Post by Dionysus on Oct 17, 2021 22:58:11 GMT -5
2:30 PM CST
Thyrsus Company Office
4th Floor - HR Department
*DING*
With large, confident strides, Dionysus, flanked by his trusted assistant William, walked out of the elevator. They moved with a sense of urgency; their head of HR, Gladys, was on sick leave and under the care of her inevitable replacement, Justine. She had sent the CEO an email expressing urgent concern regarding the last week's payroll figures and needed him to come take a look right away. Normally, Dionysus wouldn't bother with such an issue and allow HR and Payroll to work things out between themselves; however, while he was also curious, he was attempting to make an effort to meet with his department heads on a more regular basis. The converted lounge area where the HR department resides was rather small; eight cubicles all filled with business casual-clad employees, with Justine's office near the door. William knocked on the door, waiting only precious seconds for the fresh-faced head of HR to open the door in a panic. "Oh! Mr. Necurat, I just got your-"
"Please, Justine; Dionysus is fine," Dionysus replied, smiling. "I figured since it sounded urgent, I should rush down and take a look for myself." He turned, gesturing toward William. "I hope you don't mind some company; William is going to be taking notes of what we talk about, just to make sure everything is on the up and up." Justine showed concern on her face, enough for Dionysus to smile and assure, "Oh, don't worry; its really more for my benefit than to get you in trouble, I promise. So, what seems to be the problem?"
Justine relaxed slightly as she pulled up the company-wide time sheet. "So as you know, all Thyrsus employees are supposed to manually punch in through Workday to make sure that not only is their time being properly recorded, but also to make sure every team's budget hours are accounted for. Doesn't matter what department; every minute, give or take a hiccup here or there, should be accounted for." She clicked through different tabs on the Excel spreadsheet. "Human Resources. Quality Assurance. Customer Service. Support Staff. Each one checks out for the last three pay cycles. But today, I got off the phone with Payroll and they're noticing a discrepancy between the Sales and IT Support budget numbers and, for the life of me, I can't find out where it is."
Dionysus nodded along as she explained the situation while William wrote down notes, examining the computer. "May I?" he asked, "I used to be a DBA; I could try and find it, if possible."
Dionysus looked at William, bewildered. "Well, that's certainly a new one. I knew you worked payroll in a previous job, but a DBA?"
"Well, you saw my major, sir," William replied, a hint of pride in his voice as he took Justine's seat.
"I don't know how easy it would be for someone to be able to manipulate the data," Justine continued, "But Payroll is noting that IT's budget is close to running over this quarter."
Dionysus pondered, then asked, "How similar are the project codes between IT and Sales?"
"Not all that close, according to the figures," William replied, examining the spreadsheet more closely. His fingers moved at a brisk 77 wpm as he conducted searches and crafted tables throughout the database. "Looks like IT's project codes are listed as four-digit numbers, whereas Sales has an eight-digit set up, with the first two numbers indicating sales territory...at least, according to the sheet."
"Right, that's what Payroll told me," Justine confirmed.
"So if we look at Sales and cross-reference with IT...hmm..." William muttered as he continued to type away frantically.
Dionysus stood besides the desk, looking at his frazzled HR specialist. "Could I get you anything? A coffee, or maybe a cup of water?" He asked, concerned. "You look like you could use a minute to breathe."
Justine turned to look at the company head, surprised by the humbling question, but also relieved how down to earth the CEO was. "I'll be okay, thank you. I just don't want to mess this up while Gladys is away. She'd have a fit with me if she found out."
"Hey, don't you worry about Gladys," Dionysus replied, reassuring her. "She was here when I first started this company, back when it was just a one-room office with a few hopefuls from The Foundation looking for work. She knows good people when she sees them, and I can tell you with confidence that she thinks very highly of you."
Justine smiled, taking a seat in one of the extra chairs in the office. "That's good to hear. Its funny, sometimes I feel like she's a second mother, both good and bad. Everything good, she cheers for; everything bad, I get chewed out over. It sometimes feels like I need to be careful around her, and go above and beyond when I need to too. I guess when the time comes for her to move on, I don't want her to worry about the state of her department, you know?"
Dionysus nodded, taking a seat beside Justine. "I completely understand. It can be a difficult path when it comes to wanting to show yourself in a positive light to someone you consider your senior, or as a parent. You can be as confident as you want to believe you are, but this person who you know has seen both the best and worst out of you is wanting to see something new, something exciting, hell, maybe even something completely different from you. Not failure, of course; that would be the last thing they'd want to see. But failure does happen in this line of business, and you can only hope that they will continue to support you and care about you. Success, however, can sometimes be met with either great praise or greater criticism. You know, the whole 'well you did X thing right, but you completely butchered Y and Z, but I guess its okay.' That really depends on the person, though. I haven't really known too many people who are that overly critical of their subordinates. If that happens, though, you just need to keep this in mind; you can sometimes achieve your greatest success from a moment of failure. Its like the saying goes; show me a tragedy and I'll show you a hero. Be that hero, Justine."
Justine stared blankly as Dionysus sighed. He took note of Justine's expression, and with a look of shock and embarrassment, looked down at his feet. "Oh geez, did I ramble again? I'm sorry, its a habit I've tried time and again to-"
"Got it, boss," William interrupted in what could be considered the greatest timing in the universe. "Looks like the issue is one of the traveling sales teams has been doubling their time entries and its hitting IT's project codes as a result. According to the spreadsheet...looks like its one of the California teams."
Dionysus snapped from his embarrassed stupor, clasping his hands in relief as William printed out the pivot table in question. "Well it looks like we have your answer. Run that by Payroll to confirm that the numbers are accurate, and I'll work with them to work out how we can shift the budget accordingly. Thankfully a month's worth of pay from one traveling team of salesmen won't affect our line too much, but we'll likely train them in again on proper timecard management."
"I'll get right on emailing Payroll and I'll reach out to that sales team-" Justine started.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Dionysus interrupted. "I'll be in the area for other business, but I'll go meet with that team personally to talk to them about it. Rest assured, no heads will roll. It looks like it was just an honest mistake. Keep up the good work, Justine. We're glad you're here."
"I appreciate the time," Justine replied. "And...thank you, sir."
"Please...its Dionysus."
Thyrsus Company Office
4th Floor - HR Department
*DING*
With large, confident strides, Dionysus, flanked by his trusted assistant William, walked out of the elevator. They moved with a sense of urgency; their head of HR, Gladys, was on sick leave and under the care of her inevitable replacement, Justine. She had sent the CEO an email expressing urgent concern regarding the last week's payroll figures and needed him to come take a look right away. Normally, Dionysus wouldn't bother with such an issue and allow HR and Payroll to work things out between themselves; however, while he was also curious, he was attempting to make an effort to meet with his department heads on a more regular basis. The converted lounge area where the HR department resides was rather small; eight cubicles all filled with business casual-clad employees, with Justine's office near the door. William knocked on the door, waiting only precious seconds for the fresh-faced head of HR to open the door in a panic. "Oh! Mr. Necurat, I just got your-"
"Please, Justine; Dionysus is fine," Dionysus replied, smiling. "I figured since it sounded urgent, I should rush down and take a look for myself." He turned, gesturing toward William. "I hope you don't mind some company; William is going to be taking notes of what we talk about, just to make sure everything is on the up and up." Justine showed concern on her face, enough for Dionysus to smile and assure, "Oh, don't worry; its really more for my benefit than to get you in trouble, I promise. So, what seems to be the problem?"
Justine relaxed slightly as she pulled up the company-wide time sheet. "So as you know, all Thyrsus employees are supposed to manually punch in through Workday to make sure that not only is their time being properly recorded, but also to make sure every team's budget hours are accounted for. Doesn't matter what department; every minute, give or take a hiccup here or there, should be accounted for." She clicked through different tabs on the Excel spreadsheet. "Human Resources. Quality Assurance. Customer Service. Support Staff. Each one checks out for the last three pay cycles. But today, I got off the phone with Payroll and they're noticing a discrepancy between the Sales and IT Support budget numbers and, for the life of me, I can't find out where it is."
Dionysus nodded along as she explained the situation while William wrote down notes, examining the computer. "May I?" he asked, "I used to be a DBA; I could try and find it, if possible."
Dionysus looked at William, bewildered. "Well, that's certainly a new one. I knew you worked payroll in a previous job, but a DBA?"
"Well, you saw my major, sir," William replied, a hint of pride in his voice as he took Justine's seat.
"I don't know how easy it would be for someone to be able to manipulate the data," Justine continued, "But Payroll is noting that IT's budget is close to running over this quarter."
Dionysus pondered, then asked, "How similar are the project codes between IT and Sales?"
"Not all that close, according to the figures," William replied, examining the spreadsheet more closely. His fingers moved at a brisk 77 wpm as he conducted searches and crafted tables throughout the database. "Looks like IT's project codes are listed as four-digit numbers, whereas Sales has an eight-digit set up, with the first two numbers indicating sales territory...at least, according to the sheet."
"Right, that's what Payroll told me," Justine confirmed.
"So if we look at Sales and cross-reference with IT...hmm..." William muttered as he continued to type away frantically.
Dionysus stood besides the desk, looking at his frazzled HR specialist. "Could I get you anything? A coffee, or maybe a cup of water?" He asked, concerned. "You look like you could use a minute to breathe."
Justine turned to look at the company head, surprised by the humbling question, but also relieved how down to earth the CEO was. "I'll be okay, thank you. I just don't want to mess this up while Gladys is away. She'd have a fit with me if she found out."
"Hey, don't you worry about Gladys," Dionysus replied, reassuring her. "She was here when I first started this company, back when it was just a one-room office with a few hopefuls from The Foundation looking for work. She knows good people when she sees them, and I can tell you with confidence that she thinks very highly of you."
Justine smiled, taking a seat in one of the extra chairs in the office. "That's good to hear. Its funny, sometimes I feel like she's a second mother, both good and bad. Everything good, she cheers for; everything bad, I get chewed out over. It sometimes feels like I need to be careful around her, and go above and beyond when I need to too. I guess when the time comes for her to move on, I don't want her to worry about the state of her department, you know?"
Dionysus nodded, taking a seat beside Justine. "I completely understand. It can be a difficult path when it comes to wanting to show yourself in a positive light to someone you consider your senior, or as a parent. You can be as confident as you want to believe you are, but this person who you know has seen both the best and worst out of you is wanting to see something new, something exciting, hell, maybe even something completely different from you. Not failure, of course; that would be the last thing they'd want to see. But failure does happen in this line of business, and you can only hope that they will continue to support you and care about you. Success, however, can sometimes be met with either great praise or greater criticism. You know, the whole 'well you did X thing right, but you completely butchered Y and Z, but I guess its okay.' That really depends on the person, though. I haven't really known too many people who are that overly critical of their subordinates. If that happens, though, you just need to keep this in mind; you can sometimes achieve your greatest success from a moment of failure. Its like the saying goes; show me a tragedy and I'll show you a hero. Be that hero, Justine."
Justine stared blankly as Dionysus sighed. He took note of Justine's expression, and with a look of shock and embarrassment, looked down at his feet. "Oh geez, did I ramble again? I'm sorry, its a habit I've tried time and again to-"
"Got it, boss," William interrupted in what could be considered the greatest timing in the universe. "Looks like the issue is one of the traveling sales teams has been doubling their time entries and its hitting IT's project codes as a result. According to the spreadsheet...looks like its one of the California teams."
Dionysus snapped from his embarrassed stupor, clasping his hands in relief as William printed out the pivot table in question. "Well it looks like we have your answer. Run that by Payroll to confirm that the numbers are accurate, and I'll work with them to work out how we can shift the budget accordingly. Thankfully a month's worth of pay from one traveling team of salesmen won't affect our line too much, but we'll likely train them in again on proper timecard management."
"I'll get right on emailing Payroll and I'll reach out to that sales team-" Justine started.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Dionysus interrupted. "I'll be in the area for other business, but I'll go meet with that team personally to talk to them about it. Rest assured, no heads will roll. It looks like it was just an honest mistake. Keep up the good work, Justine. We're glad you're here."
"I appreciate the time," Justine replied. "And...thank you, sir."
"Please...its Dionysus."
