What do a social media picture and an employee paystub have in common?
Give me a few minutes and I think I can explain.
I read an excellent article the other day on the importance of updating your social media profile picture. The main takeaway from the article is that many social media users have an outdated profile picture. This may be for a variety of different reasons – you love how you look in the outdated picture, it was taken during an exciting trip/vacation, or maybe you just can’t seem to find the time to find a new photo you like equally. Whatever the reason, this is a common problem.
Why does this matter? Well, one of the main reasons pointed out in the article is that someone should recognize you in your profile picture. With an ever-increasing internet presence in our daily lives, there are plenty of business connections we make over the years. Some of the connections we may speak with for months, if not years, before actually meeting with the person face to face. This has certainly been the case for me over the years. A profile picture on a social media channel needs to be something that someone can actually use when trying to identify you.
So, what in the world does this have to do with an employee paystub?
Well, I realized that a company paystub handed to an employee is the ‘profile picture’ of the employer. How this paystub looks should match the employer’s organization. This could be something as big as a company logo, or something as seemingly small as a ‘time off’ description.
I worked with an employer many years ago, that was adamant about having their time off balances not only display on their employee paystubs, but they also wanted to make sure the terminology matched their organizations. In their case, they do not have “vacation” or “sick” leave. They, instead, had “general leave”. At first, I found it a bit surprising that they made such a big deal about the terminology used on the employee paystub. The more I thought about this, though, the more I began to understand the importance myself.
Whether you’re implementing a new payroll system or just doing some Spring cleaning, don’t forget that an employee paystub is much more than just a piece of paper (or a PDF document for those going paperless!): It’s a document that is representing your organization.
Here are some things to keep in mind when designing your new or updated employee paystub:
- Company changes
- Do you have a new or updated logo? At Greenshades, we updated our logo a few years ago, so believe me when I say that I can understand how much additional work a branding change can create for an organization. It took us years to update every logo hanging around on documents. Your employees are looking at their paystub potentially every pay period, though, so do not let this be something that slips through the cracks.
- New address? Do you have a new or modified work location? Whether you have your corporate location or your employee’s work location address, it is important that address is accurate and updated. Not only is it helpful for the employee to have correct information in front of them, but you may also be non-compliant based on your employee’s work state.
- Compliance changes
- Company image and branding is not the only thing that matters. Employee paystub details are often mandated by the state in which that employee is working in – especially for employees who are not exempt from overtime. For example, California requires that the full legal name and address of the employer be displayed on the employee paystub.
- Requirement changes
- Have your company requirements changed recently? Considering the employee paystub is something that most of your employees will regularly look at, the paystub could be a great opportunity to share additional details with your employees. For example, at Greenshades, we have our time off balances and Federal withholding allowances both listed on our paystubs. These are two things that employees would regularly want to reference when reviewing their paystubs.
So, over the next few weeks as you set aside some time for spring cleaning, don’t forget these two very important items:
- Update your social media profile picture
- And review your company’s current employee paystub
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