Workforce Timekeeper Improves Workforce Management Practices for Baptist Health
Baptist Health is a multi-facility healthcare organization complete with five hospitals, a medical lab, retirement and acute care facilities, 500 home health employees, various physician clinics, and even a hotel for hospital visitors and patient families. With all of these facilities and the 7,800 employees needed to staff them, managing Baptist Health's workforce was never an easy task.
Until recently, payroll time at Baptist Health, Arkansas' largest healthcare system, meant long hours and weekend work for the staffers responsible for keeping track of all of the system's employees. In fact, figuring overtime for its employees often required configuring 70 different pay rules, which used to be a very time-consuming, frustrating process. But with the help of Workforce Timekeeper™ software, the time and labor component of Kronos' Workforce Central® suite, Baptist Health's supervisors, timekeepers, and accountants are now wrapping up their duties more efficiently than ever — in time to become reacquainted with daylight.
Modernization leads to new efficiencies
Before implementing the Kronos solution, Baptist Health was using another vendor's DOS-based time and attendance system with modem-based timeclocks to help automate some functions. But the system proved to be inadequate for a facility that had undergone such tremendous growth. Baptist Health needed to implement a new solution — quickly.
"We were definitely motivated to improve upon the system we had," recalls Baptist's Director of Accounting Butch Henry. "Not only were we spending 60 to 80 hours per month distributing various forms of paper — timesheets, reports, and manual checks — but my accounting staff and I were always on call during payroll weekends to deal with any problems that always seemed to pop up under the old system."
A trusted relationship offers a proven solution
While using the other vendor's system, Henry called Kronos and began a relationship with Kronos representatives. "We'd learned a lot from our previous experience, so when Kronos outlined the features of the Workforce Central suite, we were very encouraged," Henry remembers. "We were looking for a system that was stable, reliable, and easy to use for our staff of 200 timekeepers. Kronos' size and experience were definitely in its favor when we made our decision."
An ambitious implementation plan comes in on time
Baptist Health imposed a tight deadline on itself to implement Workforce Central. "The fact is, we had to move pretty quickly," adds Kim Gates, Baptist's payroll systems manager. "We gave ourselves only a few months to implement the system, and on top of that, we'd been asked to begin this huge new badge program to update the hospital's logo."
"Kronos took the whole thing in stride," says Henry. "The team we put together had the whole thing up and running within 90 days."
"Integrating the Kronos information into our payroll system also went very smoothly," says Gates, who attended a three-day session in Memphis to prepare herself to train Baptist Health's staff. "The Kronos implementation team in Memphis was scheduled to be here for the first live payroll. But everything ran so well that they weren't needed."
The first payroll under the newly installed system ran on a week that contained a new holiday for the hospital. With the old system still fresh in their memories, there was some apprehension within the accounting department. But the Kronos system performed flawlessly.
"The Workforce Timekeeper system is so easy to use. I was able to train our entire staff of timekeepers myself," Gates comments. "And even the timekeepers and supervisors who had received the earliest training were able to retain it over the summer until we went live with the system."
Measurable savings arrive in short order
With a team of two accountants and an IS analyst leading the charge for implementation, Workforce Timekeeper was going to be held to a high standard for return on investment at Baptist Health. They were not disappointed.
We tracked some impressive savings right off the bat," claims Henry. "And that was after we'd only been live with Kronos for six months." Henry cited a $20,000 savings on paper and printing costs alone. In addition, being able to manage the entire system with a staff of three dedicated employees has provided an additional $25,000 in FTE savings.
Employees and supervisors enjoy new access
Very quickly, Baptist Health's frontline supervisors became "power users" of the Workforce Timekeeper system. Not only have they been relieved of the burden of manual timesheets and record keeping, but they are now enjoying capabilities that were not previously possible.
Now, managers have access to the data they need, exactly when they need it. "They love being able to do an 8:00 a.m. sweep to see who's on and immediately determine what their needs are going to be that day," says Henry. "They can easily check employees-on-premises and plan accordingly."
At Baptist Health's Medical Center, a staff of three timekeepers is charged with managing approximately 1,500 employees in the nursing department. Until the Kronos system was installed, much of their administrative tasks were still paper-based. By enabling their workstations to access the Kronos system, these employees can now instantly review key information, such as time worked, paid-time-off, and accruals, reducing both the volume of paper records and the strain on busy staff.
Other Kronos solutions
And that's not all. Baptist Health also implemented the Workforce Employee™ application, which uses the web to deliver self-service options to Baptist Health's employees. With Workforce Employee, employees can log on to their own accounts, from either home or work, to check leave time accruals and other labor data information. Baptist Health has also rolled out the Earnings History link, so employees can check their pay stubs online, instead of receiving mailed direct deposit advices. "Self-service lets employees get the information they need without having to bother their manager," says Henry. "It's been very effective."
Workforce Employee has even helped employees who don't use computers as part of their jobs. "We've installed kiosks and extra workstations for those employees who don't have access to PCs, such as maintenance workers or environmental services, so they also can log on and get the information they need. It's worked very well."
Baptist Health also implemented Kronos' Workforce TeleTime® software, so employees can use the convenience of the telephone to submit critical labor data, check leave balances or schedules, or even transfer accounts or activities.
As it looks to the future, Baptist is looking forward to implementing the next generation of Workforce Central, the industry's first web-based suite of integrated workforce management applications. "We're excited about Workforce Central," says Henry. "Because it is web-based, it's a perfect fit for our IS environment.
"We've gone from darkness to daylight"
Both Henry and Gates are pleased with the newfound efficiencies and benefits they've been able to realize. These include fewer payroll errors, a reduction in the need for manual checks (from an average of 350 per payroll to fewer than 100), and the ability to extend payroll and cutoff another day.
"No more bad modems. No more corrupt problems. No more weekends," observes Henry. "It's like we've gone from darkness to daylight."
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