UCLA employees will have more access and control over their payroll information after the campus replaces its outdated payroll system with a more cost-effective, UC-wide system.
The University of California is just beginning to replace each campus’s individual system with one UC-wide payroll system, a process that will take four years, said Leslie Sepuka, UC spokeswoman.
Replacing the payroll system is one facet of a broader initiative to increase the UC’s administrative efficiency, Sepuka said. The initiative, called Working Smarter, will be implemented over the next five years and will save the UC $500 million annually.
The payroll savings will come from the increased efficiency of having one large system, instead of 11 different ones, said Sam Morabito, administrative vice chancellor at UCLA.
Updating to new technology will make processing checks easier and more efficient, Morabito said. Instead of having people from different departments keep track of payroll manually, all the payroll information will be available in one place online.
At UCLA, the current payroll requires maintenance, Morabito said.
According to Sepuka, a UC-wide system was not implemented sooner because each campus has traditionally held autonomy over its own processes.
But in the current budget environment, changing to a more cost-effective system is necessary, Morabito said.
Under the new system, employees will have online access to important information such as their earnings, benefits and pay raises, said Paula Farrington, director of human capital and talent management at UCLA.
“Right now (employees) have to go to various sources to find out this information. (The new system) will be a more streamlined process,” Morabito said.
Employees will also be able to change their personal information online, instead of submitting a paper form, which is the current process, he added.
Right now the project is still in preliminary stages. The UC will have a finalized plan for the new system by May, Farrington said.
Once the plan takes effect, a few campuses at a time will begin the 18-month-long transition to the new system, Farrington said. She added that she did not know the order of the campuses.