Archdiocese Simplifies HR & Payroll Among Parishes

The Challenge

With more than 160 entities requiring payroll services, each with a unique pay structure - from part-time teachers to musicians who play once a month to camp counselors and coaches to clergy - there was no cookie cutter time and labor solution that would work for the Archdiocese. The lean team spent hours every single day answering questions and troubleshooting payroll issues. Director of Human Resources Tara McGranaghan explains, “we have employees who have been running payroll for decades with a paper system.”

No one-size-fits-all approach would work for these 100+ individual entities, so the HR team at the Archdiocesan level has to be a jack-of-all-trades to understand the needs of each one. They each have a sense of legacy and history. “I think one of our biggest challenges would be training,” says Archdiocese HR Consultant Michelle Scheibner. “While we have common processes for things like payroll and benefit classes, there are things that are unique to each entity making any kind of turnover feel like starting over. We have to make sure that they have the understanding and the resources so that the knowledge and experience isn’t lost when someone leaves.”

The Approach

When the Archdiocese turned to Paylocity for their HR and payroll solution, they found a partner who was not only equipped to handle their unique structure but one that already had a specialized service team dedicated solely to Archdiocese clients. The Diocese support team at Paylocity is familiar with the challenges common with these types of organizations and how to help support, and proactively anticipate issues before they arise. Since the team works with a number of Archdioceses and Dioceses across the country, they can share best practices or help troubleshoot issues that are unique to this client setup.

“Having a service team member who was familiar with our structure was critical,” says Accounting Manager Janet McGraw. “Just understanding how priests are set up - it's different than a regular employee - and to have knowledge of taxation is great [in terms of customer support]. It’s also helpful that they understand some of the terminology used within a diocese.”

Sense of community is woven in the very fabric of an Archdiocese whose mission is to support their local neighborhoods. Fostering a sense of collaboration and helping others prosper is near and dear, so it makes sense to have a partner who values the same. “Our account manager is fabulous at sharing ideas,” says Tara. “When we get stumped, nine times out of 10, somebody else has faced it. And maybe it's just a little bit different, but it gives us a starting point to rethink how to possibly fix the problem.” Janet agrees, “Paylocity knows how the system works, and they learned our business, and we just don't know what we don't know when it comes to system capabilities. They help us work through it, and there is always an opportunity or a solution. That’s really big for us.”

Collaboration within the Archdiocese is also made possible by Community, Paylocity's social collaboration and communications tool. Every entity is on Community and announcements can be sent out through the platform directly to employees’ mobile devices.

Employees from each entity are able to clock in and out from their mobile device, easing the burden of managing different time clock needs. The Archdiocese recently activated the Onboarding solution which allows information to flow directly from the Recruiting module into new hire paperwork and Payroll. “From our perspective, using Onboarding with Payroll has been so much better than the way we had to do things previously,” says Michelle. “So that's huge, especially in the summertime when we hire a hundred camp counselors at a time!”

The Results

With Paylocity’s dedicated Diocese service team, Janet, Tara, and Michelle have been able to take their days back. The number of emails and phone calls received daily asking for help from the entities used to be endless. The number of questions have dropped significantly. If they're ever stumped, they can rely on the Paylocity support team to have the answer. This gives them back valuable time to focus on more strategic priorities. Michelle says, “having a dedicated team that understands how we are set up and nuances is really important.” Janet agrees, “we would have at least 50 or so emails regarding payroll every day and an equal number of phone calls that needed support and time. Now, we can focus on other tasks and that time is invaluable.”

Metrics and tracking are critical for driving decisions, and Paylocity’s reporting features allow the team to take a deep dive with the push of a button. Michelle says, “I use a lot of the standard reports, but recently I've started getting comfortable with creating my own. I like that the majority of the fields in the system are reportable.” Even more exciting is just how much potential the reporting offers. "I don't think we've even scratched the surface with reporting," Tara says. "There's so much it can do - especially building reports for internal needs and sending reports to entities. I’m excited to see where we can go with reporting.”

Having a partner for support has saved the team time, but having a partner in the trenches to help navigate HR challenges with their unique business has been an unexpected perk. “I sleep better on the nights before payroll now,” says Janet. “Now there are less headaches. Our life and work-life are better since the switch to Paylocity.”