As a premier provider of pre-K through 12th grade educational services, Hamadeh Educational Services (HES) supports tuition-free public school academies in offering an innovative, world-class education.
Home to students from more than two dozen countries, HES academies encourage students to tear down walls and build bridges, sharing and celebrating their diverse cultural backgrounds. Students learn not to fear their differences, but to draw from one another’s strengths and maximize each student’s potential.
Challenges
In managing its workforce of 400 employees across four K-12 charter schools in metro Detroit, HES was overrun with paper. With many activities funded by state and federal funds, employees recorded their start and end time for each activity in a spreadsheet.
Each week they printed, signed, scanned, and emailed the spreadsheet to their supervisor, who repeated the process for HR, where employee time for each activity was allocated to individual fund accounts for payroll. The employee time-off request process created a similar trail of paper and offered no employee or supervisor visibility into accrued time available.
HES prides itself on hiring the best of the best but felt its manual workforce management processes didn’t support its focus on excellence.
Solutions
HES implemented a UKG Ready® human capital management solution in the cloud to increase productivity, enhance employee engagement, better manage labor costs, and improve compliance. All employees — from custodians to teachers to administrative staff — use the solution, which interfaces with the organization’s payroll system.
“UKG gives us a competitive advantage with the automation of our processes and differentiates us as an employer. It’s also such a strong, powerful system. Yet the strength of UKG is not only in its products but also in its people and their commitment to the success of their customers.”
Mustafa Hazime
Chief Operating Officer
Results
During solution rollout, the HES message to employees was: We want this to improve your experience. Automating processes has enhanced employee engagement and morale and positions HES as an innovative employer able to recruit high-quality candidates.
“UKG gives us a competitive advantage with the automation of our processes and differentiates us as an employer,” said Mustafa Hazime, Chief Operating Officer at HES. “It’s also such a strong, powerful system. Yet the strength of UKG is not only in its products but also in its people and their commitment to the success of their customers.”
Employees now record their time on a computer, at a time clock, or on a mobile device. HR staff members are saving time with hiring needs, training, and teacher certification expirations tracked in the solution — as is new-hire and onboarding information, making the transition from candidate to employee seamless.
State and federally funded activities are prepopulated in the solution, so employees can easily select an activity when recording their time.
Real-time data visibility enabled HES to see it was overspending at one location and allowed for adjustments to ensure revenues covered expenses. Workforce data visibility also lets supervisors see tardiness trends, so issues can be handled early.
