Payroll Conversations W/ Sarah Chasney, CPP (Episode 102)

[00:00:00] Williams, and I love your show. This helps me remember and keep in mind there's different

[00:00:03] perspectives across payroll, different industries, different size payrolls.

[00:00:08] Welcome to our podcast, It's About Payroll. We're your hosts, Brian Escobar and Walter

[00:00:15] Williams Duncan III. Whether you're new to the payroll game or a seasoned veteran,

[00:00:20] we have something for you.

[00:00:23] Welcome back folks, this is episode 102. We got an awesome guest coming on, but before that,

[00:00:32] what's going on? How are you doing today, sir?

[00:00:34] I am good. Bless man. Grateful. How about yourself?

[00:00:40] The same man. The same. I'm doing good. Yeah, I'm true. I'm into this. I got a, I found

[00:00:46] a great article today so we could jump right into the payroll news first before our

[00:00:53] guest comes on. And now that I do news, I will talk about that show with the Kelsey brothers.

[00:01:00] So now when I do pay news, I hear them in my head. They have a segment in the beginning

[00:01:04] too that new news, they're clowns. But anyway, yeah, new news. Anyway, sorry, Kelsey guys,

[00:01:10] I'm not trying to fight over you. We were doing payroll news first, but any who just

[00:01:15] having fun with it. The article I have today is really around how payroll errors

[00:01:21] can hurt your organization and some stats around that payroll is an integral part of

[00:01:26] any business and can damage an organization's reputation if something goes wrong. A light,

[00:01:33] it did a study, a light study reveals half of companies committed payroll errors during

[00:01:38] the last five years. And yeah, so three key points from this article is that there

[00:01:45] was a high incidence of payroll penalties. Over half 53% of companies surveyed have incurred

[00:01:53] payroll penalties in the last five years due to non compliance, highlighting the significant

[00:01:59] challenge organizations face in adhering to payroll regulations and potential impact

[00:02:05] on their reputation. So we know that firsthand how this can really impact the current

[00:02:11] use of technology and processes and payroll operations. The report reveals a reliance on

[00:02:16] outdated methods with 51% of respondents still using spreadsheets and 19% using manual or paper

[00:02:25] processes. However, there is a trend towards digital transformation with a shift toward more

[00:02:31] streamlined processes and cloud based strategies, although only 26% have fully moved their

[00:02:38] payroll operations to the cloud. Additionally, there's a low adoption rate for AI in payroll

[00:02:44] with only 8% planning to incorporate it within the next two years. And that's on par with

[00:02:50] what we've been saying about it. The last one is prioritization of integration of

[00:02:56] challenges and complex environments. Organizations are prioritizing the integration of payroll

[00:03:02] and benefits into a unified platform as their top priority indicating a move toward more

[00:03:08] integrated and efficient HR systems. The report also underscores the increased complexity

[00:03:15] and likelihood of receiving penalties for non compliance in organizations operating in

[00:03:20] multiple countries, especially noting a sharp increase in fines for those expanding

[00:03:26] their operations into two to five countries. So global operate. Yeah, that's a big call

[00:03:33] out man. This is such a great article. Go check out the link in the show notes. You

[00:03:38] can read the full article. Very interesting call out and study done for payroll professionals.

[00:03:44] So yeah, what do you got for us today? Well,

[00:03:47] Yeah, thank you for sharing that Brian. That's very interesting. My update from

[00:03:51] DOL.gov. It's about OSHA situation that happened. So the United States Department of Labor's

[00:03:58] Occupational Safety and Health Administration, AKA OSHA, has cited an aeronautical parts

[00:04:05] manufacturer for exposing workers to nearly two dozen safety hazards following a complaint

[00:04:10] about a lack safety environment at the company's plant in Catoosa. OSHA cited LMI

[00:04:18] finishing incorporated operating as Sonica North America for 23 serious violations of OSHA

[00:04:26] safety standards related to confined spaces, fall hazards and block exit routes. OSHA

[00:04:33] inspectors found that the employer did not evaluate the hazards of permit space before

[00:04:39] entering did not develop or implement procedures and practices to make safe entry into

[00:04:45] confined spaces. Ensure that lift attachments were rated. Ensure that electrical equipment was

[00:04:52] used as intended and free from hazards. They didn't confirm that the chemical containers were

[00:04:58] labeled properly. They did not ensure that exams were performed on employees working

[00:05:04] with chromic acid. And they did not ensure that first aid procedures and supplies specific

[00:05:10] to certain chemicals were in place. And they did not provide personal protective equipment

[00:05:15] PPE to employees working with chromic acid and caustic chemicals. So all around this

[00:05:24] company didn't do a good job of protecting their employees. And I think some employers

[00:05:30] just say, we just need to get this stuff done. And there's no matter if you get

[00:05:33] it, whatever, you have to be mindful as an employer of the position you put your

[00:05:37] employees in. So that's what I have.

[00:05:42] It's so funny because we don't, folks, we don't collaborate on what the article should

[00:05:46] be that we share. We just go out and find what we think is interesting. But we both

[00:05:50] found non-compliant stuff. Yeah, not compliant. It's interesting. Yeah, it's just

[00:05:54] interesting how it works out. But yeah, you got companies gotta be careful, man.

[00:05:59] We got to if you want to write, if you want to thrive and you want to build

[00:06:03] good company, gotta stay in compliance. I think that's why our roles in I think HR

[00:06:10] and payroll has become so much more of a conversation because the non-compliance

[00:06:15] has, what can I say, has unfortunately gone up clearly in our articles, was

[00:06:20] gone up in the last few years. The non-compliant issues. We find that in

[00:06:24] our true payroll crimes all the time is a lot of non-compliance and folks

[00:06:27] just cheating the system and not being compliant to their advantage. And if

[00:06:31] you really want to run a solid business, man, you got to stay compliant.

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[00:07:49] Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. That's so sad. Yeah, we have a wonderful guest

[00:07:55] today, Sarah Chastney. Sarah is CPP certified and is currently the director

[00:08:01] of payroll travel and expense at Banfield Pet Hop Hospital. She has an

[00:08:06] extensive and impressive payroll grab from background with many

[00:08:09] accomplishments such as her 2020 award for payroll trailblazer and payroll

[00:08:15] best practice prism award. Wow. Prism. Prism. Prism. Yeah, it would have him. Prism.

[00:08:22] She is also a payroll.org committee member and co-chair. Let's welcome Sarah

[00:08:28] Chastney to the show. Welcome to this show. Sarah, Chastney, our guest today.

[00:08:37] And thank you for coming, Sarah. Thank you so much for being on the show

[00:08:40] and tell us a little bit about yourself. We don't get tired of

[00:08:43] origin stories here. So that first question is, how did you get into payroll?

[00:08:47] Yeah. First off, thanks for having me. Thanks for inviting me. I'm excited to be here.

[00:08:51] I listened to some of your episodes and I love the thing. Yeah, I think it's great.

[00:08:56] It gives me perspective often. I live in a world of large enterprise payrolls

[00:09:02] and you get stuck in this world and this mindset of what we do every day.

[00:09:07] And I love your show. This helps me remember and keep in mind there's

[00:09:11] different perspectives across payroll, different industries, different size

[00:09:14] payrolls and the difference between a payroll that's 100 people, 200, 300 people versus

[00:09:22] 10,000, 20,000, 100,000, like such a different

[00:09:26] such a different payroll. But it gives me great respect.

[00:09:30] And so thank you for having me here. I'm excited to be here.

[00:09:32] Yes. And we are excited to have you. And to that point, just bringing

[00:09:36] the different payroll perspectives, we get caught in our little world

[00:09:40] and we think everybody does it the same. A lot of our guests say,

[00:09:44] there's no playbook for payroll. There's no one size fits all.

[00:09:48] The only thing that is the same is that it has to be right.

[00:09:51] It has to be accurate. We got one job.

[00:09:53] Actually, one of the questions that was one of the questions on when I took

[00:09:56] the CPP was payroll needs to be 99% right, 70% or if it was 99% perfect,

[00:10:04] 75% perfect, 98% perfect.

[00:10:08] And then the last one was 100%. And that was the answer.

[00:10:11] It needs to be 100% perfect. So there are some easier questions.

[00:10:15] Oh, OK.

[00:10:16] Because I was going to say that's a tough question because do you find

[00:10:21] that you have 100% perfect payroll?

[00:10:26] You don't often have it.

[00:10:28] OK. You often have close to a point.

[00:10:30] Well, hopefully you have close.

[00:10:32] And if you're really good at gaining or focusing on that 100%

[00:10:36] payroll, you're often focusing on whatever percentage that was wrong.

[00:10:40] And we often focus on the bad or what was wrong in payroll.

[00:10:44] And we don't often focus on the successes as much because of what we do

[00:10:48] and the level of quality that needs to be on our payroll.

[00:10:51] So we do focus on that small percentage and figure out what was that defect

[00:10:55] and what can we do to change that in the future?

[00:10:58] How can we prevent it or how can we have controls in place

[00:11:01] to make sure it doesn't happen again?

[00:11:02] Yeah. Yeah, I think you aim for 100%.

[00:11:04] You very rarely get it.

[00:11:06] OK, hopefully you get close.

[00:11:07] Yeah, because it's perfect.

[00:11:08] Exactly. Yes.

[00:11:10] So tell us how'd you get into payroll?

[00:11:13] Yeah. So I think you guys are from the East Coast and New York actually.

[00:11:16] I'm from New York.

[00:11:17] So around there.

[00:11:19] Yeah, so I'm originally from New York.

[00:11:21] I started out there and eventually I landed in California.

[00:11:24] Oh, wow. And I was doing odd end jobs.

[00:11:27] My parents have retired in California and so I followed them.

[00:11:30] Was doing all sorts of odd end jobs.

[00:11:33] I always laugh.

[00:11:33] My funniest job was I was wearing a full-on renaissance

[00:11:37] costume at a renaissance store. No way.

[00:11:40] Kellenwood's on Sklones.

[00:11:41] Yeah, that's cool.

[00:11:43] Which odd end jobs.

[00:11:45] It was really funny.

[00:11:46] But my dad, I wanted like a nice, easy office job, which is so ironic.

[00:11:51] But I wanted a nice office job.

[00:11:52] My dad, he owned his own company in Mung Island and he had these

[00:11:56] secretaries and I would go to his office as a kid and they all just

[00:11:59] enjoyed being there.

[00:12:01] They enjoyed working together and being at the office

[00:12:03] and I wanted something similar, like just a nice, easy office job.

[00:12:07] And so I ended up landing at Carl's Junior in Hardee's

[00:12:10] at the corporate office of all places.

[00:12:12] OK. Yeah.

[00:12:13] I went as a temp to go to the Apple one.

[00:12:16] It was in California at the time

[00:12:17] and I went to this temp agency to do those.

[00:12:20] They would give me the computer exams on Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.

[00:12:24] And I'll age myself.

[00:12:26] I laugh when I tell the story because I was really good at my space.

[00:12:30] Oh, yeah.

[00:12:30] And so I love.

[00:12:32] So I love doing my profile and like I taught myself how to do HTML

[00:12:36] and how to do real junior code at the time.

[00:12:39] But it got me really into graphic design and understanding computers.

[00:12:43] And you know what?

[00:12:44] It made me really good at Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel

[00:12:47] and the suites that you take those tests on when you go as a temp.

[00:12:51] And so I'd sport really well

[00:12:53] and I got sent to this corporate office to go interview for a payroll

[00:12:57] clerk type role and it was Carl's Junior in Hardee's.

[00:13:01] And so I just so happened to get very lucky

[00:13:03] and that my very first payroll opportunity was at a massive

[00:13:07] national fast food company that was expanding internationally.

[00:13:11] We had a huge team and I

[00:13:14] I turned out I was really good at customer service.

[00:13:17] I loved people.

[00:13:18] I was really good at customer service because I was good on computers.

[00:13:22] I was good at data entry and I was good at organizing myself.

[00:13:25] And I weirdly had a love for transformation

[00:13:31] and process and systems like I don't know what it was in me,

[00:13:35] but I loved the process aspect of things.

[00:13:37] We get it.

[00:13:38] Applying some technology, right?

[00:13:41] And so I spent 11 years there.

[00:13:43] Oh, wow.

[00:13:43] And yeah, I was there for a long time.

[00:13:46] I grew a family there.

[00:13:48] I met my husband who actually worked here as well.

[00:13:51] Yeah. So we had a huge family there, but I had amazing leaders

[00:13:56] and had amazing mentors to one of which I still speak to you all the time.

[00:14:01] Actually, he's been I still my team knows his name and knows his stories

[00:14:04] andologies because of how great of a leader he was for me.

[00:14:09] But I had so many amazing opportunities there from the best at churs,

[00:14:12] acquisitions, BPO's, RFPs, all the different acronyms

[00:14:17] to possibly think of implementations more than anything like that was

[00:14:21] I learned how to implement time and attendance and different

[00:14:25] optimum technology that was reading invoices, reading scans.

[00:14:30] Remember that.

[00:14:30] Half and then figuring out how to use self service.

[00:14:33] And in this time, it was also the boom of like when technology

[00:14:37] was really starting to get a little more exciting.

[00:14:41] And it's like 2007, 2008 when it was we were still entering

[00:14:46] everything completely manually in the systems.

[00:14:49] And I remember like the stacks of paper, like the stack.

[00:14:52] Yeah, I live behind my desk.

[00:14:56] It was just almost like, are you in?

[00:15:01] Exactly. Yeah.

[00:15:02] Are you behind?

[00:15:03] Yeah. I was like, you'd throw a pile up when someone was done

[00:15:05] and you happen to really short window to enter everything

[00:15:09] during the payroll.

[00:15:10] But and so like we were smart and we had great people behind us,

[00:15:14] great tools and leaders.

[00:15:16] And it was people's off was the system at the time.

[00:15:19] And we were able to build out all this cool technology to import data

[00:15:23] and like to learn how to use the system.

[00:15:25] And so I eventually moved on to several different roles

[00:15:29] and was really happy there.

[00:15:30] And then eventually I actually moved on to Washington here in Washington

[00:15:33] where I'm based right now.

[00:15:35] And so across junior and actually close their offices in California.

[00:15:39] Yeah, they had we had actually had a just amazing building

[00:15:42] in Anaheim near Disneyland at one point.

[00:15:45] And so I relocated to that office at one point

[00:15:47] and they had Carl Karcher way,

[00:15:49] but just Carl Karcher was the owner of Carl's Junior.

[00:15:51] OK. So they're on street name and everything.

[00:15:54] And I can see if this ran fire, the fireworks in my office

[00:15:58] during implementation.

[00:15:59] So we'd see the fireworks were office.

[00:16:01] But they eventually closed the offices there and moved to Tennessee.

[00:16:04] Oh, OK.

[00:16:05] Tennessee is the work for the offices now.

[00:16:08] And some people relocated,

[00:16:10] but a lot of the services were actually outsourced to IBM

[00:16:14] at the time we were part of that project.

[00:16:17] And so I decided not to stay and to move on with a new company.

[00:16:21] And so I moved to Washington

[00:16:23] and I accepted a role here for what I had heard was a really big mess.

[00:16:28] And they needed someone to come in and build a team

[00:16:31] and figure out the systems.

[00:16:33] And it was a chance for me to fly on my own a bit.

[00:16:36] And so I did that and came here

[00:16:38] and man, what a ride it's been for the best past five years or so.

[00:16:44] Yeah. So the company I joined after

[00:16:45] was actually a really large Taco Bell franchise.

[00:16:48] We had about 12,000 employees.

[00:16:50] We were we had five different systems at one point.

[00:16:53] And we were able to pick an H.C.M. system, implement.

[00:16:58] I was able to build an H.R.S. division.

[00:17:01] I will be able to discover some amazing talent, like amazing talent,

[00:17:06] some of which I still speak to regularly

[00:17:08] and some are actually still with me today.

[00:17:10] I'm a current couple.

[00:17:12] So like amazing talents and it was a fantastic experience.

[00:17:15] So yeah, it's been a wild ride.

[00:17:17] I'm now at the old hospital, which is wonderful.

[00:17:20] And I have another opportunity here.

[00:17:21] I had another opportunity to build a whole new team.

[00:17:24] And it's been awesome.

[00:17:25] That's take me back to.

[00:17:26] Yeah, I love it.

[00:17:27] Take me back to Carl's Junior.

[00:17:29] How many employees were that they have when you were working with them?

[00:17:34] Yeah. So at the first, it was around 20,000.

[00:17:37] It was a lot of us.

[00:17:38] It was a lot of employees.

[00:17:39] They had a lot of location.

[00:17:40] We also had Carl's Junior and Hardy's as well.

[00:17:42] So Hardy's more Midwest and East Coast

[00:17:45] and Carl's more West Coast.

[00:17:47] And then they started expanding internationally

[00:17:49] and then divesting stores on the opposite side.

[00:17:53] So on the opposite side of acquisitions,

[00:17:55] you would have something that's called a divestiture.

[00:17:57] And that's when you're taking company own stores

[00:18:00] and you're actually selling them to franchise.

[00:18:03] OK. Yeah.

[00:18:04] So in this case, we had a lot of associates

[00:18:06] who were Carl's Junior corporate employees across here

[00:18:10] and they were being divested off

[00:18:12] and being sold to different franchises.

[00:18:14] Very interesting.

[00:18:15] So it was a very interesting process

[00:18:18] going through California

[00:18:20] and trying to go through this process, your estimating time

[00:18:23] and then having to true it up. Oh my gosh.

[00:18:24] Real time that would work.

[00:18:26] Why did you have to do that?

[00:18:26] There's a gnarly

[00:18:27] because you have a certain date

[00:18:29] that the divestiture is occurring on.

[00:18:30] And so you have to pay all wages

[00:18:33] through a certain date.

[00:18:35] And then the new owner takes over as of a certain date.

[00:18:38] But obviously in California,

[00:18:39] you have to have wages to people by a certain time frame,

[00:18:43] especially if they're leaving the company.

[00:18:45] Yeah. So imagine doing that for hundreds of locations

[00:18:48] and at different iterations of time

[00:18:50] and that's going to be a great experience.

[00:18:53] Now, so yeah.

[00:18:56] Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:57] Exactly. I'm going to say what Wolf's thinking.

[00:18:59] So.

[00:19:01] Did you have the opportunity to control the pace?

[00:19:06] I would imagine no, but did you have any input on the pace

[00:19:09] or you just they just take with doing another one?

[00:19:10] Another one?

[00:19:11] How did that work?

[00:19:12] No, you didn't have much input on the base yet

[00:19:14] because they want to do it as fast as they can.

[00:19:16] That was like a thing.

[00:19:17] Oh, yes, let's get sell.

[00:19:19] And so you just had.

[00:19:20] Yeah.

[00:19:21] Did you have any input that did ever get to the point

[00:19:24] where it was like folks, you got to stop for us.

[00:19:27] Give us a chance.

[00:19:28] I think no.

[00:19:29] And I think it was just a matter of we had a role

[00:19:32] and a responsibility and so we had to figure out

[00:19:35] different ways to make those tasks happen efficiently

[00:19:38] and timely and in a way that would make us go crazy.

[00:19:41] So no, I think a lot of that with companies

[00:19:44] that's going to happen, you're going to have change

[00:19:46] different companies.

[00:19:48] You're very rarely going to be like, hey, hero,

[00:19:51] can you tell us what's going to matter for you

[00:19:53] or how is this going to impact you?

[00:19:54] And maybe if you have a good leader,

[00:19:56] you're actually you have an advocate

[00:19:58] and you have someone in the room who's able to show

[00:20:00] and determine what the right cadence or routine

[00:20:03] or like timeline would be for something like that.

[00:20:06] And so you're hopeful, but at the end of the day,

[00:20:08] we still have a job to do and we still have to get

[00:20:11] the task done and we have to get it done

[00:20:13] at that 100 percent perfection that we aim for.

[00:20:16] Yeah, it was all about fighting the right process,

[00:20:17] the right people, the right technology

[00:20:19] to get the tasks done.

[00:20:20] Holy cow.

[00:20:23] Yeah.

[00:20:24] Taught me a lot.

[00:20:25] But it did.

[00:20:26] Yeah, that's what we learn right under fire.

[00:20:29] Go ahead.

[00:20:30] So I find it fascinating.

[00:20:31] One of the things that stuck out to me

[00:20:33] with what you said is that you've had several opportunities

[00:20:36] come in and actually build on the ground up and fix.

[00:20:40] How has that experience been for you,

[00:20:42] like coming in and having to come in and repair stuff

[00:20:46] or even come in and change the legacy

[00:20:48] that has been established before?

[00:20:51] So I've done it officially twice now,

[00:20:53] but like at my last two companies, Banfield and the company

[00:20:56] I was out before, it was definitely a build.

[00:20:58] And it was I went in there knowing it wasn't great

[00:21:01] and that it was a team that needed help or a company

[00:21:05] that needed some structure or some new systems.

[00:21:07] And I like a challenge.

[00:21:09] I wanted the opportunity to build something.

[00:21:11] And so I was welcoming of the opportunity.

[00:21:14] It is interesting with each company.

[00:21:17] It's different.

[00:21:18] And my first one, it was a little bit,

[00:21:20] it was a mom and pop company.

[00:21:21] It was a family owned company.

[00:21:23] But huge.

[00:21:24] We had 12,000 fast food restaurant workers.

[00:21:27] We did 30,000 WTOs, a huge amount or 20, about 20,000.

[00:21:32] So huge amount of turnover though still

[00:21:34] about twice the amount turnover.

[00:21:36] And yeah, you come in and there's some legacy people

[00:21:38] who have been there for a while.

[00:21:39] I think a lot of it is discovering the right talent,

[00:21:42] figuring out who the right players are

[00:21:44] and whether you have the right players and determining

[00:21:48] is their talent that maybe is not being utilized

[00:21:51] in the right way or are the processes so archaic

[00:21:55] that it's inundating for everybody to get through their day

[00:21:58] and that people just are miserable at work because of it.

[00:22:00] So I think a lot of it is figuring out

[00:22:04] where the real problems are,

[00:22:06] doing some good cause analysis and understanding

[00:22:08] what can be fixed and what's the priority.

[00:22:11] What can I fix now that's kind of low hanging fruit

[00:22:13] and it's going to give me a lot in return

[00:22:16] so that I can take that time and apply it to something else.

[00:22:19] And so a lot of it is figuring out doing a repository

[00:22:22] almost of what the processes are,

[00:22:24] who the people are finding out opinions.

[00:22:28] One of the things I did when I went to Banfields

[00:22:31] and I heard that they needed some help.

[00:22:33] They just implemented from the new system

[00:22:35] and so I've gotten some feedback from the team.

[00:22:38] What was the team like?

[00:22:39] What were the players like?

[00:22:40] But then I reached out to operations

[00:22:43] and to field leaders and to our HR department

[00:22:46] and I sent out a survey.

[00:22:48] Good for you.

[00:22:49] And I said, what's your feelings on payroll?

[00:22:51] Where are the issues?

[00:22:53] Where are things I can focus on?

[00:22:55] Where are things that the team can prioritize and be better at?

[00:22:58] Where are things we do well?

[00:23:00] What are things that we do well that we can improve on

[00:23:02] and continue to cultivate and do better?

[00:23:04] And that helps immensely in understanding where to focus.

[00:23:08] How was the survey?

[00:23:10] Try to cut you off.

[00:23:11] Oh man, it was not bad.

[00:23:12] They were good people.

[00:23:13] There was good people on the team.

[00:23:15] But they had just implemented

[00:23:17] and they weren't getting through processes quickly.

[00:23:19] Error ratio was high.

[00:23:22] It took a long time to respond to people

[00:23:24] and the responses were inconsistent.

[00:23:27] And there was a lot there.

[00:23:29] There's a lot we could work on.

[00:23:30] I'm extremely proud to say

[00:23:32] that the payroll has completely transformed.

[00:23:35] Congratulations.

[00:23:37] Thank you.

[00:23:37] Yeah, I get raving compliments from our fields

[00:23:40] and our different functional players

[00:23:42] for us the org about how great payroll is.

[00:23:45] So it's night and day from where it was.

[00:23:46] And yeah, I'd like to say I was a big part of that.

[00:23:49] Truly, it was the team.

[00:23:50] The team at look?

[00:23:51] Yeah, it's a holistic effort.

[00:23:53] It's a full effort.

[00:23:54] Yeah.

[00:23:55] So let me ask you then.

[00:23:56] Payroll, because I know you work for Badfield,

[00:23:58] which is a pet hospital.

[00:24:00] Is it different?

[00:24:02] And so is the way payrolls run

[00:24:05] because there are animals and stuff involved

[00:24:07] or is it kind of the same?

[00:24:09] Yeah, we don't deal with the pets very much

[00:24:10] other than when we do go into the hospital hybrid.

[00:24:13] And so when we do go out to the office,

[00:24:14] we have a pretty spectacular office

[00:24:16] with a dog ramp and dog beds everywhere.

[00:24:19] Oh, wow.

[00:24:20] Yeah, you're allowed to have your dogs in the office

[00:24:23] and there's a great restaurant there too.

[00:24:25] But the payroll itself, it's pretty cool.

[00:24:27] We have about 16 people on my team, I believe.

[00:24:30] Oh my goodness.

[00:24:32] Yeah, we have about 22,000 associates

[00:24:35] that we serve as payroll for.

[00:24:37] Truly.

[00:24:38] Yeah.

[00:24:39] Wow.

[00:24:39] So our payroll team,

[00:24:41] it consists of payroll production and support,

[00:24:44] payroll systems and automations,

[00:24:46] payroll tax and compliance,

[00:24:49] and travel and expenses also under my wheelhouse.

[00:24:52] But we process weekly and bi-weekly for,

[00:24:54] like I said, those 22,000 associates

[00:24:57] all out there trying to make it a better world for pets.

[00:25:00] Wow.

[00:25:00] So it's pretty cool.

[00:25:02] Is it in one state?

[00:25:03] Are you multi-state or?

[00:25:05] We are across 46 states.

[00:25:07] Oh my goodness.

[00:25:08] Over 1,000 locations across 46 states and Puerto Rico as well.

[00:25:12] Oh, I've done Puerto Rico.

[00:25:14] So they have like there's a whole other thing there for them.

[00:25:18] For their world, yes.

[00:25:20] Wow, I love it.

[00:25:21] It's awesome.

[00:25:22] It's a huge payroll.

[00:25:23] It's not nearly as big as some of the other payrolls

[00:25:25] I'm aware of but it's a high level of customer service.

[00:25:29] We use ServiceNow for our ticketing system

[00:25:31] and help us which is great.

[00:25:33] We use Workday for HCM and Payworld.

[00:25:36] That's what they had implemented shortly

[00:25:38] before I got there about six months.

[00:25:40] OK.

[00:25:40] Because of Workday, we have everything in Workday

[00:25:43] for the most part.

[00:25:44] So we have really strong partnerships with everyone.

[00:25:47] HRAS, system support, accounting, finance, account,

[00:25:51] benefits, rewards, you name it.

[00:25:53] Does Workday have its own payroll engine?

[00:25:55] Or I thought they do.

[00:25:57] Oh, OK.

[00:25:59] I thought they partnered.

[00:26:00] So then it is.

[00:26:02] Yeah, they have their own.

[00:26:03] So we use Workday Payroll.

[00:26:05] We don't use them for time and attendance.

[00:26:07] OK.

[00:26:07] We actually use Pre-G for time and attendance.

[00:26:10] And we integrate that data into Workday.

[00:26:12] Interesting.

[00:26:13] Yeah.

[00:26:13] That is amazing.

[00:26:14] Yeah, at the Pet Hospital it's amazing.

[00:26:16] There's everyone from doctors to certified vet techs,

[00:26:20] lead veterinarians, hospital managers, field leaders.

[00:26:24] We have a big corporate support staff.

[00:26:27] We've got people on assignment in other countries as well.

[00:26:30] So it's pretty cool.

[00:26:31] Do you all pay them as well?

[00:26:34] We do, yeah.

[00:26:35] Not too much, just a bed.

[00:26:36] We work at the global mobility team.

[00:26:38] But fortunately, actually the best part about my job

[00:26:41] or one of the great parts about my role right now

[00:26:43] is we're actually part of the Mars family.

[00:26:46] So if you eat any M&M's or Snackers or.

[00:26:48] Oh, really?

[00:26:50] No way.

[00:26:51] That's so crazy.

[00:26:52] Because they.

[00:26:53] It is actually pretty cool.

[00:26:54] They own other things.

[00:26:56] And clearly.

[00:26:57] We have a large, they're big snacking confectionary.

[00:27:00] So obviously M&M's are our favorite chocolate snacks

[00:27:03] that we all love.

[00:27:05] They also have things like pine bar and Needress Bakery

[00:27:08] and Ben's Rice.

[00:27:10] There's a ton of different brands,

[00:27:11] but back in I think it was the 30s, 1930s,

[00:27:15] the Mars family wanted to diversify.

[00:27:18] They wanted to do more than just chocolate and snacks.

[00:27:20] And they were trying to throw out what they wanted to do.

[00:27:23] And they had a passion for their pet.

[00:27:25] Of course.

[00:27:25] They loved their pet.

[00:27:27] And so they started a dog food company.

[00:27:29] And yeah.

[00:27:31] And so now they have several dog food companies,

[00:27:33] several pet food companies.

[00:27:34] And they also have a bunch of vet health companies,

[00:27:37] much like Banfield.

[00:27:38] Wow.

[00:27:39] Yeah.

[00:27:39] We're part of this big ecosystem.

[00:27:41] Amazing.

[00:27:41] And it's pretty cool because we have this huge network.

[00:27:48] Like anytime I'm struggling or I have questions

[00:27:50] and different things,

[00:27:51] like there's a ton of different people

[00:27:52] you can reach out to.

[00:27:53] But there's also amazing opportunities.

[00:27:56] They very strongly believe in development and people

[00:27:58] and keeping their people happy and there

[00:28:01] so that they're working better and harder

[00:28:03] to be a part of something bigger.

[00:28:05] They live by their principles

[00:28:07] and they definitely offer opportunity

[00:28:09] like maybe you're a really good leader

[00:28:11] and you've hit the top of where you can be

[00:28:13] in your function or your company.

[00:28:15] They give you opportunities to transition

[00:28:17] other companies within their real house,

[00:28:19] within their ecosystem.

[00:28:21] My boss for example, I report up to the CFO

[00:28:24] and he actually came from Mars Ripley.

[00:28:26] Oh wow.

[00:28:26] So he came.

[00:28:27] Really? Yeah.

[00:28:29] Yeah.

[00:28:29] So lots of great opportunity.

[00:28:30] It's an amazing company.

[00:28:32] I'm very blessed to have landed there.

[00:28:34] But it's a tough payroll.

[00:28:35] It's very high volume.

[00:28:37] Yeah, I could have.

[00:28:39] Yeah, lots of complexities.

[00:28:40] Now, we have so many questions.

[00:28:43] But we always talk about ratios.

[00:28:45] So when you said 16 on the team

[00:28:47] and then 22,000 employees,

[00:28:49] do you have a certain amount of employees

[00:28:52] that ratio to your payroll people that are processing?

[00:28:56] So for us, we've always researched and also experienced

[00:29:00] that it's like 2000s or 1500.

[00:29:03] Yeah, per processor.

[00:29:05] Do you guys?

[00:29:06] Wait, wait.

[00:29:08] No, I turn on to you, Ashley.

[00:29:10] I think as the payrolls get larger,

[00:29:13] I think this is where that interesting conversation comes in

[00:29:15] on the different size payrolls

[00:29:16] and what you can do with those.

[00:29:18] I think as payroll gets larger and larger,

[00:29:21] you have to be technical with it.

[00:29:24] There's a lot of automated processes.

[00:29:26] And Nick, I'll use an example for terminations, for example.

[00:29:30] Those used to be processed.

[00:29:31] We'd process a termination check for everybody.

[00:29:33] For anyone who termed, we'd process one

[00:29:35] because you probably have an accrual that we're paying out

[00:29:37] and we pay out in all states.

[00:29:39] So basically anyone who terminates

[00:29:41] is getting a check from us at some point.

[00:29:42] Move, move, move, move, move.

[00:29:44] And those were done manually beforehand,

[00:29:46] like one by one, someone was going in

[00:29:48] and processing this termination check

[00:29:50] and it was taking forever.

[00:29:52] And so yes, if we continued operating like that,

[00:29:55] we'd probably need one to a thousand at the very minimum

[00:29:58] because if we're gonna process manual checks like that

[00:30:01] and take the time, 10, 20 minutes per check

[00:30:04] and we've got multiple a day,

[00:30:06] yeah, I'm gonna need quite a bit of headcount

[00:30:08] in order to sustain that level of work.

[00:30:11] And so one of the things that we did, for example,

[00:30:14] at my current company is we took that process

[00:30:17] and we said, how can we make this different?

[00:30:19] How can we alter this and make this a little bit better?

[00:30:21] And so we pulled the report and everyone who was terming

[00:30:26] and we get this report of everyone

[00:30:27] who's termed in the system on the prior day

[00:30:29] and we built out templates in the system

[00:30:31] where we can take that data

[00:30:32] and plop it into an Excel report and click a button

[00:30:36] and it refreshes and we have all the formulas

[00:30:39] and macros and everything built

[00:30:40] so that it triggers and tells us

[00:30:42] what checks need to be cut today.

[00:30:43] Oh, wow.

[00:30:44] Which ones need to go to the on-cycle payroll?

[00:30:47] Oh, they need to go to the on-cycle payroll?

[00:30:49] Guess what?

[00:30:49] We just push a button

[00:30:50] and it creates the upload that we need to use into the system

[00:30:54] because we've already pre-divined that whole process.

[00:30:57] I guess so.

[00:30:58] And so taking this in turn, it's really nice.

[00:31:00] So like just taking time

[00:31:02] and really sitting down and understanding

[00:31:04] what the process is, why it takes so many people

[00:31:07] and what can we do differently?

[00:31:09] What can we do to gain that time back

[00:31:11] and use that time so that our people can do other things,

[00:31:15] focus on other initiatives,

[00:31:16] focus on another project

[00:31:18] or a process that needs improving.

[00:31:20] And yeah, at the end of the day,

[00:31:21] I probably don't need as much headcount.

[00:31:22] So it makes it a little easier to sustain.

[00:31:26] Often when payroll has a high budget or high headcount,

[00:31:30] it's gonna be seen as a department that's high-cost

[00:31:33] and what happens when that sometimes you get outsourced

[00:31:36] or you don't get the resources you need.

[00:31:39] And so finding ways to run efficiently

[00:31:42] and to run smart

[00:31:45] and leaner gives you more ability to be impactful,

[00:31:49] I think.

[00:31:50] That's amazing.

[00:31:50] So clearly you guys, your processors have more than that.

[00:31:55] They are responsible for way more headcount.

[00:31:56] Yeah.

[00:31:57] Yeah, and so one of the other things too

[00:31:59] is when I first got there,

[00:32:00] the company very much operates in regions.

[00:32:03] So we've reached out with my three Midwest,

[00:32:06] South, Southeast, different regions.

[00:32:09] And so payroll, HRS, several other functions

[00:32:12] and departments were actually divided out into regions.

[00:32:16] So maybe we had one payroll specialist

[00:32:19] who was handling the Midwest.

[00:32:21] And one who was handling,

[00:32:22] what happens when the person who's handling California is out?

[00:32:25] Now I was like, someone has to do two regions

[00:32:27] and they had to do California,

[00:32:29] which they weren't as comfortable with maybe.

[00:32:31] And so that was another thing

[00:32:32] in taking that methodology or mentality

[00:32:35] when looking at regions,

[00:32:36] if we were gonna have one person reach region,

[00:32:39] I'd probably need more headcount.

[00:32:41] I'd probably need more people

[00:32:42] to be able to sustain those regions.

[00:32:44] And again, maybe things aren't getting answered

[00:32:45] consistently across the org.

[00:32:48] Maybe they're not being worked in the same process

[00:32:50] or maybe they're not being worked to the same level of quality

[00:32:54] because of the different people

[00:32:55] that are doing all of the same tasks.

[00:32:57] And for one of the things we did

[00:32:59] is we created those teams,

[00:33:00] those payroll production and support,

[00:33:02] payroll systems and automation,

[00:33:03] payroll tax and compliance,

[00:33:05] and we abolished regions.

[00:33:07] Yeah, and so we created them.

[00:33:09] Yeah, we made it so that you don't need

[00:33:11] a one-to-one ratio.

[00:33:13] You don't need one person to cover a region.

[00:33:15] You can have one person who's covering a process or a task

[00:33:19] and well understood.

[00:33:23] People understand it really well

[00:33:24] instead of asking someone to understand

[00:33:27] everything about the payroll from A to Z

[00:33:29] and do everything in the payroll from A to Z.

[00:33:32] They're able to focus on pieces,

[00:33:34] but we have career-pathic options.

[00:33:37] So it makes it easier, more exciting.

[00:33:40] Holy cow.

[00:33:41] Oh my gosh.

[00:33:42] Yeah, oh my gosh.

[00:33:44] There's so much.

[00:33:45] Oh my gosh.

[00:33:46] I think that we got to like whatever,

[00:33:48] I think the next question you guys had mentioned asking

[00:33:51] talks on this talent thing too.

[00:33:53] Oh yeah, I switched the order

[00:33:55] for a little bit of flow here.

[00:33:57] So we noticed that you went to school

[00:33:59] for fashion and business?

[00:34:01] Yes.

[00:34:02] How do those fields, does fashion play in at all

[00:34:05] for the pay?

[00:34:06] Did you take anything?

[00:34:07] It would be kind of weird if it did, right?

[00:34:09] You never know.

[00:34:10] You never know.

[00:34:11] Never know.

[00:34:13] No, yeah, so I went to FIT,

[00:34:15] the National Institute of Technology

[00:34:16] and before that I was an artist.

[00:34:18] I used to paint murals and I love art,

[00:34:21] all mediums of art.

[00:34:22] I'm definitely a very creative person.

[00:34:24] I have a very creative mind.

[00:34:25] Almost chaotic sometimes I joke.

[00:34:28] I get very crazy ideas.

[00:34:29] I get it.

[00:34:30] That's Walt.

[00:34:30] Walt is very much the artist on this team.

[00:34:34] Yeah.

[00:34:34] You need to have some,

[00:34:36] you need ebbs and blouses.

[00:34:37] Many people have some strengths and weaknesses

[00:34:39] balance other odds and creativity is definitely my strength.

[00:34:42] Nice.

[00:34:43] And so I think oddly enough,

[00:34:45] being creative has helped me to understand

[00:34:48] process and systems and I don't know if it's like

[00:34:52] it helps me to do that.

[00:34:53] That's good.

[00:34:54] Walt just said the same thing.

[00:34:55] I don't know if it helps me like under the puzzle

[00:34:56] to figure out the puzzles or I don't know,

[00:34:59] but it just I could like vision,

[00:35:01] I can envision things and I could see it in my brain

[00:35:04] and I can visualize what the change should be.

[00:35:07] And I don't know,

[00:35:08] there's just something about that creative side of my brain

[00:35:11] that really does it's very intertwined into what I do.

[00:35:14] So it does help.

[00:35:14] Yeah.

[00:35:15] So it does help.

[00:35:15] And that's and I'm glad you said that

[00:35:17] because Walt says something recently

[00:35:19] about creativity and the payroll process.

[00:35:21] And I was just thinking about it to myself.

[00:35:24] What is he talking about?

[00:35:24] You get so creativity and Arielle.

[00:35:27] What does he mean?

[00:35:28] I'm so glad you said that

[00:35:29] that gives a lot more perspective now

[00:35:31] into the mind of an artist.

[00:35:32] That's so cool.

[00:35:33] Yeah.

[00:35:34] It really is.

[00:35:35] So not in this big fashion,

[00:35:36] but definitely the art piece.

[00:35:38] The art, yes of it.

[00:35:38] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:35:40] So yeah.

[00:35:40] And then for the business side,

[00:35:42] once I got serious and payroll,

[00:35:44] I decided I wanted to do this.

[00:35:47] Loved it.

[00:35:48] I was good at it.

[00:35:49] I had a opportunity, a path.

[00:35:51] And I also at the time actually

[00:35:55] have was engaged.

[00:35:56] I called off my engagement ironically enough

[00:35:58] and I decided I didn't want a man to take care of me.

[00:36:01] I wanted to be able to take care of myself.

[00:36:03] And be a strong woman who had a life for my own

[00:36:08] and a career for my own.

[00:36:09] And so I remember going to my leader at the time

[00:36:11] who was again this mentor I talked to often still

[00:36:14] and I asked him, hey, what can I do?

[00:36:16] I didn't finish FIT.

[00:36:19] So I actually didn't get my degree.

[00:36:21] OK.

[00:36:21] And I wanted to go back to school.

[00:36:24] I wanted to figure out what to do next.

[00:36:26] What can I do next?

[00:36:27] And so he'd recommend that I go to community college

[00:36:30] and take courses that would be applicable

[00:36:32] to what I'm doing.

[00:36:33] So I was very wordy in my emails.

[00:36:37] I've always been a very wordy person.

[00:36:38] And so you need to do business communications first.

[00:36:42] To that one first.

[00:36:43] Less is more.

[00:36:44] Thanks.

[00:36:44] Yeah.

[00:36:46] But that one, I did financial accounting

[00:36:48] and business management and just a bunch

[00:36:50] of other different courses that really helped

[00:36:52] to help advance me in what I was doing.

[00:36:56] And then CPP.

[00:36:58] Yep.

[00:36:59] He encouraged me to go for my CDP

[00:37:00] and while I didn't do it until I moved here to Washington,

[00:37:03] actually, so just a few years ago

[00:37:04] was when I went and did my CDP after I had kids and everything.

[00:37:08] And wow, highly recommends.

[00:37:11] What a difference it made in my career.

[00:37:13] Wow.

[00:37:14] Huge different.

[00:37:15] Can you give us one example of that?

[00:37:17] Because we debate that often.

[00:37:20] Yeah.

[00:37:20] Because obviously you got to a very high level without it.

[00:37:24] And so I would love to hear what did it do?

[00:37:27] Just one.

[00:37:27] I'm sure you can go on for a long time,

[00:37:29] but just something.

[00:37:31] No.

[00:37:31] CPP was fantastic for me.

[00:37:33] Yeah, I was able to be successful without it.

[00:37:35] I got to the manager role and I was leading teams

[00:37:38] and building teams without it.

[00:37:40] But I often felt like there was this...

[00:37:44] I can research information.

[00:37:45] I could...

[00:37:46] I've learned so much throughout the years.

[00:37:48] But I felt like I didn't totally grasp everything

[00:37:51] and I felt like I was missing something too.

[00:37:53] And so this was a mission.

[00:37:54] It was a challenge.

[00:37:55] It was something that I felt would be something

[00:37:57] that would help my career again furthering,

[00:38:00] further my career.

[00:38:01] And so that was the motivation in learning it and studying it.

[00:38:05] So I joined a couple of different study groups.

[00:38:08] I found I had a colleague who worked at the HCM system

[00:38:10] I used at my company.

[00:38:12] And in that company,

[00:38:14] so for the HCM system, the company,

[00:38:16] they actually offered CPP courses for their employees.

[00:38:19] So their account managers and stuff,

[00:38:21] they would train them on being certified.

[00:38:23] And they would support them to go take the exams

[00:38:26] and be CPPs.

[00:38:28] He offered me an invite to that course.

[00:38:30] And so I would stay after work and I'd stay in my office

[00:38:34] and I'd log in and it was in New Jersey.

[00:38:36] So I was here in the West Coast

[00:38:37] and I'd log into New Jersey

[00:38:38] and hear all the East Coast accents and laugh.

[00:38:41] But I did that after hours for several months.

[00:38:44] And then I would...

[00:38:45] Excuse me, that was a study group that I'd done in Jersey.

[00:38:48] The HCM system was another group.

[00:38:50] But all in all, I did all the studying.

[00:38:52] I got pay trained for myself.

[00:38:55] So towards the...

[00:38:56] I was getting close to my exam

[00:38:57] and I just felt like I still wasn't grasping a lot of it.

[00:39:00] I was still getting not great,

[00:39:02] not the best scores in some areas.

[00:39:05] I wasn't as strong in accounting.

[00:39:07] I wasn't as strong in international at the time.

[00:39:10] And so I needed to really focus

[00:39:12] and I have six to eight weeks left before my exam.

[00:39:15] And so I purchased pay train.

[00:39:17] And that was like the greatest thing ever.

[00:39:20] Oh my gosh, completely helped me pass the exam.

[00:39:22] I highly recommend gonna study, just invest in a pay train,

[00:39:26] do it, get involved with the payroll work.

[00:39:29] Honestly how it helped my career is it all clicked afterwards.

[00:39:32] Got it.

[00:39:33] I felt extremely confident when I would challenge someone

[00:39:38] on something that needed to be done

[00:39:39] or at least something that didn't need to be done.

[00:39:42] The level of confidence I gained in what I was doing

[00:39:45] and then how to be a good payroll leader was astronomical.

[00:39:48] Took me to the next level, absolutely.

[00:39:50] I highly recommend it.

[00:39:52] It's hard to explain when you're doing okay

[00:39:54] and you're doing pretty good

[00:39:55] and you don't really feel like you need it, do it.

[00:39:58] Do it if not for any other reason

[00:40:00] that was having it as a tool belt,

[00:40:01] as something in your tool belt.

[00:40:03] But just that knowledge and understanding

[00:40:05] of the cap of the heart

[00:40:06] and breadth of how to be a great payroll leader too.

[00:40:09] They teach you that.

[00:40:10] The financial accounting was huge for me.

[00:40:13] It had been a while since I'd taken

[00:40:15] that financial accounting class

[00:40:17] and here now I'm leading these teams

[00:40:20] and I'm making decisions.

[00:40:21] And in rooms with, now according to the CBO

[00:40:26] where there's a lot of financial discussions

[00:40:28] and now I'm a lot more equipped

[00:40:31] to understand what they're talking about.

[00:40:34] And yeah, it was huge for me.

[00:40:36] Awesome, thank you.

[00:40:37] And it's a great segue here as we're trying to get

[00:40:41] or as we had somebody on from PazR,

[00:40:43] Max from PazR recently and he said it.

[00:40:46] I love Max.

[00:40:47] Yes, oh my gosh, he's so great.

[00:40:49] Yeah, he was on episode, I don't know, 98 or 99

[00:40:52] or something like that.

[00:40:53] Wasn't too long ago and he said it really good.

[00:40:57] He said we don't have to force them into payroll.

[00:40:59] We just have to make sure it's visible to young people

[00:41:04] that it is a career path.

[00:41:05] Look at your career is amazing.

[00:41:07] Can this is possible?

[00:41:09] Right, these things are possible.

[00:41:10] So what would you say to young folks

[00:41:14] to help them gravitate

[00:41:16] or how would you frame payroll to them

[00:41:19] if you're doing a career day at a college or something?

[00:41:22] Any thoughts on that?

[00:41:25] There's so much opportunity in payroll.

[00:41:27] Oh my gosh, and so much more now that there used to be

[00:41:30] when it was just data entry and transactional.

[00:41:33] It has evolved so much over the years.

[00:41:36] Look at me, it's looking at my team for example.

[00:41:38] They have me, I'm in leadership.

[00:41:40] So I, again, financial accounting,

[00:41:42] management, development, team budgets,

[00:41:45] you name it, education and all the things.

[00:41:48] Time in attendance specialists,

[00:41:50] a cool plan administrator,

[00:41:51] administration, integrations and configurations,

[00:41:54] processing and reporting, analytics,

[00:41:57] compliant with payroll tax, other manager roles too.

[00:42:00] I have a couple of managers underneath me as well.

[00:42:02] So like career path and opportunities for development.

[00:42:05] My team got to watch me recently.

[00:42:08] I got invited to go to a global payroll conference

[00:42:11] in London of all places.

[00:42:12] Nice.

[00:42:13] When on earth, I think my payroll career

[00:42:15] would take me to London for a payroll conference.

[00:42:18] And so they got to see that.

[00:42:20] What, that's pretty cool motivation I think

[00:42:23] to gravitate towards a payroll career.

[00:42:25] That's right.

[00:42:26] That's amazing.

[00:42:27] But I think yeah, there's a lot of opportunity.

[00:42:29] It is.

[00:42:29] I look at myself when I was at Krolls Jr.

[00:42:32] My mentor came to me at one point

[00:42:34] and I was doing the corporate payroll.

[00:42:36] I had been promoted several times

[00:42:38] and I was stagnant

[00:42:41] and there was an HRS position available term.

[00:42:44] And my friend was actually one of the HRS analysts

[00:42:46] who was living on and he came to me and he said,

[00:42:48] you should go for this role.

[00:42:51] I said, no, I don't think so.

[00:42:53] No.

[00:42:53] Peer old person.

[00:42:54] No.

[00:42:55] He said, no, you should go for this role.

[00:42:56] You're really technical.

[00:42:57] You're good at systems.

[00:42:58] You would understand it.

[00:42:59] You'd be really good at it.

[00:43:00] Yep.

[00:43:01] I'm like, no, I'm not smart enough.

[00:43:02] And he said, yeah, you should do this.

[00:43:04] And so I went for it and he pushed me to go for it.

[00:43:06] And it was such a huge turning point in my career

[00:43:09] in that it helps me understand systems

[00:43:11] at a whole new level.

[00:43:13] And it has made me a better leader,

[00:43:15] a better payroll leader because of my understanding

[00:43:18] of how the systems work and how to maximize systems

[00:43:20] and how to really make them do what you need them to do.

[00:43:24] And so I look at that experience and I say,

[00:43:26] man, there's so much opportunity in payroll

[00:43:28] and it is a very exciting time right now.

[00:43:31] There's a lot of payroll transformation.

[00:43:33] In fact, I'll give a little promo

[00:43:35] if you haven't seen the payroll transformation

[00:43:37] for Congress, payroll Congress coming up

[00:43:40] the big conference.

[00:43:41] There's some great things happening

[00:43:43] and there's just so much opportunity.

[00:43:45] You know, someone on my team actually,

[00:43:48] he interviewed with me when he was at,

[00:43:50] he had just graduated from college

[00:43:52] and he was just fresh out of college.

[00:43:54] And he interviewed for an HRS analyst position

[00:43:57] ahead of my last team.

[00:43:59] Completely no experience, like no experience whatsoever.

[00:44:02] He would not have been good for the role.

[00:44:04] I needed someone who had experience.

[00:44:05] Gotcha.

[00:44:06] But this kid was just smart

[00:44:08] and he had a great personality.

[00:44:10] He was funny.

[00:44:11] He just seemed like he was a good kid

[00:44:15] and I felt like there was something there.

[00:44:17] And I remember telling my boss,

[00:44:19] like man, this kid's good, he's great.

[00:44:21] I'm like, I need someone with experience.

[00:44:22] There's no way he'd work for this role

[00:44:23] but oh, he was just so great.

[00:44:25] And he said, why don't you hire him as an intern?

[00:44:27] Nice.

[00:44:28] And I'm like, can I do that?

[00:44:30] Can I do that?

[00:44:30] Exactly.

[00:44:31] Is that allowed?

[00:44:32] Is that allowed?

[00:44:33] Is that the thing?

[00:44:34] Yes, yes, I love it.

[00:44:35] That okay.

[00:44:35] And so that's when I started doing an interim program

[00:44:38] and I still do one now.

[00:44:39] Wow, look at that.

[00:44:41] Catch this.

[00:44:41] So within three months of him just interning with us,

[00:44:45] he had learned the whole payroll process.

[00:44:48] He became like a right hand to my senior payroll analyst

[00:44:51] who was at that point moving on to HRIS actually,

[00:44:54] we were promoting him to HRIS.

[00:44:56] And he couldn't really promote on

[00:44:58] until he taught someone else how to do the payroll

[00:45:01] in full so that he can move on.

[00:45:03] And he ends up teaching this intern

[00:45:05] who ends up hiring permanently

[00:45:07] and ended up running our payroll for us,

[00:45:10] put things into place

[00:45:11] that I would have never even thought of or imagined.

[00:45:13] The technical genius, this kid was just,

[00:45:16] and he was just such a good kid

[00:45:18] and he ended up moving on to HRIS as well at one point.

[00:45:21] He trains a new payroll team.

[00:45:24] He stayed there several months after I left

[00:45:26] and helped to continue on.

[00:45:28] And then eventually he left

[00:45:30] and now he's actually with me here at my current company.

[00:45:34] And so when we had an opportunity available,

[00:45:36] I called him and I'm like, you should apply here.

[00:45:38] It would be a great company for you.

[00:45:39] And he, like I said, he'd already been gone

[00:45:41] from the last company and so it made sense.

[00:45:43] The doors that it can open

[00:45:45] and the opportunities within payroll,

[00:45:48] just there's so many different paths.

[00:45:50] So yeah, it's time to be excited about it for sure.

[00:45:53] That was so interesting.

[00:45:54] That was so inspirational.

[00:45:56] Oh my, I'm motivated right now.

[00:45:58] Oh my gosh.

[00:45:59] I'm so cool.

[00:46:00] Yup.

[00:46:00] And we talk about that too,

[00:46:02] how payroll clips easily to HRIS.

[00:46:04] It's two sides of the same coin.

[00:46:06] I'm actually on the HR side

[00:46:08] and have been for a while back

[00:46:10] and now that we started doing the show

[00:46:13] and I've seen how these, you got you wonderful payroll.

[00:46:17] I'm like, I feel like, oh man,

[00:46:19] I'm cheating on my payroll folks.

[00:46:20] Like I'm on the HR side, but I'm just excited.

[00:46:23] Such an amazing,

[00:46:24] you actually gave young folk a chance to grow

[00:46:27] and what an amazing story for young people.

[00:46:31] Like I love that for again,

[00:46:33] to frame that for young people

[00:46:36] because I don't know if we're a aging out group

[00:46:39] of payroll focus like ADP.

[00:46:41] Yeah, no ADP did a study in the past year or so.

[00:46:44] 80% of people folks processing payroll right now

[00:46:48] in the US are over 40.

[00:46:50] Neither backfill.

[00:46:51] We need to get folks excited.

[00:46:53] So that's what amazing story.

[00:46:56] I can go on for on and on,

[00:46:57] but we got two, one question

[00:47:00] and we got a game for you before we let you go.

[00:47:04] We should ask the question after the game.

[00:47:07] No problem, let's do that.

[00:47:08] So let's do this game is called This or That

[00:47:10] and it's you pick one or the other both or neither.

[00:47:14] Doesn't just, it's just on, yep.

[00:47:16] You want to start it off and I end it?

[00:47:18] Yeah.

[00:47:19] Okay, so tacos or burgers?

[00:47:24] Oh, burgers.

[00:47:25] Burgers, okay.

[00:47:26] As a former Taco Bell franchise,

[00:47:28] I'm pretty much saying that with burgers,

[00:47:30] definitely burgers.

[00:47:31] Okay.

[00:47:32] Do you prefer a romcom or a drama?

[00:47:37] A little romcom.

[00:47:38] Romcom, okay.

[00:47:40] Do you prefer working in a group or working solo?

[00:47:46] Working in a group.

[00:47:48] And the last one that I have is,

[00:47:50] would you prefer an out of state vacation or a vacation?

[00:47:56] Out of state.

[00:47:58] Out of country.

[00:48:00] Out of country, gotcha.

[00:48:02] All right, Brian.

[00:48:02] I went to London, beautiful.

[00:48:04] I want to go back.

[00:48:04] Yes.

[00:48:06] Before I asked mine,

[00:48:07] maybe when you said that you made me think of Jodi Parsons,

[00:48:10] we had her on episode that we'll post today.

[00:48:14] And...

[00:48:15] How funny, I had a call with her yesterday.

[00:48:17] You see?

[00:48:18] So it's great minds.

[00:48:19] We were working out a vacation

[00:48:20] and we're doing it for Congress together.

[00:48:21] Oh, see?

[00:48:22] We'll see you there.

[00:48:24] Wow.

[00:48:25] Yes.

[00:48:26] And same thing,

[00:48:26] she payroll took her around the world

[00:48:28] and she was intentional about getting a payroll job

[00:48:31] with a sports team

[00:48:33] and like, it's such an amazing story as you all have.

[00:48:36] So you made me think of her when you said the London part.

[00:48:38] Okay, here are mine.

[00:48:40] Handwritten or digital entry?

[00:48:43] Manual or digital?

[00:48:46] Oh, digital.

[00:48:47] Yeah, exactly.

[00:48:48] We found that answer.

[00:48:49] Good questions.

[00:48:50] Okay, here's one.

[00:48:51] Skydiving or white water rafting?

[00:48:58] Neither.

[00:48:59] Oh, there you go.

[00:48:59] I might be with you on that.

[00:49:01] Cats or dogs?

[00:49:02] Yeah.

[00:49:04] Oh, dogs.

[00:49:05] I have four.

[00:49:06] Four?

[00:49:08] Oh, nice.

[00:49:09] I have my husband,

[00:49:10] surprised dog last year.

[00:49:12] We have a 80 pound golden doodle.

[00:49:15] We have a dog who's actually from Thailand.

[00:49:17] She's a wonderful terrier from Thailand,

[00:49:19] a Wheaton Terrier.

[00:49:20] We have a small little terrier dog,

[00:49:23] a tiny little terrier dog

[00:49:23] we got here at the Oregon Indian Society.

[00:49:26] And then we just,

[00:49:27] like I said,

[00:49:28] my husband surprised us the other couple months ago.

[00:49:30] I came home from a work event

[00:49:32] and the lights were all on in the house

[00:49:33] and like the girls should be asleep.

[00:49:35] I have two young daughters.

[00:49:37] They should be asleep.

[00:49:38] The lights were on

[00:49:39] and sure enough,

[00:49:40] my husband was sitting on the floor

[00:49:41] with a new golden retriever puppy.

[00:49:42] Oh!

[00:49:44] Surprise!

[00:49:45] Surprise!

[00:49:45] You just get puppies and it surprises us now.

[00:49:47] But I work for Banfields

[00:49:49] and one of the benefits of Banfield

[00:49:50] is we get free vet health care

[00:49:52] for up to three of our pets.

[00:49:54] Yeah.

[00:49:55] Well, up to three.

[00:49:55] So he fought four with me.

[00:49:57] Yeah, for sure.

[00:49:58] Good spread it.

[00:50:00] Spread the savings out.

[00:50:02] And last one.

[00:50:04] People or animals?

[00:50:09] Well, there you go.

[00:50:11] Great answer.

[00:50:13] Yes, yes.

[00:50:15] Well, so...

[00:50:17] Oh, definitely better.

[00:50:18] Let's get rid of them.

[00:50:19] Yeah, yes, yes.

[00:50:20] We don't craft them as we go along

[00:50:22] while we're talking,

[00:50:24] get some good ideas.

[00:50:25] But so the last one is that we ask everybody,

[00:50:28] what would you give?

[00:50:29] What advice would you give

[00:50:31] to a payroll pro right now

[00:50:32] that might be struggling?

[00:50:37] This is a really good question.

[00:50:38] Because it's not just what would you give

[00:50:40] the payroll pro,

[00:50:41] what advice would you give the payroll pro?

[00:50:42] What would you give the one who's struggling?

[00:50:44] I would say what is the struggle?

[00:50:47] Thinking about what your struggle is,

[00:50:48] is a great company, not enough resources.

[00:50:51] Is a bad leader?

[00:50:53] Is it archaic processes?

[00:50:55] Is it lack of developments

[00:50:57] and lack of opportunity?

[00:50:59] Is it bad systems, bad company?

[00:51:01] I think sitting down and reflecting

[00:51:04] and figuring out what the actual struggle is.

[00:51:06] What's the root cause?

[00:51:08] Like in payroll,

[00:51:09] we sit down and we say you got to figure out the root cause.

[00:51:11] I think if you're struggling,

[00:51:13] figuring out the root cause is pretty important.

[00:51:17] And once you figure it out,

[00:51:19] I think there are so many people out there,

[00:51:23] just like me,

[00:51:24] who are there to help you

[00:51:27] figure out how to get past that struggle.

[00:51:30] So like I would almost guarantee

[00:51:31] that there's a ton of people

[00:51:33] and email me and ask me,

[00:51:34] I guarantee you I've been through one of those struggles

[00:51:36] and I guarantee you someone at the payroll or Jodi

[00:51:39] or anyone, Max, any of us have been

[00:51:41] through those payroll struggles.

[00:51:43] So reach out.

[00:51:44] There is an incredible network of people,

[00:51:46] absolutely incredible network of people on payroll.

[00:51:49] It is a really unique breed.

[00:51:51] And like we have these amazing events

[00:51:53] like all these wonderful podcasts

[00:51:55] that help bring us together and help us network.

[00:51:58] And I guarantee you anyone reaches out to me

[00:52:01] could be a stranger, could be a connection.

[00:52:03] If you are a struggle

[00:52:04] and you're looking for support or guidance

[00:52:06] on what to do next or how to get past this

[00:52:09] or do I go to a new company?

[00:52:10] Do I build a new team?

[00:52:11] Do I ask for more budget?

[00:52:13] Do I restaffed or restructure my staff?

[00:52:16] Or how do I take this termination process

[00:52:19] and make it just a little bit less painful

[00:52:21] because it is inundating and chilling my day.

[00:52:24] With any of those things,

[00:52:26] you've got people who are out there

[00:52:28] who are happy to give their support

[00:52:30] and knowledge and expertise

[00:52:32] just to help cultivate more future payroll leaders.

[00:52:36] Because you're right, we are aging out.

[00:52:38] I turned 40 this year or last year rather.

[00:52:40] And yeah, there was only so long

[00:52:43] where I could call myself a young leader.

[00:52:44] It still works so much.

[00:52:46] Yeah, it's just very...

[00:52:47] It still works so much anyway.

[00:52:49] We're aging out.

[00:52:50] So we got to help cultivate other.

[00:52:52] And yeah, if you have a struggle,

[00:52:54] figure out the root cause,

[00:52:55] figure out what the struggle is

[00:52:57] and then reach out to someone

[00:52:59] who might be able to help guide you

[00:53:01] and I promise you they won't turn their back to you.

[00:53:04] That's right. Such great advice.

[00:53:06] Thank you so much. What an amazing show today.

[00:53:09] We've been so lucky to have just outstanding guests on...

[00:53:13] I feel like I want to give her a standing ovation, Brian.

[00:53:16] Yeah, no doubt.

[00:53:17] Yes.

[00:53:18] Yes.

[00:53:19] Look, we can give it to you in person.

[00:53:21] We'll see you in Congress.

[00:53:24] Oh, I'm so excited.

[00:53:25] Yeah, we'll be there for sure.

[00:53:26] Before...

[00:53:27] We're off to check it out. We're doing another session.

[00:53:29] Oh yeah.

[00:53:30] I'm doing two.

[00:53:31] One with Jody on preparing for change and processes.

[00:53:36] And then another one is with a wonderful, amazing woman.

[00:53:38] My name is Tiffany Gray.

[00:53:39] We're doing one on customer service in Peralt.

[00:53:41] Oh, that's awesome.

[00:53:43] Yeah, we...

[00:53:44] Yeah, it'll be a great time.

[00:53:45] We did a customer service show a few weeks back

[00:53:49] with Jeremy Miffsid from Buddy over.

[00:53:53] Did you see... Did you hear that?

[00:53:54] Malther.

[00:53:54] Malther, yeah.

[00:53:56] Amazing.

[00:53:56] I know them.

[00:53:57] Yes, yes. Such a great one.

[00:53:59] Before I let you go, though,

[00:54:00] you said something that I'm curious about.

[00:54:02] You said you stopped an engagement.

[00:54:04] Did you not marry that person?

[00:54:06] Or is he your current husband that you pushed off?

[00:54:09] No, I did not marry him.

[00:54:11] I was supposed to get married in September 2009, I think.

[00:54:14] You picked payroll over a husband.

[00:54:17] She did the right thing.

[00:54:17] Called it off in...

[00:54:19] Yeah, I called it off in May.

[00:54:21] But then I moved...

[00:54:21] I guess they got more serious in my career.

[00:54:23] And about a year later,

[00:54:26] this young intern started in our office.

[00:54:29] His uncle was actually an officer at our company.

[00:54:32] And so he had got an intern job.

[00:54:34] And yeah, he ended up being the man

[00:54:36] I ended up dating and marrying.

[00:54:37] So that is my current husband.

[00:54:40] What a story.

[00:54:40] He is actually a stay-at-home dad now

[00:54:42] with two-hour two-girl.

[00:54:44] Yeah, we have a very lovely blessed life.

[00:54:47] And yeah, he's very supportive of my career

[00:54:49] and everything that I do.

[00:54:50] Yeah, who wouldn't be?

[00:54:51] What an amazing career.

[00:54:52] Like, really, payroll rock star, right?

[00:54:54] Like, just amazing.

[00:54:56] Thank you so much, Sarah.

[00:54:57] I've been very lucky.

[00:54:58] Very lucky.

[00:54:59] Yes.

[00:55:00] This is the type of stories

[00:55:01] that we have to frame out there to young folks.

[00:55:03] Look, your career could take you to new heights.

[00:55:05] It's all kind of things you can do with payroll.

[00:55:07] We know payroll business owners

[00:55:09] that we've had on the show and payroll influencers.

[00:55:12] It just...it goes on and on.

[00:55:13] And once upon a time, I was doing payroll.

[00:55:16] My wife, we were young and my wife was like,

[00:55:18] I didn't know cutting checks was a career.

[00:55:22] Yes.

[00:55:23] She was mad at me that day.

[00:55:24] So it's a different motivation.

[00:55:28] You know what?

[00:55:28] You know what?

[00:55:29] I'll tell you guys a quick story.

[00:55:30] So my sister, she recently just moved to Portland near me,

[00:55:33] actually, but she's an amazing woman.

[00:55:37] She's very smart.

[00:55:38] She went to school.

[00:55:39] She's a professional photographer.

[00:55:40] She was an educator.

[00:55:42] She's got her master's, multiple degrees.

[00:55:44] Wow.

[00:55:45] Very smart.

[00:55:46] And here I didn't get my degree from FIT.

[00:55:49] I ended up being self-made,

[00:55:51] educating myself later in life

[00:55:52] and through experience.

[00:55:54] And when I was looking...

[00:55:55] When I was transitioning roles from the last company

[00:55:58] to my current one,

[00:56:00] I was blessed in that I had a handful of different

[00:56:02] opportunities and offers to take different paths

[00:56:05] or directions,

[00:56:06] different types of companies,

[00:56:08] different types of roles.

[00:56:09] And at the same time,

[00:56:11] she was trying to figure out what her next moves would be.

[00:56:14] She'd just finished her most recent degree

[00:56:16] and was debating on if she would go for work

[00:56:19] in a company or a certain company.

[00:56:21] So she was interviewing and doing all the stuff

[00:56:23] and nothing was coming to fruition for her.

[00:56:26] And I remember telling her that I had had

[00:56:28] a handful of opportunities or different offers

[00:56:30] and she looked at me and she's payrolled.

[00:56:32] Gee, it really is a good stable industry, isn't it?

[00:56:36] Everything else was not at the time.

[00:56:38] But two years ago, I was like, it was a tough market.

[00:56:41] And I remember thinking to myself,

[00:56:42] she's right.

[00:56:44] Yeah, it really is because no matter what,

[00:56:46] like all the AI in the world,

[00:56:48] all of the chatbots and tools, you're still gonna need us.

[00:56:52] You're still gonna need us to help develop

[00:56:54] and control and motivate and transform.

[00:56:59] You're always gonna need us.

[00:57:00] And it is a very good industry.

[00:57:02] And it's been my life, friend and bloodline for so long.

[00:57:06] Well said.

[00:57:07] Perfect, perfect ending.

[00:57:09] We can't thank you enough for having you on.

[00:57:11] Thank you so much for giving us your time today.

[00:57:15] What an amazing opportunity for us to talk to you.

[00:57:17] Thank you very much.

[00:57:18] Yeah, we're excited.

[00:57:19] Thank you for having me guys, it's fun.

[00:57:21] Yes, you're welcome.

[00:57:22] Oh my God, it's a pleasure with honors all hours.

[00:57:25] We look forward to meeting you at Congress.

[00:57:27] Same, same, I'll make sure to find you guys.

[00:57:29] Absolutely, yeah.

[00:57:30] We might be hanging out with Max at Paysar.

[00:57:33] That's fine, me too.

[00:57:34] Oh, there you go.

[00:57:35] Oh, there you go.

[00:57:36] See, he's starting a little party.

[00:57:38] He's smart.

[00:57:39] He's got a little party going on over there.

[00:57:41] Much more to come.

[00:57:41] Thank you so much.

[00:57:43] Awesome.

[00:57:43] I'll give you back some time today.

[00:57:44] Thanks, guys.

[00:57:45] Likewise, thank you.

[00:57:46] Bye-bye.

[00:57:47] Take care.

[00:57:48] Bye-bye.

[00:57:49] Before we sign off, here are a couple of quick things.

[00:57:51] Don't forget to follow It's About Payroll on LinkedIn

[00:57:54] and It's About Your Paycheck on Facebook and TikTok.

[00:57:57] Thank you for being a part of our payroll community

[00:58:00] and thank you for being a part of this journey with us.

[00:58:03] Until next time, keep learning,

[00:58:05] keep growing and most importantly, keep going.