BROADCASTS.com

Back in April of 2020, as the consequences of COVID\u2019s arrival in the U.S. sent financial markets reeling, Paychex CFO Efrain Rivera had the temptation \u201cto say nothing.\u201d

As the company\u2019s quarterly earnings call with analysts quickly approached, Rivera explains, a number of executive team members had gathered in conference to debate the idea of halting any future guidance in light of things being just so uncertain.

\u201cThe problem was that we\xa0did\xa0have data!,\u201d explains Rivera, referring to Paychex\u2019s unique lines of sight into the payroll practices of thousands of middle-market businesses.

The subsequent earnings call was unusual for its length (2 hours) as well as the general nature of the discussion, recalls Rivera. \xa0\xa0

\u201cHalf of the analyst questions were really about the general economy and what we were seeing because they knew that we had unique insights into employees,\u201d remarks Rivera, who notes that the prior debate ended with those lobbying for \u201cmore guidance\u201d scoring the win.

Rivera adds that the prevailing point of view became, \u201cWe need to say what we know, and we need to say, \u2018This is the limit of what we know.\u2019\u201d

Weeks later, when Paychex found it necessary to revise some of the guidance that it had provided on the Spring 2020 call, there was no double-guessing of the earlier debate\u2019s outcome.

Says Rivera: \u201cTo this day, we still get credit for having said what we said and shared what we shared at a moment when people were very concerned about saying anything.\u201d\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney