Last week I told you all about our new-ish payroll system. Well, this week it's really come up trumps. In the transfer of data from our old payroll system to our new one, some gremlin in the system decided to carry on paying a highly respected, highly paid employee who left just over 2 months ago.
In the confusion of changeover last month we missed it so she's now had 2 months pay and owes us about £9k.
OK, I thought, it's a mistake, I'll ring her, she must have noticed (after all, you don't get an extra £4.5k in your bank account without wondering where it's come from, surely?!), she left on good terms, she's not the type who wouldn't say anything or keep/spend it, and we'll get it back. Right?
Wrong. First she denied she had it. She had closed that bank account when she left. Then when I asked her if she could, just for our peace of mind, let me see her bank statement to prove it so I could then go back to the bank and chase them (as neither payment had bounced back to us), she admitted she did have it and had noticed the mistake immediately.
However, she felt that she had done everything she needed to do to inform the company she was leaving, resignation letter, exit interview etc etc, so if the company then decided to carry on paying her it wasn't her problem, and not only had she chosen not to say anything, she had already spent most of it.
She only got the last £4.5k on Tuesday!! How do you manage to spend £4,500 in 2 days??!!
I've managed to negotiate a 'repayment plan' with her, but what came out of it for me is the extent to which we assume we know someone just because they work for/with us. The public persona isn't always the private truth. And there's some truth in the corruptive power of money.
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