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Payroll Palava is a monthly series that provides a safe space to explore the big, the bad, and the ugly of payroll from the perspective of real people, and the importance of embracing technology.
So, what’s your payroll story? Was it an error in pay? Was it delayed pay? Which was it?
Mine was a delay and it was a bank issue situation.
They had, you know, disbursed funds, and a few were reversed and that was sorted out. But for some reason, mine wasn’t. What eventually happened was that they found out that mine had failed again, but I don't think they had an early update on that.
So by the time they had gone back and forth, I had provided another account detail, they eventually got in touch with the bank and that was when we found out about the reversal of my salary the second time.
This was after a week thereabout, and it was very frustrating. They eventually processed it again, but by then the entire thing had already taken about two weeks. Just very, very stressful. Imagine getting your pay two whole weeks after your payday. Yeah, it was not it at all.
I can not imagine. So what was the financial impact on you? Feel free to give me instances.
Well, my bills ended up being paid late. Many of my bills were pending, such as my Internet bill and a few others.
I also had my best friend's birthday coming up, like, what, five days after payday. That was very stressful for me because then I now had to dip into my savings and also, like, get some money from my sister to be able to sort out some things. And then, tell her that, hey, I'll pay you back in two weeks.
Um, but, yeah, it was very frustrating.
Just to confirm, I’d like to be anonymous for this interview. Is that okay?
Yes, yes, definitely. It's anonymous if you want to be.
Okay.
Um, so basically, like, a lot of things were being held back, I mean, it was a whole two weeks, right? So a lot of things. Like, a whole lot of things. For example, gym subscriptions, Internet, and a few other things, Basically subscriptions that run out at the end of the month, do you get?
So, not having things sorted out when they should have been was very uncomfortable.
Really sorry about that. On the part of your job, how did that make you feel? Like, from how you say it, it sounds like you were abandoned.
Ah, it felt like that!
Exactly. So what was the impact on your job?
Girllll? Like, I had told myself that if it wasn't sorted out at a certain time, I'd probably just not come to work.
Ehen now.
Then, when they start asking, “Why is this person not around?” and learn it’s because I haven’t been paid my salary, maybe that's when they'll take it more seriously.
Right? Because how are you supposed to afford that?
Exactly!
When they keep seeing you every day, it's like, okay, this person doesn't really have problems, but when they stop seeing me ehen! People will now start asking questions. That's what would have been done if it wasn't paid that day.
But, yeah, I think I had to even send an email copying my bosses as well, including the head of HR. Yeah.
So how was your employer or your HR managing all of this mess? Like, in two weeks, before you got paid.
They were telling me sorry to the best of their abilities and whatnot but yeah.
So you didn't get, like, extra money or a bonus for the whole stress?
I didn't o? That's a very good question. As in like, “Sorry for your inconvenience” money ba?
Yes now. Because you tried. Two whole weeks! So would you say that it affected your job performance that month and your relationship with your employer in any way?
Um, not really. It didn’t really affect that.
Um, because I think I had, like, places that I could run to and dip my hands in for extra money, so, um, it didn't really affect that too much.
Again, like I said, if it had lasted longer than it did, I'd probably just have stayed at home. It was very inconvenient, I can't even lie. But yeah.
So did the experience do anything for your financial management skills?
I mean, aside from just being grateful that I had extra money somewhere, it just reemphasizes the fact that, like, you can't obviously always depend on these things. Right? So, again, it's good to have some sort of extra income if you can. But, yeah, I think that was pretty much it.
Just, like, thank God I had other things doing.
I think the slightly good thing about it was that I had extra money at the end of the month.
Right! Because it came late
Yeah
So in hindsight, do you think that technology would have helped in any way?
Ah! You have no idea!
Yes. I mean, I don't even know what the current system is, but I think something a bit more, efficient system somehow would have made it better. Again, because it took me saying, “Oh, I'll reach out to my bank” for moves to be made, and even at that, I don't know how many days that even took.
But if it was something that they could probably just see on their end and say, “Oh, okay. This thing didn't go through” or something as opposed to a third party, it may have been easier because you can get direct feedback from people you're speaking with. Yeah.
Okay. So, you know what Pade does? Our platform manages the end-to-end employees’ cycle which very much includes payroll. So, would you be willing to recommend us to your employer considering that on Pade, they have more control over payroll disbursement?
Absolutely. Though it’s a very large organisation, I think we’re about over 500 staff. and I don’t have the power to influence a decision but I can definitely recommend it to our HR team.
Great. So, what would you say to somebody who is currently going through this, what would you advise them?
What is my advice to employers or the people receiving the salary?
Both of them.
For employers, I think they should take their people’s pay a bit more seriously and that means looking for more efficient ways to pay their employees. Because the truth is, a one or two-day delay is capable of disrupting people's lives.
Because, again, people have planned their lives in certain ways. So if there’s a three-day or even one-week delay from your end, that is going to disorganize and, you know, ruin people's plans and processes. So it's very important. Yeah. So there's that.
For the employees as well, I mean, it's very tricky because it is easy to say, “Oh, everybody should have more than one stream of income” but again, you can't, you know. Not everybody can. But if you can, then that would be good. Because, again, if I didn't have something to fall back on, I would have been very stranded. So yeah.
That's about it! Thank you so much again for your time.
Yeah. You’re welcome.
Are you an HR professional who is willing to share your story so others can learn from you? Or are you an employee who has been on the receiving side of a payroll mistake? We'd love to hear your story too! We'll even keep you anonymous if you want. Click here, fill out the form and we'll reach out to you.
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