The Accounts Payable Manager addressed his team candidly, “We are missing early payment discounts, 10% of our payments are late, and last period we duplicated payments of three invoices.”

Team members quickly responded with familiar refrains, “We’re short-staffed.” “Our volume has grown.” “A senior member retired.” “Corporate will not approve a new position.”

“We need to add staff,” is often the default solution to performance issues.  But adding staff is expensive, time-consuming and is not always the answer. More voices mean more chances for misalignment of duties.  Tasks get split but ownership is unclear. New personalities disrupt team dynamics. Misunderstandings and rumors increase. 

For example, an experienced employee complains to the manager, “The new person is not following our process for approving payables.  I spend a lot of time correcting his mistakes.”

The manager responds, “Did you try to help the new person understand the process?”

“No, it is not my responsibility to train the person.” 

Before adding staff, check to see if you can save time by eliminating unnecessary processes, adding electronic tools to replace manual efforts, empowering members to make more decisions without getting approvals, or replacing a persistent low-performer with a more talented team member.