THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | 35
based on importance. My brain? It laughs at priority. It craves chaos, but, paradoxically, it also needs routine. Payroll gave me that perfect storm. It offered the safety of routine (the same process every period) but the dopamine hit of chaos (every run is different). And then, there is the Holy Grail of ADHD motivators: the cut-off. The ultimate sin of payroll is missing the pay date. You have people’s livelihoods in your hands. That created a sense of urgency that made my brain come alive. I used to tell interviewers, “I work brilliantly under pressure.” I wasn’t lying. But I now know that without that pressure, my brain tends to buffer. Give me a looming deadline, however, and I can churn out the work of two people in half the time. From remediation to ‘over the moon’ There’s a specific time in my career where this ‘superpower’ (and I use that word with heavy caveats) truly shined. I’d just been promoted to Senior Payroll Executive at an outsourcing company. This was a title which finally made me feel that payrollers were recognised as being important. I was asked to take on a client in ‘remediation’. For those lucky enough not to know the term, it means the client was very unhappy, accuracy was consistently below the agreed service levels and they were looking for the exit. I said yes immediately. (Impulsivity is another ADHD trait, but let’s call this ‘enthusiasm’.) The client was a casino company with 3,000 employees. The data was a mess, the relationship fractured and complaints were piling up. But my brain lit up. The Novelty of learning casino rules, specifically how ‘troncs’ (tip schemes) worked, was fascinating. The Challenge of fixing the mess provided the focus I needed. The turning point was the relationship I built with the client’s Human Resources Director. Because I’m also autistic, social situations can be anxiety-inducing. However, when I’m in ‘work mode’, I go straight into solutioning. One day, she told me, “Simon, the reason I love working with you is that when you email me a problem, you’ve already listed three potential solutions.” My brain works at a million miles an hour. Before I’ve finished typing the problem, I’ve already visualised the likely causes and compliant fixes. That
“I might not remember where I put my car keys, but I can recall maternity pay rules from 2003”
hyper-processing allowed us to move fast. By the time the contract came up for renewal, we’d taken accuracy up to 99.9%. We nearly hit ‘payroll nirvana’. They went from trying to leave to signing a new five-year deal and becoming a reference client. We turned them from dissatisfied to over the moon, simply because their chaos was exactly what my brain needed to thrive. The pivot to projects Ironically, I was soon made redundant. That was the moment I vowed I would never process another payroll again. Why? It wasn’t because I fell out of love with the work. It was because I felt I had ‘completed’ payroll. My casino client was the absolute peak – the perfect mix of complexity, chaos and triumph. I’d set the high score, and I didn’t want to play that specific level anymore. But there was another reason. That same client gave me a glimpse of life beyond the monthly cycle. During the remediation, I helped implement their new time and attendance system. It was my first venture into testing (mostly trial and error back then), but it gave me a flavour of project work I couldn’t shake. I realised I enjoyed the ‘building and fixing’ just as much as the processing. So, I moved into payroll projects – implementations, system testing and global consultancy – and I haven’t looked back. Projects are the perfect ADHD habitat. They last six to 12 months. Just as I’m starting to get bored, the project ends and I get a shiny new client with different problems. I now work globally, constantly learning new legislation. I might not remember where I put my car keys, but I can recall maternity pay rules from 2003. In my current role as Chief Executive Officer of a consultancy, we specialise in testing. Testing is essentially hunting for problems. It’s being a detective. It scratches that itch for Interest and Challenge every single day. Is ADHD a superpower? I want to be careful here. You see a lot of social posts calling ADHD a ‘superpower’. Let me be clear: In general life, ADHD isn’t always a superpower. it can be
overwhelming. It can be forgetting the washing. It can be staring at a simple legal contract and feeling physical pain because it’s ‘boring’, forcing me to rely on artificial intelligence to summarise it. However, specifically within payroll, it can absolutely be a superpower. The ability to hyperfocus during a crisis, being able to visualise complex data flows and the compulsion to triple- check validation reports because you’re overthinking everything – these are assets in our profession. Tips for the neurodivergent payroller If you suspect you might be neurodivergent, or you manage someone who is, here’s what I’ve learned: 1. Lean into the ‘lazy’ paradox: I once received feedback from members of other teams in the office that I was lazy. They saw me struggling to start tasks in the morning. What they didn’t see was that, in the last three hours of the day, fuelled by urgency, I produced more quality work than anyone else. If you’re a manager, focus on output, not on whether someone looks busy at 9:05 am. As long as the payroll is accurate and on time, it shouldn’t matter how someone got there. 2. Find your ‘INCUP’: If you’re struggling with motivation, check if the task hits one of the five motivators: Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency or Passion . If it doesn’t, try to manufacture one. Set a timer to create false urgency or find the ‘purpose’ behind the task. 3. Don’t fear the move : If processing is becoming a drudge, don’t leave the profession. Look at projects or testing. Your brain might just need a new dataset to play with. 4. Own the solution mode: If you have that racing mind which spots errors instantly, use it. Your ability to offer solutions before others have understood the problem is your greatest career asset. Payroll is stressful, deadline-driven and complex. For a neurotypical person, that might sound like a nightmare. For me? It’s just another Tuesday. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you’d like to discuss the contents of this article, or speak with Simon more generally, please find him on LinkedIn, at: https://ow.ly/KmkU50XZOF8.
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