits and they have to go to the marketplace so they're saying hey I have 10,000 people sitting

[00:41:05] on my database as a contractor I'm going to go broker health plans life insurance disability

[00:41:11] and all these other things that normally fly out that's the new way of things are looking so I look at

[00:41:16] the things are changing so retirement plans are coming back in some cases where it makes sense

[00:41:22] there's certainly advantages for retirement plans or certainly some

[00:41:26] seriously pitfalls if you're not careful but I think we're going to start seeing a couple of places

[00:41:31] where retirement plans that can come back into style have you seen any financial wellness programs

[00:41:37] demo them recently that you like well yeah I've seen the earned wage access situation

[00:41:44] probably a year and a half plus ago yeah I would say now you're gonna you got the

[00:41:49] serians new named a force the day course wallet is one UKG has won very simple for the ultimate

[00:41:56] chronos merger they have that 80 so I am seeing that happening and the vendors instead of

[00:42:02] being a little startups doing this stuff they're now incorporating or they're partnering with these

[00:42:07] people yeah and so that that's happening the wellness programs I think that are really

[00:42:12] new as I see them is this idea of truly a financial counselor who has and you can pick from

[00:42:22] like a list of people that have been qualified to do a wellness plan for you and literally

[00:42:28] the smart thing in a wellness plan is if I was an employee if I used Brian he's got a he's got a

[00:42:36] four and a half but what I see five's out there make me go back to what I'm about that so the idea

[00:42:42] it's almost you're giving employees the idea that they should be looking at this it's an opportunity

[00:42:48] it's it's been paid for by the employer to a degree and this is the interesting thing

[00:42:55] you want to find out if somebody's really interested in financial wellness

[00:42:59] charge him for some of that in other words I'm going to subsidize you for $100 a month for

[00:43:05] this kind of stuff if you want these other extra things you got to pay for it but is it worth it

[00:43:13] in some cases it may very well be and it doesn't have to this is what I think what I'm seeing from my

[00:43:19] clients I'll put it in the context of this my clients are saying this is a pretty costly situation

[00:43:24] for me to have to do and I keep asking them what is the cost when you lose that employee

[00:43:31] that's right man and so it's on okay so it's pretty good to have cost to the employer level

[00:43:40] and what I have seen in some cases like the one earned wage access situation was cost to the

[00:43:46] employee for transaction but free to the employer there's just stick it in there in a way for

[00:43:51] those and so that's the kind of stuff like I say it's very mutually beneficial to the employee

[00:43:58] and the employer's not at the hospital they get to offer that and somebody's making some money

[00:44:02] on the other end then just you know use it or don't pay for it that type of stuff so I think we're

[00:44:09] seeing an awful lot of in fact I have to say it's interesting when the vendors I talked to them

[00:44:13] when we get to the contract side quite often I find that they used to charge per person per month

[00:44:20] type of thing the people eating or they got or PPM and I'm finding now that some of the vendors

[00:44:25] are getting smart enough and some modules to say we're going to charge you on a per usage basis

[00:44:31] and I'm going yay finally like a recruiting program why would they charge the company for a

[00:44:37] recruiting program that got 2,000 people and they hire 100 people a month what or less how

[00:44:44] but if I just do it on a first usage or pro candidate basis and so they're starting to

[00:44:49] smarter about that I assist with the AIO get in there too somewhere correct exactly right

[00:44:54] the vendors and it's like this guy is not using these modules so if a customer service maybe

[00:44:59] they should go to them talk to them as well yeah not using this let's get rid of this if you

[00:45:02] do not use that let's go do this one over here and live I'm a I should have said I'm a data junkie

[00:45:08] oh I could spell yeah yeah and I just speaking of financial wellness I had just demoed

[00:45:15] company recently that I thought was really good but their model was their pricing model was

[00:45:21] 100% on the employer and I thought that part was tough because was in the hundreds

[00:45:28] thousands a year now granted it may cover your whole workforce but that's a lot right that's a

[00:45:33] lot for a company to commit to to give like you said to give them products that they may not even use

[00:45:40] yes I like that hybrid model that you just said hey maybe I'll cover some but you guys have

[00:45:46] to cover the rest if you want to really leverage the tool and the service and the product I like

[00:45:52] that model and I liked it so much that I told the person demoing I was like do you all have this

[00:45:57] product for direct to consumer because it was b2b and they said yeah we do but they didn't

[00:46:03] she didn't she wasn't really selling that part oh yeah it was like after thought I'm like

[00:46:08] you really need to be pushing this because I but I but see that's me I'm financial wellness is

[00:46:13] important to us the other we do another podcast called it's about your paycheck and it's your

[00:46:19] first step in financial wellness right we're just trying to get folks sparked and excited about

[00:46:25] being and where else would you start your paycheck understanding your paycheck leveraging your

[00:46:31] paycheck understanding some rules right yeah it financial wellness is near and dear to us and I like

[00:46:36] seeing these new products that come out that are helping another one is funny we talk about earn

[00:46:42] wage access because when I first saw it I was worried I thought it was happening the adverse effect

[00:46:47] I said how is this helping employees financial wellness and the company I had demoed at that time

[00:46:54] they had already had the statistics and they said by honestly 80% of employees are seeing a better

[00:47:01] result are managing their money better are impacted positively because of this product I was

[00:47:07] like oh wow oh this is great then again financial wellness is important and and I'm glad to see it

[00:47:13] become more part of the conversation for HR technology and being offered to employees and it's

[00:47:18] a must that demoed something recently and I was like hey do you have earn wage access and they said no

[00:47:23] but it's on the roadmap so they know they knew that we we don't have it yet but we it's coming

[00:47:30] I'm going to tell you the financial wellness is probably going to fold into the world of benefits

[00:47:36] and here's the reason behind it and that is what I'm seeing is and there's right now three different

[00:47:42] platforms right now that are essentially offering this the ability to have a market place of benefits

[00:47:50] to which one earn wage access would be one of those and here's a list of all these things

[00:47:55] here's as an employer I'm going to give you $250 a month to spend go out and marketplace do what

[00:48:04] you want to do and literally what they're doing it here's the real key to this one they're using

[00:48:09] the 125 plan the FSA which saves the employer social security tax and saves employee money

[00:48:20] and it gives them the highest an individual can say I don't have any dependence so why would

[00:48:25] I spend money on a life insurance let me go but maybe a need more motorcycle insurance or whatever

[00:48:31] the case is are along with the credit union because I want to buy a new car what head insurance all

[00:48:36] the things it was coming to state as a wide variety of access to the employers giving to the benefit

[00:48:42] of employee because the employer's got a major population and then here's something

[00:48:49] one that sells something in that population like you see each one needs to start marketing itself

[00:48:55] it really needs to say you're right usually do for our employees what do you think

[00:49:00] yeah and it doesn't really sometimes cost the employer anything to do that's correct

[00:49:05] you're absolutely right what I'm excited about where that means of course from a system

[00:49:11] standpoint maybe more excited because that means it pushes the vendors to come up with something new

[00:49:16] which we never crossed the wealthy world but but like I say I think my clients are really

[00:49:22] very astute as to what it is that's going on they're finding the crossover technology

[00:49:28] and their operations is coming closer and closer together so you can't ignore technology to your

[00:49:33] point yep I belong to an organization called IRM I H-R-I-M which is the only HR technology organization

[00:49:40] and it is really an amazing thing we are we're every time somebody comes to a webinar and I go

[00:49:46] I didn't know you guys existed yeah I did not I just wrote it down I'm gonna join yeah

[00:49:53] I that would be wonderful I will tell you I think you would be we really have to say it's been

[00:49:58] an existence for quite some time again the gray hair says I've been around for fuck all this but

[00:50:03] yeah it I think the world of human resources payroll benefits in HR really are the most

[00:50:12] sought-of-her most invested sector right now that I can see and we have not even wrestled truly

[00:50:20] with the whole hybrid workforce situation no the fact that my hybrid workforce is not only

[00:50:26] not in the office but they are consisting now of full-time employees our employees contractors

[00:50:33] 10 people all interns all kinds of stuff and the world of HR what used to be those things would

[00:50:40] go over to accounts payable for the contractors that now you gotta put if we're gonna look at

[00:50:44] your workforce you have to everybody's working for it in one place that's right and so

[00:50:49] the way that's the interesting way looking at it exactly and so if you're gonna do it well I

[00:50:54] people would tell me we have our contractors over there and temps over here we're just taking

[00:50:58] in place as a take the word employee out of your vocabulary and put in worther that's really a

[00:51:03] worry we're managing the workforce workforce it's like that you're right in every on the back end

[00:51:10] what's up and payroll from paying all these feet not a whole lot not much yeah wow wow no so

[00:51:17] see you worried about going on for long enough we could go on and on yeah you're

[00:51:23] going to mind and blah blah blah blah that's it you're all to the raises so the as we close this up

[00:51:29] we thank you so much for for being a part of the show today but we have a short game that we play

[00:51:35] with our guests it's called this or that and we give you two options you either whatever or you

[00:51:41] can say something else and so what was gonna take you through the first four and I'll close it

[00:51:46] out okay alright so Han Solo our loop Skywalker

[00:51:53] Han Solo.

[00:51:55] That's all right.

[00:51:57] The LA Dodders are the angels.

[00:52:03] Dodgers.

[00:52:04] Dodgers are...

[00:52:05] Do you prefer coffee?

[00:52:07] Tea.

[00:52:09] Coffee.

[00:52:11] Coffee.

[00:52:13] My last one.

[00:52:15] Basketball or football?

[00:52:17] Football.

[00:52:19] All right.

[00:52:20] Although we have the warriors here, so what can I say?

[00:52:22] Niners.

[00:52:24] There you go.

[00:52:26] All right, Brad.

[00:52:28] All right.

[00:52:30] Ebooks or real books?

[00:52:32] Real books.

[00:52:34] I'll sit on the plane.

[00:52:38] You're just not going to see me reading an ebook.

[00:52:40] I had one for years and I drifted away from it and it was fine.

[00:52:46] I didn't miss it at all.

[00:52:48] Being a technologist.

[00:52:50] I'm admitting my weakness.

[00:52:52] I know it.

[00:52:54] It dates us too.

[00:52:56] I think it just folks from, I don't know, different.

[00:52:58] Okay. Here's the next one.

[00:53:00] You too or Hulu?

[00:53:02] Hulu.

[00:53:04] Gmail or Outlook?

[00:53:06] Outlook.

[00:53:08] Last one.

[00:53:10] Target or Walmart?

[00:53:12] Target.

[00:53:14] Ah nice.

[00:53:16] And before we let you go, no.

[00:53:20] What advice would you give to a payroll pro or an HR pro who is having a hard time accepting AI?

[00:53:28] I would say if you have the opportunity to have access to AI in your organization, take a payroll run and ask different questions and see what kind of insight you get.

[00:53:42] Because I think you know it well enough.

[00:53:44] You probably ran the payroll.

[00:53:48] Have it like I say back into how much overtime was paid, how much was regular salary and so on.

[00:53:54] And start getting asking questions if you use ChatGBT for example, you get some interesting stuff.

[00:54:00] So it's how you ask it.

[00:54:02] The days that they're looking at.

[00:54:04] But try to then pair it up with some HR information if you have that access.

[00:54:08] Just so overtime.

[00:54:12] Was it one unit?

[00:54:14] So you start looking at the value that it may bring to you to assess what's going on in the world that you're running.

[00:54:22] And I think that brings you a little closer to the acceptance of AI is not an enemy attacks your tool.

[00:54:28] I always tell people he doesn't solve your problem.

[00:54:32] The technology we use is not a solution.

[00:54:34] It's a tool to help you solve the problem.

[00:54:36] But some people say well it's going to take my job.

[00:54:40] I guarantee you hitting can take that's right.

[00:54:44] Thank you very much.

[00:54:46] My folks, you can connect with know at collective HR solutions dot com through his LinkedIn novel mana.

[00:54:56] That's no V O M A and a or his website collective HR solutions dot com.

[00:55:04] Thank you so much know for being on the show today.

[00:55:08] Thank you very much.

[00:55:10] It was a pleasure.

[00:55:12] Anytime you want I'm happy to talk to you guys are a lot of fun to talk with.

[00:55:16] Thank you very much likewise we could go on and on we have to schedule another one where we're actually looking to get on the road one day and do some in person interviews.

[00:55:26] So we'd love to come to San Francisco and I was going to say you know,

[00:55:30] I'm doing it in San Francisco will dig at Norse to the white tree.

[00:55:34] Oh yes.

[00:55:36] Done that's a plan that's a plan.

[00:55:40] All right, I'm going to I'm going to mark that down on my list.

[00:55:42] That's right.

[00:55:44] Thank you again.

[00:55:46] Thank you so much know.

[00:55:48] Have a good day.

[00:55:50] Bye.

[00:55:52] Bye.

[00:55:54] Before we sign off, here are a couple quick thanks.

[00:56:00] Don't forget to follow it's about payroll all LinkedIn and this about your paycheck on Facebook and TikTok.

[00:56:06] Thank you for being a part of our payroll community and thank you for being a part of this journey with us until next time keep learning keep growing and most importantly keep going.