Because some of a company's most sensitive and highly-regulated data flows through the HRIS, very few people get full insight into everything that’s happening in the platform. HR software is a pretty blind item. You don’t get to try before you buy. Even with the providers who give you a sandbox, it’s hard to get a true sense of performance until you have live data.

How does this even slip through? For THREE YEARS? Part of it had to do with a quirk of how taxes work in reciprocity states like Wisconsin. Part of it was because state agencies don’t talk to each other. And implementation teams aren’t tax experts. And some payroll providers don’t have enough error flags for situations like this. And humans are flawed. They make mistakes.

To get this one solved, I had to engage Claire-en mode. I demanded to speak to a manager. When the first person wouldn’t call a manager, I hung up and called again.

You know why their checks are cut by ADP? Because most of them work at big, old companies and switching payroll providers is really, really hard at that size. And because people don’t know any better.