There are many ways employee hours can be paid wrong. When you're calculating everything manually, mistakes can be made. For the Southeast Kansas Regional Correctional Center, they saw big problems when the latest paychecks came out for their employees, and they ended up much bigger than had been anticipated. In short, it was a massive trainwreck.

What was the problem?

The correctional center had been working diligently for months to decrease many of its expenses. The plan was to cut back on overtime, among other things. The county uses an electric time clock system as a way capturing employees accurately.

The employees working for the jail ended up getting paid twice for the same hours, or they were paid for hours they never worked. The county had been keeping closer tabs on overtime and payroll since August, in an effort to decrease the amount of money they were paying out. However, since then, the numbers had been steadily increased. All tolled, when the overtime hours were calculated, and the staff realized that more than 241 hours of overtime had been paid, they figured there must be a big mistake somewhere in the system. 

As they investigated, they realized that this overtime glitch wasn't really anyone's fault. The employees were not being dishonest, and the payroll department didn't make a mistake. The problem was with the time clock software, which allowed supervisors to enter in the hours for an employee and then submit a time sheet in advance. Later, the employee added duplicate hours on top of those by clocking in and out. This is a problem that must be corrected because it has cost the county a great deal of money. 

While this is being corrected, other issues are currently being addressed at the jail as well. In another example, officials are calling for an adjustment in the employees' pay schedule that would allow them to get paid every other week instead of twice a month. In the payroll timesheet software business, we call this changing pay periods from semi-monthly to bi-weekly. A more streamlined approach is definitely called for, as the staff works out a way to correct this overtime glitch that won't negatively affect their workers so close to Christmas.

Payroll Timesheet Software Best Practices

Not all timesheet software solves problems. In fact, some can create them. There are a few timesheet software features that would have prevented this mess:

• Supervisors should never be able to edit hours on employee timesheets. This should be left to the payroll department.
• If a supervisor does submit a timesheet, the system should be locked so time clocks cannot add hours on top of what has already been recorded. 

In short, timesheet software should remove the risk of these types of overtime glitches, giving employers peace of mind, while protecting the employees from any payroll errors. 

When it comes to your facility's payroll, it's important to make sure it's right each and every time your workers get paid. Pacific Timesheet's payroll timesheet software promotes best practices to ensure your payroll will be completed efficiently, easily, and more practically. For more information, contact us today!