Worklio Releases “Payroll Unlocked”, a Working Manual for Running and Scaling Modern U.S. Payroll

A new book from founder and CEO Robert Österlund distills a decade of operating experience into a six-part operator’s playbook, now available on Amazon.

Worklio, an embedded payroll and HCM infrastructure platform, today announced the release of Payroll Unlocked: The Operator’s Playbook for Running, Scaling, and Monetizing Modern U.S. Payroll, a new book by founder and CEO Robert Österlund. The book is a comprehensive working manual for the people responsible for running, overseeing, and building payroll in the United States, and is available now on Amazon in paperback (ISBN 979-8-90514-011-2), published by Worklio Press.

Written for payroll operators, payroll leaders, controllers, HR partners, and the product and engineering teams building payroll into their own software, Payroll Unlocked treats payroll for what it actually is: a controlled financial operation, not a clerical task. The book draws on two decades of front-line operating experience, first on the side that has to fund the account so net pay clears, and then on the side that designs and builds the systems that make payroll run cleanly at scale.

Payroll is a position of trust. People do not always notice it when it works, but they always notice when it does not. This is the operating manual I wish I had been handed when I started, and the one I still hand to new payroll leaders today. My hope is that it makes the function easier to run well, whether you operate payroll for a single employer, run a service bureau, manage a PEO, or build software that embeds payroll for thousands of businesses you may never meet.

— Robert Österlund, Founder & CEO, Worklio

Early readers from inside the industry echoed that aim.

WOW. Robert has left no stone unturned in the payroll process. So many nuggets that will trigger current payroll providers to take a fresh look at their operations — and those new to the space will find real-world insights to begin their journey. A great resource for anyone working at any level in payroll.

Veleta E. Jones · 35 years in the PEO industry

What the book covers

Payroll Unlocked is organized in six parts and written as a reference, not a textbook:

• The discipline of running payroll cleanly — the mindset, workflow, calculations, compliance surface, controls, communication, and year-end mechanics behind every clean cycle.
• The foundational reference every operator should know cold — entity structure, classification, FLSA, payment methods, special wage situations, workers’ comp, jurisdiction, and the recurring obligations the calendar imposes.
• Worked scenarios drawn from real production payroll, written to be discussed by teams rather than read silently.
• Implementation-ready toolkits — oversight checklists, SOP templates, and a training program built to be printed, customized, and put in the file an auditor will eventually ask for.
• The business of payroll — PEO and ASO operations, embedded payroll, monetization, money movement, treasury risk, tax filing, and global payroll.
• Building a payroll business of your own — starting a PEO, ASO, or service bureau, plus certifications, insurance, selling, retention, migrations, support, and the operating economics behind it all.

The book reflects a view that payroll is no longer just a back-office function. Inside a modern software company it is a product, a moat, and a balance sheet line at the same time, and operators increasingly work at the intersection of all three.

Launching at SHRM 2026

Worklio is introducing Payroll Unlocked to the HR community at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2026, taking place June 16–19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Attendees can find the company and the book at Worklio booth #4957 on the expo floor.

Availability

Payroll Unlocked: The Operator’s Playbook for Running, Scaling, and Monetizing Modern U.S. Payroll is available now on Amazon in paperback (384 pages). For bulk orders and permissions, contact Worklio.