That time of month...

It’s that time of month again. Actually, it’s almost over. It started a few days ago. I’m hoping to be done with it in the next day or two. I HATE this time of month. Payroll time. I know, I know-- sounds crazy. Most people look forward to payroll. You there. In America, with your job- you love payroll time, don’t you? And sure, maybe there are a few accountants in the states that might grumble when it’s time to work on payroll. I’ve never dealt with it in the states, so I can’t say too much about it. But, if I had to guess, I would guess it can’t be that complicated. With your computers and bookkeeping programs and systems. With your printers and checks and banks. And I highly doubt employers in the states EVER (except maybe in special, extreme circumstances) have their employees complain and bring the money back saying “No, this isn’t right.” That would be because you have an organized system of how things works. You have rules and guidelines that the employees understand. 

And now I will proceed to tell you how payroll looks for me in Haiti. 

I normally start a few days before the end of the month. I start reviewing the schedule-- absences, advance pays, substitutes, and rarely, but sometimes someone may have been docked pay. I enter the info into a spreadsheet. A lot can still happen in the next few days, but I go ahead and get an idea of what payroll is going to cost. And now the real fun begins. I need to somehow get that money. We, of course, have to pay our employees in cash. Our nannies and most employees get paid in Haitian Dollars (HTD). However, some of our higher paid employees (director, security, nurse, assistants, etc) get paid in US money. We use to do wire transfers to get the money to Haiti. At a normal Haitian bank, it would take weeks or even months to get a check cashed. At the bank, when we picked up our wire, we could get the money all in US and then exchange some of it to HTD. We have a new method, but in many ways, it is just as complicated but with less fees. There are several businesses that have their own little banks. You give them the check. They give you the cash. However, they make their money by giving it to you at a smaller exchange rate. If the exchange rate at the bank is 8.2%, they might give it to you at 8.1%. If I ask very nicely, they might give me up to $500 in U.S. dollars. But, I need closer to $2,000 (They stick to HTD because they make their money off the exchange). For this month, I ended up making two trips to cash checks, giving me $1,000 US. Close enough. I just had to pick certain employees that would hopefully not complain if I paid them in HTD verses US. 

So, now I’ve got some US money, not enough, but we’ll make do. And some HTD. This isn’t over yet though. The bank-like place couldn’t give me anything smaller than 100 goudes. (The Haitian currency). I need 25’s in order to make most of our employees salaries. Okay. Next step-- take it to the street. I send an assistant out to try and get smaller bills. he comes back unsuccessful. I go out with him later in the day. We asked at least 5 people. No one had 25’s. Or even 20’s and 5’s. At this time, it’s the last day of the month. So we exchange our money for 50’s. I’m just going to have to round up for everyone’s pay. Whew. It is NOT easy getting the change you need! 

I finally get workable bills. Finish up the spreadsheet. Write on and stuff envelopes. And the people can start picking up their money from me. Because of day offs-- it’s usually a few days before it’s all picked up. And because of shift changes-- I have people knocking on my door all hours of the day. 7AM. 8PM. People interrupt my showers. They interrupt my Jack Bauer. My reading. My sleep. And then so far this month, 2 people have complained and fought that their pay was not correct. (yes, we have made some changes about how we do it, so I expected it more-so this month.) You can’t simply say “yes, it’s right” and expect it to be over. You can’t even simply show them how/why it’s right. A long debate is required. If you are lucky, you can keep it from being a heated debate. And in the end, of course, you are right. They either come to an understanding of that. Or, you get tired of repeating yourself and trying to “make your case” so you just tell them to accept their pay because it is what it is. 

...... Is payroll time over yet???