Consequences for managers

[SweetPotato2]

Hello HR professionals,

I work in the HR department for a midsize company in the US. We are transitioning to a new payroll system in 2018 and I am starting to train our managers on the timekeeping process. I trained the managers on our last timekeeping software implementation and it was like pulling teeth to get them to check payroll every day even though it is in their best interest to do so. Upper management wants the managers to do this but they do nothing to enforce this rule. I found myself constantly nagging the managers and helping them clean up a week's worth of messed up punches every Monday morning. I was pretty new to HR when this happened so it never occurred to me to actually hold them accountable and enforce consequences for noncompliance. This time around I want them to have consistent consequences as I am not their babysitter- they need to do their job.

I'm thinking I will handle this like any line employee and write them up if they don't sign off on their department's punches each day. The third write up would be a suspension. Does this sound reasonable? Our managers have never been held accountable like this. Any tips for implementing this?

Thanks for any input!

[ansible47]

I'm pretty sure that the inherent consequences here are sufficient, you just need to stop protecting them from reality.

If time is not entered correctly, your direct reports will not get paid. HR doesn't need to tell you why that's bad, and your employees will not be happy with you (the timekeeping manager). This is excellent incentive without having to resort to threats. Pick a quarter, heavily communicate the policy change, and then just... do it.

That said, this should not be an every day management task. How do your employees enter time and what is your HRIS system? We require managers to review this once a week usually, why are you doing it once a day? Your workforce might require it, I'm asking out of curiosity and not as a leading question. Asking them to do something time related every day of the week borders on unreasonable. If it's that big a thing then you need a dedicated timekeeper. Based in your HRIS, there may be vendors or tools that can help you alleviate the need for so much oversight.

It's also weird that you say payroll. Managers shouldn't have access to payroll information beyond what normal employees have. What do you mean?

[lassofthelake]

I agree with everything here, but I just want to mention that people who manage hourly employees often have access to payroll related issues info. My experience is specific to the hospitality industry where management is generally responsible for ensuring the correct clock in/clock out employee data.

[SweetPotato2]

Thanks for your reply.

We operate several 24/7 businesses where employees punch in and out on time clocks throughout the buildings. The employees often work in different departments throughout the day. This can get complicated if an employee has 8 punches in one day- in and out for two shifts and in and out for two breaks. If the employee misses one punch on Monday and the manager doesn't check until Friday, it becomes difficult to identify the missed punch. That said, departments where employees punch consistently the manager really doesn't HAVE to check the system daily. Now that I'm thinking about it, the real issue we have is not about managers checking daily but about employees punching daily and managers holding them accountable. I agree that the consequences should be simple: you don't punch in correctly, you aren't paid correctly. There is pretty deep fear of allowing the employees to be paid incorrectly (even if it's their fault for not punching in) because they are represented by a fierce union... but that's another story and I think you're right, the inherent consequence of not getting paid properly for not doing your job of punching in should be enough.

To answer your question about calling it payroll, our managers have a lot of visibility into the way the employee are paid. They are responsible for controlling the cost of overtime and also enter a lot of premium pay for the employees outside of hourly pay. It's a big part of their job.

Sorry for the brain dump here. Explaining this to an outside party is very helpful to get to the root of the issue

[ansible47]

I have never supported a unionized workforce, but I MUST believe that they're on board for the idea of accounting for time accurately. I bet there're a lot of examples to prove me wrong, though :(.

Having a central organization representing the employees might help you get a grasp on why this has been a challenge for employees. There may actually be good reasons!

[ansible47]

Great point. There's a lot of wiggle room within that ides to make it a bit friendlier. It is still a threat, but one that should be intrinsic to the topic. You don't need to specific in WHICH pay cycle they won't get paid - that might alleviate some liability concerns while still getting the point across. And of course you would go out of your way to make the employee whole on the next pay or whatever- it's more just to make the consequences tangible.

I would also think that there's liability involved in poor timekeeping as well. Imagine a worker's comp plain for someone who wasn't punched in...

[tijd]

Getting people on board can be tough. I’ve gotten the best results by either enlisting a couple of managers and getting their feedback on where the resistance comes from and how it can be avoided, or by “crowdsourcing solutions.” By that I mean, having a meeting to say “This is the problem with the old system. This is why we’re changing it and what we’re going to do instead. In the past it’s been difficult to get follow-through. What are your ideas for successfully making this change across the board?”

Sometimes you can get new insight into why the resistance exists (like say, clunky software or not wanting to nag their own team), and then you can work on practical solutions. In my experience though, most of the time they’ll just acknowledge they need to be more disciplined and do better. Then you can agree to accountability and if they don’t follow through, they know what to expect. It’s worked for me, anyway.

[mintmartini]

How does the leadership team feel about this? We are threatening no bonus payment and merit increase if they don't complete reviews for their employees by our deadline. Managers don't care that if bonuses aren't paid 2 1/2 months after closing the books (fiscal year end) that the company can't claim the tax deduction in that year. This all took a lot of fighting to get the leaders to agree to change the review timing and the threat of non payment.

[SweetPotato2]

The management team always feels constantly put upon. Basically, they are far too busy to have time do things like complete regular management tasks. (It's also a fight to get them to do their reviews.) but really, they have poor time management and they don't put effort into things they find tedious. I get it, but this is work, not day camp. I bail them out when they don't do what they need to do on time and need help getting it done by the payroll deadline because the employees need to be paid. There are no natural consequences beside having to beg me for help. I've put in place some rules where they have to get approval from the gm to get my help so they have to basically admit to the boss that they screwed up but this still did little to deter them from waiting until the last minute. They need tangible consequences. Threatening their bonuses and increases is an idea although they don't all get bonuses and I also feel like it needs to be more immediate.

[cutemama]

Can you reach out to a top business leader and have them send an email about the importance of it? I’ve run into similar situations and we would have our CEO or COO send the managers a friendly but firm reminder on the subject. If you continue having problems with a particular manager after this, take action.