Timekeeping Optimization

Reimagining Work: Optimizing Labor Level Transfers in Kronos

Toni Birdsong

Marketing Manager

May 06, 2020

For the most part, the country is green-lighted to reopen and companies of every size are preparing for the post-COVID landscape with a variety of phased restart strategies. So how does Kronos factor into your team's recovery plan?

Several Kronos tools exist in Workforce Central, Workforce Ready, and Workforce Dimensions that can help managers enhance staffing recovery plans. Solutions include mobile capabilities, self-scheduling tools, compliance (configured for COVID), analytics, and Timekeeping tools that can help you reimagine and restructure your workflow.

Labor Level Transfers in Kronos

If you are redeploying your workforce in phases, it’s an excellent time to consider the Labor Level Transfer ability you have in Kronos. Labor Level Transfers can be a powerful piece of your recovery strategy make every effort to reduce layoffs, ramp up your supply chain, restructure schedules, and abide by new COVID-related compliance laws.

As your healthcare, manufacturing, or retail business begins to re-open, things could look a little different. Some employees may keep working as part of a new hybrid workforce. Others may return to a phased reopening, be required to follow new safety protocols, and even be asked to fill a new position.

Labor Level Transfers allow you to assess your critical position needs, view full-time staff, and fill critical needs first so operations follow a stable re-opening plan.

“Many businesses are now in the process of redeploying segments of their workforce in phases,” says Improv Senior Application Consultant Paul Gaetani. “The Labor Level Transfer tool in Kronos Timekeeping is awesome for maximizing existing staff and tracking those positions.” Takin' care of business

Job Transfer Sets

On Kronos, every employee is tracked on an organizational map and has a primary job. Outside of that primary job, that employee has a Job Transfer Set that indicates what other jobs he or she is qualified to fill within the organization. Labor Level Transfers can be temporary or permanent.

A Job Transfer Set is the list of professional certifications, special skills, languages, or technical abilities that exist in addition to an employee's current position. Employees that will likely never make a transfer will not have Job Transfer Sets.

Scheduling Power

For example, a Registered Nurse working in the Cardiac Unit can have the required experience to work in Emergency. Using Timekeeper and the Labor Level Transfer tool, that nurse (or a manager) can make the Labor Level Transfer to a complimentary department.

Job Transfer Sets are also crucial for a full time staff member currently on the job that needs a day off or needs to swap shifts with someone. For instance, if a nurse in Neonatal needs someone to cover his shift, then another nurse with a Job Transfer Set that includes Neonatal can easily enter her transfer to cover that shift. However, if that nurse doesn’t have Neonatal in her Job Transfer Set, she can’t do the transfer herself and may need a manager to approve it for her. In a COVID and Post-COVID scenario, these situations likely arise often.

Reduce Labor Errors

Labor Level Transfers and Job Transfer Sets are part of Workforce Timekeeping and Basic Scheduling as well as Advanced Scheduler. Improv has helped several Kronos customers implement Organizational Maps and Job Transfer Sets exclusively to control the potential of invalid labor account issues.

For instance, if an employee agrees to work a job in two different locations and one location's role doesn’t match his or her skills (ie, Labor Level Transfers aren’t set up), it can cause serious compliance issues. By building out an Organizational Map based on your employee’s Labor Levels, you can avoid the Invalid Labor Account problem.

Optimizing Float Pools

This unique time in workforce history means that many companies have substantial float pools of available employees. Labor Level Transfers allow employers to assign employees based on similar skills, even if they're not exact.

This circumstance applies especially to healthcare facilities, mostly unaffected by COVID cases that shut down non-essential services at one point. In this case, Mammogram staffers can easily be transferred to Lab Testing because so many lab techs have been transferred to infectious disease work.

Growing Forward

Recovery can take many forms. Examining the Labor Level Transfer tool is especially helpful when bringing furloughed workers back who are eager to restart a paycheck. Furloughed staff can easily be redeployed to a company’s Fulfillment Department to stuff envelopes, do data entry, or contribute to an assembly effort.

“The recovery period may mean asking people to do different jobs. As long as people know employers are trying to keep them in the organization, help restore them financially, and provide a safe work environment, they are usually flexible,” says Gaetani. “Our clients are telling us that the majority of their employees need to work and want to work. The furloughed employees would rather transfer to Laundry and wash uniforms over the company paying contract workers to do it. A lot of people miss the purpose and satisfaction of working.”

For Paul’s full explanation of Kronos Labor Level Transfers, download Improv's April 10 Webinar recording below. It begins at timestamp 21:31.

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We’re Here. We Care.

Are you having trouble configuring or strategizing your COVID or Post-COVID workflow? The experienced Kronos consulting team at Improv is in the pandemic workforce trenches daily with our clients and ready to share Kronos solutions!