Wicomico County Public Schools in Salisbury, Maryland, educates approximately 15,000 students from prekindergarten through grade 12 at 25 schools. The school district employs approximately 2,400 full-time staff members, including 1,300 classroom teachers dedicated to helping students achieve at the highest levels, and nearly 60 principals and site directors.
Challenges
Some hourly and salaried nonexempt employees of Wicomico County Public Schools walked some distance to a time clock to punch in and out, decreasing their productivity. Employees took their timesheets to their supervisors for approval before the information was keyed into the payroll system, a time-consuming and error-prone process that required correcting inaccurate paychecks.
Paper tracking of employee lunch time was inaccurate, and some employees took extended lunches, resulting in their being compensated for unworked time.
Leave time also was tracked on paper, creating possible errors and inaccurate records, which led to compliance issues with the state retirement system.
Solutions
Using an automated UKG® workforce management solution, Wicomico has been able to accurately track all employee time, give employees visibility into their regular time and leave time information, streamline the payroll process, and mitigate compliance issues. Migrating to UKG Ready® and leveraging its mobile capabilities provided additional flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our UKG solution has enabled us to better comply with FLSA for our nonexempt employees, especially with tracking lunch breaks and comp time and the use of comp time. FLSA compliance is priceless because it can save potential lawsuits.”
Jesse Reid
Payroll Manager
Results
Salaried employees, including teachers, record their attendance at an office or classroom computer or by using the UKG Ready mobile app, keeping them with students and eliminating travel across campus to sign in. The younger workforce expects mobile access to their information, and these self-service tools build trust between employees and managers.
UKG Ready integrates with Frontline, the district's substitute management system, to track substitutes' actual time worked as well as pay codes associated with staff's extra-duty activities.
Hourly and nonexempt staff members clock in and out at the beginning and end of the day and at lunch. The solution shows their actual time worked and has eliminated extended lunch breaks and lost productivity.
"Our UKG solution has enabled us to better comply with FLSA for our nonexempt employees, especially with tracking lunch breaks and comp time and the use of comp time," said Jesse Reid, Payroll Manager at Wicomico County Public Schools. "FLSA compliance is priceless because it can save potential lawsuits."
Adding hazard and premium pay codes to the solution is easy, and employees can quickly punch in for specific tasks, which are associated with the correct pay codes, helping to ensure employees are paid accurately for their work.
Employees and their supervisors review and approve time at a time clock, online, or using the mobile app, which has increased productivity, streamlined payroll processing, and significantly reduced paycheck errors. Using solution self-service tools, employees can submit leave requests and check on supervisor approval, activities that are improving the employee experience.
Automated tracking of all leave time is providing accurate leave balances, mitigating the school district's FLSA and FMLA compliance concerns.
