Payroll

This is my first post in a while. It seems that whenever I try to start anything new I get overrun with the busy life of a retail manager. I have spent the last couple of weeks cleaning, organizing, and trying to overcome the impossibility of keeping payroll in-line.

Payroll is one of those fickle things that can be either a blessing or a curse, but rarely both. You can be blessed with some unexpected extra boost in dollars. Or you can be cursed with a sudden reduction, coupled with a plethora of tasks and assignments due on short notice.

One of the least pleasurable tasks of a manager is cutting payroll. Basically that means you reduce the amount of money you typically spend during the week for your employees' pay. So, I recently have had to spend a couple of hours deciding which employees are going to get less on their next paycheck. These decisions weigh heavily on me. I take vacation days when I can to reduce the payroll burden, but when there is a lot going on in the store that is not always feasible. Therefore, I make the call on who can pay their bills and who can't. Many factors play into my decisions and I would like to think I am impartial and make decisions based on performance alone. But that is not the truth. In addition to performance I also consider the employees' obligations, personal life, and pay rate.

The saddest part is that the cuts take a huge toll on everyone in the building. Everyone has to work harder to pick-up the slack from missing employees and customers are not too forgiving of a reduced work force. I get so enraged to hear comments from customers about a lack of employees or how they "couldn't find anyone to help them."

At times like this, I always feel the same thing: Hopelessness.