“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.“

I worked with a CFO who had the philosophy that we should only pay our vendors after they had called for the payment…the second time.  I hated this practice and felt that it was a bad reflection on our company and reputation.  The CFO challenged me financially to look at the difference of the monthly cash flow and also to talk to other CFOs I knew as to their practices.  I could see the advantage in the financials, but I couldn’t reconcile that we were a company that had shorter payment terms on our receivables than what we expected of ourselves.  But,  I did talk to others and the practice of holding back a payable was more prevalent than I thought.  All that said though, I felt that our corporate reputation had a cost to it as well and so we compromised and began to make our payments out on the same terms as we expected our payments in and no, we didn’t appreciate having to call for a payment for a vendor so therefore others shouldn’t have to do that with us.

There are some things in business that I feel like are just common sense. Maybe that is why the Golden Rule stands up so well in our workplaces, but sometimes we need to be reminded even more deeply of what is the right thing to do. In this case, I can look to the author of Leviticus who gives us a common sense lesson about paying. In that day, when someone did a day’s labor, there wasn’t any reason to hold back someone’s pay for the day’s work performed. But, someone must have been doing it as it had to be called out in scripture to remind and instruct us that it’s just not right.  Underneath this one is the lesson:  Just pay the bills that are owed and don’t try to be cute or creative.  What’s due is due and what’s expected is to be one who pays what is owed, on time.

Reference: Leviticus 19:13 (New Living Translation)