Union Public Schools Improves Productivity and Compliance

Union Public Schools in Tulsa County is a progressive Oklahoma school district, offering college and career readiness programs and expanded avenues for individual student success. The school district has approximately 15,000 students in preschool through grade 12 and a staff of 1,200 salaried and 1,300 hourly employees. School facilities include an early childhood center, 13 elementary schools for students in pre-K through grade 5, and five secondary schools for grades 6-12, including an alternative school.

Union Public Schools at a Glance

Employees: 1,200 salaried, 1,300 hourly
Industry: K-12
Products:

Kronos iSeries Timekeeper
Kronos iSeries Accruals
Kronos 4500 Touch ID™ terminals

“Using our Kronos solution instead of paper timesheets gives me the confidence that we are paying employees correctly and we are meeting all requirements of FLSA.” Lisa Neal, Director of Payroll, Union Public Schools

CHALLENGES

Paper timesheets created an inefficient payroll process, with payroll
staff spending five to eight days rechecking and manually calculating
timesheet totals
Timesheet transcription errors, illegible handwriting, and miscalculations
caused paycheck errors
Manually applying and calculating multiple pay rules for Transportation
Department drivers was a major concern
Leave balances on paychecks lagged behind actual balances, resulting in
numerous calls to payroll for updates
Inconsistent application of work rules and policies among departments
and schools created compliance issues

SOLUTION

Automated timekeeping, payroll processing, and absence management
solution to improve efficiencies, accuracy of workforce information,
consistent application of rules and policies, and compliance

BENEFITS

Payroll processing is streamlined, giving staff time to perform analysis of workforce data to make sure policies are followed accurately and consistently
Paycheck errors have been virtually eliminated
Automated processing and self-service tools give employees access to up-to-date time, attendance, and leave information, greatly reducing calls to payroll
Multiple pay rules are automatically and accurately applied, helping ensure that employees are paid correctly
Work rules and policies are consistently applied across the school district, reducing FLSA and FMLA compliance risk

The Union Public Schools Story

Manual processing of timekeeping, attendance, and payroll information at Union Public Schools was time-consuming and inefficient. Miscalculation of timesheets led to payroll errors. Varying pay rules were difficult to calculate manually. Time over 40 hours each week was supposed to be tallied as compensatory time, not overtime, which didn’t always occur. Accurately tracking hours to meet requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was challenging. And policies weren’t applied consistently across the school district.

Recognizing its inefficiencies and potential compliance risks, Union Public Schools decided to automate its workforce management processes and turned to Kronos. “We wanted to make sure we were following FLSA and paying our employees correctly,” says Lisa Neal, director of payroll. Implementation of the Kronos iSeries Central suite — which interfaces with the district’s accounting software — has improved productivity and reduced compliance issues. Most hourly and all salaried employees, except teachers, use the solution, with salaried employees using it to report leave.

The automated Kronos solution has brought districtwide improvements. Payroll processing has been streamlined and errors virtually eliminated. Multiple pay rules are automatically applied, and time over 40 hours is appropriately accounted for. Accurate leave balances are available in real time through employee self-service tools. Time of hourly employees is automatically tracked, and work rules and policies are applied consistently. An additional benefit is the ability of supervisors to log on the Kronos system to see which employees are on premise in the event of a school lockdown or emergency, an important safety feature.

Increased payroll efficiencies and consistent policy application

Before, payroll staff manually checked and calculated timesheet information before keying in data. Yet, department summary sheets didn’t always match timesheets, or handwriting was illegible, requiring clarification. During the five to eight days from the end of a pay period until paychecks were cut, payroll staff worked furiously to correct errors and input data.

“The reduction in paperwork is huge without timesheets,” notes Cheryl Owens, payroll associate. “Going to an automated system gives us a clear and accurate picture of the time worked by each employee.”

Time previously spent manually calculating timesheets is now devoted to analysis and oversight. “We can see if they are following policy and if they are consistent from one area to another,” says Neal. Employees working “off the clock,” which is contrary to district policy but was previously allowed by some supervisors, can be spotted more easily with all time tracked.

Consistent and fair labor standards reduce compliance risk

Accurate tracking of employee hours has been very beneficial in meeting both FLSA and FMLA requirements, notes Neal. Employees and supervisors are now held accountable for hours worked. Employees can use the Kronos solution’s self-service tools to check the accuracy of their time, view their leave balances, request time off, and see the status of leave requests.

“I told employees, ‘You are now in control of the accuracy of your paycheck,’” shares Neal. “Using our Kronos solution instead of paper timesheets gives me the confidence that we are paying employees correctly and we are meeting all requirements of FLSA.” If the Department of Labor conducts an audit, payroll history is available at the click of a button, a big improvement over locating timesheets in a warehouse and populating data into a spreadsheet.

Potential leave liability issues eliminated

All time worked beyond 40 hours a week is considered comp time, which must be used by the end of each year or be paid out. Accurate tracking of employee time is important to helping ensure accurate comp time balances and leave time taking, as well as no overpayments of unused leave time.

“Tracking comp time balances and calculating overtime were two of our biggest challenges in payroll prior to Kronos,” notes Owens. “Now, we can see if employees are taking overtime or comp time, and calculations in the Kronos system are consistently accurate.”

New assignment: tracking tutoring and summer school hours

Teachers are also beginning to use the Kronos solution. Those who tutor students after school and teach summer school are paid hourly and are tracking their time in the Kronos system, which applies multiple pay rates with ease. At Union Public Schools, Kronos receives top grades all around.

More information about Kronos customer success stories may be found at www.kronos.com/resources.
© 2011, Kronos Incorporated. Kronos and the Kronos logo are registered trademarks and Kronos 4500 Touch ID is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. iSeries and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines. All other product and company names are used for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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