Your Employees Are Stressed and Payroll Sees It First!

[00:00:00] Welcome back folks, it's another episode of It's About Payroll, we're up to episode 213. What is good, Walt? How you doing sir? 213, which area code is that? I don't know that one, I only know 718, now I know 954. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna look it up real quick. But yeah, I'm good man, how about you?

[00:00:25] Doing great bro. Yes sir. Dang, I didn't get any particular news story, but I definitely have, like I don't have any in the news type of thing, but I have a story to share about payroll for sure, like a real life good story. You too? Oh please go first sir. No go ahead, go ahead, I want you to- Roger that, he's still in, okay. So I'm not gonna name any names, I don't want to call any companies

[00:00:50] out, but a friend of mine in NYC was telling me, he's like man, I was about to go up to my supervisor and say, I'm leaving because I'm stressed out about this payroll error that y'all talking about. But he, but something hit him and he called and he's like yo, I got a problem, I got overpaid.

[00:01:16] And I was like, what? Okay. So what's up? And he's like, yeah, they want to take it back. They want to take it all back in the next paycheck. And he gets paid weekly. And I was like, all right, so did you sign anything? And he said, nah, they just said that it's gonna next paycheck, they're gonna take it all back. And I was like, no, no, not no, no. Like, you know, I was like in New York state, it requires

[00:01:43] written approval by the employee to take an overpayment back. And beyond that, there are a bunch of other restrictions on how notification period, how much they take back, how much they reduce your check because of the payback, you know, the minimum, right. And I was like, there's a bunch of things here, but if you want me to help you like set something up, I can, you know, send you an email later. And I was like, you know, you gotta do something. I'll give him advice. He's like,

[00:02:13] all right, cool. Kind of didn't take my advice 100%. But he because he's, you know, very passionate dude, New York, you know, New Yorker. And he went straight back to his supervisor and was like, hey, so I don't think you can do that. I actually want, you know, I think I have to sign something according to New York state law. And also I can't afford for you to take it all back in one check.

[00:02:39] I can do X amount over a few checks, blah, blah, blah. And they kind of like the supervisor kind of like smiled and was like, all right, yeah, no problem. I understand. And complied with his request. And right. So it's like, you know, and we, we, we, we BS about it for a little while. And he's like, yeah, you know, I forgot what he said. Like companies don't want to do that or don't have

[00:03:08] time or whatever. I was like, no, honestly, a lot of companies just don't know the rules and the employees don't know either, you know, and if the companies do know the rules, they could play in games because they want them for, you know, if they, you know, they force the employees to say something before they do something. And I was just like, how many other employees, millions of employees out there, like, you know, going through issues. Right.

[00:03:34] So it's like, think about it. If you think about it in terms of like, uh, getting, getting a car, right. You need a car. Most people need a car to get to point from point A to point B, whether it's work just in life or whatever, unless you live in New York, you can take the local transit systems and stuff like that, but still, right. You, you, you need to be able to have transportation, right. But those car salesmen, a lot of times they're not taking you through all the fine

[00:04:00] book and stuff like that. And you know, and letting you know what this means, what that means. They just say, Oh, this, this will give you an overview, like a broad stroke overview of what it means. All you sign this part, just keep signing here. Yeah. Just keep signing. Just keep signing. I know the, the, the sticker price said that it's like 30,000, but at the interest, it's going to be 60,000. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You know, like, so, you know, it's all good. This is

[00:04:29] what, this is normal and stuff like that or whatever. Right. So it's kind of the same thing that company, the same spiel that some employees get from their employers. Right. They just like, kind of just push them through and have them sign on something without having full understanding of what is truly going on. Right. And then, cause, but once you, because once you sign that, you're kind of like putting it in cement, right? And so remember that situation where we worked at,

[00:04:57] we worked at together. Right. And we had people that, you know, there was an update to the employee handbook about regarding, right. And there was pushback because the company said they stopped doing PTO payouts. Yeah. And there were people that are like, I didn't see that updated handbook. I didn't sign it, you know, whatever. I didn't see it. And, you know, and so because of that, the company had to say like, well, you know, on that, on that, on that front, it was a company

[00:05:24] who was kind of left hanging out to dry because it didn't do the due diligence and get the employees to sign it up are forced that compliance. Right. So my, my story is a little bit different. It's about taxes, something I'm going through right now, a tax cleanup project. Okay. I'm a current company and, um, it's a funny story, right? Because you know, as you know, Brian and some of the listeners know, I was a veteran. Yes, sir. Thank you for your service. Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate it, man.

[00:05:50] And so you go on ID me to verify your, your information. Yes. Government set up. Yep. Yeah. But now some states are using ID me correct for, you know, taxes and stuff like that. So in the middle of the test, we were asked, I think two different states and we're trying to put my name in for like a contact stuff. And it pulled up my military record and it tried to merge the two

[00:06:20] together. Okay. For the company profile and my profile. And we're like, no, those two don't go together. You got to keep it separate. So I found that interesting and, and I want to see how other people may navigate that. Cause I know they don't want, I wouldn't personally want my military record associated with my company tax profile either. Cause it's gonna always be there. You get what I'm

[00:06:46] saying. So I just, I just think you gotta do your, your due due diligence, ask the right questions. Who needs to be the point of contact. If you're in a similar situation like that, or someone you know is in a similar situation like that, because you may have to use a generic name or email address. Like there's a team email address that you have. Right. You have to put that in instead of your information. So I just found, I wanted to share that because I experienced that. Very interesting.

[00:07:13] Was there a workaround? Did you guys find a workaround? Yeah. Generic, generic name. And we put our team email address, the email address. Right. That way it goes to the, the general payroll team email. Oh yeah. You know, so that's pretty, there you go. That's, that's really good advice. Cause I'm sure they're honestly right. I wouldn't have thought anything of it and just put attach my personal

[00:07:39] name to it. Like, I don't, I didn't think of a work. No, I don't know. That's good. I didn't think, I didn't think like, Oh, wait a minute. No, there should be a workaround, you know, for this. That makes a lot of sense. Now look, I do want to say that, that that worked out in those states. There are other states that we've been on the phone with and they require an actual name. So there are some states that they want the person. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's that's so this is if you run into that and these

[00:08:08] other states adopt ID me as their preferred, you know, verification system, then, you know, you may have to find a different workaround or make somebody else the point of contact. Oh, wow. Oh, I bet. Wow. No, you got it, brother. Wow. Yeah. All right. Well, let's get into it, man. We got, um, let's see. What are we talking about, man? See, we're talking about wellness today

[00:08:36] when real life and work life intersect. Yeah. We often hear people talk about work-life balance as if work and life exists in independently. Right. And I mean, this is, we talk about this all the time, right? Like this is, and so I'm excited to talk about this because I'm like, wait a minute. So many

[00:08:59] examples, so many bad stories. I don't know if I have any good stories meeting with leadership and how they handle things, you know, and they may exist different. Like, obviously, they, your personal life is one thing, just like you just furthering Segway, right? You personal life is one thing,

[00:09:19] work life is another, but can you actually always separate it in other subjects? So let me give you, let me pose a question for you, right? Is leave your problems at the door realistic, or is that an outdated way of thinking about employees? I think it's an outdated way of thinking about employees, right? Like, I think, I think that people have to realize that life is

[00:09:48] a lot different now. And, you know, I think that in what way, unfortunately, I think, you know, the different pressures that we face, I know, I know, like things change over time. And then they say, like, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same and stuff like that. There's always going to be pressures, right? I think, you know, when we set up like rules and laws in the first place, you know, older generations had, you know, different things in mind versus, you know,

[00:10:17] things that occur that they weren't ready for. Right. And the things happened and, you know, and it changes your frame of thought. Right. So when I say that, it's just like, okay, like when it comes to how we work, that changed. Right. So we were all in office at one point. Now we're, some in office, some are hybrid, some are fully remote, some are, you know, traveling all the time, you know, whatever it may be like the work, the workforce landscape has changed.

[00:10:46] Yes. What hasn't changed is that we have to work. That still hasn't changed yet, but no doubt. AI may be changing that pretty soon. Robots may be changing that. The landscape got to work, the workforce pretty soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that, I think that there was a a lot to say people just wanted companies, just wanted people to come to work. Don't let your life interfere with what you have to do, you know, and don't, don't bring your issues

[00:11:15] to work. Don't bring any drama or anything like that to the job. That's going to impact productivity. Right. You know, and I, and I understand that right. Productivity. Cause I understand that, that that's the case, right? Even, even, even today, like I wouldn't want an employee if you know, if I had a, a business and stuff, I wouldn't want an employee work coming to the job

[00:11:40] and started some drama at work because of the personal stuff. Right. So I guess in a way, like, so now I have to change my answer. I guess it is kind of realistic in a sense. Well, I think you're saying two different things, right? So bringing drama is different, right? Yeah. Like if you bring in drama to work and you, that person that's gonna just create a

[00:12:06] situation because you're in a bad mood or you're having a bad day, or you just, you know, love the drama, right? We all know those people like that. There's no place for that. That's different, but more so like family things, you know, personal issues, real light type of situations, you know, but look, we'll get more into it there. Help us out with some information that I believe you

[00:12:36] have for us. So look, this next section is really about like realizing that people who clock in are still, you know, they're still a person, right? So I have a stat here from Gallup state of the global workplace. So it says that 50% of us employees experience significant stress during the previous day. Globally, that number was about 40%. Oh, wow. So managers actually reported higher daily stress than

[00:13:05] individual contributors. Absolutely. 45% versus 39%. Not too much higher, but yeah. Let me ask you a question then. Like, can people realistically separate their personal lives from their professional lives? And I have a couple of situations for you, right? Yeah. So like, you know, what if you have relational, marital problems, sick kids, you know, sick partner, aging parents,

[00:13:33] loved ones, financial issues, grief, fertility struggles, lack of sleep, health concerns, you know, are just, you just had a bad day. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like all those things are, are real. Yeah. So, so like, how, how do you, how do you, how do you navigate those then, bro? Like, how do,

[00:13:57] how do, how do we, how do companies need to do a better job of giving people its employees grace? Or do you think there's a fine line balancing that, that companies, because I don't understand companies in order for a company to stay in business, things have to get done. Yeah. Yeah. We're so done. But do you think that companies need to take care of their people more?

[00:14:24] I think it's relative to the company. I think some companies are good at it, right? Um, and it's the people, it's the culture, it's the top down mentality for sure. Like that culture gets set at the top and works its way down. So better or worse is relative to the company. But I think it's, you know, I kind of agree with what you said in the beginning. It's not realistic to say,

[00:14:49] leave that at the door. And here's my first real life story. I had something incredibly traumatic happen in, in my life years ago. Oh gosh, probably about 15. Oh, how long I've been here now? Okay. In Florida 10, a few years before that. So yeah, about 13, 14 years ago. And it was like,

[00:15:12] I couldn't even think straight at work. And my boss noticed. And he's like, Oh, you know, he gave me the old, Oh, you can trust me. I'll understand. When I told him, he's like, well, you know, you gotta leave things at the door. Wow. I was like, what? Like what?

[00:15:40] Wow. So that was a lesson learned for me, right? Like you cannot, you know, I just read a post on Facebook the other day that was like, friends aren't, coworkers aren't your friends. Bottom line. Don't, don't, don't imagine it to be so. Don't kid yourself. Now I'm not saying that it can happen over time. But when you approach it that way,

[00:16:05] when you're like out the gate, trying to be friendly, it's, that's not the right attitude, you know? So yeah, that's, you know, it's, it's, yeah. Bro. It's like, like you always, it's like, you always say how you do anything is how you do everything. Right. So like, if you approach, you know, in a romantic relationship, if you're just like for most, for the most part, it may turn off most people, if you're just, you know, just really

[00:16:33] forward out the gate and doing too much at the gate, and then it may push that those people away, or, you know, you may just give them too much information and get, make them privy to stuff. Yeah. That, you know, like, like, what do we say? Like, like data is the new oil. Yeah. Right. Like, so when you give people information about you, they can use that. Yeah. And hold that against you. Right. And so you answered a couple of questions that I had for you, right? Like, about like, have you ever showed up to work physically, but mentally weren't you? You

[00:17:03] answered that. And you answered, should an employee tell their manager when there's something personal affecting them or keep it private, you know, that, that depends, you know, but in your experience, you said, you know, um, you can, you can say that there's something personal going on, but you don't have to provide the details. Right. Yes. That's what you got to be strict about. Like, yes, I am being challenged personally and yes, you know, I apologize. I'll need some grace.

[00:17:31] And, and, and yes, and you, and you have to be, this is where I say we as workers have to have discernment, right? You have to be able to be watchful and watch a person's actions to determine how the character is. Right. So if you, and learn that for yourself, because there may be people who may be bad-mouthing somebody, but they could just be doing that because they don't like them or whatever you have to find out for yourself. Right. And see if that is true before you did it,

[00:18:00] before you like give information, if you know, somebody is a gossiper at work, you know, they had that, they had that rumor about them. Yeah. You want to be careful before telling them about your personal life and what's going on. And the next thing you know, because the rumor mill is a real thing, the job. And then next thing you know, you told the person this in confidence and now everybody in the office is like coming up to you,

[00:18:26] like, Oh my God, I heard a, you were okay. And that may not be what you want it to be done. Right. So as a manager, if you notice that your employees performance, they're, they're a high performing employee. And all of a sudden, you notice that their energy is low. The performance is being, they start making a bunch of mistakes in payroll. They normally wouldn't make, would you question their performance first or ask what's going on?

[00:18:54] It's, it would be all work for me performance. You know, I wouldn't be like, if I could tell, just like you said, right. If you kind of get into no, so, you know, of course it all, it all depends on how is, are they 30 days in or two years in, you know what I mean? How, how much do you have? Do you understand this person's pattern already? Are they a high performer? Do you know where they are on that scale already? But regardless of that, I'm immediately going,

[00:19:22] I'm keeping it work. I'm going, but I'm not going to be like, Hey, if you're, you're, you're messing up, you're going to get fired. I'm just like, Hey, yo, I've noticed your performance is off. Is there anything that I can help with? Right. Yeah. And that's it. I definitely, I definitely understand. I definitely understand. I don't want to know your personal story. I don't want to know, you know, and that's a good, that's a good approach to that's really it. If they start getting personal,

[00:19:50] then I'm going to try to stop them. Like, Hey, you don't have to share. You, if you're having personal issues, totally understand. What do you need? How can I help? Like, what do you do? If they have PTO, I might be like, Hey, why don't you take a couple of days off? You know? Okay. Okay. You know what I mean? Like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I think you, you hit the nail on the head. You said how long have they been there? What's your rapport with the

[00:20:17] person? Are y'all, are y'all close knit team? Or is it just like, Hey, we work together. We're cordial or whatever. And that's, it is what it is. You know, it depends on the situation. Right. For me, I normally try to lean to the people side of it and, you know, and see if anything's going on. But then I also look at, you know, patterns too. Right. Cause I, I, I've had to learn the hard way

[00:20:45] because I am more heart centric, you know, and on the people side, because, and then people may try to take that advantage of that. Right. And say, Oh, Oh yeah. My, you know, they're always going to have a sob story for you. My dog, my grandma, my, my, my, my toe, you know, I had to flush my goldfish down the drain. So I can't come to work or whatever. And so like, you know, different things.

[00:21:11] So you have to be, you, you still have to use that discernment. I think that's a key understanding to have when it comes to these type of work life situations. So I'm gonna flip the conversation really quick then. How does work often follow us home? What do you think? Oh, that's the same deal. It happens, right? You have a bad day at work. You can, you know, you,

[00:21:33] you, if you, yeah, it happens. You, you, bro. Yeah. Yes. You're right. We both have been through rifts, reduction in forces. Yup. We've been through bad payroll days. Yes. Long hours, system crash. Yup. We had to work with bad meeting, you know, like anxiety. Yeah. Oh my gosh. We both have checked emails over the weekend and get that while we're recording.

[00:22:02] And be like, I'm like, dude, we made a rule. We literally had to make a rule. Do not look at your work email while we're recording. Like, cause we, there'd be times y'all was Brian and I would be like, man, oh, damn it. Uh, yeah. Like, and you'd be like, well, what happened? What happened? I just saw this work email, you know, whatever. Just like, okay. Like, let's take a break. Yeah. Take a breath and stuff, you know? So like, here's a big question before I pass it to you. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:29] For sure. Which is, which is more damaging in your mind, bringing home problems to work or bringing work problems home? I'm going to say, bring in work problems home. Like, you know, you know, I always think about that host out there that says, you know, you're replaceable at work. They get, there's a hundred people online waiting for your job at home. You are irreplaceable. Yep. Bro. Some, someone, someone told me, I think it was my lady. Like she told me a story like

[00:22:59] that, you know, she, she, she's been helping me like, because we've been going through some rough patches at work and stuff. And so she said, you know what, just go to work, do what they ask. And you know, don't complain. Don't murmur. Like I know it frustrates you, but like, you know, like just, just say yes. And you know, just do what they, do what they say. She said, because at the end of the day, you're putting, you're giving them all this energy, you're allowing it to impact you and

[00:23:26] affect you and you're bringing it here and you know, you're all your energy's off and stuff like that. And, and you know, at the end of the day, she told me a story that a friend of a friend, you know, they passed away at work. Oh, wow. Send her family a card. And the next day they were like, oh, well, we're starting to hire somebody because we need some to fill somebody in this, you know, it's just the nature of business. Unfortunately, they need butts in seats in order for them to function properly.

[00:23:56] That's the business. So your family, you know, will have a harder time replacing you. Oh yeah. Then a job. If at all. You know what I'm saying? So I totally agree with you. It's more difficult bringing work problems home. Yup. Yup. My, my wife put me onto something that I didn't realize we were talking about, something about work. And she was like, oh, I, I used to tell my team that this is not a family.

[00:24:23] And I was like, oh, I was like, you told them that like for real? She's like, yeah. He's like, I was like, but you're such a good boss. They loved you. You know? This is like, yeah, but I still told him this is not a family. This is work, you know? And, but she's like, that doesn't mean we can't show up for each other, that we don't do nice things for each other, but don't have in your mind that this is a family. It's not, this is work. Yeah. And that was, that was, that spoke volumes. You know what I mean? Cause folks get too mixed up.

[00:24:53] And when that happens, it, you know, you don't know who's in, when they're in HR and they talking about their work performance, what things that, you know, who they're gonna throw under the bus for things that they know personally, you know what I mean? And it's like, whoa, wait a minute. That, so that's a big thing, right? It's like protect your peace at work, protect yourself at work.

[00:25:18] Yeah. So let's see, who do you think is responsible for wellness, your wellness at work, right? How responsible should an employer actually be for an employee's wellness on a scale of one to 100?

[00:25:37] What do you think? I think, I think if I had to put it, I think the employer, I think it's more so on the employee. So I think I say 80, I would say like 80% is on the employee and 20% is on the employer. And I'll tell you why, because we have to, we have to be able to manage our stress as it,

[00:26:04] because no matter where we work, we're going to have like different levels of stress, no matter, even at the perfect job, our dream job is going to come with some stress. Right. And so I think we have to be able to be, be good conductors of, you know, managing that and letting know when to let things go and when to, when to choose and pick our battles

[00:26:28] and when to leave things, you know, where they are and knowing when to clock out. Right. And I think the 20% of the employers is, you know, I think, you know, I mean, I seem like a lot, but I think that 20% could make up a vast majority of things at work that can make work environment, right. Making sure that even though the work may be hard, that the people that are around your,

[00:26:58] your, your team are solid people, you know, they're not, not, not assholes and not, they're not rude. They're not causing drama or bringing drama to work. Right. That's that 20% that matters. They're making sure that your people are paid correctly, that their benefits that are good, that everything that you can do to, to it's that, it's that employee service, right? The employee satisfaction. Yes. Right. That, that, that, that's what that 20% is.

[00:27:24] And in that same vein, so are you saying that the manager could be responsible for recognizing burnout, preventing excessive loads? And at what point do they make it their business to look at the employee's wellness? I, yeah, I think, I think that might be part of it, right? You have to actually put a part of managing of employees is not make that

[00:27:50] just making sure that they do the work is that they have the capacity mentally that they're okay. Especially if you start noticing a dip or slip in their stuff, then, then that's when you ask that, Hey, are you okay? Yes. Do you need me to do anything? Yep. Do you need assistance? Like, how are you feeling? And then whatever. And then if you, depending on your relationship or your work relationship, if you have that closest and you, and they share those things with you, then all well and good. But if not, they say,

[00:28:18] Hey, I'm just going through some things. A lot of things are going, going on and just, you know, just mentally just stressed out. And then like you were saying earlier, then you can offer solutions like, Hey, wait, if you need me to help on jumping, jumping on the weeds with you, I'll do that, you know, whatever. Cause we're both hands-on managers and we'll jump in there with our people and help out, you know? And so I think that's what managers should do because it's not just,

[00:28:44] not just making sure that they do their job. You should have already made sure they could do their job when you hired them. Ben, let me flip the script on you. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, but no, you finished your thought. You good? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, had an employee blame the job for burnout because they, the job hasn't set boundaries.

[00:29:10] Oh, so the job has set boundaries or the boundaries. Okay. Well, boundaries are blurred period. Right. Right. So who sets those boundaries? Like, can the employee play victim? Oh man, I'm burnt out, you know? And like where we're like, how does that get approached? No, I think that's what, that's where, that's what you have to look at. Again, this is where you have to use that discernment that I

[00:29:36] mentioned. Right. And look at their work, right? Like, like your work is going to speak for itself. Right. So even if you're stressed, you're, you're worked and you know, it shouldn't dip too much, you know, whatever, but your energy may be a little low. You may be in a meeting, you may be quiet. You may not be, you know, someone who may not be as outspoken, maybe be more withdrawn. Like those, those different type of patterns, right? Like

[00:30:04] you have to look at body language and all those different things. Right. So I, to answer your question, I don't think they necessarily could blame that because of poor boundaries, you know, could it could poor boundaries have a impact? Sure. Right. But I don't think that the employee could just like to say, Oh, it's because, you know, these poor boundaries are in place that, you know, I have to blame it on that. If you have a crappy boss, a terrible boss, that's terrible. Yeah. That's different. That's all right. All right. Let me give you some stats

[00:30:32] before I hand it back to you. A U S surgeon general's workplace wellbeing framework specifically identifies work life harmony as one of five essentials for workplace mental health and wellbeing. All right. The framework recommends this things such as predictable, flexible schedules. Yeah. Access to paid leaves and respecting boundaries between work and non work time.

[00:31:02] It also identifies mattering at work employees feel respected, valued, and that their work has meaning as another essential. I like that. Yeah. I think all those things are true. Especially in payroll, right? Because a lot of us got into this, like not just to have a career, but it's because we genuinely have a care or some level of care concern for people and making sure that

[00:31:30] people's pay is correct. Right. Yep. You know, like, like there's been people that you and I have worked with, you know, together or individually during our, our careers that we necessarily didn't like them as people, but we still wanted to make sure that their pay was correct. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. I don't, I almost don't even connect the two. Right. Like now that you say that, so it's so crazy that you said, cause now in my brain, I'm like,

[00:31:56] oh wow. Yeah, that's right. You know, I would, I have never even thought of like, oh, I'm going to mess this person's checkup because I, they annoy the hell out. You know what I mean? And for the most, most of my career, I've been responsible for paying my bosses, right? Like making sure that I could easily leave it off and, uh, oh man, sorry, we got to run an off cycle for you. You know? Um,

[00:32:23] but that and like those things, but like, it's like, we always say, like, as a person, you're out, your reputation, your character has to be beyond reproach. Like you, it can be no question about your integrity. Yeah. But that was interesting. Let's see, you know, if we have time, we'll circle back to this, this other interesting question here. So what you got for us next? Man, talking about

[00:32:44] money as a wellness issue. So that should have been number one, MetLife, MetLife's 2026 employee benefit trends research filed that 83% of employees said raising, rising living expenses and medical costs were among their top stressors. Yep. Everybody's been feeling it, man. Yeah. Sandy said almost 80% cited economic uncertainty as a major concern. Only 44% reported feeling

[00:33:12] holistically healthy, which MetLife defies across physical, mental, financial and social health. Okay. So let me ask you this question. Can someone truly feel well when they're constantly worried about money? Yeah. I think it's, I think it's the question is very, it's posed, but like written so

[00:33:37] that it can kind of conflict, right? Because you could be well, you can be well and happy, you could have money problems and still maintain wellness. But if you're constantly worried about money, know that it, that in of itself is saying you're not well because you're worried about money. Right? So I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think you're a person can be well if they're

[00:34:05] constantly worried about money. And, and that goes for both ways. Cause there are people who have money and still worry about getting more. Right? Yeah. Like think about the things that we see in payroll, right? We see garnishment, child support come through tax levies. Yeah. Emergency check requests. Oh yeah. Direct deposit issues. Advanced requests. Right. Oh, can I get an advance? Yeah. Employee employees asking like, Oh, last payroll, I got my money on Wednesday.

[00:34:32] Oh my God. Don't start. Don't start. Don't get me started. Yes. Payday's Friday, yo. Or payday is whatever your payday is. Or, you know, because now I'm seeing more people use on demand funds. Right? Wage access. Yeah. When their, when their checks come, they're like, you know, why can't, you know, my check is so low and we have to explain it to them because you use on demand wages,

[00:35:02] you use earned, earned wage access. And that's why your check is so low now. You just can't draw some the future and then, you know, and then still get paid the same amount. That's how it works. Yes. Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. Let's get to your, to your section. Absolutely. So when work starts hurting real life, I mean,

[00:35:26] yeah, it happens, right? Here's a, here's a quick stat. Payroll org said in 2025 work in America survey found 54% of us workers said job insecurity, significantly infected their stress at work. No doubt among workers concerned that an economic downturn could threaten their job. Absolutely. Now at this point, 2025 people have, you know, for the most part been working, they worked through

[00:35:52] the bubble of 2008, you know, COVID like, oh my gosh, if you were, yeah, there's so many things there. So 42% said work related stress made sleeping difficult. Yep. 36% said their personal relationships had recently suffered because of stress experience at work. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So let's talk about it here. When your job starts consistently affecting your sleep relationship

[00:36:19] or happiness, is that the point where something has to change? Yeah. I bet that this is a, this is a, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to leave the job. You may have to change your approach. Yes. You may have to change how you may have to, you may have to, if your boss emails you over the weekend, you may have to just say, Hey, I'm waiting until Monday to respond. Yes. I'm not going to look until if your boss sends you a text,

[00:36:44] unless it's like truly an emergency. Yeah. Like that somebody is really depending on it, you know, or whatever you say, Hey, ignore the text, wait until Monday, you know, or whatever. To an extent though, because I think real quick, it depends on what culture has already been established. You can't go from the person who is 24 seven and then all of a sudden go radio silent without saying, Hey, well, um, yes, you do need to put that out there. Yes. You need to, you need to level set.

[00:37:13] Like, Hey, you know what? Yes. Um, I, you know, I'll get back to you on Monday. You know, you gotta respond. Cause if you always responded and now you don't, no doubt they don't have any ground to really say anything, but come Monday, they're going to be like, Hey, what happened? You know, you've always been responsive. All of a sudden you didn't, you know, because you could say, Hey, I'm tied up. I'm away this weekend with the family, unable to help out. You know,

[00:37:40] I will respond first thing Monday morning. Thanks a lot. You know what I mean? Have a, have an automatic response. Oh, heck yeah. You know, now the flip side of it is if you don't, you know, you five o'clock you stop and that's the, the boundary you established then. Yeah. Like, like, Nope. You don't need to respond. You know what I mean? So it, you know, it,

[00:38:04] it all depends of course. Yep. Um, but I, but it's exactly what you said. It's do you, it's, it doesn't have to be the job. It could be how you're, it could be your attitude, right? What's that? Uh, approach. What is it? Life is 10% action and 90% reaction. Right. So just like I said about the person with the money, you can have money problems and still be lighthearted, happy, good go. Like,

[00:38:34] you know, there's, uh, allegedly it's a Chinese proverb where like there's a farmer that's like, oh, you got all this cattle. You're so lucky. And he's like, maybe. And then the next week is like, oh my God, you lost all your cattle. You're so not lucky. Maybe, you know, it's just how you approach it that determines anything. And it's such a important topic, right? Because there is no right or wrong.

[00:39:00] It all depends, but take us, take us out here. Everyone's situation is different, right? So I'm gonna ask you this question. Are wellness programs at work, a, are a real benefit or are they just a corporate bandaid? So let me give you an example there. I'll give you. Yeah. It depends again, right? Some jobs offer like the meditation apps, you know, they give that, you know,

[00:39:28] employee appreciation pizza or meal, you know, they might have, give you a gym membership, you know, additional PTO flexible, remote work, uh, financial wellness education, mental health, or EAP resources, four day work weeks, better pay, uh, and no, no email after hours policy. All those things together would be amazing, but it's, that's the problem, right? It's

[00:39:56] that they'll companies will take one thing and be like, oh, right. They're going to pick and choose and do it like that. It's, it's, it's so much culture. I, you know, I just spoke to someone recently about the value of payroll and whether leadership valued the function and the person was honest. They were like, no, they don't. It's, it's, it's going to be an uphill battle.

[00:40:27] And I was like, wow, that's, that's, that's, thanks for being honest. You know, like that's, that's not cool, you know? And unfortunately that happens more often than not that companies don't value the function of payroll. Right. Or even HR for that matter, like startups, they don't even understand what, what the purpose of HR is. They're like HR later. Yeah. Who needs that?

[00:40:54] You know? So it's tough in that respect, but an HR is the group that would actually make all these things happen and make sure they happen consistently because it's a people function. Right. It's valuing the people and some companies just don't do that. I mean, thank God we're past the bubble of 2008 because right after 2008, the companies were on their high horse. Leadership

[00:41:22] was on their high horse. Like, oh, you better be lucky you have a job. And it was like, whoa. Well, companies just don't kind of do that now. I, you know, actually with like, you know, the economy I've heard, you know, I personally have heard managers say like, Hey, after a layoff, you know, you know, I've heard from other people that they've, they've been told that, you know, if you're still here, then we wanted to hear, you know, basically like that after a

[00:41:50] reduction in force, it's just like, yeah. That's, that's tough, man. It's, it's crazy. It's, it really is. My mom has said, me and my mom were talking about like the generations of workforces, right? And things. And I forget what brought it up, but I say, oh, it was like hard work and work ethic. And I was like, no, you see work ethic with younger people. I said, what younger people have really done though,

[00:42:14] is they've set the stage for not like not accepting a toxic environment. Right. They, they, they raised them. Yeah. They will wait. Yes. And they will leave that environment of, oh, you better be glad you have a job. They gone the next day. They left. They, you, they ghosted you. You don't even know what happened. They even. Either they will leave or they're going to report it to somebody or both. You go to here and, or what is it? What do they call it? Quiet quitting.

[00:42:42] You know, you get, you get a, you get a, a whole thing. Yeah. So yeah, man, you know, wellness programs, I think it has its place to, to, to round this out and to, and close out the show. You know, I think wellness programs definitely have its place. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I don't think you just slap anyone in, I think you have to do some type of survey. You have to get to know your workforce.

[00:43:07] You got to feel like, what is it that they need? Right. Cause it's going to be different. Like, right. Retail is going to need a different wellness program than stockbrokers and doctors and nurses and food. And you know, everybody needs something different. If I'm a hundred percent remote, what is it that I need as a wellness program? I'm not, I can't get pizza. Right. Maybe it's the mental wellness, right. I mean, I can get peace. Of course you could give stipends

[00:43:36] or stuff like that. It's a gift, but whatever, but you know what I mean? Like maybe the, maybe the wellness is, Hey, we're going to have a paid day of everybody getting together at a location and just team build and you know, kumbaya, cello shift. And that's meaningful. You know what I mean? Especially if you have, we're going to go to the bar and everybody's going to get slushed. No. Oh my gosh. Do you got, you got me think you made me think about holding on the story with a lawyer.

[00:44:05] We had an in-house lawyer, but I'm not going to get into it, but it's something that we always said, right? Like that's one of our visions for building our company is like, Hey, we're going to stay a hundred percent remote and the money we save quarterly. We should all fly into one place and have a great week of team building and fellowship, you know, a community. Yep. But not everybody thinks that way. You know, there's people there, there's still leaders who don't believe in remote work.

[00:44:34] Unfortunately. They're like, get your butt back in the office. Yeah. Pay for this building and I paid millions of millions of dollars for it. That's their business. Like you should save that money. Right? Cause some, some functions, why are you still paying for a building? You know, you could be a hundred percent remote. You could save millions of dollars, but that's a, I was arguing for a different show. Let's do a little this or that. Yes, sir. All right, man. So we're going to, I'm just going to go through them all. We're going to ask, welcome to answer. Good.

[00:45:04] All right. So number one, would you prefer a four day work week or permanent remote work? Oh, yeah. Let me, let me answer. Yeah. That's a dope answer. Right. All right. So what would you, would you prefer? What would you prefer after a whole day? Comfort food or a workout? We'll go with both again. Yeah. Right. So which would be the best mental reset for you?

[00:45:32] A beach vacation vacation or a three days home doing absolutely nothing. Okay. Not a both there. That's a tough one. Being that I'm in a vacation state, I can say three days at home and I'm going to go to the beach one of those days because the ocean is cleansing and spiritual for me. So yeah, I'm going to say three days at home. What about you? A beach vacation. Beach vacation. No doubt. Cause you fall from the beach.

[00:46:01] Yeah. Too far from the beach, man. Four hours. This is the next one. All right. Employer benefit. Better employer benefit. Five additional PTO days or 2500 annual wellness stipend. It would take the five. Oh, both. Both. Yes. Both. All right. So which is better after work for you? Put your phone on do not disturb or you turn your phone completely off?

[00:46:27] Um, that's a depends for me. I have kids, so I can't, I can't turn my phone off or do not neither. I have to do with that one. Just let's just say, let's just say in regards to work. Or if you have like a work phone. Work. Work. Let's just say in regards to work. If there's a magic button to destroy. Okay. Being out wearing payroll, bro, it would depend on whether there's a pen, if it's like payday or something, you know what I mean? Like, well, if it's after work,

[00:46:56] I'm not solving anything till tomorrow morning anyway. Like even if I process the payroll after five, you're not getting it till tomorrow anyway. It's not gonna post. It's not gonna post. Or if it's over the weekend. At best. Right. Oh gosh. If it's Friday night, you may not get it till Monday anyway, you know, and this is the great reason of like why we need to figure out how to do corporate business cash app Venmo type deal. But I think it depends on that one.

[00:47:27] Be responsible to our customers. Cause if it's a situation where I can help somebody out on the payroll wise and I can, then I'm going to answer. Yeah. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say neither. Like after work, like, you know, I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna turn. I'm if, if it's not a fire. Right. I'll respond on Monday. If it is, I'm going to take care of it. There you go. So yeah. That's it for me. Number six, you have one hour to yourself. Are you going to take a nap or do something fun? I mean, when is this hour in the middle of the day or.

[00:47:57] Or any, any time, bro, you gotta just got an hour for yourself by yourself. No, no responsibilities, no kids, no nothing. It's just Brian and Brian alone. What are you gonna do? Would you rather take a nap or do something fun? I mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say do something fun because that could be a nap. It's you know, I'm right now. I'm not really a nap person. So I'm going to say do something fun, but I think that covers the basis for all of, you know, uh, what about you? I'm gonna say both. I'm gonna say both.

[00:48:26] I can take a nap, a power nap for 30 minutes and eat some ice cream. No doubt. I like that. So your boss texts you a question while you're on vacation. What are you going to do? You're going to answer quick question or is your phone something not going to have reception? Again, being that we're payroll, it depends on what that's about. Yeah. All right.

[00:48:51] So for your overall wellness, last one, what would be more important to you? More money with significantly more stress or less money with much less stress? I mean, neither. Yeah. I mean, more money with less stress. Yeah. Like, no way. I mean, and, and hey, AI is a reality right now.

[00:49:21] So you should be more money and less stress. Like we should be dishing off AI into the things that can be repeated. So yeah, no doubt. Yes, sir. All right. Close us out with this, this cult, man. Wrap it up. Yeah. Yeah. You can't do a good job if your job is all you do. Katie. Thurms. That is true, man. That's true. Think about that for a second.

[00:49:48] Because wellness isn't about pretending that work doesn't matter. Work matters. Careers matter. Success matters. And paychecks definitely matter. But so do the people earning them. And that's why it's about payroll. All road leads to payroll, brother. Thank you, man. Thank you, everybody. Bye, yo. We love you. Like, subscribe, share, comment, engage.

[00:50:16] We put out there like all kinds of things. Yeah. So tell a friend to tell a friend. Until the next time, yo. Peace. Get the book. Peace. Get the book. Peace.