However, the share of payroll errors remains high. Errors from previous months are still being corrected. The current backlog mainly consists of errors discovered since August. The backlog stems from the difficult situation in early summer, when considerably more errors were detected than could be corrected. At the moment, corrections are being made at roughly the same pace as new payroll errors are detected.
Additional resources to help reduce backlog
The payroll customer service is still receiving a lot of contacts, but the number of contacts is decreasing. In November, the number of contacts already reached a level below that of January, i.e. before the introduction of the new payroll system.
New recruitments have been made to both payroll and payroll customer service this year, and this has started to take effect on the issues. The challenge in stabilising the payroll situation is reducing the backlog caused by payroll errors. The city will acquire external resources next year to help reduce the backlog.
Support in preventing payroll errors
In order to prevent payroll errors, proactive support for supervisors will be enforced. Additional support will be allocated particularly to the city’s largest divisions: the Education Division and the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division.
The city has identified clear development areas in the payroll system itself and also in the city’s cooperation with Sarastia Oy. The system will be improved together with its supplier, Sarastia Oy. Version updates will be added to the system to correct detected deficiencies.
Most errors are underpaid salaries
According to the latest payroll situation report (21 November–7 December), most of the accrued errors concern underpaid salaries. The second most common errors are other errors (such as errors related to holidays and absences) and the third most common are overpaid salaries.
The number of uncorrected and completely unpaid salaries has remained below one hundred in October–November. Completely unpaid salaries are for the most part paid within two working days of the issue being reported to payroll customer service.
Separate inspection to verify payroll correctness
Helsinki will conduct a separate payroll error inspection to verify the correctness of payroll. A statistically representative sample of different collective agreements, employee groups and types of working hours will be included in the inspection. The aim of the inspection is to ensure that all payroll errors have been reliably detected and corrected.
In addition to the payroll correctness inspection, an external investigation will be conducted on the payroll issues by management consulting company Valor Partners Oy.