Although Kronos users for several years, Borders has continued to invest in the system over time and has recently completed a project to upgrade from standalone systems in each store, to a centralised solution that is accessed both at store level and by Head Office.

Individual stores had originally been running their own standalone Kronos systems. Staff would record their working time at the beginning and end of each shift and payroll data was taken from each store at the end of each month, transferred onto Excel spreadsheets and manually keyed into the Head Office payroll system. This resulted in a degree of inaccuracy and a significant amount of time was spent extracting the data, managing payroll exceptions and keying the data into payroll. A de-centralised system also meant that Borders Head Office had little visibility to store payroll related information such as expected monthly overtime, payroll costs vs. sales and absence levels and trends.

The justifications for the project were to: standardise payroll across stores - over the passage of time, stores had created their own pay rules that were not consistent with the rest of the Group; create a more accurate payroll system that relied more on a standard set of rules rather than on an individual's interpretation of them; and, reduce the level of manual intervention in the payroll process, thereby freeing up staff time to manage the payroll process proactively.

Borders now has a centralised management system that gives Head Office complete visibility at all times to store payroll statistics. Head Office users can monitor absence trends by store, store payroll costs vs. store sales and overtime levels either at store or employee level.

Employees record their working time in exactly the same way as previously, but the payroll is managed in a more automated way. Borders staff are predominantly salaried workers who receive paid overtime; Kronos identifies the overtime hours and highlights any payroll exceptions on a daily basis (for example if an employee has failed to record his start time). After checking any exceptions, the payroll is signed off and transferred via secure interface into the company's ADP payroll system. The reduction in manual intervention has ensured that payroll is significantly more accurate than previously.

Stores now benefit from the immediate availability of Kronos data. Kronos will alert a supervisor within minutes of an employee failing to start a shift. In larger stores, where absent staff may not be spotted for some time, this is a valuable tool which enables a team leader to, perhaps call in another staff member immediately to cover the shift.

Managing by exception and the automatic feed from Kronos into the ADP payroll system has dramatically reduced the amount of time spent on monthly payroll processing, freeing up staff time to proactively manage payroll.

Borders benefits from using the Kronos Accruals module to manage holiday entitlement. The system keeps a rolling balance of holidays taken and due - a process that was previously managed manually at store level by completing a holiday card for each employee. Using Kronos, supervisors and Head Office can now see at a glance how many holiday days have been used or are still to be taken - essential for staff planning over busy periods. Store supervisors no longer have to update manual holiday cards, further reducing the time allocated in store to administrative tasks. Similarly, Head Office has complete visibility to the level of absence in each store - both at store and employee level. A return to work after prolonged absence is flagged immediately by Kronos, and returning staff are promptly invited to back to work interviews.

"Kronos has enabled us to standardise payroll across all stores, ensuring a high level of payroll accuracy and giving our Head Office complete visibility to all payroll related information," said, Peter Evans, IT and Distribution Director, Borders (UK) Ltd.

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