Pay system causes confusion

Students who are employed at UW-River Falls may be experiencing some headaches when it comes to their paycheck. The new HRS (human resource system) which was implemented at all UW-systems this year, still has some glitches that need to be worked out, particularly with the student payroll. “I had one student say that they had not been paid since the beginning of the year,” said Doris Holter (program assistant at the University). “He didn’t say anything so I didn’t catch it right away.”

The issue is that some students are not entering their time sheet correctly. Therefore, if it is not entered correctly, they don’t get paid. The system is based out of Madison so if there is a problem it gets sent to them, which takes even longer, and it creates an issue at a higher level.

For the students who don’t understand how the system works, it is a pain, but for the others who understand the program it works fine. “The majority of the students understand the system,” said Holter. “But there are still a few who are having a hard time with it.”

“I think it makes it easier, I don’t know what the old system was,” said Alison Colter, a student at the University. “But I liked entering my time online, it only took a few seconds, and you could do it right at home.”

However, Colter admits that the system is not perfect. She has had her time sheet entered incorrectly into the computer, but her coordinator, Jeff Rogers, helped her figure it out and she got paid on time.
“This new system has created a higher workload and extra busy work,” said Holter. She has been going in to check student’s payroll 3 to 4 times a week and 2 to 3 times a day. Some of the faculty has been entering the time sheet for the students to help lessen any confusion. Holter also makes her students give her a hard copy as well. “The main goal is to make sure that the students are getting paid on time,” said Holter.

“We held a listening session with the department payroll coordinators on Nov. 1 where they had an opportunity to ask questions, express frustrations, share ideas, etc.,” said Wendy Helm, senior institutional planner at the University. “Since then we have been able to make one more report available to work study balances. Otherwise we have been directing our focus toward preparing reference materials for January training ses- sions with the department payroll coordinators”.

“I don’t think that UW-systems were ready to launch this new system,” said Holter. “It might be a great system, but I don’t think that they were prepared before they jumped.” They should have started out with a smaller group to make sure the glitches were worked out before starting out on all of the UW-systems.