Saskatoon Transit brought in an automated payroll system in 2006 to save time and reduce costly errors. But as its own business processes became more complex, and as they experienced turnover, it was difficult to stay up-to-date on system upgrades and new features. They soon realized that to become a more agile, digitally-focused agency, they had to convince their staff of the value of new technology – a cultural mindset shift that would enable them to better meet passenger needs.
The agency was using an automated payroll that would calculate operator pay based on their assignments, absences, and additional pay records, including delays and special premiums. Over time, business processes and rules changed, but employees were doing many timekeeping tasks manually. For example, when a bus driver took half a day off, Saskatoon’s automated pay system recorded a full day off, so finance employees at the agency had to manually correct the pay information and double-check to make sure the driver was getting paid the right amount. This added to their workloads, costing extra time and effort to fix errors, and made employees lose confidence in the technology they were being told to use.
Embracing a new technology and getting the most out of its multiple uses and advantages takes time and a level of comfort with the system itself. That was the big challenge for managers and their employees at Saskatoon Transit, according to James McDonald, Director of Saskatoon Transit.
“When we bought the Trapeze package in 2006, we didn’t realize how to get maximum value out of the operation system,” he said. “The system was in use, but we still had staff using paper and pencil for some processes. We were not utilizing, or hadn’t fully developed, many of the system’s back-end configurations – so our payroll involved a lot of manual checks to make sure our information was correct.”
Employee turnover, both at the supervisory level for those who managed the system and within the clerical level for those who used the system, further compounded the issue. The agency was concerned about changing the payroll process and not having the resources to help new employees learn the new system.
There was also concern about eroding em-ployee morale. Employees were frustrated by a system that was a combination of entering data fields as well as keeping details manually on their own.
"Now, people buy in more. They say, there should be an electronic fix for this, and there is."
“When 2015 hit, we finally had the ability to step back and take a look at what was working well and what wasn’t, and we started talking with Trapeze to maximize efficiency in terms of utilizing the product,” McDonald said. The agency recognized the need to move forward by reinvesting in the automation software for employee buy-in and benefit.
Saskatoon Transit began a project to document and test new system pay rules that would automate the cumbersome manual processes. These new pay rules covered employee trades, instructor premiums, and situations where work is grouped together as one assignment.
The project looked at about 20 situational improvements, including one that automated partial absences. Another example was spreadpay. “It would take about an hour per day for payroll staff to look at every operator that had a break in their work, and calculate if their spread pay was correct,” McDonald said. “After taking full advantage of the system, spread pay is calculated automatically and correctly in nearly every instance. This builds trust with people using the software – that it will provide the correct answer.”
The self-service tools not only automate business processes, they empower employees to view and update information that is impor-tant to them, at their convenience. The thorough testing of the new system pay rules before rolling them out helped build employee confidence in the data.
Reinvesting in payroll automation by testing new systems has paid off. The agency saw a significant increase in time savings and a reduction in errors during the pay calculation process.
There’s also been a really positive mindset shift in the employee culture. Instead of resisting new technology because of the uncertainty of having to learn something different, Saskatoon Transit is seeing the improvements in day-to-day payroll operations and becoming a more agile organization.
“Now people buy in more, understanding there’s no beating their heads against the wall,” McDonald said. “They’re saying, there should be an electronic fix for this, and we say, yes there is, here it is. We get them to test it out, find it works, and then, OK great, let’s go on to the next part.”
The agency has now increased payroll accuracy with pay calculation automation, freeing up valuable time for employees to work on the agency’s key priorities. And, as processes changed and available technology became more complex, Saskatoon got real value out of reinvesting and making sure its payroll was optimized to reflect those changes.
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