Kronos^® Solutions Help Bongards' Creameries Manage Labor Costs and Comply with Union Regulations

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If you’ve eaten at a Burger King in the Midwest, or enjoyed any of the premium Boar’s Head cheeses, you’ve sampled the cheese products made by Bongards’ Creameries. From its start in 1908 as a country creamery, Bongards’ has grown to become one of the top dairy cooperatives in the U.S.

Quality control is critically important at the company’s plants in Bongards and Perham, Minnesota. Effectively managing, retaining, and rewarding a quality workforce is a key part of Bongards’ success, which is complicated by the company operating both union and non-union manufacturing facilities.

To manage its diverse workforce, Bongards’ Creameries selected the Kronos Workforce Central^® suite. Using Workforce Timekeeper™, the organization can apply different pay rates and respond to employee and union inquiries on the accuracy of the data. Bongards’ later added Workforce Attendance™ to ensure absence-related data and actual time and attendance are always in sync. With a single view into accurate employee attendance, the company can reduce attendance tracking errors to control labor costs, minimize compliance risks of multiple regulations, and accurately award attendance incentives to improve workforce productivity.

Reduced error rate helps control labor costs

Bongards’ began using the Kronos solution shortly after the company acquired its Perham facility. A Kronos solution was in use at the Perham plant, and Bongards’ was eager to implement the solution companywide. “I had worked with Kronos previously and thought it was the best thing since apple pie,” says Marty Engels, human resources and safety director. “With our attendance policy, union and non-union facilities, and our need to compensate employees at multiple rates of pay, we knew we could reduce our error rate with a Kronos solution.”

Previously, the company used paper timecards, three-ring binders, and paper calendars to track employee time and attendance data. This complex manual system often led to conflicts with employees and the union. “As the number of employees increased, so did the number of errors.” notes Engle. “I didn’t want supervisors questioned about whether they had or hadn’t noted an absence in the binder. Monitoring attendance and absences has become a lot easier with Workforce Attendance. Now supervisors just call up the electronic timecard and everything is in front of them. The clocks don’t lie.”

Workforce Attendance has also helped Bongards’ deliver appropriate, timely disciplinary action when employees have excessive attendance incidents. “The data is easy to access, so supervisors don’t have to jump through hoops to locate supporting information when they need to speak to an employee about attendance,” adds Engels. “Kronos gives them all the information they need about both the infraction and the required discipline. And it gives them increased confidence in their decisions when they hold a disciplinary session with  an employee.

Automated attendance policy minimizes compliance risk

Each of Bongards’ union and non-union facilities has its own attendance policies. While the non-union shop has a simple attendance policy, the union shop has to comply with a number of specific attendance rules and policies. Centralized administration of separate labor and pay policies for managing and tracking employee attendance is easily accomplished with Workforce Attendance. Bongards’ is able to consistently address all union attendance requirements, minimizing compliance risk.

Working with the union is also easier, since Bongards’ can use the automated Kronos solution to defend itself against union grievances related to timekeeping and timely, accurate discipline. “Kronos certainly saves me from having to argue with the union,” adds Engels. “Even looking at it conservatively, I’d say that our union grievance rate has declined between 25 and 30 percent.

”The flexibility of the Kronos solution is also helping Bongards’ plan for an upcoming union contract. The company would like to switch from an occurrence-based attendance policy to one that is points-based. “I like that with Kronos, when we change our policies, all I have to do is modify the rules in the Kronos system and set a date to have them take effect, “ explains Engels. “The rules aren’t hard-coded, so changes can be made much faster, saving us time and expense.”

Confidence in information improves workforce productivity

With the Kronos solutions in place, employees now feel confident that their time and attendance information is being accurately collected and accrued. As a result of rules and policies being applied consistently across the organization, employee morale and productivity have improved.

Administration of the attendance incentive program — which awards days off for perfect attendance — also runs more smoothly. Previously, supervisors used manual processes to determine bonus day eligibility, a process that often broke down. “Before there was no reliable way for us to determine who was truly eligible,” says Engels. “Workforce Attendance has taken all of that confusion away and instilled supervisor confidence, since data accuracy has improved.”

Looking to the future with Kronos

Engels is looking to add the increased automation and integration of Workforce HR™ — an integral component of the Workforce Central suite — in the coming year. “Integration is important to us. We want to have the entire solution under one roof, running off a common database, eliminating data exports and interfaces. As we expand our Kr.”