🕵️‍♀️ The case of the vanishing employee data

If you’re the only one who knows how it works, it doesn’t.

It was the second week of the assignment and I didn’t feel like People Ops, I felt like a detective.

There was no SOP, just links to 3-year-old Looms recorded by someone I’d never met. I was working from a mess of broken links and a hunch.

“You’ve used JustWorks before. Can’t you figure it out?”

The last HR person was good. Maybe too good. Everything “just worked” until they disappeared. No trail. No clues.

Yes, I’ve run payroll for scores of companies using a dozen payroll providers.

But running accurate payroll factors in many layers of data about exempt status, timecards, approvals, policies, benefits eligibility...

I know how to follow the clues. But this mystery had no timeline, no suspects, and the most of evidence was gone.

This wasn’t payroll. It was a cold case.

Policies contradicted payroll data. Contracts were locked behind sharing permissions from people who’d left the company. Folder names were gibberish.

People paid hourly were getting flat rates with no timecards to confirm overtime.

A million Scribe docs with no annotations. Hours of 20-minute videos with no transcripts.

Good systems aren’t perfect. They’re searchable.

They leave a breadcrumb trail that a stranger could follow.

→ Their file names describe what’s inside.

→ They use the words someone else would Google if they didn’t know the details.

→ They hyperlink related tools and update the original rather than creating a copy.

→ They use folder structures as a map, not a maze.

→ They CC shared inboxes so others have state.

→ They explain the why, not just the what.

→ They embed screenshots and videos in text files so they’re 🤬ing searchable.

If your knowledge isn’t findable, it doesn’t exist.

Every time you take the time to back up knowledge, ask yourself one question:

HOW WOULD SOMEONE FIND THIS IF I QUIT?

👇 Where do you leave breadcrumbs so someone else could step in without missing a beat?

Need help solving a payroll mystery? We can help.

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