Fort Myers, Florida, is home to approximately 90,000 people and has been named as one of the fastest growing cities in America as well as one of the best places to retire.
Challenges
Many of the City of Ft. Myers’ 33 municipal locations performed timekeeping differently. With numerous employee types, and each having different pay rules and contracts, using manual practices to accurately pay employees was extremely complex and difficult. Timekeepers at each location were expected to understand and correctly apply pay rules, which was a challenging task.
A mix of manual and electronic timesheets ― and no use of timeclocks ― resulted in employees often noting their time as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, a practice that didn’t reflect employees’ actual time worked.
With overtime rules applied manually, they weren’t always applied consistently. This led to questions about the correct application of labor laws. If an audit was needed, a review of employee timesheets required a tedious search through boxes of archived paper files.
In addition, creating equitable schedules that met all police and fire department rules also was challenging.
Solutions
To meet these needs, the City of Ft. Myers implemented the UKG TeleStaff™ scheduling solution to automate scheduling and shift notifications for its police and fire department employees. The city also uses a UKG® workforce management solution for other municipal staff, including seasonal employees. The solutions integrate with the city’s payroll, HR, and finance systems.
“We expect to see tremendous savings financially [with UKG] because we will have much tighter control [of labor data], which will avoid overpayments. It also will save timekeepers so much time and enables more practical and efficient use of staff time than inputting data.”
Ellen Clyatt
Director of HR
Results
All of the city’s 900 full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees use a UKG solution for scheduling and timekeeping.
The police and fire departments now have fair, equitable schedules that comply with all union rules. UKG TeleStaff, designed specifically for public safety agencies, ensures that only staff members with the correct certification requirements are scheduled for positions and shifts. The solution also makes outbound calls to fill open shifts, calling only available employees with the required qualifications to fill a position. Employees can respond quickly using their mobile devices. Filling open shifts now takes just minutes ― instead of supervisors spending hours calling staff to fill shifts ― and all scheduling communications are documented.
When scheduling staff in other departments, the UKG workforce management solution ensures that schedules comply with all union, HR, and department rules and policies. And with rules-based overtime assignments automatically made in order of entitlement, overtime is assigned equitably across the city.
Now that time and attendance information is automated and not processed manually, department timekeepers are saving significant time, freeing them up for other tasks.
“We expect to see tremendous savings financially [with UKG] because we will have much tighter control [of labor data], which will avoid overpayments,” said Ellen Clyatt, Director of HR at the City of Ft. Myers. “It also will save timekeepers so much time and enables more practical and efficient use of staff time than inputting data.”
Contracts and labor rules are now automatically interpreted and applied correctly by employee type, ensuring correct paychecks and reducing the city’s compliance concerns. This automatic application of pay rules has eliminated potential overpayment for holiday time and misinterpretation of overtime rules, saving money and providing peace of mind.
Replacing paper timesheets with an automated solution also has reduced paper document storage needs and streamlined the audit process, with workforce information now available in minutes.
In addition, modernizing its workforce management tools, as have surrounding communities, will enable the City of Ft. Myers to improve its recruitment of new hires and retention of valued staff.
