7 Important Reasons to Use Time and Attendance Systems in New Orleans

7 Important Reasons to Use Time and Attendance Systems in New Orleans

Articles, Time & Attendance

Whether you have a small office or a set of retail stores, you have a lot of expenses to consider. And if you hire hourly employees, you need to track their time and attendance to pay them accurately.

But tracking hours can be hard and time-consuming. Luckily, payroll technology can help.

Read more to learn why you should use time and attendance tracking.

1. Keep Track

Unless all of your employees work for a salary or commission, you need to track your hourly employees. That way, you can know what to pay them based on their hourly rate.

If you have a lot of employees, tracking their hours manually can be difficult. You have to know what shifts everyone works and for how long.

Using a time and attendance system can simplify this process for you. Payroll software can keep track of hours as they occur, making it easier to record them and pay employees each pay period.

Even if you don’t have hourly employees, you can use the system to keep track of attendance. Then, you can make sure everyone is working the hours they should.

2. Run Reports

At the end of a pay period or month, you may want to see how much you will pay all of your employees. You can see if that cost is within your budget or if you can’t afford it.

Your time and attendance reports can show you if you have any patterns. If you do need to cut costs, you can use these reports to decide where.

Perhaps you aren’t very busy and don’t need a full staff on Tuesday mornings. If you have high payroll costs during that time, that’s an easy way to lower your expenses.

You can find trends with your payroll reports, and they can tell you a lot. Then, you can use the information to adjust how you run your business.

3. Comply With the Law

You have to make sure you comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The act sets standards for hourly pay and overtime compensation.

If you have hourly employees, you’ll need to pay them one and a half times their regular pay for any hours they work after the initial 40. The law also limits how much employees under 18 can work and what jobs they can do.

You also need to follow the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act to make sure you have a safe place for employees to work. Various other laws regulate workers’ compensation and employee protection.

Using time and attendance software can ensure you follow all of these guidelines. That way, you don’t break any rules that could shut down your company.

4. Save Money

Payroll technology can also help your company save money. As you review your time and attendance reports, you can see how much you’re spending on labor versus the revenue you’re earning.

If you aren’t making money at a certain office or location, you can adjust the employee schedule. And even if you are making money, you can see how you can increase profits by changing when employees work.

While you may need a full staff on the weekends or other busy times, you don’t always need a ton of people to work. If you know how much people work, you can edit your schedules to save money.

Then, you can still run your office or stores efficiently. But you won’t have to pay more for labor than necessary.

5. Save Time

Consider how much time you or someone in your company spends verifying employee hours. And think about how much time individual employees spend tracking the hours they work.

All of that time can add up, and it can keep you from focusing on more important tasks and projects. If you don’t use time and attendance software, you may need to spend a long time verifying records each pay period.

You’ll need to verify each shift for every employee that worked. That may not seem that bad if you have 20 employees, but if they all worked 10 days in one pay period, that’s 200 records that you have to check.

Using a program to track time will give you more freedom and control over your business and how you run it.

6. Avoid Employee Time Theft

Another benefit of using payroll software is that you can avoid employee time theft or at least limit it. When you rely on employees to report their time, you have to believe them.

Someone may lie and say they stayed just long enough to get some overtime. Now, this isn’t a huge problem with exempt status employees.

However, if someone steals a bit of time each day, that can add up over a month or year. When multiple people start to do it, you could lose a lot of money to unnecessary labor.

With time and attendance software, you can see when people clock in and out. You can even edit their time clocks if they have errors.

7. Accurate and Timely Pay

If you have employees who don’t want to use your time and attendance system, consider that it can benefit them, too. When you have to track and verify time manually, that can delay when you’re able to send out direct deposits or paychecks.

After switching to a time and attendance system, all you have to do is check for errors. If your payday doesn’t occur for weeks after the pay period ends, you can move it up.

Then, employees can get paid sooner after the pay period. You can send accurate payments to all of your employees, so you can maintain accurate books for all expenses.

You can access your time and attendance information from anywhere. So if you want to check it as soon as the pay period ends, you can log on from your laptop or mobile device.

Tracking Time and Attendance

If you have any hourly employees, tracking their time and attendance is crucial. You can review your payroll expenses and decide how to schedule shifts in the future.

Tracking time and attendance can also help you ensure you pay employees and follow legal regulations. That way, you can keep your business up and running.

Are you ready to use time tracking software? Schedule a free demo today.

When Exempt Status is seen as a Status Symbol

When Exempt Status is seen as a Status Symbol

Compliance, FLSA Challenges

When Exempt Status Is a Status Symbol

Employees who will be transitioned from an exempt to non-exempt classification may resent the change in classification. They may feel that tracking time is beneath them, that they’re being micromanaged, that their position has less prestige, or that their work has less value. All of this is understandable; being exempt has become a kind of status symbol.
It’s important to remember that exemptions to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements were made as a benefit to employers, not as a reward to recognize employees for their achievements. Being exempt certainly has its conveniences for employees: they usually don’t need to track their hours, they generally have more flexibility, and they’re paid the same regardless of the quantity or quality of their work. But it also has a major drawback: exempt employees aren’t eligible for overtime pay when they work over 40 hours in a workweek.

When you communicate with employees about the transition to non-exempt status, be clear that the change has nothing to do with their performance or their importance to the company. The classification change is not personal, and likely impacts a number of employees in the workplace. You might also take this opportunity to praise their work and tell them you value and appreciate what they bring to the organization. Give specifics. These employees may feel down about themselves. You can help by building them up.
But your words may sound hollow if your business culture puts exempt employees on a higher pedestal. It’s one thing to recognize the merit of individual exempt employees. It’s another to imply that exempt status itself signifies greater value. Becoming exempt isn’t like becoming partner in a law firm or receiving tenure at a university. When an employee receives a raise or a promotion and thereby becomes exempt, focus on the job well done or on the new duties—these are the things worth celebrating.
“It’s important to remember that exemptions to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements were made as a benefit to employers, not as a reward to recognize employees for their achievements.”

Finally, if you allow your exempt employees flexibility with their schedules, allow the same for the non-exempt employees when possible. Time tracking doesn’t have to mean rigid schedules or micro-managing, and for those who have been reclassified because of the new rules, maintaining a perk like scheduling flexibility can help keep morale high.

FLSA Changes: Updating your Policy and Practices

FLSA Changes: Updating your Policy and Practices

Compliance, FLSA Challenges

FLSA Changes: Updating Your Policies and Practices

Have you reviewed your policies and practices in light of the upcoming overtime changes?

Reclassified employees may have to follow procedures and policies that didn’t apply to them before—or that you didn’t have. Changing habits can be a challenge, but changing those of your formerly exempt employees with respect to hours worked and tracked is critical to preventing wage and hour violations.

Newly non-exempt employees are likely used to “running the clock” after hours. They may be in the habit of responding to work email, finishing up projects, taking client calls, or engaging in other work tasks during non-work hours. It’s therefore advisable that your policies are clear about expectations and the organization’s commitment to recording all time worked by nonexempt employees.

Timekeeping
Consider that your previously exempt employees may not be familiar with your timekeeping procedures, such as tracking time to check emails and turning in recorded work time for each pay period. Review these procedures with them, keeping in mind that non-exempt employees must be paid for all time they are “suffered or permitted” to work. This doesn’t just mean time in the office, but all time, whether it’s approved by the employer or not.

Off-the-Clock Work
As mentioned above, all hours worked by a non-exempt employee must be recorded and compensated, even those performed outside of the employee’s standard shift. Therefore, it’s critical to have a policy in place that informs employees that all time worked must be tracked, that off-the-clock work is prohibited, and that employees may be disciplined for not following their scheduled shift. Please note that refusing to pay for unauthorized time worked—whether it’s regular or overtime—is not permissible.

Employees Using Their Personal Electronic Devices
Time a non-exempt employee spends doing work from their smartphone, tablet, or personal computer is considered time worked, and employees may find this hard to resist if their phone is chirping at them from their pocket every time a new work email comes in. For this reason, you may want to prohibit a non-exempt employee from using their personal devices for work purposes at all, or only allow such use upon authorization from the company. For instance, if you’d like a particular employees to check and respond to work email over the weekend, build that time into their weekly schedule so it doesn’t lead to unexpected overtime.

Meal and Rest Period
Many states require meal and/or break periods for non-exempt employees. It’s important to inform employees of these breaks, explain the procedures for clocking in and out, and remind them that no work should be performed during this time.

This is an area where it will be particularly important for your managers to be willing to manage. Employees who previously worked through lunch at their desk and could put in their eight hours between 9 and 5 might not want to take an unpaid lunch period or break, thus extending their workday. State law, however, may be indifferent to their feelings. If employees ask to waive their meal or rest periods, you’ll want to check the Break and Rest Period pages under State Laws in the HR Support Center. Sometimes these breaks can be waived, but sometimes they cannot. And waiving them sometimes requires special circumstances and agreements between employers and employees.

Again, if work is performed, it must be compensated (and penalties may apply), so the policy should include instructions for notifying a manager or supervisor if a working meal period occurs.

Overtime
Now is the time to ensure that you’re familiar with your state and local overtime laws. Although most employers will only be subject to the federal requirement to pay time and one-half for hours worked over 40 in one workweek, Alaska, California, Colorado, and Nevada each have daily overtime provisions, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island require some employers to pay a premium for work on Sundays and certain holidays. Employees and managers need to be aware of the rules for compliance. And you should make sure that your own expectations for overtime work are written in your policy and communicated to your employees.

Travel Time
Since non-exempt employees must be paid for all time worked, you may need to consider travel time for those customarily engaged in work travel. There are a few narrow exceptions when travel time isn’t payable (e.g. when the employee is a passenger in a vehicle outside of regular work hours or during a standard morning/evening commute), but it’s good to assess your non-exempt employees’ travel schedules to ensure proper pay.

Newly non-exempt employees are likely used to “running the clock” after hours…It’s therefore advisable that your policies are clear about expectations and the organization’s commitment to recording all time worked by nonexempt employees.

Payroll Changes
Incentive pay: Per FLSA requirements, overtime must be calculated weekly based on the employee’s “regular rate of pay.” Incentive pay (non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, or any other non-hourly pay) is included in the regular rate of pay calculation. For weeks in which a non-exempt employee earns both overtime and incentive pay—whether provided at the time or retroactively—you must calculate (or recalculate) the employee’s regular rate of pay so that it includes both their base pay and incentive pay for the week. The new amount should then be used for overtime calculations.

Workweek: Every company must have an established workweek that is not adjusted or altered to avoid overtime. This is the 168-hour period during which you will track each employee’s hours to determine their pay and if they are owed overtime, e.g. Sunday at 12:00 am through Saturday at midnight. Each workweek is assessed individually for overtime calculations, and overtime must be paid for each workweek in which it is earned. Payroll, managers, and employees should know what the set workweek is.

Next Steps
If these policies and practices aren’t currently covered in your employee handbook, we recommend adding them now, or distributing them separately as handbook amendments. Once distributed, employees should sign-off to acknowledge their acceptance and understanding of these important policies. If your policies and practices are already covered in your handbook, reemphasize them with the newly reclassified employees.

FLSA Changes: FAQ

FLSA Changes: FAQ

Compliance, FLSA Challenges

FLSA Changes: FAQ

The Department of Labor has released their final rule to increase the minimum salary for exempt employees.

What are the new minimum salary levels, and when will they go up next?
Under the rule, exempt executive, professional, administrative, and computer employees must be paid at least $684 per week ($35,538 annual), on a salary basis.

Employees who are exempt under the Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) exemption would need to be paid at least $107,432 per year. The HCE exemption is an option available for employees who don’t meet the full duties test to be an exempt executive, administrative, or professional employee, but are allowed to be classified as exempt because they are paid very well. However, this classification is not allowed in a number of states, including California, Oregon, and Washington. Most employers will never use this exemption.

Can a part-time employee be exempt?
The salary threshold does not fluctuate based on the number of hours worked by an employee. They also must be paid on a salary basis, meaning their pay doesn’t fluctuate based on number of hours worked or the quantity or quality of their work. Finally, they must also pass the duties test for at least one of the FLSA’s exemption categories.

What’s the difference between a non-discretionary and discretionary bonus?
The FLSA defines non-discretionary bonuses as those that are announced to employees to encourage them to work more steadily, rapidly or efficiently, and bonuses designed to encourage employees to remain with an organization. If there is an established set of criteria that an employee must meet, and the bonus is guaranteed to be earned once those criteria are met, the bonus will be considered non-discretionary. All non-discretionary bonuses must be included in the regular rate of pay and will impact the overtime rate when they are issued in the same workweek in which overtime is earned.

Discretionary bonuses, however, may be excluded from the regular rate of pay and overtime calculations. A discretionary bonus can be given to an employee for any reason or no reason at all. Generally, they’re given out of appreciation, loyalty, or good service. While employees may have a sense that they might get such a bonus, they are neither announced nor guaranteed to employees ahead of time.

Can non-discretionary bonuses and commissions count towards the minimum salary threshold?
Under the proposed rule, non-discretionary bonuses, incentive payments, and commissions (collectively, “incentive pay”) may account for up to 10% of the total for executive, administrative, professional, and computer employees, so long as they are paid out on at least an annual basis. Incentive pay can account for the difference between $35,568 per year and the total pay of someone exempt as an HCE, but may not cause a reduction in their $684 per week that is paid on a salary or fee basis.

Does this change even apply to me?
Almost certainly. There are two ways in which employees can be covered by the FLSA. One or both will apply to almost every employee in the country.

The first kind of coverage is called “enterprise coverage.” This applies when an employee works for an employer who has an annual dollar volume of cash sales or business done of $500,000 or more. It also applies if the employer is a hospital, business providing medical or nursing care for residents, school or preschool, or government agency, regardless of the amount of sales or business done.

The second type of cover is called “individual coverage.” Even when there is no enterprise coverage, the FLSA will cover individuals engaged in interstate commerce. If an employee places telephone calls to another state, sends or receives out-of-state shipments, processes credit cards, debit cards, or personal checks, or partakes in any number of other basic business activities, they will qualify for individual coverage.

That said, California and New York (and soon Washington) already have laws in place that make the minimum salary for exempt white collar employees higher than these proposed thresholds. As employers must follow the law that is more beneficial to employees, the new proposed federal minimums would not affect employers in these states.

HR/Payroll Implementation Specialist

Careers

POSITION TITLE: HR/Payroll Implementation Specialist
TIME: Full-Time
DEPARTMENT: Highflyer HR
STATUS: Exempt
SUPERVISOR: President

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:
The demand for our services is great and we are looking for an HR / Payroll Implementation Specialist to join our Implementation and Support team in order to help engage our new and existing clients to define, design and facilitate utilizing our Human Capital Management solutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Engagement during presale of payroll and tax filing system for client needs analysis and solution development.
  • Consulting with customers to understand unique business needs and determine how best to configure HR, payroll and tax filing system to meet requirements.
  • Configuration and implementation of HR, payroll and tax system for new and existing clients including retirement plan, general ledger, garnishment and onboarding configuration.
  • Import Year to Date and Quarter to Date payroll and tax data provided by client into system to balance.  Research discrepancies and consult with client and tax department to determine best course of action.
  • Identify earning and deduction taxability and proactively intercept to identify proper conversion of data.
  • Configure and manipulate Excel data and other formats such as .txt & .csv to import into system to set up employee demographic, payroll, tax, deduction, direct deposit, job, garnishments, retirement plan and personnel information such as EEO and Vets.
  • Answer client questions as needed and research.  Follow through with client, team and client Project Manager.
  • Collaborate with team and client Project Manager on configuration.
  • Ability to manage and implement multiple client configurations at once.
  • Provide ongoing support to client via phone, email or in person weekly or as needed during implementation phase.
  • Support and process client on first 2 successful payrolls before transition to service; maintain consultative approach thereafter.
  • Communicate with customers setting clear concise expectations, timelines and ongoing follow up while meeting deadlines.
  • Troubleshooting issues and answering questions to assist clients and team members in timely manner.
  • Maintain detailed notes and prepare process documentation and identify process improvements where needed.
  • Exceptional knowledge of payroll system and interworking with HR and Benefits to train and educate client on expectation and functionality within system
  • Work closely with sales and team members to collaborate on data analysis for clients.
  • Research issues and translate into layman’s terms.
  • Must be able to work independently on a variety of projects.
  • Perform other related duties as required and assigned.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Experienced in customer service and handling difficult situations.
  • Basic accounting and advanced payroll knowledge
  • Must maintain high degree of accuracy while managing multiple projects
  • Proactive thinking to assess needs
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Intermediate to Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office products (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access)
  • High level of attention to detail and organized
  • Familiarity with Payroll Taxes a plus
  • FPC or CPP or related certification desired
  • SHRM certification desired
  • Direct prior experience with iSolved, ADP,SaaSHR, Paycom, Quickbooks, Paylocity, Netchex, UtiPro or similar systems is highly desired.

Please send resume to Resumes@HighflyerHR.com.

Regional Account Executive Excellent Base plus Unlimited Commission

Careers

POSITION TITLE: Regional Account Executive
TIME: Full-Time
DEPARTMENT: Highflyer HR
STATUS: Exempt
SUPERVISOR: President

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:
Highflyer HR is principally owned by the Sternberg family, who have > 80 years of business experience in Louisiana plus nationally. Highflyer HR is a trusted Human Capital Management solutions provider for companies nationwide. We focus on solving all operational complexities of the employee life cycle, delivering a single source suite comprised of payroll, human resources, time and attendance, and benefits administration using a cutting-edge cloud-based technology.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Sell use of payroll processing system to improve a client’s prductivity and profit
  • Reach and exceed assigned sales goals
  • Prospect Qualification by identifying company needs, decision-makers, demographics, industries, etc.
  • Develop and execute a cold calling strategy to target prospects
  • Schedule appointments with key decision makers
  • Complete and present accurate business proposals
  • Answer customers questions about products and prices
  • Present and demo products and services onsite or virtually
  • Track all event activity in Salesforce or HubSpot (we can teach you)
  • Develop and retain knowledge of products, pricing and company contacts

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

  • Knowledge of Salesforce or HubSpot is preferred
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to travel up to 35% of the time
  • Residence in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, East Texas or Atlanta required
  • You will be supported by aggressive, lead generating marketing

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT: Sales experience required*

  • College degree preferred
  • +2 years of Payroll and HCM sales experience preferred

Please send resume to Resumes@HighflyerHR.com.