Employee Plan Engagement Soars After Community College Modernises Payroll and Retirement Systems

This client is a popular, two-campus technical college located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Its human resources team recognised it lacked clear, consistent process documentation and cohesive systems, which led to inaccurate record-keeping and an inconsistent employee experience. For example, employees across various job classifications, such as exempt, non-exempt and union, found it difficult to understand their eligibility for retirement plans. What’s more, the client had recently implemented a new core human resources information systems (HRIS) platform with Oracle, which conflicted with its historical employee records and downstream systems.

Recognising the need for change, the client engaged Protiviti to refine its Total Rewards programmes, including payroll, health, and retirement plans.

From bottlenecks and redundancies to workable solutions

Protiviti began by reviewing the policies, processes, and documentation for the college’s payroll, health and retirement/pension programmes to find bottlenecks and redundancies. This included conducting a comprehensive payroll audit to assess and verify the accuracy of pay withholdings. The client’s Health Benefits Administration was also studied to check its compliance with healthcare regulations and industry standards.

The payroll audit uncovered numerous gaps in pay practices, which were then fixed and built into the client’s new HRIS system and operating procedures. We then developed custom pay calculators to validate future payroll calculations and audits. Additionally, we developed and introduced standard operating procedures establishing easy-to-understand, repeatable desktop processes for staff responsible for delivery of the college’s payroll, health and retirement/pension operations which positively impacted worker engagement across the team.

Protiviti then created retirement process maps, which gave employees better insight into their retirement programme eligibility while new training guides simultaneously supported training new HR staff. All of these programme delivery improvements aimed to positively impact the employee experience.

Delivering A+ results

The work performed by both Protiviti and the client’s HR team during this project quickly began to deliver results. The payroll system saw significant changes, with automated processes reducing manual entry by 40 percent. This sped up the payroll cycle and reduced errors, ensuring employees received their pay on time and accurately.

The administration of health benefits was improved with an integrated platform that simplified enrollment and claims management, leading to a 30 percent increase in employee engagement with the client’s health plans, in turn driving better utilisation and healthier outcomes.

The retirement and pension programmes saw improvements too, with clear investment strategies and communication channels. This led to a 25 percent increase in participation rates, showing a workforce more confident in the college's commitment to its future.

Financially, the college benefited from Protiviti's work. Process efficiencies led to annual cost savings of 15 percent, freeing up funds for educational initiatives and campus improvements. The college also saw a decrease in compliance risks, protecting its reputation and avoiding potential penalties.