Boulder County in Colorado has nearly 2,000 permanent employees ― and an additional 800 employees for temporary, seasonal, and elections-related work ― to provide services to its nearly 300,000 residents and many visitors.
Challenges
Boulder County had been using a homegrown solution to manage its workforce, and each department and division administered time in its own way, creating inconsistencies. Collecting paper timesheets ― which often listed employee time as 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day ― could take up to a week before processing. Payroll coordinators manually entered timesheet totals into the system, a process that was prone to error and provided no time detail. When an audit occurred, payroll staff spent considerable time searching through boxes and boxes to locate specific paper timesheets, an arduous task.
Solutions
To improve productivity, better manage labor costs, increase employee engagement, and reduce compliance risk, Boulder County selected a UKG® human capital management (HCM) solution in the cloud for its regular and seasonal employees. The solution interfaces with the county’s Oracle ERP solution, benefits vendors, and the state’s Department of Health and Human Services system ― streamlining multiple processes.
By automating the collection of employee regular and specific-activity time, Boulder County has consistent time administration across all departments and divisions and an accurate picture of employees’ actual time. Following the elimination of manual keying of timesheet information, payroll staffers are saving valuable payroll processing time, and employees are more confident they are receiving perfect paychecks.
“With UKG, we’ve gotten rid of paper, can consistently apply our policies across all departments, can audit entries, and can check payroll on a high-end audit basis and track grant-funded projects,” said Karen Eifler, HRIS Specialist at Boulder County.
Having a single solution for employee records ensures accurate employee information across all HCM processes.
“With UKG, we’ve gotten rid of paper, can consistently apply our policies across all departments, can audit entries, and can check payroll on a high-end audit basis and track grant-funded projects. … UKG allowed us to streamline project accounting after the 2013 flood for FEMA reimbursement. It has vastly improved our accuracy and reporting.”
Karen Eifler
HRIS Specialist
Results
When catastrophic flooding did more than $450 million in damage in Boulder County, the UKG solution was put to the test in tracking employee time spent on FEMA-funded cleanup and reconstruction projects approved for reimbursement. Numerous job codes added to the solution for flood project time and direct administrative time supported a smooth reimbursement process.
“UKG allowed us to streamline project accounting after the 2013 flood for FEMA reimbursement,” explained Eifler. “It has vastly improved our accuracy and reporting.”
Boulder County is making good use of its UKG solution’s canned and custom reports, giving managers greater insight into the workforce with real-time data at their fingertips.
The UKG solution easily tracks the time that individual employees spend on state-funded Department of Health and Human Services activities ― as well as other grant-funded activities ― and interfaces with the state system for direct fund transfer. These automated processes deliver significant time savings and ensure accurate activity-time tracking and faster reimbursement.
Consistent administration of policies across county departments, timely and accurate workforce information, and streamlined processes support deepening engagement of employees.
