It's about allowing the majority of the employee population that use Kronos Workforce Central (WFC) to communicate more proactively and save your manager(s) AND organization time. Other departments where the cost savings by ESS are appreciated may include HR & Payroll. After all, the old saying goes: "Time is Money".
Employees can record and more importantly track and manage their own time in Kronos WFC. From a business perspective employees can also be thought of as associates, partners, or professionals. For simplicity purposes this article will use the term "employee" for anyone below CEO or director level.
I'm not a manager but I just was recently able to use the Kronos time off request feature to request leave from my manager. Does that mean he has to respond instantaneously? NO! He has his own work to do as well, and arguably we are both very busy. What if I don't receive a response for my time off request within a week? I mean, I am planning a vacation in two months! I’m keeping my eye on this request pretty closely, so if I don’t hear anything, I’m contacting my manager, or if I have been denied for my request, I’m sending a note via Kronos to find out why. Generally it’s best practice for managers to note the reason for the denial in their denial itself, but things don’t always work out quite right! All of this is well and good, but the point is that right now I need to get back to a customer.
Here is a short to do list for employees:
Notify my manager if I see unexpected shifts on my schedule
Notify if I couldn't swipe in our out (i.e. need a new badge!)
Swipe in and out every day for my scheduled shift
If I don’t swipe the clock, verify my hours are correct
Check my time off requests regularly (if configured in Kronos)
Review my entire timecard (and if I'm setup, approve it) on a regular basis as stipulated by my organization
Set up your Kronos clocks with SmartViews™ to let the employee view their schedule, accrual balances, and/or worked hours
Assist with automated fixed schedules for exempt employees that wish to manage their own time
Assist with training on how to use or manage a time card with Kronos WFC
Assist with deploying time off requests in a timely manner and note reasons for any denials
What did I do with my Kronos time card (5 minutes)? Having access to WFC, I was empowered to manage my own time via ESS. By doing this I'm saving my manager from those tasks. I’m submitting my own time off requests, reviewing my accrual balances and approving my time at the end of the pay period. I not only save my manager time, but I am also taking ownership of my time. Every week, I working proactively to ensure that I am paid correctly. I'll wait to bug my boss about my time off request though as I just submitted it. ;)