Human Resources Important Changes to Payroll
TO: Campus Community and Colleagues
FROM: Janelle Crowley, Ph.D., Chief Human Resources Officer, Office of Human Resources and Diversity
I am pleased to announce an important change taking place for the UW-Whitewater Human Resources Payroll Department. As of August 1, 2020 (August "A" payroll), the transactional aspects of the biweekly payroll will be conducted by UW-Shared Services. Below is information discussing and describing the change.
Why are we transferring the payroll function to UW-Shared Services?
UW-Shared Services was created in July 2018 as an initiative of the UW System’s 2020FWD strategic plan. A shared services model will create opportunities for efficiency and streamlining of the transactional functions in Human Resources. UW System institutions have been working with UW-Shared Services staff to identify Human Resource functions (as well as Information Technology, Procurement, and Business Services functions) that may be successfully performed outside of our campuses using a shared services model.
We are hopeful that UW-Shared Services performing the transactional work will allow Human Resources time to further develop and serve UW-Whitewater's employees with a more proactive hands-on approach.
What does the payroll process look like for you now during a typical biweekly payroll period?
- Employees enter time on their timesheet manually or by using the webclock. University Staff receive a reminder email to do so every other Thursday.
- Approvers or backup approvers review and take action on all exceptions, absence requests and time entries. Approvers and backup approvers receive a reminder email every other Friday to have this completed by the end of the day on Monday.
- If time entries, absences and/or exceptions are not approved, reminder emails are sent on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the payroll processing week.
- An e-mail reminder will be sent by UW-Shared Services every other Thursday to University Staff employees and approvers. This will remind University Staff to complete their timesheets and absence entries prior to the payroll period ending. It will also remind approvers to approve all exceptions, absence requests, and time entries by the end of the day the following Monday.
- Questions and troubleshooting will be resolved through UW-Shared Services staff. Initially Tara Barbosa will be the primary contact for payroll questions or concerns regarding exceptions, timesheet and webclock entries, and leave time entries. Tara’s contact information is tara.barbosa@usww.wisconsin.edu.
- Primary: Tara Barbosa (tara.barbosa@uwss.wisconsin.edu)
- Back-up: Amy Bobylak (amy.bobylak@uwss.wisconsin.edu)
- We understand that transitioning to a shared services model will have some challenges as we all adjust to the change. UW-Shared Services will be directly responsible for the biweekly payroll process and UW-Whitewater payroll staff will respect that. This means that if you come to us with a question or problem, the first thing we may ask is whether or not you have already contacted UW-Shared Services. We want you to know that UW0Whitewater staff will always be here to support you, especially through this transition period. During this transition period, please copy us in your email(s) to UWSS or, if interested, have one of us sit in on a phone call.
- UW-Shared Services will send new employees and new approvers an email with links to Employee Self Service (ESS) and Manager Self Service (MSS) training materials.
How can our campus help with this transition?
- Please be supportive of UW-Whitewater's payroll staff, Reggie Brown and Andrea Campbell, and the UW-Shared Services staff that we work with!
- Notify UW-Whitewater Payroll Support promptly when an employee’s approver or back up approver should be changed.
- Be proactive about submitting absence requests and completing timesheets, exceptions, and approvals efficiently. It may help to add a reminder on your calendar for every-other Friday to help remind you to complete your entries before you leave for the week.
We are looking forward to this being a positive experience for you as the campus end-user. Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback throughout this process.