Paychecks should be treated with care and confidentiality. The paycheck is the main reason that employees are working for your company, with benefits being the second most sought-after reward. There should be a system in place for employees to sign a checklist upon receipt of their paycheck. This is to protect the company's interest and prove that a check was issued and distributed. Employees with direct deposit will receive just a paycheck stub showing what they were paid and the deductions withheld. These should be distributed to employees in the same manner as checks.

Checks should not be left on desks or in open mailboxes, even if they are concealed in an envelope. A stolen paycheck causes hardship for the employee and extra work for you when a stop payment needs to be processed on the missing check and a new one issued. If a duplicate check needs to be issued to an employee, the reason should be because it was lost or damaged by the employee or stolen from the workplace.

There is no law against employees showing their paychecks or paycheck stubs to other employees and comparing wages. Most workers do not wish to share this information and understand the importance of confidentiality; however, there will be some who view the situation differently. Two employees who make the same salary and worked the same number of hours may wonder why one received more money than the other. This will usually be due to a difference in deductions based on tax status.