Ever feel like you’re the traffic cop at the intersection of Money Road and People Lane?

You’re not alone. Unfortunately, when employees’ supervisors and the decision-makers in Finance fail to recognize how these two equally important business needs bisect, the inevitable collisions often wind up as court cases. 

As you well know, HR and benefits administration isn’t just shuffling papers, working within budgetary constraints for your department and ensuring compliance with a host of state of federal laws. While these are all critical tasks, there’s a human element as well.

HR and benefits managers have to deal daily with departmental friction (not just within your own organization but also with TPAs and insurers). Apart from the dry, legal language of matching administrative practices to procedures spelled out in benefit plan documents, your job is a constant battle to prevent human-conflict issues from derailing benefits and pay practices.  

As much as dollars and cents, employees’ unrealistic expectations, managerial egos, hurt feelings, and personality clashes are what really lay at the root of most benefits and pay disputes.

The truth of the matter: YOU understand these issues. While there are some extraordinary CFO and Finance managers who understand just how important — and complicated — your role is in maximizing the return on benefits and compensation investments, many don’t see the whole picture.

HR Magazine recently published an outstanding article on the problem of CFOs who lack people skills, and what you can do to improve the situation.