Why does payroll processing in labor and social security attorney offices never end? (crying)

Hello,
I am Yuki Fukiage, Representative of Lean Stack Inc..

Introduction

The hell known as payroll processing that comes around every month.

For labor and social security attorney offices, payroll processing is a "standard task."
It is so standard that no one questions it.
Even if it never ends, it is dismissed with, "Well, that's just how it is."

But I want you to stop for a moment and think calmly.

Being chased by the same tasks every month, pulling all-nighters, making mistakes, and getting scolded by clients.
There is no reason why this should be "standard."
It is just too painful...

The fact that payroll processing never ends is not a problem of your ability.
It is a problem of the system.

And there are far too many offices that keep running without changing that system.

In this article, I will discuss why payroll processing in labor and social security attorney offices never ends, its structure, and the story of how we changed a payroll process that used to take two weeks into one that takes two days.

The reality of "offices where payroll processing never ends"

When the payroll processing period arrives, the atmosphere in the office changes.

Staff expressions darken, overtime becomes the norm, and in terrible offices, pulling all-nighters is standard.

"We made it through another month" is the watchword.
You just made it through, but nothing has moved forward.

Collecting attendance data. Manual entry. Double-checking. Corrections. Re-checking. Confirming with clients. Sending back. Corrections. Resending.

This infinite loop is repeated every month.

If you handle numbers for hundreds of people manually, it is natural that mistakes will occur.
Even though it is natural, you are told, "Don't make mistakes." That is an impossible request.

The problem is that those mistakes do not end with just "wrong numbers."

Payroll errors directly affect the lives of the client's employees.
The client contacts you saying, "It's wrong again."
Once or twice might be forgiven. There is no third time.

Trust disappears in inverse proportion to the number of mistakes.

The relationship with a client, built over many years, can be destroyed by a single payroll mistake.
This is what is actually happening in labor and social security attorney offices across the country.

The real reason it never ends lies in the "system".

"If only my staff could do it more accurately."
"If I could just hire one more person, it would work out."

Many office heads think this way.
But that is a mistake.

It is not that the staff's ability is low.
It is just that the workflow design is broken.

Think about it. In 2024, why are you still manually entering data into Excel and double-checking it by eye?

Tasks that were automated in the manufacturing industry ten years ago are still being done manually by professional service firms.

"Doing things carefully" and "being inefficient" are completely different things.

Carefulness should be built on top of a system, not used as an excuse for manual labor.

Perhaps the titles of "Sensei" or "Professional" are getting in the way. It seems quite common, actually.

And there is one more, more serious problem.

You are so caught up in payroll processing thatyou are unable to get to the work you should be doing.that is.

Follow-ups with clients.
Careful responses to labor consultations.
New proposals. Deepening relationships.

The value of a labor and social security attorney office is not in doing payroll accurately.
It is in standing by the client's management and proactively solving labor issues.

Yet, you are chased by the "task" of payroll and cannot do the "work that creates value."

This is not because you are busy, but simply becausethe system is broken.that is all.

The story of how we changed payroll processing from two weeks to two days

I will tell you a real story from here.

A certain labor and social security attorney office I supported was takingtwo weeksfor monthly payroll processing.

The staff spent half the month on payroll, and during that time, other work almost completely stopped.

The situation was such that the only response to inquiries from clients was, "I will get back to you after payroll processing is finished."

The office manager thought, "We have no choice but to hire another person."

However, what they did was not hiring.

They broke down the tasks and thoroughly extracted the parts that could be handed over to AI.

They divided the massive block of payroll processing into individual steps.

• Consolidation of attendance data

• Calculation of various allowances

• Application of deduction items

• Checking work

• Output of forms

Then, they asked one by one, "Does this step really need to be done by a human?"

The answer was obvious.
Less than 20% of the total steps needed to be done by humans.

As a result of redesigning the workflow by combining AI and systems, payroll processing that used to take two weeks now finishes in two days.

Two weeks turned into two days. In terms of reduction rate, that is about 85%.

However, what is truly important is not the fact that it "finishes in two days" itself.

What the office became able to do with the 12 days that opened up.

• Regular follow-ups with clients were resumed.

• They became able to respond to labor consultations on the same day.

• They became able to propose new subsidies.

• Staff became able to go home on time.

• I've become kinder to people. Lol

By streamlining payroll processing, the office's 'core business' finally started moving.

What I changed was not the 'tools,' but the 'mindset'.

I don't want you to misunderstand; this isn't a story about 'solving it by installing an amazing AI tool'.

If business could be changed just by installing tools, labor and social security attorney offices everywhere would have changed long ago.

What I changed was the mindset.

I abandoned the premise that 'payroll processing is something people do.'
I abandoned the belief that 'doing things carefully by hand is the right way.'
I abandoned the illusion of 'streamlining while maintaining the current way of doing things.'

I broke down the work from scratch and identified 'what really needs to be done by people.'

Everything else is left to AI and systems.

Without this shift in mindset, no matter what tool you install, it will be meaningless.

Conversely, as long as you have this mindset, it doesn't matter what tools you use.

Most importantly, it is the decision to stop having people continue to do work that doesn't need to be done by people.

3 things to start tomorrow

For those who thought, 'We want to change too.' You don't have to change everything all at once.

1. Write down all current payroll processing tasks

15 minutes is enough. Whether it's a whiteboard or a notepad, please write down everything you are 'doing' for payroll processing.

Most offices do not accurately grasp what they are spending their time on and how much. Just by writing it down, you will see processes where you think, 'Is this really necessary?'

2. Ask one by one, 'Does this need to be done by a person?'

Look at the processes you wrote down, one by one. And ask this.

'Does this really require human judgment?'

Is human judgment necessary for transcribing attendance data? Is human intuition necessary for routine allowance calculations? If the answer is No, then that is a task you can hand over to AI or a system.

3. Try running it with a new method for just one client

There is no need to change all your clients at once. Start with just one. A client with the simplest payroll structure will do.

Try running one client with the new workflow, and if there are no problems, expand it to two, then three. Start small and build up successful experiences. This is the most reliable way.

Summary

The fact that payroll processing never ends is not your fault.
It is the fault of the system.

However, not changing the system is your responsibility.

Staying up all night, making mistakes, getting yelled at by clients, and being unable to do the work you are actually supposed to be doing.
The era of dismissing this vicious cycle as 'unavoidable' is already over.

Turning two weeks into two days is actually possible. It is something that has actually happened in offices I have supported.

Ending the 'never-ending' cycle is something you can start doing even from this month. All you need is not new tools, but the decision to discard old assumptions.

Thank you for reading until the end.

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'I want to streamline payroll processing in my office too'
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