True Payroll Crime Stories - Hospital Cyber Attack (Episode 21)

[00:00:00] We predict that payroll will have two new components in the future.

[00:00:04] Cyber crimes, cybersecurity and AI.

[00:00:07] And then there's room for us payroll professionals to grow into that.

[00:00:11] Welcome back folks.

[00:00:12] It's episode 21 of It's About Your Paycheck.

[00:00:17] We're talking about cyber crimes today.

[00:00:19] We're going to get into a little bit of true pay crimes.

[00:00:22] But before that, how do you do, sir?

[00:00:24] How are you doing, Walt? I'm doing well, sir. Mr. Eskibar. to get into a little bit of true pay crimes but before that how do you do sir? How you

[00:00:25] doing Walt? I'm doing well sir. Mr. Escobar how about yourself? I'm doing good man. I'm

[00:00:32] doing good. Yeah Walt stills buzzing off it. He saw a Dune 2 so he's he said it's great.

[00:00:37] So you guys haven't seen it go check it out. I need to see Dune 1 again. Like I now want

[00:00:43] to go back and see the ones in from the 80s and whatever and then go

[00:00:46] through the whole deal

[00:00:48] Excellent. No, I heard good things about it too

[00:00:53] One of my favorite movies has always been like the Matrix and ah, okay

[00:00:58] I have to put it up there with that for me with that. Oh nice

[00:01:03] Nice, yeah matrix was good matrix is definitely a good one. Yeah. Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah, matrix was good.

[00:01:06] Matrix is definitely a good one. So yeah, folks, we're talking about break up the we always like to

[00:01:13] drop some true pay crimes into these series. It's interesting to talk about what folks are,

[00:01:20] what needs to be like what folks need to be aware of, right? What folks need to be

[00:01:23] are what need to be like what folks need to be aware of, right? What folks need to be just kind of warning, look out.

[00:01:29] And but before we get into today's true crime,

[00:01:31] we have some pain news to share.

[00:01:33] I think Walt, you're up first.

[00:01:35] This episode is presented by TimeTrak Go,

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[00:02:22] That's T. I am e

[00:02:30] Trak go calm or call 888 321

[00:02:32] 9922 let's go

[00:02:34] Yeah All right, so my article is from lattice calm and it's talking about ways

[00:02:40] compression and

[00:02:42] What you can possibly do about it? So some of you may be listening and thinking like what the hell is wage compression? Yes. So wage

[00:02:48] compression occurs when new hires with less experience earn salaries similar

[00:02:55] or higher than those existing employees at the same place. So that's what wage

[00:03:01] compression is. Yeah. What might some of the causes of wage compression be?

[00:03:06] Minimum wage increases. There might be a tight labor market. So it might be hard to try to find

[00:03:11] talent based on the amount of money they're trying to start a person off of. So they'll give somebody

[00:03:16] who has less experience some more money just to try to entice them. Yeah, somebody and then another one of the causes of wage compression is

[00:03:27] Operatory

[00:03:29] Compensation structures was that an easy?

[00:03:32] Let me see so that so for me I didn't define that here. I think they had a definition, but I got rid of it

[00:03:39] so

[00:03:40] That is a type of compensation structure that can be used for positions that are difficult

[00:03:47] to fill or urgent.

[00:03:49] So that's what that means.

[00:03:51] Yeah.

[00:03:52] Okay.

[00:03:53] Does that help?

[00:03:54] Yeah.

[00:03:55] Yeah, yeah, because that's what I was going to just say, okay, we're talking about wage

[00:03:57] compression and the cause is minimum wage and tight labor market, but that's what I

[00:04:03] was going to, the other cause is this.

[00:04:05] I didn't know what to call it,

[00:04:06] arbitrary compensation structures,

[00:04:08] but it just means like, if I'm hearing it,

[00:04:10] it's like someone's been there,

[00:04:13] and this is the downside of staying somewhere long

[00:04:16] without actually growing through the ranks.

[00:04:18] Your wage is, yeah, I guess that's why

[00:04:22] wage compression makes sense,

[00:04:23] because your wage is gonna stay compressed

[00:04:25] and when they bring new people in,

[00:04:28] the market has changed drastically.

[00:04:30] And this is classic, this is something that

[00:04:33] you talk about, like it happens everywhere I've ever worked

[00:04:36] because they're like, oh, they just brought this person in

[00:04:38] and they're making more.

[00:04:40] I actually was in a situation where I came in

[00:04:44] and the opposite was true.

[00:04:45] And my new leader had said,

[00:04:47] look, this person's been here X amount of years

[00:04:50] and she makes more than you,

[00:04:51] but she's gonna report to you.

[00:04:54] And I was like, no, I kind of respected the place

[00:04:57] that she was in.

[00:04:58] And I was like, as she should make more than I respected,

[00:05:01] I was fine with it.

[00:05:02] Cause I was making more than I was, like I was fine.

[00:05:04] My salary went up, but she was already making more and it he was just kind of make sense of it so anyway yeah I get it because sometimes most of the times impacts of ways compression it can decrease morale

[00:05:25] It can cause issues with the culture or work environment at work

[00:05:29] It can which can lead to increased turnover of those experience are tenured employees

[00:05:35] So it makes somebody like you or I feel

[00:05:39] Potentially feel like oh geez like you brought this young in there and you're already starting at the same level as me.

[00:05:46] What the heck?

[00:05:47] You know, and I'm not gonna, because this is classic,

[00:05:50] like, to your point, it's classic, right?

[00:05:52] It's classic stuff.

[00:05:53] You have to, especially when the seasoned person or the

[00:05:56] chained person has to train that person.

[00:05:59] And they're getting paid and they're like, hey, you make as

[00:06:01] much money as me, like, you should know.

[00:06:03] Yeah, you should know already.

[00:06:04] You know, right? That's a lot, that should know. Yeah, you should know already. No, right?

[00:06:05] That's a lot.

[00:06:06] That's a lot of that's the position a lot of people take because they, it causes that

[00:06:11] bitterness.

[00:06:12] Yeah, it makes you feel a person feel bitter.

[00:06:14] Okay.

[00:06:15] This job doesn't give a damn about me.

[00:06:17] Yeah, this is we're going to get into pay transparency in a second.

[00:06:20] Legal challenges.

[00:06:22] And it, one of the last negative impacts of wage compression is potential legal litigation or legal challenges related to pay discrimination.

[00:06:31] Again, like speaking to you, you get that person who gets riled up enough and they're like, I'm talking to deuces and I'm gonna sue you.

[00:06:38] And I'm gonna sue you.

[00:06:40] So what can we as employees do? You who are listening, what can you do if you're currently experiencing this? You can try to advocate for fair compensation. You can consider non-financial

[00:06:51] compensation that you may be getting. Some of those extra perks. That's right, your ETO, that's a

[00:06:56] good one. Yeah, that's a good one. Some of those employee discount programs, different things

[00:07:01] like that, that your business or your company may be trying to do right now that

[00:07:06] you may not be considering.

[00:07:08] But the most important thing is you want to participate in dialogue or feedback.

[00:07:13] You want to have those conversations.

[00:07:15] You want to make sure that you're a part of those things.

[00:07:17] So if your company is, if you are currently experiencing wage compression at your company,

[00:07:23] that your company has a chance to write the ship

[00:07:26] or get those things remedied so that doesn't cause you

[00:07:30] as a tenured employee to be frustrated

[00:07:32] and wanna chuck the deuces on them.

[00:07:34] Yeah.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:36] I think there's no way around it.

[00:07:38] It's tough to, it's just a part of having to,

[00:07:42] it's a downside of staying in the same position over a long period of

[00:07:48] time, right? Because you can make more money out of company if you're promoted and or if

[00:07:53] you move into different positions that have a different salary band. But it's one of

[00:07:58] because some folks like that, right? Some folks are fine. They can stay at the same job doing

[00:08:02] the same thing for eternity. Because that's,

[00:08:05] for them, it's not about that, right? They build their lives outside of that, right? I was just,

[00:08:09] I was recently reaching out to someone for an open position. And they were like, no, I'm not trying

[00:08:16] to work more time. I want to work less time right now. He had just had new baby and stuff. So I

[00:08:22] understand that he was trying to balance out his life a little bit more.

[00:08:26] So that's the only thing I could think of really.

[00:08:29] It's the downside of staying in one position, the same position,

[00:08:32] not the same company.

[00:08:34] The downside of staying in the same position for an extended amount of time,

[00:08:37] because now if you have a counterpart that joins you, same position,

[00:08:40] that person is going to probably come in when we're making more money or the same

[00:08:44] money. So to talk more on what you're saying. position that price is gonna probably come in when we're making more money or the same money

[00:08:52] So to talk more on what you're saying. So when you say same position, you're saying same title. Yes. I was paywall specialist then

[00:08:58] Yep, okay. Nothing wrong with that right but nothing wrong with that

[00:09:07] But that's the downside of it because shoot, you could even see it at different companies, right?

[00:09:08] Because payroll, I'm not saying that this is a thing.

[00:09:10] I'm just comparing apples and oranges now, but if we're two payroll specialists at two

[00:09:13] different companies, because payroll is often not a big department, unless you're Sarah

[00:09:20] Chastney that has 16 people on her team, but they're also in different departments, right?

[00:09:25] They serve as 22,000 plus employees, so it's different.

[00:09:29] I don't know, yeah, it's just one of those downsides

[00:09:31] of being in the same title, same position for a long time,

[00:09:34] not so much the same company.

[00:09:36] And because that could be it,

[00:09:38] it's like you found a great company,

[00:09:40] oh my goodness, I'm comfortable,

[00:09:42] everything is perfect, I'm not changing,

[00:09:44] but that's the downs, like you comfortable. Everything is perfect. I'm not changing. But that's the downs.

[00:09:46] You got to keep that in mind.

[00:09:47] Crap.

[00:09:48] I may not be able to just keep making more money and more.

[00:09:52] Unfortunately, like me and Walt came across a stat recently that if you don't move every

[00:09:59] few years, either in position or company, you're making like 50% less than what you should be making

[00:10:06] in your respective title or industry.

[00:10:10] That's a big, that's a really dang.

[00:10:12] I'm sure there's other numbers that skew

[00:10:14] and factors that play into that, but still.

[00:10:17] Yeah, that's probably other stuff, yeah.

[00:10:18] Yeah, but still.

[00:10:20] Yeah, I think in that you have to be a high performer or somewhere that's not average.

[00:10:28] You know what I'm saying?

[00:10:29] Like that.

[00:10:30] So that may give you more traction to leave or give you more runway to leave versus, hey,

[00:10:36] you've been in that specialist role for the last 10 years.

[00:10:41] Yeah.

[00:10:42] And you're just like, hey, people like,

[00:10:50] and you have no urgency to want to go and you're comfortable. Or maybe I should say you're comfortable or whatever.

[00:10:53] And you're like, Hey, this is good.

[00:10:54] It meets the need.

[00:10:55] It pays my bills.

[00:10:56] I'm comfortable.

[00:10:58] This is all I want to do.

[00:10:59] I'm good with this.

[00:11:00] You can do this for forever.

[00:11:02] So, and if that's you, like Brian said, that is okay.

[00:11:05] It's okay.

[00:11:06] For the high performer that wants to excel, wants to meet the challenge and wants to go

[00:11:11] on to bigger things that may not suit them.

[00:11:15] Yeah.

[00:11:16] I think that's what you might be trying to say.

[00:11:18] No, I mean, they both work.

[00:11:20] I, you know, who is also what you're saying is also true.

[00:11:23] I was gonna say, pay transparency comes into play here too.

[00:11:26] And this is one of the reasons, this is the, this is a, could be a, I don't know, a solve,

[00:11:31] but it's an offset to the adverse effect of wage, what is it, wage compression.

[00:11:37] Yes.

[00:11:38] Folks, this is the first time we ever heard this phrase, by the way, we know what it is.

[00:11:41] Because as soon as we, as soon as you understand the definition is, oh my gosh, I know what it is, but that's the fancy name wage compression.

[00:11:48] But I think pay transparency and pay transparency folks is a new is a laws sweeping the nation

[00:11:53] state by state, where the government and are for compelling forcing companies to list what

[00:12:03] the salary range is that they're hiring at for a specific position, right?

[00:12:07] So if they're hiring a new payroll specialist, payroll manager, payroll director, payroll VP, whatever,

[00:12:11] they have to list the range and they can't be silly about it and say,

[00:12:15] oh, 100k to 300k.

[00:12:17] You know, it has to be within the actual range that you're gonna pay this job.

[00:12:22] 0 to 300k is not a range. You know what I

[00:12:25] mean? It can't be ballpark. It has to be what within the range you're actually

[00:12:30] gonna offer for that position. So that might help to, you know, decrease some of

[00:12:36] the saltiness of it if every once we get to a place where pay transparency is

[00:12:41] more the norm because it is gonna become, I think my prediction is that

[00:12:45] it will become the norm state to state.

[00:12:47] Right now it's not federally regulated,

[00:12:49] it's state to state regulated.

[00:12:52] New York being one of those states,

[00:12:54] California I would imagine.

[00:12:55] New York and California are like the leaders

[00:12:57] and employee-centric laws, right?

[00:13:00] Meaning laws that favor us as the employee.

[00:13:03] So I think that could help because if you're used to it

[00:13:06] and your job being posted up by your company and,

[00:13:08] oh, okay, oh, wow, you can get a,

[00:13:11] take the sting away because you're seeing

[00:13:13] that the job is gonna be posted.

[00:13:15] And you can go address it then, hey, why is this happening?

[00:13:19] And then you can do it.

[00:13:21] Yeah.

[00:13:22] That's why that point said to participate in feedback. Yes, have the conversation.

[00:13:26] Be a part of the conversation.

[00:13:28] Yes, because I want to be proactive about it.

[00:13:31] And I want to address this episode with with a little bit of offset.

[00:13:36] Where is it?

[00:13:37] I think there it's 89.

[00:13:38] I believe it is.

[00:13:39] David Turetsky is episode 90 of It's About Payroll.

[00:13:44] That's our other show, folks. But I think it's really important, and I keep saying I'm

[00:13:48] going to do it.

[00:13:49] I'm going to drop it.

[00:13:50] Maybe we just need to post it on the It's About Your Paycheck 1, 2.

[00:13:53] It's about Payroll.

[00:13:55] We do another show for payroll professionals and HR.

[00:13:59] Anybody who touches payroll, basically.

[00:14:01] It's episode 90 with David Turecki.

[00:14:03] He's a host of HR Data Labs. And he talked,

[00:14:06] we talked about pay transparency in that episode. And I think it's valuable for, for this show.

[00:14:13] And our listeners on this side, it's about your paycheck, anybody that gets a paycheck, right?

[00:14:17] In the US, because he talks about how maybe there's something that's very different that this other person brings to the table

[00:14:26] that you don't have yet, right?

[00:14:28] It's not a diss, it's not a,

[00:14:30] you're an idiot, he's like, no, that's not what it is,

[00:14:32] but look, let's make up a scenario, right?

[00:14:35] We're two payroll specialists,

[00:14:36] but you're there for however many years,

[00:14:38] but I come in now with AI experience.

[00:14:41] I come in now with some certifications in AI, right? Or cyber crimes, cybersecurity,

[00:14:48] because we predict that payroll will have two new components in the future, cyber crimes,

[00:14:53] cybersecurity and AI. And then there's room for us payroll professionals to grow into that.

[00:14:58] So if I come to the table with that, then that might warrant why I make a little bit more than

[00:15:04] you, you know what I mean?

[00:15:05] Even though we have the same position.

[00:15:07] So think, but to your point, if you don't participate in that feedback, if

[00:15:11] you're not bringing those conversations to your board, look, the squeaky wheel

[00:15:15] gets the oil, right?

[00:15:16] And I wholeheartedly believe in that.

[00:15:18] Like you have to raise your hand.

[00:15:19] You have to state your claim.

[00:15:20] You have to say stuff.

[00:15:22] Yes.

[00:15:23] But you also have to understand that

[00:15:25] if you are the employee that is comfortable and you're just doing the bare minimum, you're

[00:15:32] doing just enough. You're not going above and beyond and you're just satisfied getting

[00:15:38] that annual increase of two or three percent and you're not really pushing yourself. You

[00:15:43] have to understand that maybe the thing as well. Usually the employer, employees, for those

[00:15:49] of you who may be listening that go above and beyond are a high performer or team oriented

[00:15:55] or willing to help out and jump into the weeds and do all those things. Those are the people

[00:16:01] that are going to be, that are going to excel or going to be promoted in most cases.

[00:16:05] There are some situations where those people get passed over to,

[00:16:08] you know what I'm saying?

[00:16:08] But in this specific situation, if you're just sitting back

[00:16:13] and you're not being a part of the conversation,

[00:16:14] you're not applying yourself,

[00:16:15] you're not doing as much as you can,

[00:16:17] you also have to be realistic and factor that into

[00:16:20] that decision as well.

[00:16:21] Because yeah, if I've been at this job,

[00:16:23] to your point, Brian, if I've been at this job 10 years, they hire Brian to come in who doesn't have

[00:16:28] his experience, but Brian has all the prerequisite skill set and they see that in Brian and okay,

[00:16:35] this guy, he's a go-getter, he's boom, he's engaged, he's willing to learn this and that and

[00:16:40] they're paying us the same. That may be why to Brian's point because they see this and they're paying us the same that may be why to Brian's point because they see this and they say they're like

[00:16:45] Oh when Brian gets all these skills under his belt. Oh my god, right?

[00:16:50] He's gonna help us out. He's gonna change the game here exactly

[00:16:54] Exactly. Yeah, so this yeah, it's a good conversation shoot

[00:16:59] I think we probably need to circle back and have a whole show conversation on this

[00:17:02] But thank you

[00:17:04] So mine is mine is just a

[00:17:06] generality of kind of off this talking about employee pay issues. So employee pay issues

[00:17:11] are multifaceted and impact various aspects of companies and and it impacts worker satisfaction,

[00:17:18] right? According to recent insights, employers are facing significant challenges in managing

[00:17:24] compensation and rising expectations

[00:17:27] and inflation pressures. That's all you hear right in the news. Oh, what do we talk about all the

[00:17:32] time? The price of groceries. Yep. Right. Me and Walt foodies, right? We're foodies. So we're always

[00:17:38] talking about the price of food. We talk about what we have lunch, how much it cost. It's funny that you brought this up because I was just driving to Kroger the other day.

[00:17:50] There's a gas station that you have to pass every time you have to turn by.

[00:17:56] That's next to Kroger.

[00:17:57] Bro, a couple of weeks ago, it was like 309.

[00:18:01] And then about a week or two ago, it was 329.

[00:18:04] And then I went there the other day, it's 349.

[00:18:06] I'm just like, what's going on?

[00:18:09] Yeah, this is what it is, right?

[00:18:11] It's because how do we leverage our paychecks, right?

[00:18:14] Where do we save money and where are the places

[00:18:16] that are hurting us?

[00:18:17] And please know that the companies out, good companies,

[00:18:21] decent companies out there are trying to find ways

[00:18:24] to get you more money. But, and pay transparency is one of the things that will help because you'll

[00:18:29] get to see across the nation what I think I urge people also if you're dissatisfied

[00:18:35] with your pay rate, go on to these salary.com site type of sites. And even if you got to

[00:18:41] do one month or do the free trial or something like that it's worth paying to see how your pay rate falls across the nation

[00:18:51] because you might see that you're right on par and it just is what it is for your

[00:18:57] area thank you for saying that you might see oh okay I'm actually making decent

[00:19:01] money according to my area according to my job and all these sites you can put in your experience, you can put in your credentials.

[00:19:07] And if it doesn't do that, don't use that one, because you want to build in all those

[00:19:10] little nuances to help you understand where your rate should be at.

[00:19:16] Unfortunately, as a manager, I've had the unfortunate requirement of conversations with

[00:19:21] teammates to think that they're underpaid. And I've had to use these tools

[00:19:26] to say, Hey, you're actually overpaid for what we asked of you. So, you know, be careful where

[00:19:37] you're going with this conversation. You know what I mean? That's true, because I've been a part of

[00:19:42] conversations as well, where there were two people in the same role.

[00:19:47] One was high performing, but they didn't have a degree or a high performer.

[00:19:52] The other was just like that. They did a decent job. They didn't go above and beyond.

[00:19:58] They didn't ever stay late. They never did that.

[00:20:00] But the one with the degree was like complaining to me as their manager, like,

[00:20:05] I have a degree. Why don't I make as much as so and so who has the high school diploma

[00:20:13] and this and that? Like, if you're working, if you apply yourself, you did better, then we could

[00:20:18] probably... Yeah, all these, this is all valid, right? And we gotta, I think, again, that's why we preach invest in yourself, right?

[00:20:28] And don't, this makes me think of as far as wages and stuff and being unhappy with it,

[00:20:33] don't get caught up in, I need to make this amount of money. So my job must pay it to me.

[00:20:40] They're only going to pay you a fair wage based on those analytics where you are what you're doing and what you bring to the table.

[00:20:48] You know what I mean? If you took a low paying job and you needed more money, then that's the issue you have.

[00:20:54] You have to correct for that. The job, your company is not necessarily responsible for correcting for that.

[00:21:00] Now, hey, if you're at a big company and you can grow within, then you got to grow. But try not to get caught in that mindset of my money is messed up, so my company has

[00:21:10] to help me. No, not no, that's not the right way to look at it. Right now, if they can,

[00:21:15] great, you can try. I'm not saying, hey, you shouldn't go ask for a raise or you shouldn't

[00:21:19] go try and get again, be part of that feedback loop. But don't get, don't get caught in that

[00:21:26] piece. Whereas I need this, I need to make X amount. I have to make this because of what?

[00:21:31] Because of your bills. But you pick in. So yeah, that's all I just warn against that part, you know,

[00:21:38] that's a, that may be like an episode or a safe talk segment. Yeah. That could be a notable trend is the increase in compensation budgets with projections indicating

[00:21:50] an average salary increase and budget growth of 4.6% in 2023.

[00:21:54] So to my point, companies are trying to make up this gap for us.

[00:22:00] But it but again, and that's the highest it's been in over 15 years. So think about that.

[00:22:06] But again, it's not their job to close the gap period.

[00:22:10] Or let me rephrase.

[00:22:13] They also have to do a business.

[00:22:15] They also need to stay in business.

[00:22:16] So they're not going to do it to their detriment, right?

[00:22:19] Yeah, because the thing to think about is just even though the

[00:22:22] business has its own separate bills to

[00:22:25] pay from our bills, we have to pay as a personal and our personal lives are as an employee,

[00:22:32] inflation impacts them as well. Absolutely.

[00:22:34] Because they're paying right. Yeah.

[00:22:36] Yeah. Especially depending on the nature of the business.

[00:22:38] Yes. Yes. Yes. I think about restaurants right away. And I remember when I went to a restaurant right after the pandemic or maybe even, yeah,

[00:22:48] probably like right after because we weren't going to restaurants a lot.

[00:22:51] This one restaurant put a note up at every table and it was just like, please forgive

[00:22:57] us as we navigate these high prices.

[00:23:00] That's you see high.

[00:23:01] Yeah.

[00:23:02] They were like, hey, you may see higher prices on your menu

[00:23:05] because it's costing us more to get.

[00:23:09] And it was like chicken wings is the spot that I go to with my son and wings and things.

[00:23:12] And it was like, hey, our chicken wings went up a few dollars.

[00:23:16] And it's because the trucking and the gas and the drivers and all that employers are

[00:23:20] working to meet employee expectations around inflation and maintain competitiveness

[00:23:26] by making pay adjustments. They're addressing the pay equity of things and pay compression issues

[00:23:33] like Walt just mentioned. Additionally, market adjustments for in-demand fields are being made

[00:23:39] to retain talent. If you're in that field that technology, AI, or whatever the in-demand

[00:23:46] field is, go look at that. That's where you can make some more money. What's up?

[00:23:50] Perfect. That's exactly what I was going to say.

[00:23:52] Oh, make some more money. No, you can go make some more money. So think about it.

[00:23:56] AI is going to impact the workforce like, like in a major way. So some people are

[00:24:02] going to have to change their careers. It's going to be a force way. So some people are gonna have to change their careers. It's gonna be a force change.

[00:24:06] So why not go ahead now for you who are listening,

[00:24:09] go ahead now and see if there's something else

[00:24:11] that you wanna do, especially with technology or AI,

[00:24:14] teach yourself something,

[00:24:16] educate yourself on something,

[00:24:17] and hey, put yourself out there so you can get that.

[00:24:20] Get those the money that you're looking for,

[00:24:22] or you feel that you deserve.

[00:24:23] And because you may be able to find a balance

[00:24:25] where you wanna work at the level of,

[00:24:28] you wanna exert at the level of work

[00:24:31] that you wanna exert at,

[00:24:32] and make the money that you wanna make.

[00:24:34] You may be able to find a balance with that

[00:24:36] by learning a different skill.

[00:24:37] So just feel free to go.

[00:24:40] Yep, and specifically,

[00:24:41] if it look for those in demand fields out there,

[00:24:43] and they change, so I don't know them off the top of my head.

[00:24:46] And but it's definitely easily searchable and researched. Think about that. If you're not happy with your wages, you can think about career change right now.

[00:24:54] Here, we as HR and payroll professionals have been putting more of a highlight this year on the payroll profession, because we're an aging group. There's a stat that came out this last year by ADP that 80% of payroll folks

[00:25:09] that are processing payroll right now are over 40.

[00:25:13] And that's a little scary for us.

[00:25:14] 80% is only 20% that are under 40.

[00:25:17] So that means we don't have enough people to hand the baton off to.

[00:25:21] And we need young folks and other industries are suffering the same way, right?

[00:25:25] It was like CPAs and accounting.

[00:25:28] The accounting industry is suffering also.

[00:25:30] I know construction is suffering big time from not having the young folks get into it.

[00:25:38] And yeah, there's a bunch of them, but payroll is also one of them and payroll can be an

[00:25:42] amazing career.

[00:25:43] If you look at our show this season eight, it's about Payroll.

[00:25:48] Everywhere you hit listen to podcasts and on YouTube, we are taught every show we're

[00:25:52] talking about.

[00:25:53] We're asking these professionals like, Hey, what would you tell payroll folks?

[00:25:56] What would you tell payroll folks?

[00:25:57] What would you tell?

[00:25:58] What would you tell young folks to get into payroll?

[00:26:00] It can be a whole career.

[00:26:01] You can see the world.

[00:26:03] What's exciting.

[00:26:04] It's your hit with different type of things.

[00:26:06] Yeah, just if you're interested in changing careers,

[00:26:10] payroll is definitely one you should look into.

[00:26:13] And there is no required degree.

[00:26:18] There is a certification that's very obtainable

[00:26:20] and it's very inexpensive to obtain.

[00:26:22] The barriers, the things you need to get into payroll are fairly easy.

[00:26:27] The job is not easy, but you can get into it fairly easily, right?

[00:26:31] Yeah.

[00:26:32] That's great, man.

[00:26:33] Yeah.

[00:26:34] Without getting too much out.

[00:26:35] Thank you for bringing us back up.

[00:26:36] Yeah, exactly.

[00:26:37] We actually had a story, a different focus for this show, and we'll still talk about

[00:26:42] it.

[00:26:43] It's a cool, not cool, but we like to bring up these,

[00:26:46] again, warnings on cyber crime.

[00:26:47] Am I starting this off wall or?

[00:26:49] Yeah, you got it.

[00:26:50] You want me to start it?

[00:26:51] Oh, okay.

[00:26:52] Basically, there's an article out there

[00:26:53] that you'll find in the show notes.

[00:26:55] It's United Health Groups Got Hit by a Cyber Attack.

[00:26:58] And three key points from this article

[00:27:00] is that Change Healthcare,

[00:27:02] a major US healthcare technology company,

[00:27:07] experienced a cyber attack on Friday, February 21st, causing disruptions to its systems and

[00:27:12] services. The company swiftly responded by disconnecting its systems to prevent further

[00:27:17] impact, good, emphasizing the protection of partners and patients. So there's a hospital

[00:27:22] system, so you got HIPAA, you got all kind of personal PI involved. The incident could have significant repercussions across the

[00:27:30] healthcare sector due to Optum's wide ranging services. The American Hospital Association

[00:27:36] advises affected organizations to consider disconnecting from Optum until it's deemed

[00:27:42] safe to reconnect while using, while also urging preparation

[00:27:45] of downtime procedures and contingency plans.

[00:27:48] If you're a hospital system that is using Optum, then go read this article to look at

[00:27:53] the best practices out there.

[00:27:55] If you're a hospital system, period, you should go and check this out because there are some

[00:28:00] recommendations for healthcare organizations organizations including testing the network

[00:28:05] security, ensuring immutable data backups, patching critical vulnerabilities, reviewing

[00:28:13] and testing cyber incident response plans, which I'm sure nobody even has yet, and designating

[00:28:19] clinical downtime coaches to ensure the continuation of safe and quality care in the event of a technology loss.

[00:28:26] This is also called business continuity or disaster recovery, right? When we say disaster

[00:28:32] recovery and business continuity, we're referring to what happens in the, it covers everything from

[00:28:38] this to a snowstorm, a blizzard, a hurricane, weather, a building, quenching fire. Like what happens when you can't get to your data or your data

[00:28:48] is what is that, compromised, right?

[00:28:50] And you have to shut everything down.

[00:28:52] You got to turn your computer off, right?

[00:28:53] Think about your job.

[00:28:55] If you use a computer, but you can't to do your job,

[00:28:57] how would you do your job?

[00:28:59] So that's what business continuity is.

[00:29:01] And Walt's going to take us through a little bit

[00:29:03] more on this article. Yeah, so I don't have much. Brian covered the gist of everything, but this outage

[00:29:11] that was caused by the cyber attack on change healthcare, they said it could last weeks.

[00:29:16] Wow. To fix. So that's crazy. That's what, yeah, that's what a top United Health executive

[00:29:22] suggested in a news conference a couple of

[00:29:25] days or weeks ago when this occurred.

[00:29:28] The chief operating officer said that the company is setting up a loan program to help

[00:29:34] providers who can't submit insurance claims while the change is offline.

[00:29:39] So this is like they're doing stuff to try to help those people, which is a big deal.

[00:29:43] And I think rightfully so because who knows what information got taken out. But according

[00:29:49] to Forbes, change healthcare blames this group called Black Cat for the cyber

[00:29:56] attack. Black Cat is also known as Alpha or Alpha V or Alpha V, whatever that is,

[00:30:03] or Noborus

[00:30:09] They are a ransomware group that uses ransomware as a service model

[00:30:11] Wow and this model developers

[00:30:14] create ransomware and

[00:30:16] Affiliates use it to identify and attack high value crazy

[00:30:24] Organized bro. Yep., ransomware as a service are instead of sass is right. Oh

[00:30:32] My gosh, that's not this is that's crazy. That's not say they've getting look. This is the new organized crime

[00:30:39] Yeah cyber attack. This is the new organized crime. Yeah, so we got to be careful

[00:30:46] We got it, you know, it may be worth in investing.

[00:30:49] I think what VPN service is recommended and the, what is that, LifeLock?

[00:30:55] The LifeLock service, that's a brand name.

[00:30:57] LifeLock is a brand name, but a lot of financial services offer that function, the protecting

[00:31:03] your identity basically, right? And the VPN is secures your

[00:31:08] home network so that you're logging in and out of your home network securely. But these are

[00:31:14] additional costs. You got to think about that. You got to see if you can afford it, but it's,

[00:31:18] it may be becoming one of those things that you can't afford not to have it, right?

[00:31:22] Yeah, man.

[00:31:23] Yeah, it's folks, we just gotta be careful

[00:31:27] because again, the more we digitize our life,

[00:31:29] the more it becomes risk to these black cat groups

[00:31:34] of cyber attackers who are clearly organizing

[00:31:37] to really attack, yeah.

[00:31:40] Yeah, this cyber attack from what I read,

[00:31:42] they said that some of the financial problems

[00:31:45] that it caused for providers, for insurance providers,

[00:31:49] is the lack of not being able to receive reimbursements

[00:31:54] from their insurers for the people.

[00:31:58] So for the people, you know how you have to submit a claim,

[00:32:01] and then they pay for it now, but then you submit it

[00:32:04] to your insurer, and then you get that money back.

[00:32:09] So that is preventing that from happening.

[00:32:12] So that is a lot of people may have paid for something now.

[00:32:14] Okay, I'm going to get this money back later.

[00:32:16] But now this has caused a little delay in that, which is why they said that they had

[00:32:21] to get those loans to help cover those things for those people,

[00:32:25] those people because they're trying to do right by them.

[00:32:28] And they said that for a lot of the mid-sized practices

[00:32:32] that this has caused them to either,

[00:32:36] for the smaller and mid-sized practices,

[00:32:37] it's causing them to make difficult decisions

[00:32:40] on how to stay afloat

[00:32:41] because some of them are dependent on that money too.

[00:32:44] So some of them may have had to close their doors because of the cyber attack.

[00:32:47] Wow. Wow. Yeah man. Yeah that sucks man. It sucks. And look insurance is gonna drive up.

[00:32:55] If you might want to sell a cyber attack insurance that might be a growing industry.

[00:33:00] That might be smart because AI is going to help us and everything but

[00:33:06] don't think for once don't think for one second that these hackers and these groups aren't going

[00:33:11] to utilize AI to their oh yeah heck yeah as well that yep exactly absolutely using it that's why

[00:33:19] it's ramping up but we'll find the stat that by next year, it'll be like $10 trillion business.

[00:33:27] Cyber, the black market of it all.

[00:33:29] If you considered hackers as a business, it would be a $10 trillion business.

[00:33:34] That's serious.

[00:33:37] And it's been growing.

[00:33:38] Anywho, look out, folks.

[00:33:39] Stay aware.

[00:33:40] Stay on.

[00:33:41] Pay attention to cybersecurity because it's definitely definitely gonna be more important to us all

[00:33:45] going forward, especially our paychecks.

[00:33:48] Is that everybody gets direct deposit

[00:33:50] and we get our W-2s online and all this stuff

[00:33:53] and we wanna need to safeguard that stuff.

[00:33:56] So, to your point that you can look that up,

[00:33:59] cybersecurity ventures did that stat.

[00:34:02] They said, to your point, that is gonna raise

[00:34:04] by next year

[00:34:05] to 10.5 trillion and that's a significant increase from the 3 trillion that it was just

[00:34:12] nine years ago in 2015.

[00:34:15] As we near the end of this episode, we like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you for

[00:34:19] listening.

[00:34:20] Before we sign off, here are a couple quick things.

[00:34:23] Don't forget to follow It's About Payroll on LinkedIn and It's About Your Paycheck

[00:34:27] on Facebook and TikTok.

[00:34:30] We love engaging with our audience and you'll be able to receive exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes

[00:34:35] content.

[00:34:36] Thank you for being a part of our payroll community and thank you for being a part of

[00:34:40] this journey with us.

[00:34:42] Until next time, keep learning, keep growing,

[00:34:45] and most importantly, keep going.

[00:34:48] And the AI has a huge part of that.

[00:34:51] And that's that folks.

[00:34:52] This last segment is our Safe Talk segment,

[00:34:55] and I'm glad it circles back to wage compression

[00:34:58] because it turned out to be more of a topic than we thought.

[00:35:01] And really this part of the show is,

[00:35:03] we could a little bit more

[00:35:05] informal about the thoughts on wage compression is what it is. And is it good or evil? Right?

[00:35:10] Is it good or evil? Is it good that you're a co-worker that just started making more than you

[00:35:16] or not? And I think you, Walt, nailed it with the feedback part. You really have to stay a part

[00:35:21] of the conversation. You got to stay informed so that, because hopefully it's being done for a reason.

[00:35:28] Hopefully if you become part of that feedback and you go to your boss and HR and you're

[00:35:34] like, why is this happening?

[00:35:36] That they could really explain it.

[00:35:37] Look, the market is really tough for your position right now or period.

[00:35:41] Because think about it too, if it too, depending on how they answer

[00:35:45] you, if they tell me that, if they say, oh, the market's really tough in my position,

[00:35:48] oh, then that means you got to match my salary.

[00:35:51] Because if not, I'm just going to go to the next one to, again, unless you're really comfortable

[00:35:56] where you are, then you don't want to leave, then that gives you the ammo though to negotiate

[00:36:01] our increase.

[00:36:02] But at least they, or they say, or like we said earlier, it's because this person is bringing something to the table that you don't

[00:36:10] have yet, or just is what it is, right? Could be, Hey, you could be in this job and don't

[00:36:14] have a degree for 10 years. This person's coming in with a masters. I got to give him

[00:36:18] a little bit more money. You want to give him money? Get a masters. You know what I

[00:36:21] mean? Master is going to serve vacation. Do something.

[00:36:24] Whatever it is, I, it's arbitrary. I know do something whatever it is. I it's arbitrary

[00:36:25] I'm just made that up as an example because if we're being real

[00:36:29] Google just hired their first developer with no college degree. Yes, sir

[00:36:34] So the landscape is even changing for that, right? There are some jobs out hours is one of them

[00:36:40] I just said it you want to get into payroll you don't need a college degree

[00:36:43] It's a preference because if you've been doing it for if you get this, if you get an entry level, if you get a little bit of experience and you

[00:36:50] get certified, boom, you become more highly wanted right there. And if you ever listen to the other show, often folks, the

[00:36:59] feet, the folks that we interview are more like me than what what actually picked picked as a job in the Navy, right?

[00:37:07] But that's different. You were going into the Navy. So you're the rare cases where he

[00:37:11] chose it. Whereas most of us fall into it somehow or just indirectly get in. And for

[00:37:19] me, it was just something I did for my family business. And when I graduated college

[00:37:25] and I was trying to get that first real corporate job,

[00:37:28] I just had my first daughter and it was like,

[00:37:31] oh man, I gotta grow up now and get a real job.

[00:37:33] I need to benefit everything, the series.

[00:37:36] I just happened to have payroll on my resume

[00:37:39] because I cut some checks for my brother.

[00:37:40] It was like, ooh, so I had, thank God I had the skill set

[00:37:43] to keep the job, but I had to fake it till I made it. And it was entry level job anyway. But yeah, again,

[00:37:49] I just was like, oh, yeah, sure, I could do a payroll. Yeah, man. But yeah, now, what do you think?

[00:37:56] The safe talk topic, thoughts on wage compression. Is it good or evil?

[00:38:02] Obviously, I would say if I had to choose just make a definitive

[00:38:07] Decision between it being good or bad and obviously waste compression

[00:38:12] It the way especially with the way that it may impact your job

[00:38:16] Turnover and it may cause you to lose those high performing people that you have had before

[00:38:22] Then that and that way it's bad.

[00:38:25] Right, if I had to choose between good or bad, right?

[00:38:28] It's obviously more, I lean more towards the bad side of it

[00:38:31] or the evil side of it as we use that here.

[00:38:33] And that it, because it won't help in the end, right?

[00:38:39] But we as the employees, this show is about

[00:38:42] it giving empowerment to you as the employee.

[00:38:46] You have to have the conversation with your employer.

[00:38:49] You have to hold your employer accountable.

[00:38:53] You have to do that.

[00:38:54] So yes, while it's not good, you can either change that

[00:39:00] or you can just go with status quo.

[00:39:02] That's how I feel about it.

[00:39:03] Yeah, that perfectly said.

[00:39:06] Perfectly said, man.

[00:39:07] On that note, the next show is, can an employer

[00:39:13] deduct your whole paycheck?

[00:39:16] Can employers, yeah, can employers for any reason just

[00:39:19] say, oh, you owe us.

[00:39:21] We overpaid you.

[00:39:21] We're going to take it back on your next paycheck.

[00:39:24] I don't know. Stay tuned for the next episode you'll find out. Yes. and

[00:39:30] and

[00:39:32] and