A few years ago I worked for an outsourced Human Resources company. December and January were very busy times of the year for us. No one was allowed to take off work unless for an absolute emergency. It was all about preparing for year end and tax time. Our main focus was to check in with our client base and to make sure they understood everything that needed to be completed in time to process and receive W-2s and tax returns on time. This process should work seamlessly without any problems as it was something that we did every year. However, things went wrong. First of all, the company sent out reminders to clients. These reminders were put inside their payroll packages on different color paper. But most of the clients did not see the letter with all the important dates on them. So needless to say many deadlines were missed and then W-2s were late. This had a trickledown effect and employees were calling our clients and they were calling us. And of course with answering all the calls and trying to address everyone’s issues that didn’t leave a lot of time to actually fix the problems.
If I had been in charge of the project I would have handled this much differently. I think that there can never be too much notice. It is better to be definitely sure that someone knows something rather than to assume that they do. I would have sent multiple reminders. For the ones that went out in advance they could go inside the payroll packages. However as time got closer, I would have made it a point to send notification via email as well as in a complete separate package all of its own. Finally I would have had everyone contact their clients directly to speak with them and ask if they had any questions. It is always better to prepare so that you don’t have to repair. Communication is key in important situations such as these to make sure that all parties involved have the correct information and understand exactly what they need to do.
Your post sound somewhat like last weeks dilemma. Scope creep played a factor because of a break down in communication. Why is it that we think everyone will stop and read everything they need to and then follow through the necessary plan to keep thing running smoothly? :-D
ReplyDeleteHa... I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to being so---- busy I fail to gather the details that would make my life smoother. However, this class has made me aware of the inevitable scope creep. Knowing it's out there should make us more aware, and be ready to do something about it. I used to do payroll for 1500 employees. Always at tax time they'd call upset because they did not fill out their deductions correctly. Somehow they would think it is my fault! Great example of Scope Creep!