The report listed 25 recommendations for the agency to improve its payroll system, such as establishing pay codes to identify specific scheduled and unscheduled events, developing a new system to verify employee overtime hours and ensuring employees only have one birthday per year.
Jerry Russo, press secretary to Chancellor Joel I. Klein, disputed Ms. Weingarten's numbers and said that the department had, in fact, improved the payroll process this year.
Cloud-based payroll startup ZenPayroll wants to improve the way payroll is handled by small and medium-sized businesses, and to provide them with tools they need to do so.
Wilpon said Phillips will be able to take on payroll to improve the team as the season goes on.
The speech hit many other expected notes, pointing to the work towards a lighting authority, the Department of Transportation's attempts to improve service, a new payroll system, the tax amnesty program and development wins.
Moving any of the three would create payroll flexibility to improve the offense in the off-season.
Several economists have pointed out that if payrolls do not improve substantially, the already slowing growth in consumer spending could lose any momentum and put a further brake on the economy.
The moves increased the Mets' payroll but did not improve the team's performance on the field.
Companies "are making an all-out effort to limit payroll growth in order to improve profitability," said Geoffrey Somes, a senior economist at Fleet Bank in Boston.
Finding a Path Out A rapid productivity increase, as businesses got more output from fewer workers, raises the possibility that employers might make do with smaller payrolls long after economic conditions improve.
