When it comes to Workforce Management software, companies can easily spend thousands of dollars each year to enhance their company’s productivity. The difficulty arises when an organization spends substantial time and financial resources on new software, only to discover they are only scratching the surface of the product’s capabilities. Under-utilization is one of the biggest issues organizations face when incorporating a WFM application. WFM software plays a huge role in the process of human capital management, meaning it is crucial that the internal processes employees are expected to perform align with the application’s functionality. When dealing with Kronos Workforce Timekeeper specifically, under-utilization can be caused by a number of situations such as inadequate training, poor user-adoption, misplaced application use, or a combination of these and others. Here are some key steps to reducing under-utilization of your Kronos application:
Review Departmental Processes
The first step in reducing under-utilization of WTK is taking a closer look at the exact managerial needs of each department. It is important to collect data on the cost and budget factors that surround the management of the employees' time and the cost of manual and off cycle payments. By taking each manager’s needs into account, you can develop methods and genies within Workforce Timekeeper that will accommodate the unique needs of each department. Most managers under utilize genies. Expanding the use of Kronos genies can allow managers to easily see total hours, OT, shifts, PTO time, and time card approval - all in one location. It is an extremely effective tool for managing employees' time. Workforce Time Keeper also gives managers the ability to build and schedule reports that can be sent to them via email, verifying the company’s timelines and requirements are being met. Giving managers access to automatically scheduled reports allows them to see data such as missed punches, gaps in time, overtime, time off and many other factors, which means they can more effectively manage their employees' time.
Review Pay Rules
Beyond departmental processes, when attempting to reduce under-utilization of WFC an organization should review their pay rules. It is important to consider if the pay rules are utilizing all of the automation factors of shifts, zones and pay codes, in order to ease the burden of time review. The process should start with an overall evaluation of the pay rules vs. internal policies, along with State, Federal, and Union rules.
If the pay rules are only capturing a part of internal policies, there may be manual processes that are going on. The manual processes, in most cases, can be captured in an automated fashion by the pay rules, as long as there is an aspect of the rule or policy that allows for a qualifier to be placed within the rule. Most companies have generalized policies that are easily captured within the pay rules, but there are always items within certain policies, union contracts or state policies that make things more complicated. The more complicated situations can cause manual and off-cycle payments, as well as higher costs. Gathering as much information as possible from descriptive policies, contracts, etc. along with user processes, will allow for a comparison revealing any gaps that should be addressed. Comparing what your departments are doing manually vs. what you can move to the pay rule to be done automatically, will greatly enhance the department's use of the application and ease some of the burden of closing out their cycles.
Kronos Training
The last key to avoiding under-utilization of Kronos WFT is proper training. The complexities inherent in Kronos training are often ignored. Organizations can forget the importance of training and that training invests in one of the most valuable resources: the workforce. Maximizing the potential and skills of your employees can optimize all other aspects of your application.
Learning a new or updated application takes a significant amount of time and energy that your employees may not be willing to invest without good reason. Ensure you take the time to understand the daily responsibilities of the employees who will be using Kronos Workforce Timekeeper. Understand the employees' complaints, pain-points, what they do well and what they don’t like doing. If you understand all of these specifics, you will be able to clearly explain how the application will make those daily responsibilities easier and more efficient, eradicating some complaints and pain-points. You may be introducing new workflows to your employees, so plan to make their first impression a positive one. A new or updated version of Timekeeper can be intimidating to employees, so make sure your training plan is comprehensive and all-inclusive.
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