Every decision looks different in the abstract vs. when you have a real person sitting in front of you. If fairness requires that someone makes a decision that feels shitty, give your decision-makers the context that they need to follow the policy (and still sleep at night).

I’m launching a Substack where I’ll anthologize my more informational content into practical, educational posts that tell you how I actually GSD.  You can expect thrilling topics like state labor regulations, insurance regulations, payroll tax insights, deep dives into obscure payroll settings, workflow design, free practical resources, calls to action, and buttons to click.

The worst states to have a baby in are the ones with no state-paid programs at all. You'd be better off if you were laid off. At least then you’d be eligible for unemployment. But it would be illegal to lay you off for having a baby, of course. So I guess the people in these states are screwed.

I get that it’s expensive to pay someone not to work for several months, but there are strong business reasons why you should do it anyway. 

If you’ve been trapped in your workplace unable to leave, eating Doritos from the vending machine for dinner and sleeping under your desk, should you be paid for that time?

Here's a rule of thumb: The best states to work in are some of the worst states to work with.

Spybots... I mean, 'AI notetakers' freak me out. Not because I’m paranoid. Because I sit in on a lot of meetings that people wouldn’t want recorded. Luckily, I live in California, which is a two-party consent state.  Meaning those nosey little spybots need to announce themselves. 

These days, it seems obvious that workers should be able to demand an accurate accounting for their time. But it wasn’t always that way. 

But hang on, what’s the point of making someone find a printer, and a scanner, and a pen, and those little “sign here” stickies anyway? Why, crime, of course!

The most common reason to hold on to employment records is because at some point, someone is going to need them. You may get a zombie tax letter with a five-figure fine from a state where no one’s worked for years. An employee may go through a nasty divorce and need payroll records from several years ago. Someone could file a complaint of systemic bias, and you’ll need complete records going back years to defend yourself. You may want to run a report on long-term trends and n

When someone is paid for a day they didn't work, it MUST be entered into payroll as some kind of Paid Time Off type. Otherwise, there's no way to pay it. Most of the uncommon leave types don't allow negative balances in payroll systems. So if your time off isn't allocated to another bucket, it can't get paid. The discrepancy could even block payroll and prevent everyone from getting paid.

Your handbook should help people make decisions. Not just disciplinary decisions. The handbook should draw bright lines where possible, and give guidance for situations that are unclear. Your handbook should give guidance on the unspoken habits your organization runs on.

Most of the Louvre’s collection is literally priceless. Meaning that their value as historical artifacts is unquantifiable. You can’t take out an insurance policy on something that’s invaluable. The cost would be prohibitive.

Did you know that if your company has more than 50 employees (100 in CA, CO, NY, and VT), the employer sees all the prescriptions people take?  They don’t know who, but if there are fewer than 100 people it’s pretty easy to guess who needed a prescription to control their excessive underarm sweating. Or who's on Lithium.

Worst of all, striking fear into every HR leader and PeopleOps specialist is the Parental Leave Policy 😱. Parental leave isn’t just about giving people 12 weeks off. 

Except that something didn’t add up. They didn’t even have employees for half that time, and one of the people they were assessing violations on wasn’t even in the state. 

When you’re the one who makes sure that everything is done by the book, there’s no one left to manage your exit correctly. That often means that you’re more likely than anyone to be underpaid or have your exit mishandled. 

Letters from government agencies can be real scary sometimes. Especially when they contain words like "Warrant" and penalties with commas in them. By all means, take these letters seriously. But don't let them scare you.

But what passes for “security” in these agencies is a cruel joke. It is no more realistic for you to expect me to tap Mr. or Ms. Business Owner on the shoulder and hand them the phone than it is for me to demand that you tap the governor on the shoulder and get him/her on the phone. 

Nearly everything that happens in the company goes through payroll. And the person managing it needs to have the skills of an accountant, IT, lawyer, insurance agent, and operations manager, all rolled into one.