Leadership Continuity

Your payroll leader resigned: the first 72 hours

By Trina Aguirre, Managing Partner · The Payroll Intelligence Brief · September 2026

Your first job is not filling the seat. It is finding out what only that person knows.

When a payroll leader gives notice, most organizations reach for the job description. That is the second step. The first step is protecting the next payroll and the knowledge walking out the door. Here is how to use the first 72 hours.

Hours 0 to 24: Protect the next payroll

• Confirm the calendar. List every payroll date, tax deposit, filing deadline, benefits remittance, and year-end task in the next 90 days. Put it somewhere leadership can see.
• Map system access. Who can log in to the payroll system, the bank portal, tax agency accounts, and timekeeping? Who approves? If the answer is "only them," that is your first risk.
• Name an interim owner. One person, by name, is accountable for the next cycle. Not a department. A person.
• Tell the provider. Let your payroll provider or PEO know about the transition so they can flag anything unusual.

Hours 24 to 48: Capture what only they know

• Walk the cycle together. Have the departing leader run or narrate one full cycle while someone records every step, check, and workaround.
• List the exceptions. Manual adjustments, off-cycle checks, special pay rules, garnishments, multi-state employees, union or contract rules. Exceptions are where knowledge hides.
• Collect the open items. Unresolved reconciliations, tax notices, employee disputes, pending system changes. Get them in writing with status and next step.
• Get the contacts. Provider reps, agency contacts, benefits vendors, and internal partners who send payroll data.

Hours 48 to 72: Decide how you will cover the gap

• Assess readiness honestly. Can the interim owner run the next cycle without the departing leader in the room? If not, what is missing?
• Tighten controls during transition. Add a second approval on payroll register changes, new hires, rate changes, and bank changes until the new leader is settled.
• Decide on interim support. Internal backup, provider support, or an independent advisor to stabilize the function and brief the incoming leader.
• Write the incoming-leader brief. Open issues, calendar, access, contacts, and known weaknesses. Your next hire should start with a map, not a mystery.

The real lesson

If the resignation felt like a crisis, the function was already exposed. The resignation just made it visible. Once the next payroll is safe, look at why so much depended on one person and fix the structure, so the next transition is routine.

Keep reading

• Seven signs payroll depends on one person
• The CFO's payroll continuity checklist
• All insights and downloads

This article is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or payroll advice. Consult qualified counsel regarding your specific circumstances.