To take time off sick when I work in payroll

It is a failing of the business for there to be only one person that can run such a critical
process, especially when your payroll includes a lot of variable payments.
Staff will be reliant on their overtime payments, especially in November.

I work for a small company. Every process is documented so that someone can pick up any task if necessary, and we have practice runs occasionally!

I hope you feel better soon and that something can be put in place to avoid you feeling under so much pressure if you’re unwell in the future.

If I could go back in time 3 1/2 years ago and give myself one piece of advice when trying to recover from a covid infection, it would be “do not try to push through - in fact, do less than you think you can”. Many of us with long covid learnt this the hard way. It’s not your fault the company is set up like this. Your boss/someone else will have to do a fast learning curve. Hope you feel better soon.

Go off sick; it’ll be a good time for your company to put contingency plans in place.

I had a payroll manager who signed off sick the day after monthly payroll, for 4 weeks. I immediately brought in a payroll administrator, and between her, me (Finance Director) and external software provider, we got the pay for the circa 500 staff (400 variable) done.

It loosened the iron grip of the Payroll Manager on the payroll process, and she left soon afterwards. I now know how to run payroll 😊😊😊

Let’s start with the basics. Will staff be paid their basic wages (without adjustments) when they expect them?

This issue needs to be escalated, if not.

This. I work somewhere like this. Our payroll colleague is heavily relied upon. We had 2 chap who ended up retiring and then a new lady. But it’s one person, why isn’t there someone else trained?

Bless you OP. I have a job that involves spreadsheets and finance sometimes and its a fucking nightmare when I have a migraine. I get regular sinusitis due to an immune suppressant.

Some things that may help. If you can go to a chemist in the morning

1. menthol crystals inhaled - they come in a small pot at the chemist and are super cheap. You need like one or two crystals only or it blows your head off! Doesn't last forever but really helps clear the brain fog.

2. a sinus spray - saline is best like NeilMed nasal rinse but see what they have. If not then a warm cloth on your face.

3. an OTC decongestant like Sudofed. The active ingredient is pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and I think you can buy plain unbranded tablets just of this if you don't want the caffeine that Sudofed has. Really helps sinusitis pressure headache.

4. 4Head stick

5. Dimming the PC or laptop screen can help a bit, working in lower lighting to reduce the stress.

This is a ridiculous situation. So if you got into a car accident tomorrow, no one would get paid until you recover?

As others have said this is appalling business practice and not your problem at all. I would put it back on the company that they need to sort out a backup plan as you have been working while not fit for work, and they are storing up future problems for themselves.

My company's accountant firm will do payroll in an emergency. Your company should have something set up. I hope you feel better soon.

I hope you do. Personally I’d do some work from home at night and the weekend but that may not be an option if you have to be in the office

Sounds like they are going to have to pay you to work some overtime then when you feel better? I can’t see any other way for you if you are too ill to get it done this week? Basic pay only is better than no pay on payday surely? Let the management explain to employees

If you’re sick you’re sick, say you’re too unwell to do any work and direct your manager to the written instructions and they can figure it out/speak to finance/whatever. Totally on them if there’s only one person who can do it, what if you were hit by a bus?

When’s the drop dead deadline? Does your payroll software provider not have a contingency plan where they can commit payroll on your behalf and release BACS ( ours does but we pay 2000 a month so maybe a bigger company that yours?) This would at least get employee’s basic salaries paid even if lots of variable pay is missing

Had this situation myself and also had to work when I had covid to get payroll done! Not paying overtime etc leaves a lot of employees really short but you could run another payroll after payday to mop up everything that was missed potentially? At my company the factory employees would demand this. Ultimately a business should NEVER have a single point of failure in something as critical as payroll!

Generally with holidays, that's what happens. DH is Payroll Manager so we have to take holidays around him. Was a bloody nightmare when I worked in HR (different company) and had some tasks that fed in to payroll, e.g. entering new starters, new position details and leavers. It essentially meant there were 3 weeks out of every 4 that we couldn't take more than the odd day off. I have since changed career

OP I really feel for you. I know the pressure that DH is under with payroll - and there is a lot more contingency planning where he is (and the company I used to work for).

This!

Just go sick and the manager will have to sort it out.

I completely understand how you feel. I am the only payroll officer in my organisation and pay around 370 employees each month. Annual leave is always taken after the payrun but then I have to work extra to catch up when I return. I have only had one day off sick in about 6 years and I once planned surgery around my deadlines! It's a lot of pressure and, in an ideal world, it would be lovely to have some backup. The reality though is that it takes a long time to train someone up to learn the job as it's so varied and everything gets done once a month. Then, that person leaves and you're back where you started! Worst case scenario, can you manage to process a basic payrun and then make the additional payments like overtime next month? Or, give yourself a proper day or so to rest and then work some longer days to get it done, roping in others to help, if they can? I will often work late at night or weekends to meet the deadline if something has gone wrong or it's been a compltely busy month. I know it's not ideal but you're obviously stressing about it which isn't going to help you feel better. Hopefully this will make your Manager think about a contingency plan for the future.

I used to be involved with a very small charity business that didn’t even have an HR department. We employed one very part time person to do the books and run payroll, but we made damn sure at least one other person involved always knew how to do payroll. And when the system changed we made sure at least one other person knew the new system. I even ran it myself once in an emergency situation after our employee ended up in hospital.

It’s completely ridiculous to run an organisation on the premise that no key employee ever gets ill, bereaved or hit by a bus. If you’re too sick to work then you’re too sick and you should take time off - it’s the business’s responsibility to have a back up plan.

I would just go sick and that will make them realise they need to sort this out and when they get the new system there needs to be multiple people trained.

If your company don’t have a Business Continuity Plan that’s not your fault ….start looking for a new job

One of the very first things at the top of any business risk management plan should be to ensure that there's no single point of failure in the business. When I worked in project management, we would just put the word "bus" at the top of the potential risks list, as in "what would happen if someone was run over by a bus tomorrow?". You then mitigate the risk by ensuring that at least one other person is trained on how to do any critical tasks.

If they've failed to ensure someone can cover for you, they just have to suck it up. It's their problem, not yours. Do they insist you can't take leave for the first 2 weeks of every month as well?