share.triangle.com - State payroll system - Comments

Training

beaconofhope — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:52:02 -0500

I am going to speak as another manager. The Timekeeping portion of Beacon is great. The other part that is great is that policy is more enforced.

Since policy is written into the system, everyone is following the same policy.

The issues occur when the position settings are not correct and that is handled by the HR Departments. We have 4 timekeepers posting the time for 2000+ staff and only about 2% of any pay problems have been due to timekeeping input. The other 98% of problems have been due to incorrect position settings and once HR corrected them, the pay issue is corrected.

I think the majority of the issues come from the staff who were used to bilking the state out of money they weren't owed in the first place. Now policy is keeping that from happening.

Now, with all that said, I don't think Beacon is perfect. The support has not been good and they make changes without contacting the people they should be contacting. But once we go through the "growing pains" of a new system, it should calm down. It is understandable that people don't like change but you might as well calm down and work within the system we have because it is not going to go away.

bgk1988

beaconofhope — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:25:48 -0500

You are exactly right. The reason there have been pay issues have nothing to do with Timekeeping. The settings that Human Resources puts into the system determines how you are paid based on your position. Timekeeping only post the time as you turn it in to them. We have found that at least 98% of any pay issues has been due to incorrect settings in HR on the position.

When that happens, there is nothing Timekeeping can do to change that.

Answer to Twoisbetter

beaconofhope — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:20:22 -0500

That has always been the policy, it was just not enforced because the old system didn't handle it correctly. If you do not make 40 physical hours, that is, you are in body at work, you can not get comp time. So that time that you worked over has to go to pay back the time off to make you have 40 hours.

Simple to understand....you can NOT make overtime/comp time until you have been at work for over 40 hours. This is in compliance with all wage laws.

Beacon is a Mess

daydreemer45 — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:15:23 -0500

I work for Central Regional Hospital and I have experienced nothing but disgust since this payroll system came into place. Last year they were deleting thousands of dollars out of my paychecks. I did speak with Robert Powell the state controller who really did make an effort to help me. He referred me to Wendy Griffin, payroll manager from Best Shared Services. She personally worked on my paycheck issues for months and corrected the problem. I was given an off cycle check from Beacon last July for $4200. This month a whole new story begins and the drama not getting paid correctly begins. I was informed that I was over paid last July for the amount of $1292. and $1548 was taken out of my check. There is no supported documentation to prove this either, A spreadsheet was sent to me that does not m,ake any sense. It does not have the hours that I worked, nor the shift diff. I have that information to prove that I was paid accordingly. Now what.? I have to get frustrated again and get to the point that I get so angry about this situation. Futhermore I found out today that HR had a list of employees that were going to be affected by not getting paid Jan 1st and did not tell them. There needs to be a law suit against Beacon. I am tired of trying to figure out my pay stub and wondering if I am getting paid correctly and wondering if and when they are planning on taking money away from me that does not belong to them. Beacon needs to go.

Pay Issues

bgk1988 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:48:55 -0500

While I agree with gehenderson to a point, keying in time and using incorrect codes is not the only reason for pay issues. I have experienced situations where the job class was set up incorrectly by "beacon" or a position type changed and the triggers for certain types of pay were not changed to match the new type thus not allowing the system to pay the employee correctly. These types of issues are difficult to track down by the person keying in the data because until this issue occurs you have no idea what to check. If you get to talk to the 'right' person (NOT Beacon Helpdesk) you find these things out.

Pay Issues

gehenderson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:53:03 -0500

I've been having problems with my pay ever since beacon has took over the state employees payroll. Beacon has been blamed for the problem. But I have researched that the who ever is keying the time in is entering it in wrong, and using the wrong codes. So make sure timekeeping is doing this correctly those of you that are having problems with your pay.

Undisclosed Policy Change

beaconofhope — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:40:24 -0500

Hate to burst your bubble, but that has always been the policy. If you don't make over 40 physical work hours, you don't get comp time. The only reason it was not enforced was because the antiquated systems that we had in place.

You can not make overtime unless you have worked physically for over 40 hours. That is not only State Policy but the Federal wage and hour law. If you were out sick for 4 hours and you made over 4 hours on another day, it goes to offset the time that you were out. Clear and simple.

Most of the arguments against Beacon that I see here are simply because for so many years the policies have not been enforced and everyone got used to it. Now policy is followed to the letter and you don't like it. A lot of the arguments are also a case of you just not understanding your check stub. Take the time to really look at your pay....you will undoubtedly see that your take home pay is not different than it was before. It is just written differently.

BEACON Blunders

Wroking4NC — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:27:10 -0500

I have had some serious problems with BEACON giving and taking away leave time. I have had to have the leave balance corrected and we will see how long that lasts.

Not only has BEACON cost tax payers $$$$ but the man hours required to deal with all the beacon problems from local all the way to Raleigh must also be costing way more than BEACON is worth.

Comp time vs. Other Leave time

Amyrn — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:11:22 -0500

What Beacon does is take your time for the week and if you call in sick on Monday but work overtime on Wednesday, your comp time fills in for your sick time. Sick time can be saved torward retirement. Vacation time can also be saved and then rolled over into sick time. Comp time cannot be saved but for a certain amount of time.

What I saw happen in a previous job is when people would just call in sick at the first of the work week and get paid sick time and then work a double and get paid overtime. They were "working" the system to get more money in their check. Not everyone did this but some people did. There were some folks that would do the same with vacation time. The way Beacon works now prevents people from doing this and I do think this is where some of the confusion has come from.

BEACON

radioman — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:11:52 -0500

As I said before, if SOMEONE POSTS THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE PEOPLE THAT DON'T GAVE A HOOT ABOUT US.......things might be different !

keep at it

ToddSm — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:27:05 -0500

Most/many have been burned by BEACON , tax payers too,so I won't post another example. Please write your legislators, Governor etc and encourage 5 friends to do likewise. As someone posted and I have experienced firsthand, a lone person speaking out will end up with bogus discipline . We need everyone to have any chance of making them fix this. NC is one of only a few states where we cant collectively bargain and if we could believe me we would not be treated like this. Is there anyone who has an attorney in the family willing to file suit?, I cant afford to finance one but sure would contribute. Also consider joining UE150 union and SEANC, but even their ability to help is limited due to no collective bargaining in NC.Some have been shorted thousands and can get no answers, if we could strike bet they would find the answers

Emperor George Bakolia

wheelofvoter — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:53:07 -0500

As I worked in DCR IT and have 30 years experience I can tell you that the fish rots at the head first. George Bakolia, George Bakolia, George Bakolia. IT systems are often implemented as a backdoor way to change policy and/or torture underlings. The managers are laughing all the way to the next meeting. Having experienced the recent spate of corrupt, ineffective, greedy, selfish managers all this will be fixed when Purdue appoints qualified people who care. I should say, re-appoints, since there WERE qualified people who were forced/tortured out during IT consolidation. Believe me folks, this is nothing but a power play and another method of managers torturing out employees they do not want around, you know the ones who are competent and threaten their jobs? Fortunately, I have learned that the HR bill that led to this debacle (IT consolidation) is likely to be overturned this year, taking away Bakolia's power. I am having trouble thinking of one non-corrupt secretary/agency head Easley made. Nifong, the worst appoint Weasley made? He only hurt a lacrosse team. These other cronies have demoralized, tainted entire agencies AND WASTED TAX PAYER'S MONEY! I look forward to the pendulum swinging back.

nc pay unfair to career employees

deeskis — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:21:02 -0500

now you want to talk about unfair the charlotte observer posted all nc state employees salaries just google it and new employees make much more than those of us who have stayed through thick and thin to help our clients. new assistants make more yhan 20 yr emplyees. it is a disgrace.....mealy mouth do nothing employees always advance while those that actually work to help the citizens get the shaft aka middle finger. i say fire all management and start over

More BEACON BS

ouch40 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:58:08 -0500

As for some of us in probation who work on call, shirft premium, and holiday on call, Beacon just wasn't programmed to enter these kind of shifts. Our OA that enters time sheets has told us that BEACON will not allow time over 24 hours per day to be entered. Remember, on call on holidays, employees are paid 24 hours on call plus 8 hours holiday pay. Our OA found out that a separate "addendum" sheet has to be submitted and even then, OT hours have been missing on paychecks. Also, a BEST services person told us that DCC was under the DOP OT rule of OT time after 171 hours (typical was over 160). This meant straight hours not time and a half was paid until more that 11 hours OT were earned per period. Certainly, no one in our Dept. told us about this.

Gimme a Break

itsajoke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:08:54 -0500

Not sure what substance you are under the influence of but it must be some good stuff.. Training has nothing to do with system errors. I enter time work just as recorded by employees. They verify that what I enter is correct and we're good to go. I print quota balances weekly and low an behold one day they have 30 plus hours of OT comp available to them. They don't take time off and they don't get paid for those hours after the 30 day time period laspes, and guess what they now only have 7 hrs OT comp. Where did it go? They took no leave, they weren't paid for it and it's not on their quota balances now. With the old system I would spend 2 days a month on time sheets, I now spend 3 days a week every week on BEACON. If you have the knowledge to help everyone please do us a favor and contact Best Shared Services, Gov.Elect Perdue and whomever else you need to so you can help. I do believe you are the only one in the state that's not having problems. And yes I've been trained... I've had months of training.... I understand the concept and can do my job but the system still doesn't work. We all got to work for two things, money and benefits and BEACON is messing with them both

State payroll system

danbarkin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:50:17 -0500

Are you a state employee who has been having problems with the new BEACON payroll system? If so, we'd like you to share your experience. Tell us what happened and how you tried to get it fixed.

Are you a state employee who has been having problems with the new BEACON payroll system? If so, we'd like you to share your experience.…