We are pleased to share the news about Mary Anderson joining the IPS team as a payroll specialist. Mary has been working in the payroll industry for more than twenty years. We recently caught up with her for a candid conversation …
How did you get your start in the payroll industry?
My first job was with a company called Great Lakes Management in Texas. They owned around 35 Subway® restaurant franchises. In the ten years that I was there, Great Lakes grew to more than fifty Subway outlets and added around forty Little Caesar’s® Pizza locations, so it was an incredible responsibility handling their payroll. A minor part of my work involved processing paychecks bi-weekly for over 1,000 employees. When you deal with payroll, clients and their employees are happy because they are getting paid, but only as long as you get it right. I realized then and there that I enjoyed working with numbers and had a knack for the industry.
What do you enjoy most about working at IPS?
When I left Texas six years ago and moved back to Wisconsin, it was important for me to work with a family-owned company or one that takes good care of their people. At IPS, we are all like family to each other. We celebrate holidays, birthdays and work anniversaries with special treats or potluck meals. My colleague, Ruxy, makes the most delicious pancakes. It makes coming to work every day even more enjoyable.
And I like that our customers receive one-on-one attention. If you’re a client of mine, you have my phone number. It’s personal customer service.
What’s one thing about you that others might not know?
Back in the late ‘80s early ‘90s, I was a character on a radio program in Chicago. My daughter’s grandfather, Eddie Hubbard, was a radio announcer and had his own morning drive show broadcast on WJJD. Eddie would give me the lines to read and I would lay tracks for him. My fictitious character was named Tondy and she was the niece of the program manager working there during her college break. We’d have a conversation and Eddie would dub in the line that he had me record. It was great fun, but I don’t think I would ever have been able to do it if it was live show.