To take time off sick when I work in payroll

[Feelingpoorly2025]

I feel I can never be off sick and just have to work from home instead when I’m unwell. Had covid last week and took the week off, however I’m now suffering really badly with sinusitis. I logged into work today but just cannot concentrate I have really bad head pain and fatigue. It’s the payroll deadline Friday and there is no one else in the company that can operate the payroll, I feel so stressed. I tried to push though yesterday and today but just can’t do it. More and more payroll issues keep coming through on email and I don’t have the energy to work through them.

It's your employer's fault for not having a contingency plan in place what if you were in a serious accident and couldn't work even if you wanted to.

If you're not well then you're not well. Your employer should have a back up plan - you're not a robot!

It's also not good to be doing such an important job when unwell as more likely to make mistakes.

Payroll runs first two weeks of the month, I was off last week and I guess work would just assume I would be better this week and work like crazy to get two weeks worth of work done in one week, but I feel so poorly!

Ultimately in an emergency they could just copy last month's BACs and pay that again. Pay any new joiners manually and fix the tax situation later.

Not thinking you should have to work, but to avoid the inevitable extra work that would come later from not running a full payroll report and paying over to HMRC etc, could you stop fixing new payroll issues, and just run the payroll as is?

This is 100% the company's fault for having a single point of failure and staying off sick would be totally reasonable. But I am also aware that the extra work is likely to land on your desk so I think if there was something I could do that minimised the work now while minimising the excess work later, I might take that route.

I completed some today and had to re-check everything and had to log off as my head just hurts so much and I’m completely exhausted

ineffable2023 the problem is I’ve got nearly the whole payroll to do because I was off last week.

I have full written instructions I created myself on how to do the payroll but not sure there is anyone that could do it. I work in a small HR department of 3.

definitely if they re-run last months amounts it will be a nightmare as overtime differed each month.

I’m so sorry. I did payroll in our office but there were two of us to share the burden. We alternated between the two of us. If one of us were sick the healthy one would do it and then we’d begin alternating again, or if both of it were out my boss would do it! Your boss has an obligation to know how to do it especially as you’re the only one!
That said, though, unless you’re in hospital I guess you’ll have to do it. But get on your boss to have a contingent plan next time!

I can't believe your line manager has not learned the basics to be able to take over in an emergency.

If you are ill, you are ill. Just call in sick. It's not your fault there is no back up. But I get the pressure. ever since covid we are told to WFH when ill (instead of calling in sick). It completely changed the company culture and I have worked a few times when I really shouldn't have.

Call in sick!!

TowerRavenSeven the problem is I really do feel to unwell to do it. I tried a section this morning and felt like crying. Covid has really knocked me out. Body aches, sinus, headache etc. I’m on day 9 so thought I would be better by now.

Since you have written instructions could you give it to your boss and have them attempt it then? I’m so sorry. I know how stressful it is.

I’m in a HR team of 3 and no one else has learnt how to do it. I just took it over from my predecessor. And one person is on annual leave. And both have their own work loads. I think I’m worried how I’ll feel so stressed to call in sick and leave the company with this big disaster! But today was a complete fail with me feeling so unwell

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?

Allergictoironing if I take leave I have to complete the payroll before I go or when I come back. To be honest though I always plan my holidays around the payroll to avoid this which isn’t ideal to be honest as sometimes I miss out on better flight deals.

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

I have a holiday booked for the first time covering half a payroll cycle next year, and have just discovered a few months back we will be having new software for payroll that month (which I will need to teach myself from the software provider user guides) so that’s another situation that’s going to be a complete nightmare as I’ll have about 5 days to do the whole payroll on a new system. It’s holidays and illnesses that feel so difficult in this job,

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.

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 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.

This!

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

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).

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!

Before I have worked when unwell but I’m literally laying here in bed coughing and sweating 😥

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