Pasco County School District better manages labor costs and FLSA compliance with TimeClock Plus

CHALLENGE

With more than 11,000 employees across the district, managing paper timesheets was becoming too much of a burden. Aside from the district’s bus drivers, all other employees were required to fill out paper timesheets which then had to be reviewed and interpreted by school-based timekeepers. Making matters more complex, the district has bargaining and non-bargaining personnel, including two different classifications of non-bargaining and non-instructional employees, in addition to daily work interns and substitute teachers who punch in and can be paid hourly or daily.

With several different classifications of employees, school-based timekeepers must keep track of the individual’s role, their designated hours, and then ensure they are using the proper calculations for hours worked per week for that role. Given the complexity of managing these calculations and classifications manually, Pasco County School District required significant manpower to interpret and review paper timesheets. That alone absorbed much of the timekeepers’ bandwidth, leaving little time to proactively review hours worked for FLSA eligible employees and proactively manage labor expenses.

Judie Zollo, Senior Manager of Application Support at Pasco County School District, recalls some of the challenges paper timesheets presented.

Paper timesheets cause difficulties because you have no idea where anything is in the process.
Judie Zollo, Senior Manager of Application Support

“When we were using paper timesheets, I was so limited in my ability to help schools when they had issues with time because I could only see information that was submitted to the ERP. I didn’t have visibility into any individual timesheets.”

PAYING TEACHERS RIGHT AND REDUCING PAYROLL ERRORS

Beyond having the ability to more closely monitor and manage hours, TimeClock Plus also provides more accurate payroll for Pasco County School District, taking human error out of the equation. With so many different classifications of employees and different hour structures for each, it’s difficult for staff overseeing time and pay to keep track of the individual’s role, their designated hours, conduct the correct calculations, and send the correct codes to the ERP for payroll.

At Pasco County School District, TimeClock Plus is now used to record time for all employees, including its bus drivers. Instructional staff use a timesheet to fill out their time worked on a weekly basis while non-instructional staff subject to FLSA are clocking in and out using a physical time clock or web clock. Even though teachers are salaried, instructional staff complete electronic timesheets to eliminate payroll mistakes, enabling the district to surface and solve previously unknown issues. Now with TimeClock Plus, teachers’ timesheets are going through a more formal approval process within each school and being processed at the district level. With this visibility, the district can quickly create reports of teachers’ missing time sheet entries and notify them electronically. Paper-based processes required timekeepers to manually create a list of missing time and, in turn, required the missing staff to report to the office to make corrections. Staff now save time by logging onto TimeClock Plus directly to make corrections to their timesheet.

Additionally, because the district’s primary pay method is pay by exception, there had been several instances over the years where it had continued to pay teachers who had left the district for months after their departure. Even though the teacher was no longer employed by the district and not completing their paper timesheet, it sometimes took the district months to process employment records paperwork, all the while that person was still receiving their salary. The district would then need to undergo time-consuming and difficult overpayment collection processes to recapture funds.

“We have definitely achieved cost savings through TimeClock Plus and its ability to notify us that an employee’s timesheet contains no hours. This alone would have resulted in overpayment previously.”

TimeClock Plus also eliminates errors driven by incorrect interpretations of what employees had written on their paper timesheets. Because of illegible handwriting, there were times that the district inadvertently over- or underpaid employees.

“Paper timesheets left room for mistakes. We now have the ability to see the exact time that employees are working—there is no more guesswork and interpretation of handwritten timesheets. We know for certain each employee’s hours and we’re in a better position to identify who is over on hours and at risk for overtime.”

COMPLIANCE WITH FLSA AND IMPROVING GRANT FUNDING TRACKING

Pasco County School District attributes compliance with FLSA as one of the biggest benefits of using TimeClock Plus.

When employees are filling out paper timesheets, it’s much more difficult for someone overseeing time and attendance to pull a report and determine that employees are working more than their allotted hours. “

Knowing that we are undoubtedly in compliance with FLSA is huge. With TimeClock Plus, there’s no question about whether or not an employee was on the job for their allotted hours. We now have unprecedented accuracy when it comes to employee time.

With the click of a few buttons, the district now has real-time insight into hours worked, therefore empowering them to better manage labor costs. This visibility allows the district to proactively send staff home an hour to two early and to avoid unnecessary overtime.

“With TimeClock Plus, there is no opportunity for mathematical errors or wrong calculations. The system is programmed to know how many hours each employee is allotted and which codes that individual is associated with to send over to the ERP.”

TimeClock Plus gives us up to-date visibility into staff time, and as a result, greater ability to manage labor costs without impacting instruction and student outcomes.

Zollo expanded on how the many variables and intricacies that previously resulted in errors are now avoided due to TimeClock Plus. “There are no mistakes even when there’s a shortened week due to a holiday. The math is just always right.” “

“TimeClock Plus allows us to be more aware of staff hours and more proactive about cost management.”

With so many instructional positions that are grant-funded, having accurate records of employee time is critical. Timekeeping using the TimeClock Plus system provides much more accurate records of the work grant funded personnel are doing and hours they are working. If audited, the district can easily pull records of grant-funded employees’ timesheets as opposed to having to search for paper timesheets.

IMPROVING PROCESSES AND EFFICIENCY

Using paper timesheets was becoming too time-consuming for the district’s administration staff overseeing time and attendance. With TimeClock Plus, employees in these roles are now saving significant time and effort.

Administrators at the school level have newfound visibility into individuals who aren’t filling out their timesheet and can address it in a timelier manner with those specific people. Paper timesheets required a time-intensive process to determine whose timesheets were missing vs. a click of a button.

At the district level, staff overseeing time and attendance are empowered to be much effective. In real-time, they can now export a school’s data to easily spot problems that need to be fixed.

“Before, I would have to drive 50 miles to a school to meet with staff to review timesheets and troubleshoot problems. With TimeClock Plus, all I have to do is click into that employee’s timesheet and I can immediate review anything with our schools remotely.”

Zollo adds, “TCP has allowed us to provide better customer service to schools. If the school calls us for help, we export their data, send it to their administrator, review the information with them directly, and direct them on what they need to do to correct the problem.”

MEETING FEMA REQUIREMENTS IN A FRACTION OF THE TIME

Based in Florida, a number of Pasco County’s schools are designated as community shelters in times of emergency. Depending on the severity of hurricane season, the schools may need to be used as shelters multiple times a year. Prior to leveraging TimeClock Plus, it used to take the district months to process payment for employees working at the shelters.

“The amount of work required by our district staff to meet FEMA requirements was horrendous. Because employees were filling out paper timesheets, it took several people hours and hours to interpret the handwritten timesheets.”

Using TimeClock Plus has saved the district a massive amount of its time and resources when these emergencies arise.

Using TimeClock Plus physical time clocks, employees now just need to punch in and punch out of an emergency job that’s pre-programmed into the time clock. This recordkeeping provides enough information for FEMA to confirm exactly what jobs employees conducted, where they worked, and how long they worked.

“What used to take months to process payment for working at a FEMA shelter we can now complete in the same amount of time it takes to process our regular payroll.”

Once the time clocks are configured to only allow employees to select from various emergency jobs, staff just need to select the job code that they have been assigned. A wide range of Pasco County School District employees work at the shelters. Administrators oversee and run the operation, food and nutrition staff provide meals for sheltering residents, custodial staff maintain cleanliness and sanitation, and teachers who can sign up for voluntary paid shifts to help run the shelters.

“The process is much more simplified now that we’re using TimeClock Plus.”

With this new system, our primary focus can be on serving the community and making sure that they receive the best services during their time sheltering in our buildings.