Solving K-12’s Biggest Workforce Management Challenge

Solving K-12’s Biggest Workforce Management Challenge

An white paper sponsored by Kronos

Tracking extra duty time worked byschool employees is a huge hassle.But it doesn’t have to be. Here’s why.

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Solving K-12’s Biggest Workforce Management ChallengeTracking extra duty time worked by school employees is a huge hassle. But it doesn’t have to be. Here’s why.

School district employees often work many hours outside of their main roles. And this applies to all

kinds of employees, from salaried staff to non-exempt paraprofessionals and even hourly workers.

“Extra duties are quite common in K-12 schools, because school systems are expected to do more

with less amid budget shortfalls,” says Rob Tibbs, K-12 solutions consultant for Kronos. “Many

employees are performing secondary or supplemental jobs aside from their primary responsibility.”

For instance, teachers might tutor students after school, supervise extracurricular activities, run

after-school enrichment programs, or monitor detention. Teachers or other employees might take

tickets or operate concession stands at school-related athletic events. Bus drivers might supplement

their regular routes by driving students to field trips or sporting events. Food service employees might

cater administrative meetings or banquets.

Keeping accurate records of the extra duty time

worked by employees is critical. For one thing,

school systems must make sure they are paying

non-exempt and hourly employees properly for

any overtime they might accrue. Also, various

extra duties might pay different rates, and it’s vital

that hours are logged and associated with the specific pay scale for each job, so employees are paid

correctly. What’s more, extra duties often are paid for with grant funds or have separate accounting

that must be followed to make sure the money is taken from the appropriate budget.

Noncompliance can be costly. School systems run the risk of lawsuits from employees who aren’t paid

fairly. And if they haven’t kept accurate records of the time their employees have spent on grant-

supported activities, they stand to forfeit thousands or even millions of dollars in grant funding in the

event of an audit.

Recently, a major urban school system was forced to return $7.2 million to the U.S. Department of

Education for federal grant funds it misspent more than a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled.

The case resulted from a federal audit in 2010 that found “widespread misuse” of $138.4 million in

Noncompliance can be costly.School systems run the risk oflawsuits from employees whoaren’t paid fairly.

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grant funds during the 2005-'06 school year. For instance, money intended to teach low-income

students was spent on unrelated services, such as salaries and benefits for employees who had

nothing to do with the grant activities.

Many school districts rely on paper timecards or spreadsheets to keep track of employees’ extra duty

time. “In most cases, schools are having their employees record their extra duty time on different time

sheets,” Tibbs says. “So if I work five different extra duties, I could have five different timesheets along

with my primary timesheet, because those timesheets have to be pushed to different people for

approval. That’s obviously very inefficient.”

It also leaves school systems prone to mistakes. But there’s a simple solution to this challenge: An

automated workforce management system like Kronos can address these concerns, saving schools

time and money while enabling them to keep more accurate records.

“Extra duties are quite common in K-12 schools, because schoolsystems are expected to do more with less amid budget shortfalls.”

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THREE WAYS AN AUTOMATED WORKFORCEMANAGEMENT SYSTEM CAN HELP

With an automated workforce management

solution, employees can keep track of the time

they spend on extra duties within a single,

centralized system.

“If I’m working five extra duties, the hours for

each of those jobs would be routed automati-

cally to the appropriate person for approval,”

Tibbs says. “The time allocated to Title I tutoring

can go to the federal programs administrator for

approval, while the regular hours would go to

my principal for approval, and so on.”

Here’s how it works: When employees begin

or end their regular work days, they punch in

and out on a time clock, a personal computer,

or a mobile device. If they transition to an

extra duty during their regular work days, they

press a button labeled “job transfer,” or “extra

duty,” or whatever terminology makes the most

sense for that particular district.

At that point, employees are shown a list of extra duties they are eligible to participate in, along with

an associated job code. Once they have chosen whatever duty they’re about to perform, the system

stops keeping time in their primary job and starts calculating time in the extra duty. If an employee isn’t

logged into the system and is reporting to work for an extra duty, he or she would press the extra duty

button and choose the appropriate task to clock into for that job.

The system is completely configurable for each school district. System managers would compile a list

of all the extra duties in their districts and assign a unique code for each one. The code tells the

system what the pay rate is for that job, along with which department or account is responsible for it.

System managers also can indicate who is eligible to perform each task.

“Typically, what we find is that school districts have already set up those supplemental job lists in their

payroll or Enterprise Resource Planning system,” Tibbs says, “and all we do is integrate with that. But if

those records don’t exist, we recommend creating them as a business process, so we know which jobs

each employee is eligible to work—and we can capture the labor for those jobs accurately.”

“Many employees are performingsecondary or supplemental jobsaside from their primary responsibility.”

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Here are three ways an automated workforce management solution can benefit schools.

Improved efficiency. With an automated system, HR employees or departmentheads no longer have to collect multiple spreadsheets or paper timecards from

employees and manually enter the data into their enterprise resource planning (ERP)

program, being careful to attribute each set of hours worked with the appropriate

duty. “The efficiency that a system like Kronos brings is huge,” Tibbs says. “The goal is

to make it as simple as possible for the employee to transfer their hours worked to

that job, and then Kronos does the behind-the-scenes allocation of the correct rate

and correct accounting—so employees are paid accurately and from the right account.

The entire process is very streamlined and can save hours of labor.”

Better compliance. From a compliance perspective, “school districts have a responsibility to ensure that if non-exempt employees are working extra duties,

district managers are combining the cumulative time worked and considering all of the

various rates that come into play,” Tibbs says. If extra duties are supported by grant funds,

this time must be tracked separately to comply with the grant reporting requirements.

An automated system helps schools do this easily, with fewer chances for mistakes.

Greater visibility into workforce data. When extra duty hours are recordedon separate timesheets and then logged into an ERP weekly, it’s impossible for

department heads and approvers to have real-time access to the information they

need to make decisions, track expenditures, and plan programs accordingly. But with

an automated system, decision-makers have easy access to timely, up-to-the-minute

information in one place.

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Garland ISD Saves Time—and Money—with KronosSince it began using Kronos to keep track of employees’ extra duty time, the Garland Independent

School District in Texas has experienced all three of these benefits, Systems Manager David Mouton

says. But officials have realized an

additional benefit, too: The system’s

more accurate timekeeping has

saved the district a lot of money,

helping to reduce extra duty time by

about 40 percent district-wide.

Garland ISD has about 7,300

employees serving nearly 60,000

students on 71 campuses. On top of

their normal pay, there are several

opportunities for employees to earn

supplemental pay for activities such

as tutoring, translating, broadcasting

a sports event, selling concessions,

or monitoring the gym.

To keep track of this information,

the district uses Oracle as its ERP

system, which houses its HR and payroll information. It uses Aesop, which is a substitute teacher

management system. And it uses Kronos for timekeeping and capturing the hours worked for regular

job functions as well as extra duties. “We have almost 1,000 extra duty codes,” Mouton says.

Before using Kronos, the department secretaries would submit this information on a spreadsheet to

payroll for approval, and they would enter the data manually into Oracle. But with so many extra duties,

this was a very time-consuming process.

Now, the process is fully automated. “At the end of the month, we roll the data up to Oracle, and it

populates a form within Oracle that sends out approval notifications to the owner of those funds,” Mou-

ton says. “The employee gets a weekly report showing what extra duty codes they’ve used and how

many hours. They have 72 hours to report any mistakes, or they’re basically signing off that it’s correct.”

Tracking the hours worked electronically provides greater visibility for department managers—

something they “absolutely” appreciate, Mouton says. He notes: “They’re able to manage those funds

more effectively. They can run reports showing the number of hours worked, who’s using that code,

The [Kronos]system’s more accuratetimekeeping has saved the district a lotof money, helping to reduce extra dutytime by about 40 percent district-wide.

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and so on. We can slice and dice the data in several different ways. And when we have to pull

information for audits, it’s a much easier process. More importantly, campuses and departments can

keep better track of their budgets and how much money they have left, because we can report against

those codes and see how much they have spent.”

And with regard to spending, Garland ISD has saved quite a bit of money on its extra duty costs by

capturing more accurate information.

“What was happening before was that an administrator would say, ‘We’ll pay you $20 an hour to do

this task, and you probably worked about four hours.’ Whether that was true or not, we were giving

them the benefit of the doubt and paying it,” Mouton says. “It’s not that they were doing anything

crooked, but it just wasn’t very accurate.”

Take the district’s summer school program, for example. “Originally, our teachers were paid an extra

stipend for this work,” he says. “Elementary school teachers were hired to work 11 days for seven

hours a day, so they would receive a lump sum for 77 hours worked. Since they’ve been punching in,

however, we’ve realized that our past work estimates had been inaccurate, and that we had been

losing money by paying a lump sum."

Using Kronos, Garland ISD also has been able to eliminate some of the inadvertent “double dipping”

that administrators didn’t know was occurring.

“We have teachers who are tutoring students after school as an extra duty, and their contract says

their standard work day runs from 7:30 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.,” Mouton explains. “But the students get out

of school at 3:30 p.m. If they take the kids immediately after school and start tutoring, that time

between 3:30 and the end of their standard work day at 3:50 is overlapping. They’re already getting

paid for that time in their contract.”

With Kronos, the district was able to put in what Mouton calls an “overlay rule” that starts calculating

extra duty time once their standard contract time is over. “That has been very beneficial,” he says.

Automating the collection and processing of extra duty time has improved efficiency, transparency,

and compliance for Garland ISD, while also saving the district money. By solving what used to be a

significant challenge, “it has been very successful for us,” Mouton concludes.

“We can slice and dice the data in several differentways. And when we have to pull information foraudits, it’s a much easier process.”

This white paper was produced by eSchool News, a leading publisher and producer of K-12 educational technology publications and events, dedicated to the advancement and wise use oftechnology to improve teaching and learning for all. eSchool News offers ed-tech decision-makers a range of products—including magazines, white papers, websites, newsletters, webinars, and other products—that provide in-depth coverage of the latest innovations, trends, and real-world solutions impacting the education community. Explore more at www.eSchoolNews.com.

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Kronos is the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud.

Tens of thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries—including more than

600 educational institutions—use Kronos to control labor costs, minimize compliance

risks, and improve workforce productivity. Learn more about Kronos’ education-specific

time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and

labor analytics applications at www.kronos.com/k12.

Kronos: Workforce Innovation That Works™

(800) 225-1561

[email protected]

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Solving K-12’s Biggest Workforce Management Challenge