In the business world, small inefficiencies can chip away at your profitability. Managing your time wisely is critical to success. But what about tracking your time?
Timekeeping is an often overlooked, but a potentially large, source of inefficiency built into every team member's day. That's why the Timekeeping Quality Action Team (QAT) looked at how FedEx could reduce timekeeping inefficiencies, payroll errors, and unnecessary overtime.
The team included corporate and field team members, people using time clocks, managers approving time, and team members from multiple departments throughout the company.
Identifying internal stakeholders at all levels was a critical first step since the team would need corporate buy-in if they wanted approval for important system updates. But the team didn't just get opinions from internal stakeholders. Individuals also went out to benchmark the MyTime System against timekeeping systems at comparable businesses.
The QAT identified one key concern during discussions with internal stakeholders: reconciliation for timekeeping exceptions. Essentially, the process for correcting a time entry — when a team member forgot to clock out for a break, for example — was overly complicated and time-consuming for the team members and their managers.
Managers were required to go into the timekeeping system to view exceptions, track down their team member to assess the reason, correct the system, and wait for the team member to approve the change.
Building a better system would need to provide solutions for three separate pieces of the process that were slowing things down:
The new system rolled out in phases so that the team could ensure it addressed the issues without adding unnecessary strain on either the team members or their managers. The team sent the implementation kits in advance and went to the pilot locations to oversee the rollout.
58.5% decrease in exceptions
$3.4 million in savings
Only 13% of exceptions require a follow-Up from management
As a corporate learning specialist under the FedEx Safety Institute, Joseph Vennetti has an ongoing commitment to quality — and Quality Driven Management (QDM) education. He's a certified QDM expert and works as a trainer for the university, sharing his insights and firsthand experiences with QDM.
With years of teaching the principles and tools of QDM, Joseph is no stranger to hesitant team members. His biggest tip for team members looking to incorporate QDM into their workflow is to get buy-in from leadership. A quick explanation of the ABLE process and plenty of transparency about why each step along the path ultimately leads to a better outcome go a long way toward making skeptics into QDM believers.