5 Tips for Creating an Engaging and Memorable Employee Onboarding Experience

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First impressions are important, and as an employee’s first introduction to their new workplace, the onboarding process is essential for integrating new hires into the company culture and ensuring they have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their job effectively. An engaging and memorable onboarding experience can have a significant impact on employee retention and productivity. Plus, with some studies suggesting that up to 33% of new hires quit within the first 90 days, it can be costly to get the onboarding experience wrong. To start new employees off on the right foot, we recommend the following:

  1. Start Before the First Day:
    Onboarding starts well before the first day of work. Send new hires a welcome email that includes information about their first day, what they should expect, and any materials they need to bring. Include a short video message from the hiring manager or team leader welcoming them to the team and outlining what they can expect in the coming days.
  2. Make It Personal:
    A personalized onboarding experience can go a long way in making new hires feel welcome and valued. Assign a mentor or buddy to each new hire who can answer any questions they may have and show them around the office. Consider personalizing the employee’s workstation with their name, favorite snacks, or a personalized note from their manager.
  3. Create a Comprehensive Onboarding Program:
    A comprehensive onboarding program should cover everything new hires need to know to be successful in their role. This includes the company culture, policies, procedures, and expectations. Consider breaking down the onboarding program into smaller modules or sections to make it more manageable for new hires.
  4. Encourage Interaction and Collaboration:
    Encourage new hires to interact with other team members and collaborate on projects or tasks. Consider setting up team-building activities or assigning new hires to cross-functional projects to help them get to know their colleagues and the company culture better.
  5. Provide Ongoing Support:
    Onboarding does not end after the first week or two. Provide ongoing support to new hires and check-in regularly to see how they are adjusting. Consider setting up a follow-up meeting with their mentor or team leader after the first month to discuss their progress and any areas they may need additional support.

An engaging and memorable onboarding experience is critical to employee retention and productivity. By starting before the first day, making it personal, creating a comprehensive program, encouraging interaction and collaboration, and providing ongoing support, you can create an effective onboarding experience that sets your new hires up for success. Remember, the goal of onboarding is to integrate new hires into the company culture and ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their job effectively. With these tips, you can create a successful onboarding experience that helps your new hires feel welcome and valued.

Winning the Talent Game by Prioritizing the Candidate Experience

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In today’s competitive job market, companies need to prioritize the candidate experience to attract and retain top talent. The candidate experience refers to a job seeker’s overall experience throughout the hiring process, from the job search to the interview and onboarding process. Come along with us as we explore why the candidate experience is important and provide tips for improving it.

Why is the Candidate Experience Important?

Attract Top Talent
In today’s digital age, job seekers have access to a wealth of information about companies and their hiring processes. A positive candidate experience can help set your company apart from the competition and attract top talent. Job seekers are more likely to apply for a position and accept an offer from a company that provides a positive candidate experience.

Build a Strong Employer Brand
A positive candidate experience can help build a strong employer brand. Candidates who have a positive experience are more likely to share their experience with others, both in person and on social media. This can help increase brand awareness and attract future candidates.

Increase Candidate Engagement
A positive candidate experience can help increase candidate engagement. Candidates who feel engaged are more likely to respond to follow-up communication and show up to interviews. This can help speed up the hiring process and ultimately lead to better hires.

Tips for Improving the Candidate Experience

Streamline the Application Process
Make sure the application process is straightforward and easy to navigate. This includes making the job posting clear and concise, allowing candidates to apply with their resume or LinkedIn profile, and keeping the application form short and simple.

Communicate Regularly
Candidates want to be kept in the loop throughout the hiring process. This includes acknowledging receipt of their application, updating them on the status of their application, and providing feedback after interviews.

Provide a Positive Interview Experience
Make sure the interview process is positive and engaging. This includes providing candidates with clear directions to the interview location, being on time for the interview, and making the candidate feel comfortable and welcome.

Personalize the Onboarding Process
Make sure the onboarding process is personalized to the candidate’s needs. This includes providing them with clear expectations, introducing them to their team and colleagues, and providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Attracting and retaining top talent starts with an excellent hiring process. By prioritizing the candidate experience, companies can build a strong employer brand, increase candidate engagement, and ultimately lead to better hires. By streamlining the application process, communicating regularly, providing a positive interview experience, and personalizing the onboarding process, companies can create a positive and engaging candidate experience that sets them apart from the competition.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Your UKG Software: Why Training is Key

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In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the need for advanced workforce management solutions has become more critical than ever before. UKG provides cutting-edge solutions for human capital management, workforce management, and payroll management, but with its vast capabilities, it is essential for businesses to invest in in-depth training to leverage its full potential and optimize their workforce management processes.

Here are some key reasons why in-depth training in UKG software is important for users:

Enhances Productivity and Efficiency
UKG software is designed to streamline workforce management processes and reduce the manual workload of HR departments. By providing in-depth training to users, businesses can ensure that their workforce is fully equipped to use the software’s advanced features and capabilities effectively. This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity and efficiency, as users will be able to perform their tasks quickly and accurately, without the need for constant supervision.

Ensures Compliance and Accuracy
UKG products come with built-in features that are designed to help businesses comply with various labor laws and regulations. However, to use these features effectively, users need to understand the intricacies of these regulations and how they apply to their specific business. In-depth training can help users understand these regulations and how to apply them within the software, ensuring compliance and accuracy in workforce management processes.

Provides Customization and Personalization
Both UKG Pro and UKG Dimensions are highly customizable and offer a range of personalization options, allowing businesses to tailor their workforce management processes to their specific needs. However, to take full advantage of these options, users must understand how to correctly configure the software’s settings and features. In-depth training can help users gain the knowledge and skills to customize the software to their business requirements.

Facilitates Continuous Learning
UKG provides frequent updates to ensure the software is constantly evolving to keep up with changing business needs and technologies. In-depth training can help users stay up-to-date with the latest software updates and features, enabling them to continuously improve their workforce management processes.

Improves User Satisfaction and Retention
In-depth training in UKG software can help users feel more confident and empowered in their roles, leading to increased job satisfaction. This, in turn, can lead to higher user retention rates, as users are more likely to stay with a company that invests in their professional development and provides them with the tools they need to succeed.

For these reasons and more, in-depth training in UKG software is essential for businesses looking to optimize their workforce management processes and stay ahead of the competition. By providing users with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the software’s advanced features, businesses can enhance productivity, ensure compliance and accuracy, customize and personalize their processes, facilitate continuous learning, and improve user satisfaction and retention.

Mosaic Consulting Group offers customized training options for businesses looking to fill knowledge gaps, advance their employees’ skill sets, and instill more confidence in their team. From job aides to webinars to one-on-one sessions, we can design a training program that fits your needs and helps you meet your goals. Contact us today to learn more.

The Revolution of Human Resources: The Role of AI in Transforming HR

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Human Resources (HR) is a critical function in any organization, responsible for managing the most valuable asset – people. Over the years, HR has evolved from being merely an administrative function to a strategic partner that aligns with an organization’s goals and helps drive business success. And one of the key drivers of this evolution is the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into HR processes. AI is transforming the landscape of HR, revolutionizing how organizations manage their workforce, and unlocking new possibilities for optimizing talent management.

AI is a branch of computer science that enables machines to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and learning. In the HR realm, AI is being leveraged to streamline and automate processes, make data-driven decisions, and enhance employee experience, resulting in improved efficiency, productivity, and overall organizational performance.

Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Recruitment and talent acquisition are critical HR functions that consume significant time and resources. AI has transformed this process by automating various aspects of recruitment, such as resume screening, candidate shortlisting, and interview scheduling. AI-powered algorithms can analyze resumes and job applications, identify qualified candidates based on predefined criteria, and shortlist the most suitable candidates for further consideration. AI can also analyze data from various sources, such as social media, to gain insights into a candidate’s skills, experience, and cultural fit with the organization.

Moreover, AI has also facilitated the use of chatbots and virtual assistants to enhance candidate engagement and provide personalized experiences. Chatbots can handle routine inquiries, provide information about job openings, and guide candidates through the application process, saving HR professionals valuable time and effort.

Employee Onboarding and Engagement
AI has also played a significant role in improving employee onboarding and engagement. AI-powered platforms can provide personalized onboarding experiences to new hires, ensuring they receive the necessary training and resources to quickly become productive in their roles. AI can also facilitate continuous learning and development by recommending relevant training programs and resources based on an employee’s job role, interests, and performance.

AI has also enabled organizations to monitor employee engagement levels through sentiment analysis and feedback analysis. AI algorithms can analyze data from employee surveys, feedback forms, and social media to gauge employee satisfaction, identify areas of concern, and recommend interventions to enhance employee engagement and retention.

Performance Management and Predictive Analytics
Performance management is a critical HR process that involves setting goals, providing feedback, and evaluating employee performance. AI has revolutionized performance management by enabling real-time monitoring of employee performance, providing feedback based on data-driven insights, and facilitating continuous performance improvement.

AI-powered performance management tools can analyze data from various sources, such as employee performance metrics, feedback from peers and managers, and customer feedback, to generate insights and recommendations. These insights can help organizations identify high-potential employees, address performance gaps, and align individual performance with organizational goals.

Furthermore, AI has also enabled predictive analytics in HR, allowing organizations to make data-driven decisions about workforce planning, succession planning, and talent retention. AI algorithms can analyze historical data, such as employee turnover, performance, and engagement, to identify patterns and trends and provide insights for strategic workforce planning.

Ethical Considerations and Challenges
While AI has transformed HR processes and improved organizational performance, there are ethical considerations and challenges that need to be addressed. Some of the key ethical considerations include ensuring fairness, transparency, and bias-free decision-making in AI algorithms. Bias in AI algorithms can result in discriminatory practices, such as biased hiring decisions, and can perpetuate existing inequalities in the workplace.

Organizations need to be mindful of the ethical implications of using AI in HR processes and take steps to mitigate bias and ensure transparency. This includes regular auditing and monitoring of AI algorithms, training data that is diverse and representative, and employing techniques like explainable AI, where the decision-making process of AI algorithms can be understood and explained. Additionally, organizations should also ensure that employees are aware of the use of AI in HR processes and have mechanisms in place to address any concerns or grievances.

Another challenge of integrating AI in HR is the potential for job displacement. As AI automates certain HR tasks, there may be concerns about job loss for HR professionals. However, organizations can proactively address this by reskilling and upskilling HR staff to adapt to the changing landscape and focus on higher-value tasks that require human expertise, such as strategic planning, employee relations, and ethical decision-making.

The Future of HR with AI
The role of AI in HR is continuously evolving, and the future holds immense potential. As technology advances, we can expect further integration of AI in HR processes, leading to even more efficient and data-driven HR practices. Here are some potential areas where AI can shape the future of HR:

Employee Experience: AI can personalize employee experiences by leveraging data to provide tailored learning and development opportunities, personalized feedback, and customized benefits packages.

Employee Well-being: AI can help organizations monitor and improve employee well-being by analyzing data on health and wellness, and providing recommendations for promoting employee wellness programs.

Talent Analytics: AI can enable organizations to make data-driven decisions about talent acquisition, development, and retention by analyzing large amounts of data and providing insights and recommendations for strategic workforce planning.

Employee Relations: AI can assist in employee relations by analyzing employee sentiment and feedback data to identify areas of concern, predict employee turnover risk, and provide recommendations for improving employee relations and engagement.

Diversity and Inclusion: AI can help organizations address diversity and inclusion challenges by analyzing data for bias and discrimination, and providing insights and recommendations for creating inclusive and diverse workplaces.

Conclusion
AI is revolutionizing HR by automating processes, providing data-driven insights, and enhancing employee experiences. It is helping HR professionals become strategic partners in driving organizational success by leveraging the power of data and technology. However, it is crucial to address ethical considerations, ensure transparency, and proactively manage the potential impact on the workforce. The future of HR with AI holds immense potential, and organizations that embrace this technology will be better positioned to thrive in the ever-evolving world of work. With responsible and ethical use, AI has the potential to transform HR and create a more efficient, data-driven, and employee-centric approach to talent management.

5 Reasons Why Change Management Consulting is Essential for Your UKG Software Experience

  1. User adoption: The success of any software implementation depends on user adoption. If employees do not embrace the new software and use it as intended, it can result in a failed implementation. Change management helps ensure that employees are properly trained and prepared for the new software, which can increase user adoption and ultimately lead to better outcomes.

    2. Process changes: Implementing new software often requires changes to existing processes. Without proper change management, these changes may not be communicated effectively, and employees may not understand why they are being asked to change their processes. This can lead to resistance to change and even sabotage the new software. Change management can help ensure that process changes are communicated effectively and that employees understand why they are necessary.

    3. Mitigating risks: Implementing new software can introduce new risks to the organization, such as data security or compliance risks. Change management can help identify these risks and develop mitigation plans, reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes.

    4. Maximizing benefits: Change management can help ensure that the implementation of UKG software is successful and that the organization realizes the full benefits of the new software. Organizations can minimize disruption by managing the change process effectively and ensuring a smooth transition to the new software.

    5. Change management is crucial to any software implementation, including UKG software. It can help ensure that employees are prepared for the change, processes are communicated effectively, risks are mitigated, and the organization realizes the full benefits of the new software.

    We would be delighted to discuss your specific needs and how our services can help you achieve your goals. Please click here to schedule a discovery call to explore this further.We look forward to hearing from you!

Adapting Your Open Enrollment to Today’s Workforce

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So much has changed in the year 2020 that even yearly business processes, like Open Enrollment, have to adapt to meet our team’s needs. With employees working remotely one of the biggest, and often overlooked, changes that companies need to consider is updating (or sometimes creating) their internal communication strategy to fit their workforce. Open Enrollment highlights a challenge that many companies are faced with today, how do you effectively communicate with an entire team who no longer reports to one central location? The short answer to this question is: proactively.

Watch the recording of our webinar covering this topic in more detail:

Click here to download the slides used during this presentation
Click here to read our blog – UKG Pro Open Enrollment: Simplified.

Communicating During Open Enrollment:

Keeping your team well informed on what their options are for Open Enrollment and when your sessions are open is crucial, and although this year it may need to look a little different it does not have to be any less effective.

Start your process by identifying your team and making sure you are all prepared for a smooth UKG Pro Open Enrollment. There are certain aspects of Open Enrollment configuration that are vital and should not be overlooked, see our blogs on Open Enrollment: Simplified and Best Practices for Effectively Managing Open Enrollment for more information around UKG Pro Core Open Enrollment.

Once your team decides on when you will hold your open enrollment session(s) it is time to schedule a presentation to communicate with your broader audience. This presentation is your opportunity to communicate everything open enrollment with your employees, so make sure that your open enrollment team recognizes how important it is. Start by identifying who will be the presenter, and then make sure the whole team supports them in their efforts to deliver a concise and relevant presentation that covers the appropriate content.

When scheduling when your team will deliver the presentation to your whole team, we recommend scheduling multiple presentations at varying times and on different days. Doing this will consider anyone who may be on vacation time or on a different shift. Try to schedule these presentations far in advance and get them on people’s calendars early, but remember, once you put something on a corporate calendar try as hard as you can not to move it. Rescheduling meetings can give the impression that your team is not prepared, even if that’s not the case.

Although the presentation you are preparing is extremely important, there are more supporting documents you should consider preparing to ensure your employees have everything they need to successfully complete their open enrollment sessions. These documents include:

  1. An invitation: A formal invitation letting your team know when the information sessions will be held for open enrollment. The invitations should be clear and include important information such as open enrollment dates as well as who to contact should they have any questions.
  2. Reminders: Remind your team of when the information sessions will take place, make sure they know that they can choose which one to attend and remind them of the type of information you will be going over. Use your existing communication tools to remind your team about this often, use #slack, e-mail, intranet pages and company huddles or meetings to remind your team to make sure every employee knows what to expect.
  3. A Presentation: The actual slides that your presenter will use are important, avoid the temptation of filling each slide with information, that will detract from the actual presentation. Instead, use the slides to communicate important points. Your presentation should begin and end with who your team can contact if they run in to any issues or have any questions about their sessions.
  4. “Benefits at a Glance” Document: This document should review your employee’s benefits and their different options in a concise way. At Mosaic, this document is also used during orientation, it’s a great way for employees to see all the benefits provided by your company in one central location. We also recommend modeling costs of common medical needs across your plans for an example; if you can show your employees what they would pay if they have a baby or break a leg, they will be able to make the best decisions for them and their families.
  5. An FAQ Document: An Frequently Asked Questions document is a great way to stay proactive. Your Open Enrollment team has probably been involved in this process before, ask them to think back to previous years, what questions do they have to answer every year? What information are employees always looking for? Use that data and put together a document to answer their questions before they even ask them!
  6. Follow-up: It is still important to follow-up with your team after your presentations. Make sure your follow-up includes a recording of your presentation as well as the slides you used during your presentation. Your follow-up should be before your open enrollment sessions close, so that your employees have time to review their options and make their elections.
  7. Office Hours: Finally, you should consider holding open office hours, communicate with your team when you are available to answer their questions and keep a line open for them to contact you during that time. This will make sure your team feels supported during this process and although they cannot come by your office to ask questions, they will still have a way to communicate with you in case they need any assistance.

With these assets prepared you will not only be able to keep your open enrollment project team on the same page but also ensure your entire team is prepared to complete their elections and have a smooth open enrollment experience.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

A Strategic Focus On Payroll

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A Strategic Focus on Payroll

Let’s be honest, the expectation of payroll is that it can be nothing but perfect; every.single.time. Every person expects payroll to be on time and accurate. Often, the perception of the impact of payroll stops there, and we believe that is a missed opportunity.

Payroll can influence and impact a company at every level. For a payee something as simple as speed of pay can impact their entire experience within a company and their families. Implementing methods to give employees more control over that speed, like pay on demand, can have a huge impact on their personal lives. On the other hand, a CEO should consider the cost of getting payroll out the door, as well as how it helps retain and recruit top talent. Leveraging technology, optimization and new strategies can help elevate payroll professionals to the point where they become agents of change, dedicated to their team’s experience and completely aligned with their organization’s strategy and health.

Watch the video recording of our webinar on this topic below:

Click here to download the slides used during our presentation

As simple as paying people on time and accurately sounds, payroll is actually quite complex. People depend on their pay and one negative experience with an employee’s paycheck is difficult to recover from. An error can carry a perception that the organization is disorganized and doesn’t care.

With all this in mind, it is surprising that many organizations still perceive payroll as a back-office or “overhead team” who needs to simply get people paid on time and accurately.

Payroll in and of itself is more than just hours times rate of pay or a per pay period amount. Employers are tax collectors for the state, federal and local governments. Every time one of these agencies (and there are hundreds) makes a change there is a downstream impact on an organization’s team. Many employees don’t even realize that moving, even one street over, can have an effect on their paychecks. Let’s factor in benefits and deductions to pay such as garnishments, philanthropic contributions and commuting expenses! Is it before tax after tax and where do all these deduction monies go?  Who is sending them and when?  Payroll has so many moving pieces that extend well beyond gross to net calculations.

These activities are all heavily scrutinized and require a body of talent focused on accuracy, compliance, risk and most importantly delivering a perfect employee experience by simply… processing pay PERFECTLY EVERY TIME.

Attention and significant importance must be put on payroll within every organization. Payroll is not a set it and forget it function, it must evolve just as any other business activity to ensure your organization remains risk adverse and supports the organization’s overall business strategies. While processing payroll perfectly and timely is key; having a payroll strategy is a differentiator, ensuring you are optimizing your payroll procedure and systems, retaining your talent and influencing organizational success.

Click here to view our payroll optimization case study. Where Mosaic experts helped our client align their payroll processes to the company’s overarching strategy.

How can I start implementing a payroll strategy?

Start by asking simple questions. Look for ways to reduce complexity and increase efficiency. Pay groups and pay frequencies are often areas that once they are established are overlooked; and these can have a significant impact on an organization’s bottom line and drivers to greater efficiency. As you think about things like pay groups and pay frequencies consider other things that are unique to your organization. Are there any old processes that need to be revisited?

You can also consider and leverage technology and services that are available to optimize your payroll. In UKG Pro, for example, you could consider:

  • Activating employee self-service and workflows: They are a great way to improve accuracy, efficiency and streamline your environment. Some examples include enabling, adding or changing direct deposits or tax changes.
  • Manager self-service: Is a great way to speed up job changes and pay changes, reducing the need for calculating retroactive payments.
  • Job aids: Depending on what automation you already have established, now might be a good time to create job aids to help new employees that come on board get familiar with your environment.
  • UKG Pro Mobile: Can be another way of giving employees immediate access to their information right from their smartphone virtually anywhere!
  • Automation: Are your payroll deductions being automatically sent to the appropriate vendors or agencies? For example: Retirement plans and garnishments. With Automation, not only do you reduce the risk of timely deposits, you also remove any human omissions, errors and manual effort.
  • GL file optimization: Is your GL File automated? Does it require a lot of manual manipulation? We’ve published a full blog on GL File Optimization that could help you get started.
  • Consider instant pay: Pay on demand, or instant pay, is when an employee can access part of their earned salary on demand. This emerging service, which in many cases has no cost to the organization, is helping companies improve their employee experience. Contact us to learn more.
  • Custom BI Reporting: Mosaic offers custom reports including the Mosaic Payroll Dashboard. This dashboard it allows the strategic payroll team to serve up information to management and executive teams that showcase things like: exceptions to pay, a dynamic earnings trend chart, pay period activity with detailed drill down capabilities, PTO balances, pre-check statistics and payroll process progress monitoring, just to name a few. This type of information is often discussed at the leadership level, but not often served up proactively by payroll. This information can really make a difference and allows for more informed decision making.

Feel free to contact us today with any questions about our services.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

5 Keys To Unlocking Year End

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It’s that time of year again – time to prep for year end. Year End can be a hectic time for you and your team but UKG Pro has the tools you need to stay on track and make this the smoothest year end yet. In the past, we’ve covered The Many Moving Parts of a Successful Year End and we’ve also presented you with tips on how to Simplify Your Year End. This year, we are going to dive in to the 5 Keys to Unlocking Year End.

Watch the recording of our webinar on this topic here:

Click here to download the slides used during the webinar

Key One – Make sure your system is set up for 2019.

It may seem counterintuitive but first, look back, not forward. Make sure your UKG Pro system is set up for the current year. Year End is your last chance to make sure that everything is set up properly.  First, review every location that had payroll in 2019 for an active tax ID – federal, state, local, and unemployment.

Next, ensure all employees have a valid Social Security numberby running a BI query with employee name, number, and Social Security number. Things to monitor:

  1. Social Security numbers do NOT start with a “9”.Taxpayer IDs can start with “9”, but they are not valid SSN numbers for employment.
  2. Social Security numbers will not have sequential zeroes in one section.Of the three sections in a social security number: three digits / two digits / four digits there are no cards where one of those sections is all zeroes.

The next step is to run a report out of BI to check W4s for the year. Check for:

  • Blocked: In UKG Pro, blocked means that an employee marked “Exempt” on the W4 form, and no income tax is being withheld, but their wages are still being reported to the IRS. In this case, the employee will need to submit a new W4 form by February 15, 2020 in order to keep this exemption.
  • Exempt: an employee marked as exempt in this report is earning wages not being reported to the IRS, and taxes are not being withheld. The only employees eligible for this are employees on certain types of work visas.
  • Finally, check employees with Lock In Letters. This is a letter from the IRS that requires you to set the employee’s withholding in a specific way. Review these and ensure they are still in effect.

The last thing to check in this key is is primary location assignment. This is especially important if you implemented UKG Pro this year, or you had an acquisition and brought in openingbBalances for the year. This is something that can be missed and, if you didn’t process any payroll for the employee in 2019, it would not be caught. Until you tried to print W2s, that is.

Key Two – Plan for All the Printing

If you are planning on printing your forms in-house, you must order supplies in advance. These forms are dated, so be sure to order enough forms to print one for every employee who did not opt out of a printed form (including terminations), plus extra for overflow pages, paper jams, and running out of toner (we recommend around +10%).

Key Three – Validate Everything

Your tax reconciliations should be performed after every payroll. For Year End, you will need to rerun them for each quarter and for the quarter to date. Note  any corrections that need to be made (i.e. moving wages from one state to another). The most important thing to look for are FICA taxes that are incorrect and do not offset on the next check.

Next, you must validate your year end tables and run the W2 summary. Compare the W2 summary to the Wage Summary report – these numbers should match, as they pull from the same tables, so if they don’t, there is a problem.

Use the Payroll Balancing Worksheet to doublecheck your numbers. You can find this in the customer support portal of your UKG Pro Instance.

Key Four – Prepare for 2020.

At the opening of your first payroll of 2020, UKG Pro will update some settings automatically — tax rates, annual limits for things like 401(k) and FSA contributions — But there are still a few things to review to ensure the first payroll of 2020 runs smoothly.

First, update the 2020company holidays table. Include any bank holidays that will impact your payroll calendar. Why?  You cannot run payroll on a bank holiday, so putting those in the system will allow UKG Pro to automatically adjust your payroll calendar for 2020 by moving any paydays on holidays to the day before or after.

Next, extend your pay calendar for 2020. This needs to be done before you can open that first 2020 payroll.

At this point, we recommend publishing an internal payroll calendar. Click here to download an example calendar. This is a 2020 calendar with important payroll dates on it, for example, the last day to make changes, the day the time is extracted from the timekeeping system, and the day payroll is posted.

Year End is a good time to clean up your deduction and earning codes. If you have codes you aren’t using, mark them inactive and if you have codes that you know aren’t set up right, or are missing, take this time to fix them or add them to make 2020 as smooth as possible.

Key Five – Relax – you’ve got this.

Lastly, take a deep breath and know that you can do this! Year End can seem daunting, but you have plenty of time. If you get stuck or confused, contact Mosaic today! We are happy to help you make Year End a non-event.

Note: UKG Pro was formerly Ultipro.

Open Enrollment: Simplified

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UltiPro offers you a variety of tools to help make open enrollment easier for your HR and payroll team. Whether you have an employee population of 30 or 30,000, the basic tenets of open enrollment are the same: develop a good attack plan and start early! Essential steps of your strategic plan for Open Enrollment include:

  • Having the right people to have on your team (and when to involve them)
  • Advance planning and scheduling
  • Tools from Ultimate and how to use them
  • A comprehensive OE checklist to guide the team’s efforts
  • Proper configuration; data management; and reporting

Watch our webinar on this topic here: 

To download the slides used during the webinar on this topic, click here

The Right People at the Right Time

Your Open Enrollment team should include the following roles:

  • System administrator – to configure the business rules and the OE session(s)
  • Benefits administrator – who will confirm benefits start and stop dates
  • Payroll administrator – who will confirm pay period dates.

These roles do not need to be assigned to three separate people, as long as these critical functions are represented on your OE planning team. Also important are testers, to provide a dry run on your OE sessions from the end users’ point of view and identify potential confusion or errors so you can make necessary tweaks in the process.

Advance Planning is Critical

The key to a smooth OE process is to start early! If your OE process is during Q4, as many are, you should be starting the planning process in late Q2 or early Q3, to finalize as many details about the process as possible, and begin advance communication to other departments who will serve as your partners in the process. Let them know what their part is and what you will need from them, and when.

Make the Most of What Ultimate Offers You

Ultimate’s toolkit provides guided tours, checklists and reports that walk you through all critical and post-open enrollment activities, and are vital for a successful open enrollment. Your project team should review the toolkit together. The toolkit covers planning; analysis and configuration; configuration and testing; final preparation; go-live; monitoring; and post-open enrollment.

Reports, Configuration and Data Management

Ultimate offers several standard reports in the web and through business intelligence (BI) that can help your HR team before, during and after Open Enrollment. Standard reports include:

  • Enrollment status
  • Dependents beyond qualifying age
  • Employees with benefit group changes
  • COBRA dropped dependents
  • Summary of elections
  • Employees with pending evidence of insurability

Be sure to review all your open enrollment custom reports from the prior year to make sure all data is complete, both for your internal team and your OE vendor(s). It’s very important to run reports before OE to be proactive with customer reports and vendor file feeds. Running reports for data validation (missing or invalid employee benefit data) can catch date discrepancies that can cause errors in the OE session for employees.

Before configuring your OE session, be sure to review and update all business rules that affect OE: deduction/benefit groups and types; dedication/benefit plans; benefit options, and relationships (spouse or child(ren)).

A critical piece of OE is the pending effective date. Use the Pending Effective Date Estimator to determine rates and when employees will be able to view their elections. Once the pending effective date is configured in your OE session, you may not make changes without deleting the contents of the session – which means you’ll need to reconfigure the entire session.

Decide if you will administer active open enrollment, which requires employees to elect/re-elect (or turn down) coverage, or passive open enrollment, which automatically re-enrolls employees, unless they make changes in their coverage. Mosaic recommends an active OE which requires employees to re-elect benefits, but passive OE is right for some companies, based on the size and type of employee population (with the exception of FSAs, which require employees to re-enroll every year).

New Features

Ultimate now provides the option to copy OE sessions from one year to the next, to save manual rekeying of information and the need to reconfigure information if your OE session has not changed significantly from year to year, and reduce potential data errors during configuration. Other new features include deduction/benefit groups page enhancements, which allows administrators to apply mass updates and change start and stop dates for OE sessions, and the option to delete OE sessions in an incomplete status – such as incorrectly configured or unnecessary sessions.

Want to learn more about how to plan and execute a stress-free, successful OE session?

Contact us today

UKG Pro Integrations: Files, Data and API’s, Oh My!

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Employee-related expenses (salaries, benefits, taxes, etc.) comprise up to 70% of a company’s total operating expenses – which makes leveraging HR technology to make informed business decisions imperative. HR, Finance, and Operations leaders’ ability to use data effectively to move the business forward depends on having a reliable central source for company data, and the ability to seamlessly update and ensure data integrity, in concert, across many different technology platforms.

For many companies, UKG Pro serves as the “system of record” for most employee and organizational data, making it the best and most reliable source to feed systems, vendors, and processes. Integrations help maintain data integrity in internal and external sources, using UKG Pro as the source of truth, for improved accuracy, security, efficiency, compliance, and decision-making.

Watch the recording of our webinar on this topic:

Click here to download the slides used during this webinar.

Why Use Integrations?

Integrations help systems to interact, working with consistent, accurate data among the multiple systems to make informed decisions. Integrations have many benefits, such as enhancing the user experience, improving processes by consolidating data to make it more consumable/actionable, and limiting manual work for your payroll, HR, IT and accounting staff. UKG Pro integrations help free your team of mundane and repeatable tasks to focus on more global and meaningful aspects of your business: your people, your strategy, and the bottom line.

Integrations help data flow from UKG Pro to other systems and to vendors who use employee data to support your company, such as:

  • New hire set-up from your recruiting and applicant tracking system to UKG Pro
  • Hardware procurement and set-up and IT access for new hires
  • Keeping time clock and scheduling system up to date
  • Sending 401(k) demographics and contribution information to a vendor
  • Revoking facility access of an employee upon termination

Which Integration(s) Are Right For Me?

There are many types of integrations to import data into UKG Pro from an external source or to push data out of UKG Pro. Determining the type of integration to deploy will depend on many factors, including:

  • Data fields to be sent/received to/from other system(s)
  • Frequency of the data exchange
  • Resources available (IT resources, staff availability, staff experience)
  • Priority, sensitivity, and security of data being exchanged
  • Restrictions/Capabilities of the UKG Pro integration methods
  • Capabilities and data transfer methods available with external system(s)

In addition to these factors, we recommend a quick review of your business processes to help identify opportunities for an integration.

Integrations can also address security or compliance vulnerabilities. Automatically generating and sending general ledger files to the GL system eliminates the opportunity for manual manipulation the GL files. (manual manipulation of GL files has been used to cover up fraudulent payroll activities.)

An Overview of Various UKG Pro Integrations

UKG provides many methods and tools for integrating UKG Pro with other systems and platforms. Most common integrations fall in the following categories:

  • Web Services/Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) – UKG Pro’s Web Services and APIs are commonly used for integrating with recruiting/applicant tracking systems, Active Directory, and global third party pay, or directly to systems with built-in API functionality. An API runs on an application server – which can be hosted and maintained by your internal IT department, or you may choose cloud-hosted API platforms (such as Cloud Connectors, Mulesoft, or Informatica). You can find documentation on UKG Pro APIs at connect.ultipro.com/documentation#/api.
  • SQL Framework Interfaces – These are custom exports or imports that are built upon UKG’s defined development framework. While these types of interfaces are customized to your (or your vendor’s) specific requirements, they are programmed in a standard method which ensures compatibility with future UKG Pro upgrades. SQL interfaces typically generate text files to send to the system or vendor, and they can be automated to run periodically or run based on triggers (such as payroll close). Common SQL interfaces are 401K Contributions, medical files, HSA/FSA contributions, General Ledger files, and NACHA files.
  • Ultimate Carrier Network (UCN) Interfaces – A UCN interface is an export built and maintained by UKG for a select few large benefits vendors. If the benefit vendor is available as UCN, these interfaces are very cost-effective.
  • Web Import Tool – The web import tool provides a platform for importing data into UKG Pro from third-party systems or files that you develop and controlling the flow of data into UKG Pro Core Web, either manually or automatically.
  • Backoffice Imports/Exports – Backoffice imports and exports are built as templates that allow mapping and logic to create a repeatable process for importing or exporting data into or out of UKG Pro. Common use cases include:  time clock imports, GL exports, and bank NACHA files.

Ultimately, integrations help UKG Pro stay in sync with other applications, vendors, processes and services to improve efficiency, reduce vulnerabilities for fraud and abuse, and help company leaders make more strategic, informed decisions.

Note: UKG was formerly Ultimate Software. UKG Pro was formerly UltiPro.