A Busy Monday

After a day at the office, I’m usually greeted with a cheery, “So, how’d your day go?”

And I think she really is interested, so I try to give her a sampling of the things I had to deal with. One thing about Human Resources, it’s seldom dull.

This week my principal focus is on payroll. Last week we got most of the essential benefits set up, but now I need to be sure that by Friday everybody is entered into the payroll system, all the information is correct, and the EFTs (Electronic Funds Transfers) go out on time.

There’s more to it than just the usual W-4 information for withholding and the employees’ base salary. For example, would you believe that out of 80 employees we have 7 who have a court-ordered garnishment for child support?

I wonder how that compares to national or even local statistics?

Not only does the correct amount of the garnishment have to be withheld from the employees’ pay, we also have to ensure that each garnished amount is sent to the correct county courthouse to be disbursed to the recipient.

Further complicating matters is: the date my plant was sold was not at the beginning or end of a pay period. So for this first pay cycle we have to include a few days that were really part of the last normal pay period, but weren’t paid by the former parent corporation.

And it’s not enough to just add in the correct number of hours worked, we have to see if any or all of those hours would have been overtime in that pay week and pay them accordingly.

Then, I’ve got two guys on temporary assignment with a different schedule from their normal one, yet we agreed to “keep them whole” (no reduction in total pay) for working that schedule. I have to figure out how to do that while complying with all applicable laws.

In the middle of all this, Christina called me with an issue about her unemployment compensation. I went online and looked up the answer to that for her.

Which reminds me, tomorrow is the day her former employer’s appeal of her unemployment eligibility is on the docket for the Workforce Commission’s review. I promised her I’d call in the afternoon to try to learn if the case is over and what the outcome is.

“So, Hubby, how was your day?”

“Oh, routine.” Pretty boring when you think about it. The work itself is not exciting, but it sure is important. Some days I figure I spend all my eight hours just keeping the plant and the company out of trouble.

Still, it feels good when you do it right. I had an employee come up to me in the lunch room today, shake my hand, and say, “John, you did a HELL of a job on those health benefits!”

Yep, feels good.