Keeping options open
Keeping options open
The Support Services Management team at East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced Open Options, an employee management system from Crown Computing that is a first for the NHS and has enabled them to get up-to-the-minute information on the status of employees for use with activities including planning and payroll. Open Options, which has modules in time and attendance, time accounting, activity management, workforce scheduling, payroll and HR is claimed to have:
reduced administration time from over 16 hours a week to just four hours (75 per cent);
reduced the error rates on data input traditionally associated with manual paper-based systems;
clearly identified periods of absence and provides excellent reports;
improved staff confidence; and
allowed the monitoring and application of the Working Time Directive.
Managing 280 employees at its Eastbourne site, East Sussex has been able to immediately resolve recurring payroll errors with the new system, which quickly highlighted periods of absence that would have gone unnoticed previously. The benefits are expected to increase further once the system is rolled out to other departments across the two main acute sites – which employ 7,000 staff altogether. Because of the high level of staff involvement in the implementation of Open Options, East Sussex Hospital has also found rewards in more intangible ways, with an increase in staff morale and confidence in the new system.
The complete employee management system comprises several modules such as time and attendance, time accounting, activity management and workforce scheduling, but it is the payroll and HR integration that has proved the most beneficial for East Sussex. Open Options was chosen to replace East Sussex's previous manual paper-based system, which, according to the organisation, was inefficient, labour intensive, and often resulted in pay errors. Furthermore, no overall individual information on the 280 employees at the site and their work patterns were being retained, meaning that Eastbourne was failing to capitalise on its existing human resources.
For more see www.crowncomputing.co.uk.
