Progressive discipline for Mgrs/payroll

System

It takes our company of 150 ee's THREE DAYS to finish payroll with TWO people doing it AND with timekeeping software as well as a company that processes it for us. I had no idea how ineffecient we were being until I read another thread on this forum about payroll.
The problem is that the Managers don't sign off on the hours of their ee's by the deadline (mondays at noon) ALL we do on those first two days is chase down managers and remind, demand, beg, bribe et all to please sign off on their ee's.
Well in our latest upper management meeting the finance manager proposed that we go to a bi monthly payroll instead of weekly. We work in retail and I know that one of the benefits that we offer is a paycheck every week. I propose that we set it in place that the managers get written up if they don't meet the dealine. It is part of their job and they are wasting the company time and money.
What do you guys think?
Deez

cebudragonlady

Right , that is part of the manager's job to review time records DAILY - write them up if they don't get it done DAILY . A DAILY review each day, is much better than a weekly or bi-weekly review, when people might have forgotten things.

Chari

System

our software will allow them to make corrections daily but in order to get that miniscule check in the tiny box on the computer where it says supervisors it has to be done when the pay week has ended.
A CHECK MARK!!! thats all we want!!!!!!!

Betty I_O

No one wanted to get heavy-handed about this problem, which had been a contnuing one like yours. A new VP of Finance finally resolved it once and for all by enlisting the support of the other VPs. Our payroll deadline has always been 2 PM on Mondays. Now, only one call is made to a Manager from the Payroll Departrment if they haven't gotten his/her time sheets. If those sheets aren't in by 2:30 PM, the next call the Manager receives is from their Divisional Vice President's office. When this followup started, it took about two weeks for the procrastinators to "get the message." If they didn't, the next time it happened, they received a verbal warning from their VP. There are sometimes stragglers now, but we haven't had any warnings issued for this in over a year. We have 1,200 employees on our payroll and three shifts, and our payroll staff (2 people) processes it in one and 1/2 days.

moneyman

My last job, we had about 75 employees spread over 6 corporations and we used to do payroll in the accounting department. There were 2 of us in accounting and we traded off each period. It used to take us about 1/2 to process (we outsourced) and 1/2 when the checks/journals came back in. This also included getting the journal entries prepared for the accounting entries and not just payroll check distribution. We hired a person to take over the HR/personnel function because it just could not be handled within accounting anymore and now, they say (I am not there anymore) that is can take her most of the week to process, then the accounting department still has to review the journals for accuracy. It takes at least twice as long and there are more than twice the errors. They changed payroll companies and brought some functions back in house (like inputting on their own online) and there still is the delays and errors occuring. I wonder how many companies will they try before they find out that it is their internal personnel and not the external payroll company. They need to do something.

HR in CA

Ihave to agree with this post. If hours are not checked and corrected daily, then there is an increasing chance that the time listed is not correct. When employees get away with this once, it becomes a habit. As a manager I would make it my duty to check it each day, after all I am the one the company holds responsible.

mwild31

We pay our folks every 2 weeks. I work at a manufacturing company with about 108 employees. As to time tickets, our receptionist types in the information on a daily basis - if there are errors or inconsistencies, she contacts the lead/manager - otherwise we go with the information. Once payroll week arrives, the receptionist prints out a summary time sheet and my HR assistant takes it out and has each employee verify and sign their name on the sheet (if the employee is not present - oh well). Once the sheet is done and any changes are made (if necessary), then it goes to our payroll processing department. Processing checks/direct deposits takes about 4 hours (abra software).

We used to have the Leads/Managers review and sign each time ticket in the morning and turn them into the receptionist by 8:00 a.m. This never worked as the time tickets were always turned in late. I re-evaluated the situation and I discovered that the leads/managers were actually checking to see if there was a time stamp on the back of the time ticket (for time in) and whether or not the employee came in late. There wasn't a consistent standard within the company regarding what was considered late (some leads thought 1 minute past was late others thought anything over 10 was late). Long story short, our receptionist now checks for this information, a consistent standard for defining a tardy was created and a monthly tardy report goes out to the leads/managers. This has worked so well for our company (drastically reducing stress and money (we don't pay leads/managers to review - even 10 minutes a day times 9 leads/managers can add to your bottom line - our recptionist is paid $10.50 an hour) - I don't know why they didn't think of it sooner. Just some options/thoughts/experience.

bamahr

I had the same problem - I drafted a memo - payroll will be approved by 9:00 AM - Monday morning. After 9:00 AM I roll the time clock and no time can be approved. This happened maybe three times. The Manager had to call me when they could not approve their time. I told them - the time has been rolled and changes cannot be made. When they started to panic that their employees would not get paid correctly or at all. I came to the rescue - I told them I would see what I could do - maybe if I called in a favor I could make it happen. They were so greatful - that I rarely have this problem anymore.

System

I process payroll alone for 150 people in half of a day. We are on a bi-weekly schedule which does not seem to inconvenience anyone, so I wouldn't be afraid of making that move. It takes just as much time to do it whether it's every week or every other week and doing it every week is just cumbersome! We went through the same shenanigans with manager's not respecting the time lines and used the write ups as a very effective tool. The *@#! runs down hill and you should see how smooth things run now! Good Luck!

System

Thanks guys. The GM is really opposed to going bi-monthly as was I. The new finance manager started this week and brought this up in the upper management meeting, much to the GM's surprise. She stood her ground and really pushed for going bi-monthly. Apparently she was pulled aside after and was "talked to". Personally I admire her guts.
So, next question: what would make going bi-monthly easier on the ee's if we were to do so?
Deez

mwild31

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-08-03 AT 03:42PM (CST)[/font][p]I don't recommend bi-monthly - I recommend bi-weekly with payday's on Friday. The problem I ran into when I worked for a company that had a bi-monthly system was too many employees were broke about 3 days prior to payday - which increased the amount of advances that we had to provide (trust me, it was a 'have to' situation). On the bi-weekly basis, this is virtually eliminated (easier for employee's to budget around) as it's a standard 14 days until the next payday - on the bi-monthly plan it could go 16 days (and it's a real pain when the payday (1st or 15th falls on a Sunday & employee's don't get paid until the following Monday). Our CFO would like to see us go to bi-monthly as well, namely for administrative purposes (i.e. payroll processing, taxes, etc.), but the cost doesn't outweigh the employee benefit. In addition, even though it's the employee's own money, they end up feeling as though they received a 'bonus' as typically May and November result in three paychecks.

moneyman

I agree with bi-monthly being a pain. We used to do 15th and EOM and I hated that EOM period (for payroll and payables). It was especially a pain for accounting because balancing checkbooks left so many entries as outstanding. Also, the pay period did appear to float since we always paid on Friday if the period ended over the weekend. It was much easier when we converted to bi-weekly and we sent out a schedule that showed every other Friday pay periods. It did make it easier for most people to budget.

Pork

DEEZ: You always have the capability to pay someone a 40 hour work week check as a minimum, and adjust it next payroll. It soes not take long to straighten out the mess once department heads see the light and the error in the ways of their managers and supervisors. Our DEPARTMENT HEADS, weekly gets to personally hand out the paycecks TO THE MANAGERS WITH LATE OR PROBLEM PAYROLL CHECKS, THE MANAGERS GET TO PERSONALLY EXPLAIN TO THE DEPARTMENT HEAD, WHY HE/SHE CAN NOT TAKE CARE OF OUR EE'S COMPENSATION. We have had one department manager to take all corrections/error differences out of performance bonus checks.

The problems are no longer a continuing issues once the personal audience with the department head has taken place; cooperation with payroll is almost overbearing.

Write-ups for managerment is usually a waste of time; personal audiences with department heads is a real winner, mid-year and year-end evaluation is the place for write-ups, the subjective thoughts of the boss toward a manager who fails to take care of the life blood of the organization, the employee, is very moving.

Lots of input on this subject so I'll close and leave time for others!

PORK

LindaS

I had this same problem at a previous company. I was the sole person responsible for 350+ payroll (bi-weekly). I was spending so much time tracking down supervisors it was taking WAAAYYY too long to do payroll. I spoke to my boss who informed all the supervisors timecards, etc. were to be done by 9:00 Monday. When the supervisors complained they were reminded that they were supposed to be checking times DAILY! If the timecards weren't to me on time, I began processing payroll with the information I had. It only took once or twice for THEM to have to bring their information TO ME and have to explain to their employees why their checks may be incorrect, to solve the problem.

Rockie

I am a firm believer that payroll should process what is given to them and not chase people down to get information. It only take a couple of times for supervisors to be in the hot seat with their employees before they come around and start doing the right thing.

I believe going to a bi-weekly payroll is always easier. It must be a nightmare having to process a payroll every single week!

Don D

Am I the only one that noticed Cinda Smith used an expletive in her very first post ever? I like her already!

moneyman

Of course you would notice something like that! x:7

Mentel

A couple of years ago, we had a manager and his tech who couldn't get their time sheets in on time. We are an engineering firm and bill based on the time sheet. We use direct deposit. When they were late again after being warned, we cut each one a live check instead of direct deposit. They were told they would have to ask the President for their check, since he had them. Needless to day, they were never late again with their time sheets.

HRQ

Mental,
Oooooh - I like that one! We currently mail live checks directly to the employee when it's a corrective check. If the employee had to p/u at our office, (we aren't in the same building) they'd give their supervisor h$%l which would be great incentive for the supervisor to get her act together!

moneyman

That is a great idea. We have 95% on direct deposit, and if you take that convenience away and make them come get it (we even walk to all stations to deliver stubs or mail to our other locations) that would certainly give employees the incentive to have their paperwork in order.