Title
Chief Administrative Office, Human Resources Department, and Auditor Controller’s Office recommending the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 185-2018, amending the Authorized Personnel Allocation Resolution 132-2018 for the Human Resources Department and Auditor-Controller’s Officer to:
1) Approve a reorganization of the Human Resources and Auditor-Controller’s Office staffing to centralize personnel action staffing within the Auditor-Controller’s Office;
2) Adopt the class specification of Payroll Technician as well as the Job Class Number, bargaining unit, and salary range for the new classification of Payroll Technician;
2 3) Delete 1.0 vacant full-time equivalent Human Resources Technician allocation in the Human Resources Department;
3 4) Add 2.0 full-time equivalent Payroll Technician positions to the Auditor-Controller’s Office;
4 5) Add 1.0 full-time equivalent Administrative Analyst I/II to the Auditor-Controller’s Office;
5 6) Provide authorization to the Director of Human Resources to make, if needed, any technical corrections to the authorized personnel allocations for the Human Resources Department and the Auditor-Controller’s Office;
6 7) Approve the related Budget Transfer (4/5 vote required to approve budget transfer document); and
7 8) Direct the Auditor-Controller to develop a service level agreement with the Director of Human Resources to reflect continued, uninterrupted services to County employees. (Est. Time: 10 Min.)
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Currently, the responsibilities for personnel actions and payroll processes and functions are divided between the Auditor-Controller’s Office and the Human Resources Department (HR). The Payroll Division of the Auditor-Controller’s Office (Payroll) interprets and identifies pays and deductions, and then calculates and assigns all pays and deductions to new and current County employees, ensuring that employees are paid timely and accurately. Human Resources staff reviews, authorizes and processes personnel actions (PAs), maintains the authorized personnel resolution for the County, and maintains personnel records for each County employee.
The implementation of the HR/Payroll module, which is scheduled to go-live in late 2018, presents an opportunity to reorganize the responsibilities for personnel action and payroll functions in order to create a more efficient and accurate process. In the early phases of the HR/Payroll module, it was anticipated that HR would retain existing responsibilities in the PA process, and some duties would transfer from Payroll to HR.
In anticipation of this transition, the Director of HR proposed to develop a Personnel Action Unit in HR to handle the current personnel action duties, understand and become the subject matter experts on the new, more complex payroll duties, provide technical support to other functional areas in HR such as risk management, labor and employee relations, and to provide a central point of contact for the Auditor-Controller’s Office-Payroll Division. This structure was approved by the Board of Supervisors June 5, 2018 (Legistar Item 18-0893; Resolution 113-2018), which included adding one additional HR Technician position (1.0 FTE, currently vacant).
On July 16, 2018, the Chief Administrative Officer, Auditor-Controller, Director of Human Resources, and Director of Information Technology met to discuss the HR /Payroll module of the FENIX system. The discussion concluded unanimous concern and agreement concerning the proposed bifurcation of payroll functions within two departments. In order to effectively perform Payroll functions, HR staff would not only need to have an in-depth understanding on how to navigate and manipulate the new FENIX system, but would also need to be able to interpret and identify pays and deductions and how they would be applied. Failure to have the required knowledge and capability to interpret and maintain the data to perform these duties would result in pay discrepancies for employees.
Given the proposed duties and responsibilities, HR recommends reallocating the vacant position Human Resources Technician positions (1.0 FTE) to a Payroll Technician and moving this position to the Auditor-Controller’s Office.
Referenced below is a list of duties and assignments that have been agreed upon by the Auditor-Controller’s Office and HR as it relates to personnel actions during the dual entry phase, as well as following the live implementation of the HR/Payroll module of the FENIX project.
The Auditor-Controller’s Office, Payroll Division will:
• Be the primary contact for employees, departments, and HR for PA related matters (transferred from HR)
• Be included in Neogov requisition approval path for all Acting assignments following HR Director for verification purposes
• Receive PAs directly from departments (transferred from HR)
• Review PAs for accuracy and adherence to applicable Memorandum of Understandings (MOU), Personnel Rules, Board of Supervisor policies, and laws prior to processing (transferred from HR)
o In the instance that there is conflicting information in any of the applicable MOU, policies, and/or laws, Payroll shall contact HR immediately for interpretation and guidance on how to proceed
• Enter PAs into FENIX in both the dual entry phase and live implementation
• Move PAs through workflow in FENIX, as determined applicable by Payroll
• Assign applicable pay codes in FENIX
• Authorize PAs for processing and payment
• Process automatic step increases as established by applicable MOUs (transferred from HR)
o Provide notification to departments and HR of completion
Human Resources will:
• Process and enter PAs (via PPF) into current mainframe system during the dual entry phase
• Process I-9s through E-Verify for newly hired employees
• Maintain I-9 documentation for all employees
• Maintain personnel files for all County employees
o Payroll shall provide HR with authorized PAs & supporting documentation for each County employee
• Maintain salary schedules in FENIX, as approved by the Board of Supervisors
• Maintain and audit position control for the County
• Maintain add/delete position allocations in FENIX, as approved by the Board of Supervisors
• Authorize and import Neogov Hire Personnel Action Forms into FENIX for newly hired employees
o This action creates a PA, which Payroll shall be responsible for completing
• Report AB 119 information to union representatives
• Notify departments of upcoming step increase eligibility for employees
• Notify departments of upcoming evaluations due to employees
• Provide reporting and notification to departments on Extra Help hours
• Provide reporting and notification to departments on employees vacation and sick leave accruals
• Provide reporting and notification to departments of employees in Acting Status and the amount of time spent in said status
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could decline to adopt the proposed reorganization and maintain the current personnel structure.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
Please see Discussion/Background.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Auditor-Controller’s Office
Human Resources Department
Department of Information Technologies
CAO RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Board approve this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The new Payroll Technician salary range is identical to the salary range for a Human Resources Technician. Due to the deletion of the HR Technician position, the approximate annual decrease in the Human Resources Department Salary and Benefits is $89,000. The Auditor-Controller's Office budget will increase by approximately $294,000, which accounts for two Payroll Technician Positions ($178,000) and the additional Administrative Analyst position ($116,000). The total estimated increase to General Fund cost is $205,000.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
Clerk of the Board to provide one (1) copy of the executed Resolution to Katie Lee in Human Resources and one (1) copy to Auditor-Controller’s Office.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Don Ashton, Chief Administrative Officer
Joe Harn, Auditor-Controller
Tameka Usher, Director of Human Resources