I moved from being a temp to being a full time employee a couple of months ago, and literally every time they’ve issued me a check there’s been some damn thing wrong with it. First they issued a check they weren’t supposed to. Then they put me on the wrong payday schedule and delayed my check a week. Then some other damn thing happened.
Now I find out that my next check (which will allegedly be issued next Friday) will also be fucked up. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are supposed to be paid at double time. Unfortunately, every supervisor in the department (except mine, who was on vacation, but the dumbass covering for her did) processed the time sheets wrong to pay them at time and a half and they also processed the overtime hours wrong. I’m not getting overtime but I did work both holidays so I’m going to be shorted 15 hours of pay.
They weren’t planning on telling anyone until the checks actually cut, but somehow word leaked out. Payroll has no idea when the problem will be fixed or how the problem will be fixed because no one will make a decision. No word on whether the problem will be fixed in time for the next paycheck or whether we’re stuck waiting for the next pay period.
When my boss finally fessed up to the problem, I suggested that the supervisors who screwed up pay all the affected people out of their own pockets and then turn in a request for reimbursement to the company. She laughed like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Do I sound like I’m joking, bitch?
Oh, and where do I work, that can’t handle money? A bank.
In our company, payroll is number one in priority. We have exceptionally good employees, and without them, we’d not have enjoyed our success. So we make sure their checks are right. And if there is a problem, it moves to the top of the heap. It is not at all unusual for the CEO to become involved and make things right. We’ll even give the employee the benefit of the doubt on most every payroll problem. In other words, if he says we shorted him 20 bucks, we’ll cut him a check for 20 bucks and then check out the details. (This has never yet resulted in any significant backtracking.)
I worked for a company as described in the OP. When such payroll problems are pervasive, it speaks heavily of the company, in my opinion. Get out while you can.
Yep, the company I just left had trouble like that **every ** pay period. It turns out to be indicative of their attitude toward employees - a necessary evil and a drain on the company’s finances. The HR person said in a meeting w/ all the management that she hated having to put the FMLA information in the handbook as it would only confuse the people who worked there, as they weren’t ‘savvy’ enough to understand it and would think it was a paid vacation. She then stated that she didn’t see why they had to put up an informative poster about it in the breakroom, so that’s why she had it posted over the garbage cans - no one would linger there to read it. She’d refer people’s HR questions to their bosses before grudgingly answering them if pressed. She also was my immediate boss, which meant that the only way I could complain about her behavior was to go directy over her head to the VP of the company; though a good man, he is ultimately her puppet when she asks him to be. It saves him having to act on his own, or be seen as doing so.
When a company doesn’t put effort into pleasing their employees, rather than scraping by w/ the barest minimum of action, you need to either stand up for change (and get others to do so) or look to work somewhere else.
…He said, knowing full well that the poorest people in a bank are those that spend 40+ hour per week there.
I once worked as the accountant at a job where we were constantly short of funds, including in payroll. Every week was a crap shoot as to whether you’d get a paycheck at all, and in the unlikely event that you did, you’d never know how rubberized it was. Of course, as I cut the checks, I got all the heat for this, even though it was the president who had control (if you can call it that) of all monies. We did, however, get a nice new company car, but only the president was allowed to drive it.
Yeah, unfortunately I don’t work directly with the cash. I do credit and debit cards. Believe me the idea of tapping into the CEO’s corporate card has occurred to me more than once.
In the meantime, if anybody wants Clay Aiken’s credit card number or the balance in Chastity Bono’s checking account, email me!*
Wow. Up until now I’d never heard of a bank that requires employees to work on holidays. Evenings and weekends, yes, but I thought that holidays were out.
Ditto. I wouldn’t say you should start looking for a new job ASAP, but make sure you give them LOTS of notice when you leave. They might just “forget” to send your last paycheck.
Worked in a bank a few years. Lowest paid workforce this side of McD’s…and the bowler hats upstairs don’t care. Your New Years resolutions list needs to include a job search.
A lot of my coworkers spoke Russian. There’s your explanation, comrade.
Actually, it was an interesting makeup of people. Most were the type that work work hard and not complain, hoping that someday, somehow, things would get better. And new employees saw it as a great place to work. I should add that the payroll situation was not the only bad thing about that nightmare of a place. It oozed Evil.
Typically, in around 6 to 8 months, dissatisfaction would reach a critical mass and there would be a mass exodus. Then another group of starry-eyed dupes would get hired and the whole cycle would start again.
The place has been in business for 25 years. By my calculations, that office of 8 has seen 267 employees.
It’s a 24 hour call center. We do customer service for credit cards and debit cards. Lost/stolen cards, balance inquires, fraud reporting and the like. I love working holidays. Low call volume and increased pay (when they bother to pay, that is). Place I worked last year (different place) paid double time and a half for Thanksgiving and I got like four calls all shift. We sat in the call center playing poker all day.
Yep, my experiences were in a call center too. Believe me, your bosses are either a) completely incompetent or b) tremendously overworked, undertrained, and responsible for cleaning up after the “a” types.
Wow. You have every right to be pissed off, Otto. That just sucks. As someone who has worked in payroll, that kind of shoddy work is completely unacceptable.
As a supervisor, I have to approve OT, vacation and holiday pay each pay period. Occasionally, I screw up. (But if you tell any of my employees this, I will deny it )
When a pay check is questioned, I certainly don’t expect my employees to wait until next pay period to get their money! It may take a couple of hours but they are getting their correction that day along with an apology and sympathy over how bad accountanting screwed up again.
You mean, you don’t roll your eyes at the employee and hand them a gift card for $10 to cover it instead of fixing the mistake so it doesn’t happen again? You don’t tell them ‘It’s no big deal!’?
Hmmm, I have an inkling that my former HR person may be less than caring and competent at their job…
)
Valid PITing.