Real-time Pay Visibility and Other Shutdown Lessons

As wrenching as it’s been to read the stories about families hardest hit by the recent partial shutdown of the U.S. government, this event has drawn attention to some important human capital issues. In a previous post I discussed the perils of many Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck. Yet despite our government’s restart, problems still abound.

Real-time payroll visibility. Not receiving two or three paychecks in a row is incredibly difficult. But soon we’ll see how hard it is to restart payroll processing again. Hopefully another payday won’t go by before money is in these workers’ accounts. The technical capabilities of the various payroll systems used by the impacted branches of government will be severely tested. The fact is that it’ll probably take days or even weeks to process back paychecks. This time could be vastly reduced if their payroll systems had real-time or near-real-time visibility into pay data. Typical batch runs of payroll require lengthy processing every time a change is made. Cloud-based solutions are able to disaggregate this processing and allow for changes to be reflected immediately, greatly reducing the time between receiving payroll inputs and then releasing payments.

Employee self-service. There’s likely to be confusion as people receive their payments for back pay. Imagine how beneficial it would be if there was an employee self-service capability in place to provide clear and simple guidance on how pay was calculated. There are bound to be many inquiries made to Payroll about how these 35 days were counted and paid, but having a self-service access to pay slips and time records, could minimize those conversations. Employee experience and self-service are not just about operational efficiency and reducing support staff. They represent one way individuals interact with the entire organizations they work for.

Financial wellness. Through no fault of their own, many government employees were thrown into deep water without a flotation device, and either had to rely on credit cards, friends and family, or needed expensive borrowing from funds set aside (like retirement accounts) to stay afloat. In the aftermath, it would make sense for government employers to offer financial counseling to help prepare workers for any unexpected future events. I’ll admit this may seem like the proverbial closing the barn door after the horse escapes, but many people will be looking for help getting back on their feet financially. It seems the least these federal agencies can do is to offer those affected employees trusted resources to do so.

Background checks. In a ridiculous cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy, the government shutdown has caused credit problems for some of its employees. Ironically, because these same employees are required to have security clearances for some positions, security clearances could now be denied to people having certain credit issues or lower credit scores. This prompts the need to have a more comprehensive way of looking at background screening to determine risk when hiring.

Engagement is delivering on expectations. There’s no telling how severe or long-lasting the shutdown impact will be on viewing or choosing our government as an employer. In the past, federal government agencies have often relied on their reputation as a “reliable” employer. They were not much concerned with their employer “brand,” since their brand was patriotism and stability. But this shutdown and its far-reaching financial implications may cause an entire generation to start questioning the decision to take a public-service job. Because engagement is all about delivering on expectations, that set of expectations was severely damaged during our 35-day shutdown.

Regardless of any political feelings, there are serious job implications from the fact that so many people were either furloughed or made to work without pay for such a lengthy period of time. This kind of disruption highlights every weakness in the system and greatly affects those people participating in it, whether they’re public- or private-sector employees. Hopefully all businesses can learn lessons from the plight of the 800,000+ people impacted, and we can all do a much better job going forward.