New Payroll System Has Minor Hiccups
By Robert Thomas
It was suppose to move the City away from an outdated pen and paper payroll system into a future era but for more than a couple of civic employees their first paycheque of the new decade felt for at least awhile like the Stone Age.
On Tuesday due to glitches rolling out the new payroll program some hourly City employees found themselves shorted hundreds of dollars or paid the old fashioned way with a physical cheque.
City communications director Craig Hemingway said there were some minor problems rolling out the new Ceridian Dayforce HRIS/Payroll system.
“There was no major glitch and some processing or setup errors resulted in seven people receiving manual cheques instead of direct deposit as well as some other employees that had electronic timesheet issues,” Hemingway told MJ Independent.
MJ Independent learnt about the payroll problems after several City of Moose Jaw employees approached us with their concerns about the issue.
The employees provided details after requesting to remain anonymous due to non-disclosure agreements they have signed with the City. MJ Independent agreed to keep the employees anonymous so they did not face disciplinary action from the City.
The City is rolling out the new $80,400 Ceridian Dayforce system which was given approval at the November 26, 2018 Council meeting.
The new system was rolled out January 1st and covered the pay period of December 16 – 31, 2019. The first to be paid under the new payroll system are hourly employees. Under the City's collective agreement hourly employees are paid on the 7th and 22nd while salaried employees are paid on the 15th and the last day of the month.
Hemingway said the number of employees with paycheque problems was only a small number whereas employees who spoke to MJ Independent described the number as “large” and it was “hard to get any answers from management” about the issue.
“The entire pay period was hourly employees and this first payroll impacted a handful of hourly employees,” Hemingway said. “This is a new system with employees and managers still learning the system and some data entry errors occurred. The City has tried to immediately address any pay issues.”
Under City policy there is a contingency plan which allows the City Manager to approve expenditures up to $150,000 without Council approval in event of an emergency or other necessity.
“At time of writing we are not aware of any employee not being paid as three manual cheques were issued. Some employees will receive retroactive adjustments on their next pay for missed hours. Contingency plans were in place to issue manual cheques to ensure that every employee was paid for the first payroll,” he said.
Sources told MJ Independent the City was doing something to rectify the problem while we were waiting for a response from our questions.
“Word is they are cutting cheques! They have not corrected an error in this manner in almost 20 years. Thanks again,” one source said.
Hemingway said that change was often difficult but he commended the team for bringing the new system on-line.
“Change is difficult and it is never a seamless transition to any complete new computer system, HRIS/Payroll system or otherwise, particularly in this case when the City was required to migrate its data from a 1990’s antiquated system to a leading edge system. We expected and planned that there would be issues and the City has been diligent in immediately addressing these issues and ensuring everyone was paid,” he said, adding “The implementation Team completed a tremendous job to ensure that this implementation and we thank them for their outstanding efforts, dedication and commitment.”
The next test of the new payroll system will be on January 15th when the City's salaried employees are set to be paid.