Optimizing HR Processes with CentralSquare and UKG

Public sector HR faces a unique set of challenges in this day and age. In addition to the hiring and retention crisis, your HR team has to deal with ever-evolving compliance requirements and managing employee data across disparate systems. 

Working around these challenges takes up valuable time that could be spent on more strategic tasks. So it doesn’t just impact your team. Inefficient workarounds affect operations and employee satisfaction across the organization. 

An integrated payroll and HR system presents a promising solution, addressing the specific pain points of public sector organizations. In this article, we’ll explore the most common challenges facing government HR, as well as an industry-leading, integrated solution that can save your team time and money.

Public Sector HR Challenges

Recruitment

The public sector is facing an unprecedented hiring and retention crisis, forcing many agencies to limit services (hours, quality, volume) and pay overtime. It also puts strain on government employees, often leading to low morale and burnout.

Baby boomers are quickly approaching retirement age, and by 2030, they will all be 65+. That means you have to appeal to younger generations. 

Unfortunately, it’s tough to attract younger workers when they are drawn to the higher salaries, innovative culture, and work flexibility offered by private companies. Hiring processes can also be lengthy and bureaucratic, which may deter top talent from applying.

To address these issues, HR departments need to improve workplace attractiveness by offering clear career paths, continuous training, and hybrid work options. Recruitment strategies that emphasize the impact and societal benefits of public sector roles can also help attract a more diverse and motivated workforce.

Employee Development and Retention

In the public sector, employee development and retention are intertwined challenges. Most employees want to grow in their careers. They want opportunities for advancement. Employee development creates a sense of job satisfaction that builds loyalty and, ultimately, improves retention. 

However, many government agencies don’t offer development opportunities, performance improvement plans or career roadmaps. Some HR teams may be understaffed and overbusy. Some may be limited by agency budgets. Regardless of the reason, without clear advancement opportunities or ongoing training, employees feel stagnant and undervalued. This demotivates employees and leads to higher turnover rates.

To boost retention, public sector HR departments can clearly outline career paths and development opportunities. It’s also important to implement training programs that allow staff to improve skills and leadership abilities. Lastly, regular performance reviews can align employee goals with organizational needs to improve productivity, as well as identify promising employees.

Managing Employee Information

Due to siloed and outdated HR systems, public administrators often struggle to manage employee information. Disparate HR systems mean you have to deal with tedious tasks like re-entering data multiple times across different platforms, increasing the likelihood of errors and wasting time.

Managing multiple HR systems also impacts the employee experience. Without a centralized platform, tasks like updating personal information, accessing pay stubs or submitting time off requests become cumbersome and time-consuming. Not only does this strain HR departments with administrative burdens, but it frustrates employees who feel they should be trusted to make simple changes and decisions.

To address these issues, consider consolidating your HR systems into a unified platform. This integration can dramatically improve data accuracy, HR processes and employee self-service.

Adopting New Technology

New technology can improve your agency’s operational efficiency and meet the evolving expectations of your workforce. But integrating new systems introduces new challenges – from the initial financial investment to aligning new tech with existing processes.

Resistance to change is a common obstacle. Public sector leaders and employees may be comfortable with traditional ways of working. They may be accustomed to inefficient workarounds and hesitant to adopt new tools. 

To overcome this, HR departments must clearly communicate the benefits of new technologies and provide comprehensive training programs. It’s important that staff feel supported throughout the transition to foster a positive attitude towards govtech.

Benefits of Integrated HR and Payroll Solutions

HR Automation

Integrated HR and payroll solutions automate many time-consuming processes and tasks. Instead of bouncing between multiple systems, duplicating work, and risking human error, a single integrated solution lets your team do more with less resources. With an automated solution, you can save time calculating payroll, tracking time and attendance, communicating with job candidates and more.

Automating routine tasks lets your HR staff focus on the more strategic aspects of their roles, such as employee engagement and workforce planning. HR automation also increases consistency and accuracy in payroll processing. This gives employees confidence that their paychecks are always accurate and on time.

Compliance

As a public sector HR professional, you have to maintain compliance with constantly changing laws and regulations. An integrated HR and payroll system can help. It ensures that payroll processing adheres to the latest tax codes and legal requirements. It can also generate compliance reports effortlessly, aiding in audits and inspections. By reducing the administrative burden of compliance, public sector organizations can save time while avoiding costly penalties and legal issues.

Employee Satisfaction

Integrated HR and payroll solutions empower employees to manage their own information. Employees can easily access their payroll data, benefit details and HR policies. They can update personal information and request time off at their convenience. These self-service options improve the employee experience and save time – since your HR team won’t have to respond to employee requests one-by-one and manually make every update.

Not only that, prompt and accurate payroll processing ensures your staff is paid on time and correctly, which is crucial for maintaining morale and trust in the organization. 

Resource Management 

A single, integrated system centralizes employee data so HR can manage and allocate resources effectively. What could you do with a comprehensive view of workforce demographics, compensation, benefits and other HR metrics – all in one place?

Integrated HR systems empower you to make strategic decisions about staffing needs, budget allocations and workforce development. It also simplifies the process of workforce analytics, helping you identify trends, forecast needs and plan interventions to optimize your workforce.

How CentralSquare and UKG Streamline HR Workflows

An integrated HR and payroll solution can provide each of the benefits above, and more. That’s why CentralSquare and UKG partnered together to create a comprehensive solution for all of your HR and payroll needs.

UKG Ready gives the public sector a solution for HR, talent, time and attendance, and scheduling. It equips your team with a modern, personalized experience that increases efficiency and simplifies compliance.

CentralSquare Finance Enterprise is a full payroll solution that includes a highly configurable general ledger and powerful analytics. With a robust workflow engine, customers can accomplish complex tasks by automating multi-level approvals, notifications and configuration options.

With this partnership, CentralSquare and UKG offer government agencies a comprehensive solution for managing all financial and HR activities. Our integration allows your HR team to achieve more by reducing the disruptions of switching between multiple business applications.

The City of Garden Grove, California looked to our solution when replacing its 40 year old enterprise software.

“To replace our decades-old system, we needed a solid ERP system with strong reporting and control structures alongside a foundational chart of accounts to serve as the backbone of our entire finance system.”

• Patricia Song, Finance Director for Garden Grove, CA

With CentralSquare, Garden Grove now has a centralized financial management software suite that combines finance, human resources and payroll into one fully integrated platform. By offering one point of data entry for all information, the system reduces the need for redundant data processes.

Wondering how our partnership with UKG can help your agency? Schedule a discovery call today to learn how your HR team can accomplish more in less time and with fewer resources.