Upcoming Changes to the Biweekly Payroll Process
A multidisciplinary team has worked diligently over the past several months to develop payroll processing changes that will involve the reduction and ultimately the elimination of off-cycle payroll checks. The process changes will begin in November 2014 and become fully implemented by March 2015.
The first of the changes becomes effective with the pay period ending November 7, when the deadline for departments to approve and sign off on timesheets will be extended.
As of the November 10 payroll processing date (for November 14 paychecks), timekeepers and managers will have until 11:59 p.m. to approve and sign-off on timecards within the Kronos system. This is a change from the current cutoff of noon on the Monday following the last day of each pay period. To ensure Payroll’s ability to focus on accurately processing timecards in the shorter amount of time, your department timekeeper and manager will no longer be able to request timecard corrections on the Tuesday following the last day of the pay period.
The extension of the approval and sign-off deadline will provide timekeepers and managers the maximum amount of time available to conduct a thorough timekeeping review and enter any edits necessary to ensure the accuracy of time reported, prior to the timecards being submitted to Payroll Services. It also benefits departments that operate evening and night shifts.
Payroll Services processes approximately 1,250 timecard corrections every month. As a result, we complete 26 off-cycle check runs each year due to inaccurate timekeeping. By providing more time for department employees, managers and timekeepers to approve timecards, we anticipate there will be less need to reopen timecards for corrections and to issue off-cycle checks due to errors.
The following changes will go into effect in January and March.
Off-Cycle Check Policy:
After allowing everyone to become comfortable with getting all time entered correctly in the extended timeframe, we will fully discontinue off-cycle checks resulting from timecard errors effective January 1, 2015. Corrected time worked will be compensated on the next regular paycheck after errors are corrected within the Kronos system.
Employee Accountability:
In addition, effective January 1, 2015, employees will be trained, and will become responsible for, individual approval of their timecards. A new policy defining the acceptable number of historical edits for individual employees is being developed, and will go into effect in March 2015.
For detailed information on the new Biweekly Payroll Process, view FAQs here. If you have additional questions, please contact your department’s timekeeper or your manager.
The Payroll Process Improvement Team members thank you for your help to implement these necessary changes to make UTMB’s payroll process more efficient.
Project Sponsor
John States, Vice President, Financial Accounting and Reporting
Team Leader
Craig Elmore, Assistant Controller, Finance
Team Members
Cindy Barrs, Manager, Revenue Cycle Solutions
Janie Garcia, Business Manager, Oncology Translation & Related Research
Victor Moreno, Manager, Community Relations & Process Improvement, Provost’s Office
Adam Spieker, Manager, Process Improvement
Debra Upp, Payroll Manager, Payroll Services
Darwin VanDyke, Associate Director, Information Services