Finding ghost employees.

[Dave A]

It fluctuates, but it's been in the range of 25-30 "full-time" staff this year.

[Debbiedle]

That one can be quite a challenge. I've found a tendency for that sort of reporting to be rather strongly coloured by the state of interaction between supervisors and their subordinates, rather than ability and productivity.

Well, let's look at it objectively. IF you want to hand over the reigns in some form or other and on the daily tasks etc, surely you need team leaders/supervisors who are able to make decisions and report on fact and not emotion. IF your team leaders are not able to do this, they will have to learn at some point. Rather now while you have a couple, than when you have 30 and really no time and even less inclination?

[Dave A]

True. They're learning though. Basically, if they cover up for someone who is substandard, they end up carrying that burden themselves. And eventually they get tired of it. At that point I remind them that objective, accurate reporting in the beginning might have prevented their challenge.

It's a process, I think. Certainly doesn't happen overnight.

In a strategy meeting on Tuesday I talked about the importance of us putting in systems that could work in a company of 100 staff, even though we are much smaller than that at the moment.

It worked when I did the same exercise when we were just 4 on staff. The systems then were developed with a staff complement of around 20 people in mind.

[Gabriel Erasmus]

Let me add my bit starting with the bad then being the ugly and lastly a glimpse of light.
The bad!
I had to do an implementation where my client had to merge 2 groups of people on one payroll.
1 being his current faithful staff about 50 and the larger portion of employees roughly 400 that was provided by a labour broker. (brrrrr .... Did you feel that?)
Thought you had a problem with ghost staff…… this was scary.
The ugly!
Due to the fact that it was clear that the number of employees on the payroll vs. on the job differed, the quickest way to have an employee in your office straight up and centre is to change his method of pay to Cash / cheque – insisting that the employee has to come in and sign to receive his pay slip and cheque.
The glimpse of light!
It comes in the form of a red light; one can use a biometric scanner for about 3 months randomly to insure that you do not run into this kind of situation. All you need is a listing of employees that, according to the payroll must be in a department / branch etc. Scan your individuals and let them clock in for a period. 1 finger 1 person 1 payslip.

[Yvonne]

Dave,
From a very small business point of view it is perhaps rather different, but surely the person who does your payroll verifies the timesheets for overtime pay, annual leave, sick leave etc. Between the "workface" and the payroll there should be some valid check.

Yvonne

[Dave A]

There is now

We've introduced clockcards, spot checks, a control sheet and my beloved summary. It has actually reduced the admin load with an outlay of under R2k.

I just love summaries. What's the story at a glance and I'll dig into whatever looks off from there

I'll go for the fingerprint scanner deal when we've grown some more. Right now, 'tis the season for tight budgets.

[CharlesM]

Dave,
From a very small business point of view it is perhaps rather different, but surely the person who does your payroll verifies the timesheets for overtime pay, annual leave, sick leave etc. Between the "workface" and the payroll there should be some valid check.

Yvonne

Keep in mind that the person doing the payroll is usually also the person responsible for paying all the creditors. Creditors alone can be an enormous task, and with all this workload and usually only a day or two to do it all, the person doing the payroll doesn't really have the time or enough concentration left over to still recon timesheets, leave, etc. That's what managers, supervisors and teamleaders are for.

Small business? Pick a team leader for this responsibility every three months. They'll feel more important, and you will see more clearly which of your staff enjoy taking on such a responsibility which will make your selection process easier when the business grows.

[Marq]

Just get the summary list and payslips yourself every now a then and dish it out yourself - All staff line up and you get to give the slips out like lucky packet day.

This way

• You get to actually meet your staff
• You get to know your staff
• You keep them all on their toes
• You see what they earn and ask them what they did for it
• You get your arse licked for while
• You sleep again at night knowing they are all pulling for you...Well thats the theory part anyway.

Then you check the totals in the summary list to the monthly accounts, make sure the bank payroll run balances without anybody knowing - 5 minutes later - job done.

For anybody who does not pitch - put their next months salary on hold and then pay yourself out at the end of the following month or have a staff party at the next payout.

Do this at odd random times during the year and hey presto - Ghosts, shirkers, AWOLers, BS Artists are all gone.