Most operational workarounds begin as practical solutions to get things done quicker: a manager creates a spreadsheet to track employee information. Payroll adds a manual checklist to catch recurring issues. HR starts handling approvals through email because it’s the fastest option.
These workarounds solve an immediate need, and in many cases, they’re the right decision at the time. The challenge comes when temporary solutions eventually become part of the way work gets done.
Over time, workarounds can make it harder to find information, slow down routine tasks, create duplicate work, and reduce visibility across the organization. Because these changes happen gradually, they’re often difficult to recognize until they begin affecting productivity, reporting, or decision-making.
The good news is that operational workarounds are common and often easier to address than organizations realize. Many can be improved by simplifying processes, strengthening workflows, or making better use of the systems already in place.
We’ve worked with organizations of all sizes that have encountered these same challenges. While every business is different, many operational frustrations can be traced back to a handful of common workarounds. The five below are among the patterns we see most often.
5 Operational Workarounds to Watch For
Below are five common workarounds or “habits” that often begin as temporary fixes. If they sound familiar, they may be worth exploring to uncover opportunities for process improvements and greater efficiency.
1. Information Lives Outside Your System
You might hear…
- “We keep a spreadsheet for that.”
- “I have my own tracker.”
- “The system doesn’t show everything we need.”
- “Let me send you the latest version.”
What’s really happening?
Instead of relying on one central source of information, different teams begin maintaining their own versions of employee records, payroll data, schedules, or operational reports. As a result, information becomes scattered across multiple files, systems, and inboxes.
Why it matters
When information exists in multiple places, it’s more difficult to know which version is the most current or accurate.
Over time, this can lead to:
- Duplicate data and manual updates
- Inconsistent reporting across departments
- Time spent reconciling spreadsheets instead of analyzing information
- Limited visibility into workforce and business operations
- Increased risk of errors when information changes
Questions to consider
If this situation sounds familiar, it may be helpful to ask:
- Is the information difficult to find in your current system?
- Are employees combining data from multiple sources to complete their work?
- Has a temporary spreadsheet become part of the daily process?
- Are different teams maintaining similar information in different places?
- If a key spreadsheet disappeared tomorrow, would someone know how to recreate the information?
How to address it
Rather than asking employees to stop using spreadsheets or shared documents, start by understanding why they exist. In many organizations, these tools fill gaps in reporting, accessibility, or day-to-day workflows.
We’ve found that the biggest improvements come from simplifying how information flows through the organization. Whether that’s improving reporting, reducing duplicate tracking, or integrating simpler processes, the goal is to create one reliable source of information that teams can trust.
2. Work Depends on Emails and Manual Communication
You might hear…
- “Just send me an email.”
- “Did you copy HR?”
- “I’ll forward the approval.”
- “Can you remind them again?”
What’s really happening?
Email is one of the easiest ways to keep work moving, so it’s no surprise that many organizations rely on it for approvals, requests, employee updates, and day-to-day communication.
As organizations grow, important information can become scattered across inboxes, making it harder to track approvals, monitor progress, or understand where a request stands. Employees often spend as much time following up as they do completing the work itself.
Why it matters
When important processes rely on email, organizations often experience:
- Delayed approvals
- Missed requests
- Limited visibility into workflow status
- More follow-up and manual coordination
- Difficulty tracking historical decisions
These small delays can add up quickly across Payroll, HR, Operations, and Finance.
Questions to consider
- Are employees regularly following up on requests?
- Can managers easily see where approvals stand?
- Are important conversations spread across multiple inboxes?
- Would someone else be able to find the information if an employee were unavailable?
How to Address It
Email will always play an important role in business communication, but it shouldn’t be responsible for moving critical processes forward.
A good place to start is identifying where approvals, requests, or employee updates rely on manual follow-up. Standardizing those workflows and giving teams better visibility into where work stands can reduce delays, minimize missed requests, and eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth.
3. Employees Enter the Same Information More Than Once
You might hear…
- “I already entered that.”
- “Now I have to update the other system.”
- “Payroll needs it too.”
- “Can you enter it one more time?”
What’s really happening?
As organizations adopt new systems over time, it’s common for the same employee or operational information to exist in multiple places.
Without connected workflows, employees often find themselves entering the same information more than once to keep different systems up to date.
While each step may only take a few minutes, those minutes add up across hundreds or thousands of transactions.
Why it matters
Duplicate data entry can lead to:
- Lost productivity
- Inconsistent employee records
- Higher risk of manual errors
- Additional administrative work
- Delays when information changes
It can also create frustration for employees who spend valuable time repeating work instead of completing higher-value tasks.
Questions to consider
- Where does employee information originate?
- Which systems require the same data?
- Are multiple departments maintaining similar records?
- Could some information move automatically instead of being entered manually?
How to Address It
Duplicate data entry is usually a symptom of disconnected processes rather than inefficient employees.
Start by mapping how employee information moves through your organization. Identifying where the same information is entered multiple times can reveal opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce manual work, and improve data accuracy across departments.
4. Critical Processes Depend on One Person
You might hear…
- “Only Sarah knows how to do that.”
- “We’ll wait until John gets back.”
- “Don’t change that spreadsheet.”
- “Ask Mary—she handles that.”
What’s really happening?
Every organization has experienced employees who understand the business inside and out. Their knowledge is incredibly valuable, but what happens if that person leaves for vacation, or even the company?
Challenges can arise when important processes exist only in one person’s memory rather than being documented or shared with the broader team. As businesses grow, relying on individual knowledge can make onboarding, cross-training, and continuity more difficult.
Why it matters
Knowledge that’s difficult to share can result in:
- Delays when employees are unavailable
- Longer onboarding and training
- Inconsistent processes
- Greater risk during employee turnover
- Increased dependency on individual team members
Questions to consider
- Are recurring processes documented?
- Could another employee complete the task if needed?
- Is important knowledge shared across the team?
- Are there opportunities to standardize recurring activities?
How to Address It
Documenting recurring tasks, standardizing procedures, and cross-training employees helps preserve valuable knowledge while making the organization more resilient. The goal isn’t to replace expertise, but to make sure it can be shared and scaled as the business grows.
5. Leadership Struggles to Get the Information They Need
You might hear…
- “Can someone verify these numbers?”
- “Why are these reports different?”
- “I needed this before today’s meeting.”
- “Which report should we use?”
What’s really happening?
As organizations grow, leadership teams need information from multiple departments to make informed decisions.
If that information is spread across different systems, manually compiled, or maintained in separate spreadsheets, reports can take longer to produce and may require additional validation before leaders feel confident using them.
Why it matters
When leadership doesn’t receive timely, consistent information, it can become more difficult to:
- Respond quickly to business changes
- Identify operational trends
- Make confident decisions
- Monitor workforce performance
- Plan for future growth
The more time spent gathering and validating information, the less time leaders have to make accurate operational decisions.
Questions to consider
- How many systems contribute to leadership reporting?
- How much manual work is required before reports are ready?
- Are different departments reporting different numbers for the same metric?
- Are reports providing insights or just gathering data?
- Do leaders trust the information they’re receiving?
How to Address It
Organizations often benefit from reviewing where data originates, how it’s shared across departments, and how much manual effort is required before reports reach decision-makers. Improving the flow of information can help leaders spend less time validating data and more time acting on it.
Fix the Process, Not the Workaround
Operational workarounds are a sign that your current process no longer matches the way your business operates.
Before investing in another platform or adding another tool, take a closer look at how work moves through your organization.
Start by identifying the operational workarounds or manual processes that slow your business today. From there, determine whether the answer is a process improvement, a workflow redesign, or a better connection between the systems you already use.
Today’s workarounds create tomorrow’s inefficiency.
If your team is relying on spreadsheets, duplicate data entry or other manual processes to keep work moving, it may be time to take a fresh look at how your workflows are designed.
We’re here if you’d like a second opinion on your current Payroll and HR processes.
