It's that time of year.....

We see signs of it everywhere, THE Holiday Season. The retailers have their holiday merchandise out. People are planning their parties, getting their cards together and taking the family picture. Children have their lists for Santa, who in my area begins to appear in the Malls Nov 16th.


However for us HRMS folk, it is not only the holiday's we are preparing for, but YEAR END!! That ugliest of words known to HRMS and Payroll professionals. When others are off to their holiday parties and shopping, we are at our desks planning and testing the cut over for the new year.


For some of you, this involves putting new systems in as this means no conversion of balances.

For others it includes coordination of new benefit vendors to activate for the first payroll of the year.

Some have to cram in the last tax changes so that W2's are calculated properly.

And for others, it marks the beginning of Performance Management and Merit processing where organization hierarchies are getting updated furiously so that Sr. Management will actually see their own people this time!


No matter what your scope of influence, this is traditionally NOT a festive time in the HRMS world.


This year brings a different twist for me, as we typically run payroll on Tuesdays, and Christmas and New Years falls on Tuesday this time around. Thus our plans include accelerating the payroll schedule so that we can have all of the payrolls complete before 5pm on Christmas Eve. One thing I don't want to be compared to this year is Ebeneezer Scrooge making my team work into the night on Christmas Eve!!


We also have all new benefit plan providers this year, so we have to make sure that the jobs that send the last file to the old vendor and the first file to the new vendor get executed flawlessly.


Add to that all of the vacation time people need to use so they don't loose what has been accrued (we only allow a limited carry over, except where prohibited by law). It really makes for one huge mess!


How do we get through it?


For me, I decorate my office so that it is festive. I make sure we have a team holiday party and take a half day to just "chill". I become very accommodating to those who wish to work from home. My team is very good at getting their work done when at home and it allows them to partake in their children's holiday festivities without sacrificing their work obligations.


Than for those very rough days, a glass of Cabernet works wonders!


What are you planning to help you get through Year End ???