CASE STUDY - TIME & LABOR MANAGEMENT - NON-PROFIT

Transcription

1 CASE STUDY - TIME & LABOR MANAGEMENT - NON-PROFIT Improving Human Productivity Through Software as a Service

2 Non-Profit Saves More than Youths In Need With Advanced Time and Labor Technology The Beginning The world is ever changing, as are a business needs and technological requirements. This is what made the progressive development approach of Software as a Service (SaaS) such an attractive delivery model for a new time and labor management application for Integrated Payroll Services (ips), a Missouri-based payroll service bureau. Having a team with more than 40 years combined Payroll and Human Resource (HR) industry experience makes a relationship with ips an attractive option for organizations handling their own administrative employer-related tasks. When clients began to outgrow the functionality of the time and labor management application ips previously had in place, it became clear that the organization needed to find a new provider. Key features ips was looking for included: accrual tracking, a time off request tool, scheduling and an assortment of data collection devices. SaaShr.com took a very consultative and professional approach throughout the sales process, explained Coray Grove, Principal and Co-Founder of ips. Even though other providers met some of the functional requirements we were looking for, SaaShr.com s application demonstrated the most advanced technology at a far lower total cost of ownership. Through the private label model of the partnership, ips branded the application as ips Time. Along Comes Youth In Need Since partnering with SaaShr.com, ips has taken on over 25 new clients that average over 180 employees each. One of these clients is Youth In Need, a 340-employee non-profit organization operating in over 30 locations throughout Missouri. Initially founded in 1974 in St. Charles by community volunteers, the agency sheltered runaway and homeless youth and reunited them with their families. Youth In Need now provides residential homes, homeless street outreach, early childhood education, counseling and support groups, teen parent services and foster care case management for children of all ages and their families. Before deciding to evaluate time and labor management applications, Youth In Need was using paper timesheets to collect and manage employee s time. So, when it came down to needing a new payroll provider, one of the requirements was that the provider needed to offer a solution for the organization s time and labor management needs. Prior to meeting with all the potential vendors we said, if you don t have a time and attendance option, we are simply not going to evaluate your services, said Tricia Topalbegovic, Vice President of HR at Youth In Need. End-user Profile Company Youth In Need Industry Non-Profit Headquarters St. Charles, Missouri Problem Manual processes associated with paper timesheets and tracking accrual balances in spreadsheets led to the use of more than 15,000 sheets of paper per year and the allocation of five full days to process payroll. SaaShr.com s application demonstrated the most advanced technology at a far lower total cost of ownership. Prior to meeting with all the potential vendors we said, if you don t have a time and attendance option, we are simply not going to evaluate your services. 2 of 6

3 That requirement is actually a pretty common occurrence, in fact, I can think of at least four clients in the last year that would not have signed if we didn t provide the time and labor management application, stated Grove. There were plenty of great attributes and features the application encompassed, but one of the major reasons we chose to go with ips was because of their level of customer service. Clearly it was their highest priority, and they made us feel like client number one, explained Topalbegovic. Youth In Need s Problem & Solution Youth In Need incurred problems in the following areas with its previous process, which were solved by implementing ips Time: Paper Timesheet Deficiencies: Youth In Need was previously using paper timesheets to track employees time. It would take approximately 25 hours to process each of the 300 timesheets Youth In Need collected per pay period. In total, the individual processing payroll was spending five full days on payroll, explained Topalbegovic. With more than 300 timesheets being faxed to us, we were using around 600 pieces of paper every pay period to process payroll. This means with a bi-weekly pay period, Youth In Need was using over 15,000 pieces of paper collecting time each year. Another issue with paper timesheets was the level of accuracy. The time was simply not accurate with paper timesheets. Employees would forget what time they left or arrived for work. You expect employees to always track time accurately, but this isn t always the case, said Topalbegovic. Another issue was that a lot of timesheets were lost or simply not returned by the employee. Furthermore, we would have to cut three or four manual checks each pay period due to errors. Solution: Since implementing ips Time, Youth In Need was able to solve the deficiencies it incurred from using paper timesheets. Streamlining our payroll preparation processes was extremely important to us and we needed an application that could be very user-friendly for both our educators and social workers, which in many cases are not very tech-savvy, said Topalbegovic. Youth In Need was able to take a lot of the processes associated with time and labor management out of the hands of the HR department and put them in the hands of the employees direct managers, eliminating a spike of non-business impacting required activities for HR near the end of payroll, stated Grove. Coray Grove Principal and Co-Founder As Principal and co-founder of Integrated Payroll Services (ips), Coray Grove brings over seven years experience in several leadership positions, a driving force in his ability to ensure ips remains focused on delivering real-time, on demand solutions. ips has been serving clients since Currently, the organization services over 175 clients in 38 states. With more than 300 timesheets being faxed to us, we were using around 600 pieces of paper every pay period to process payroll. 3 of 6

4 Through ips Time, Youth In Need employees can clock in and access the application via the Internet. At all of our locations, employees can clock in through computers. The only exception is when employees visit public schools, which is due to a lack of Internet availability. This issue was resolved through the use of telephony; each of the site managers has a cell phone on site that employees can use to clock in. It has really improved the accuracy of time keeping in these areas and all of the phone numbers aside from the managers are restricted from calling in, stated Topalbegovic. We ve reduced the amount of time and errors involved with payroll by automating the processes associated with it, explained Topalbegovic. Averaging less than one error per pay period now, it takes us a third of the time to process payroll compared to before we implemented the application. In total, payroll only takes about a day and a half leaving more time for the HR department to support managers, conduct interviews, and hire and train applicants. Tricia Topalbegovic Youth In Need Tricia Topalbegovic oversees personnel recruitment, screening, benefit administration and training processes. She also is responsible for compensation, employee relations, safety and ensuring compliance with state and federal employment laws for all of Youth In Need s 350 employees. Manual Accrual Tracking: Youth In Need was previously tracking accrued time off manually through spreadsheets. The organization was tracking this information for 340 employees, and each employee was accruing 3.08 hours each pay period. It was a nightmare because we just didn t have the manpower to keep up with it. Especially since the formulas in the spreadsheets didn t always work, explained Topalbegovic. Our maximum amount of accrued time off is based on years of employment and the number of hours worked per week. For instance, an employee could have a 32 or 40 hour work week and the total time off they could accrue would be different. Furthermore, once an employee reaches their maximum accrued time off allowance, they stop accruing time off until they use what they have. Solution: Simply put, the larger the client, the larger their needs, and the more complex rule set the application that s being used will have to compile, said Grove. When initially taking on Youth In Need as a client we were able to log in and shadow them to ensure that all the accrual rules and configurations they put in place were set up correctly. If an issue was spotted, Youth In Need has the ability to easily rollback accruals and reapply calculations. Since implementing the application, we have documented and automated the calculation of accruals for each and every employee. We were even able to streamline the whole process of requesting time off through the time off request tool, which has removed the need for HR to get involved on a daily basis, stated Topalbegovic. Even though we have not tracked this information, I m sure we have been able to save on payroll costs associated with time off since the accuracy has improved so much. Furthermore, we don t have anymore disputes between employees regarding accrued time off balances. Through employee self-service (ESS) features, Youth In Need s staff has been able to log into the application, check accrual balances, and request time off. Simply put, the larger the client, the larger their needs, and the more complex rule set the application that s being used will have to compile. Since implementing the application, we have documented and automated the calculation of accruals for each and every employee. 4 of 6

5 Additional Benefits These organizations have incurred additional benefits in the following areas: Streamlined Management of Economic Stimulus Funding Youth In Need is supported by diversified funding from federal, state and local government grants and contracts. In turn, low-income families then receive funding from Youth In Need. Through the Economic Stimulus Package, an additional 1.84 percent pay adjustment increase occurs for these low-income families for 12 months. We had to track each dollar of the Stimulus dollars separately through the time and labor management application, so we can report that to the government as paid, stated Topalbegovic. Tracking this information without ips services would have been extremely time-consuming. Robust Features Through the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, updates to software occur frequently to ensure that users are utilizing the most up-to-date version of an application. The time and labor management application is extremely robust and there is always a way to accomplish what we want. Even configurations that we don t think are possible, we still ask because we know ips will find a way to customize the application to our needs, said Topalbegovic. There are features like scheduling, reporting on overtime and seeing who clocked in late that managers didn t have access to before, but they do now. Another great benefit of doing business with ips is the fact that they are constantly bringing new features and applications to us in order to streamline business processes. For example, they are currently evaluating an HR piece, and although it s a timely process, they are getting us involved and taking our feedback into account, explained Topalbegovic. Tracking this information without ips services would have been extremely time-consuming. There are features like scheduling, reporting on overtime and seeing who clocked in late that managers didn t have access to before, but they do now. For more information: Visit Call toll free International callers of SaaShr.com

6