Mission Australia is a national organisation with a workforce of more than 2,300 people who are motivated by a vision of an Australia where everyone has a safe home and can thrive.
Challenges
To deliver services to the community, Mission Australia employs people across a very diverse organisational structure. Employees engage in so many different types of work in caring for the community, they come under 60 different categories, operating under a multitude of awards. Given the organisation’s growth and diverse continuum of employee types, there was a need to have a single process, tool and source of truth across the workforce.
Solutions
Having benefited from the powerful functionality of Workforce Central® for over five years when Mission Australia made its first strides in automation and electronic workforce management, the organisation decided to migrate to UKG Pro Workforce Management™, formerly known as UKG Dimensions®, presenting an opportunity for another leap forward. New, innovative technology further unified the way employee time was tracked, rosters were built and delivered, and leave was submitted and managed.
Having the right team in place meant communication, training, and ongoing support was available as all users transitioned. Mission Australia had a very experienced and creative payroll team, trainers, change leads, and helpline support, in addition to strong executive sponsorship, cross-departmental participation, and end-user change champions all assembled. UKG’s partnership offered extensive industry experience in the project implementation team, as well as project advocates across leadership that drove progress, adaptability, and provided expertise.
“Employee self-service is working well. Employees now have visibility of their working hours and a breakdown of their pay. Mission Australia transitioned from paper timesheets and manual data entry to employees clocking on/off through UKG Pro Workforce Management using UKG clocks, the mobile app, and desktop computers. We now have compliance confidence with accurate, reliable data. In addition, we have developed Compliance Reports for People Leaders, which are sent following the fortnightly pay.”
Debbie Pethig
GM, Payroll Operations & Systems
Results
As UKG Pro Workforce Management was rolled out, the People & Culture and Technology teams at Mission Australia worked diligently to ensure an exceptional user experience. The mobile application put true flexibility and autonomy in the hands of employees without compromising visibility for management. End-users have shared positive experiences, stating: “The mobile access is fast and simple. Having the app on our own devices makes clocking-in and clocking-out entirely contactless.” The Mission Australia team has used mobile in many other ways too, namely as a means to connect with employees who are geographically dispersed. Consolidation and streamlining of processes were achieved by having all employees engage with the UKG® solution.
Equipping employees with resources meant they had tools they could keep coming back to as they were adapting to the change. At first, this looked like simple announcements in the form of posters and notifications, so the employees felt aware and prepared. As the technology started to land in the hands of users, it took the form of webinar training, quick reference guides, video guides, support documentation, and post go-live daily triage sessions that could be relied on for answers. The change champions and helpline support continue to act as a constant resource on the employee side, and the UKG Support team partners with Mission Australia ‘for life’ providing tools and guidance as employees thrive and grow.
As Mission Australia partnered with UKG to elevate its employee experience and improve process efficiency, the point of difference wasn’t intended only for the organisation. It was intended for its employees, managers, and critically, the community that Mission Australia is supporting in its quest to reduce homelessness in Australia. Sixty services have now been standardised within a single solution, enabling efficiencies that empower the workforce to deliver on this quest.
