When a prominent employer transitions to a new human resources/payroll system, there is usually press – and oftentimes it is disheartening. In recent months, headlines such as the following have appeared in papers throughout the country and close to home:
“Payroll system beset from Day 1: Poor management, software failures and breakdowns in training led to a yearlong crisis at L.A. Unified” (LA Unified School District) - Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11
“try software on workers first, fix it later” (Arizona State University) - Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 2007
Of course everyone saw the headlines on UNM’s switch to Banner HR/Payroll, right? Wrong… and in this case, no news is indeed good news.
It has been more than two and a half months since UNM made the change from the former human resources system, and it has gone quite well. We have now successfully paid more than seven payrolls out of the Banner HR/Payroll system to the tune of 51,450 payments processed for more than 17,000 employees.
For the majority of campus, the transition was relatively seamless. If not for the massive communications and availability of the pay stub online through LoboWeb employee self-service, many employees might not have noticed a change.
Of course, a new system does not resolve all issues typical in the payment of employees. HR and Payroll are committed to ongoing process improvements to further address the needs of campus.
We’d like to personally take this opportunity to thank the university for the time, effort, and energy that each of you put into making this process a success. The teamwork exhibited in this endeavor has proven once again the amazing things that UNM is capable of accomplishing. A job well done!
Story by Helen Gonzales, Vice President for Human Resources