In healthcare, HR departments face unique challenges in managing time, attendance, and employee scheduling. Hospitals and healthcare organizations operate 24/7, with a constant need to balance staffing requirements, employee preferences, compliance regulations, and cost controls. This creates a complex landscape for scheduling and time tracking, where even minor inefficiencies can lead to significant consequences, such as increased overtime costs, employee burnout, and potential compliance issues.
We have assisted many healthcare organizations implement UKG Workforce Management (formerly UKG Dimensions) to streamline these processes and improve overall workforce management. UKG WFM offers an array of tools designed specifically for healthcare, allowing HR departments to automate scheduling, manage attendance effectively, and ensure compliance with labor laws.
Here’s a look at some of the most common challenges in healthcare time and attendance and how UKG WFM addresses them, along with case studies of organizations that have successfully implemented the system.
1. Managing Complex, 24/7 Scheduling Needs
Healthcare organizations operate around the clock, and ensuring proper staffing for each shift is a critical concern. Schedules must account for a variety of factors, including skill sets, certifications, shift preferences, and regulations governing consecutive work hours. Inconsistent scheduling practices can lead to overworked staff, burnout, and inadequate patient care.
How UKG Workforce Management Helps: UKG WFM automates the scheduling process, enabling managers to create schedules that match employees’ qualifications and availability with organizational needs. With AI-driven scheduling, the system can make adjustments based on historical data, ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right times.
Additionally, UKG WFM includes self-service options that allow employees to set preferences and request shift changes, reducing scheduling conflicts and enhancing work-life balance.
Example: At Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., UKG Workforce Management has transformed the scheduling process. Previously, managers spent hours every week creating schedules manually. With UKG WFM, Children’s National can automate scheduling, quickly filling shifts with qualified staff and reducing last-minute scheduling issues. This has led to increased staff satisfaction and more consistent, high-quality patient care.
2. Ensuring Compliance with Labor Regulations and Certification Requirements
Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated industries, with strict requirements around working hours, mandatory breaks, and employee credentials. HR teams must track certifications, manage mandatory training, and comply with labor laws, such as limits on consecutive working hours. Failing to adhere to these regulations can lead to costly penalties and even jeopardize an organization’s reputation.
How UKG Workforce Management Helps: UKG WFM’s compliance management tools automate the process of tracking certifications, licenses, and training requirements. It sends automated alerts for upcoming expiration dates and ensures that only certified staff are scheduled for relevant roles. Additionally, UKG WFM monitors work hours and break times, providing alerts when employees approach regulatory limits.
Example: Adventist Health, a nonprofit healthcare provider, uses UKG WFM to manage its compliance needs across multiple facilities. The system alerts managers when certifications are about to expire, ensuring that staff remain compliant with healthcare regulations. By automating compliance tracking, Adventist Health has reduced administrative workloads and minimized the risk of fines due to expired certifications, allowing HR staff to focus on higher-value tasks.
3. Reducing Overtime and Preventing Employee Burnout
Overtime is a common issue in healthcare, as patient care requirements can change unexpectedly. While overtime may be necessary, excessive overtime contributes to burnout and increases payroll costs. For HR, managing overtime effectively requires real-time visibility into schedules and work hours.
How Workforce Management Helps: UKG WFM provides real-time insights into scheduling and hours worked, allowing managers to adjust shifts proactively to prevent unplanned overtime. The system can forecast staffing needs based on historical data and use automated scheduling adjustments to prevent employees from exceeding hour limits. Managers also receive alerts when employees approach overtime, giving them the opportunity to reassign shifts before burnout becomes an issue.
Example: At Houston Methodist, a large healthcare organization in Texas, UKG WFM has played a key role in reducing overtime expenses. By using UKG’s advanced scheduling and real-time tracking capabilities, Houston Methodist has been able to predict staffing needs accurately and avoid unnecessary overtime. This proactive approach has improved staff morale and reduced payroll costs, enabling the hospital to reallocate resources to patient care.
4. Balancing Employee Preferences and Flexibility with Organizational Needs
Healthcare organizations often struggle to balance employees’ shift preferences with the demands of a 24/7 operation. Without a system in place, accommodating shift swaps, time-off requests, and shift preferences can become overwhelming for HR teams, leading to frustration and decreased morale.
How UKG Workforce Management Helps: UKG WFM empowers employees with self-service tools that allow them to submit availability, request time off, and trade shifts—all while ensuring that organizational needs are met. Managers can review and approve these requests in the system, ensuring that staffing requirements remain consistent without compromising employee preferences. This flexibility has been shown to improve staff satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
Example: Mercy Health, a large healthcare provider operating across multiple states, implemented UKG WFM to give staff more control over their schedules. Through the self-service portal, employees can now set their shift preferences, make time-off requests, and even arrange shift swaps directly within the system. Mercy Health has reported higher employee engagement and a noticeable improvement in shift coverage and morale since implementing these self-service capabilities.
5. Accurate Time Tracking and Reducing Payroll Errors
In healthcare, tracking time and attendance accurately is challenging due to varying shifts, differential pay rates, and unique attendance policies. Manual time-tracking processes can lead to errors in payroll, which can cause employee dissatisfaction and compliance issues.
How UKG Workforce Management Helps: UKG WFM automates time and attendance tracking, eliminating the potential for manual errors. The system allows employees to clock in and out digitally, with mobile options available for flexibility. It also accommodates complex pay structures, such as night shift differentials and overtime calculations, ensuring that employees are compensated fairly and accurately.
Example: Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago uses UKG WFM to streamline time tracking and reduce payroll errors. By implementing digital clock-ins and automating payroll calculations, Northwestern has seen a reduction in payroll discrepancies and administrative work. The hospital’s HR department reports that these improvements have enhanced employee trust and reduced time spent on payroll adjustments, allowing HR staff to focus on employee engagement and development.
The Impact of UKG WFM on Healthcare Workforce Management
HR departments in healthcare face significant challenges when it comes to managing time, attendance, and scheduling. UKG Workforce Management offers healthcare organizations a comprehensive solution that streamlines scheduling, ensures compliance, reduces overtime, and empowers employees with greater flexibility and self-service options.
Through real-time insights and automation, UKG WFM allows healthcare HR teams to overcome common workforce management obstacles, ensuring efficient operations and better work-life balance for employees.
As seen in our case studies of Children’s National Hospital, Adventist Health, Houston Methodist, Mercy Health, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, UKG WFM helps healthcare organizations improve scheduling accuracy, reduce costs, and boost employee satisfaction.
With a well-implemented workforce management solution like UKG, healthcare organizations can better support their teams, enhance patient care, and create a more efficient and responsive work environment.