Faculty Feedback on TimeClock Plus System

There are several standard usability metrics and this system is a classic example of how to mess them ALL up at the same time. (...) Feel free to tell Joe Merola and others that we (CHCI/CS) have decades of experience designing and evaluating systems like this. For this university to continue ignoring our expertise, it is sickening.

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I am using the TimeClock system for the three UTAs in an undergraduate class. I have three objections to TimeClock:

1. Wrong System Assumptions. I find TimeClock to be inappropriately designed for this purpose as the system assumes detailed knowledge of the employees work schedule and close contact and supervision of the employee. both of which are erroneous for UTAs.
2. Lack of Usability. It is difficult for me to tell when something has been approved in the system or when the system requires approval. There are red check marks under columns labelled "M" that are completely mysterious.
3. Turnover. There are potentially new UTAs each semester and to probability of "missed punches" will always be high, necessitating more intervention on my part than the previous paper system.

I have no objection to an on-line system - only to one which is not designed for the circumstances in which it is being used in my case.

A set of longer notes.

[TL;DR: faculty treat students as salaried employees, and payroll's wage model doesn't really fit, which is the underlying problem.]

Thank you for doing this.

1. One problem is the interface. I'm sure that M. and others will give many details on its problems.
2. Another problem is the instructions. They don't match the interface, having discrepancies. If we are to use them, then someone should take the time to correct those, rather than every faculty member involved having to discover the errors and make updates. Even more important, the instructions are a jumble. There should be a simple set, well organized, that is oriented toward faculty managers, rather than for the various people using the system in different roles; I received 3 files each time but just need the URL (not included in the email reminders) and the part of the instructions relevant to manager approvals. The instructions for faculty should cover the most common tasks, with the shortest explanation to accomplish those, but then have further details that only have to be considered infrequently. In other words, the instructions should be role specific, and then task oriented.
3. Another problem is timing. It appears we must complete the approval on the last day of the pay period. If someone works that day, we must wait till after they have finished. Over the last pay period, I was told to approve last Friday, which I did. One of the wage people I manage worked on Sunday, so I approved also Sunday night and Monday morning. Then another person worked on Monday after I'd approved, and everyone was in panic early Tuesday since I'd not approved the Monday afternoon work yet. What would make sense is to tell faculty AFTER a pay period is ended, and then have a day or two, at least, to do the approvals. We should not have to keep logging into this annoying system repeatedly just because VT management is not trusting of employees and has not figured out a sane workflow that fits with the many other responsibilities of faculty.

Virginia Tech: ABOLISH this system for paying UTAs immediately!!!!!!!! I cannot possibly overstate this.

I speak from experience: I have 3 UTAs this semester for whom I must approve wage hours.

Reasons this system should be immediately abolished:

• UTAs are understandably not good at clocking in and out for the variety of tasks they perform including helping students, grading papers, answering questions on the class forum, responding to emails.
• Thus, I have to make numerous corrections to their hours. Why must faculty spend their time FIXING CLERICAL ERRORS made by undergraduates?
• Even if they don't make errors, I must "approve" their hours. Faculty obviously do NOT sit with their UTAs as they perform their various tasks so as to verify that they are actually doing the tasks during those times. Thus, my approvals of their clock in/out times are semantically MEANINGLESS. I have no idea of their correctness, i mindlessly click the Approve button. Why are faculty being asked to perform this meaningless mindless task?
• These approval tasks frequently have to be conducted on an emergency basis. If I don't approve TODAY the hours they worked TODAY they don't get paid (e.g. see 2nd email below as true evidence).
• We hire UTAs to perform 10 hours of work per week. That is how much time the job takes. That is what they do. Lets just pay them the 10 hours of work per week. i DO NOT CARE when they perform those hours. I DO NOT WANT to know that they were up at 2am grading papers.
• *****Attached below are REAL emails exemplifying the kind of silly-ness that faculty are now being asked to respond to as EMERGENCIES. Notice that the email was sent at 8:20am with a due date of 10am. Do I sit at my desk during 8-5 waiting for such emails? NO. Was I available or reading email during that time? NO. Did the UTA get paid the wrong amount? Probably. Do I care? NO.
• The staff are not to blame for the below emails. This is a symptom of a serious PROBLEM with this method for paying UTAs. Our already OVERLOADED staff are being forced to spend their time chasing down our already OVERLOADED faculty to perform these <expletive deleted> tasks!

STOP IT NOW!!!!!

Begin forwarded message

From:  
Subject: MISSED PUNCH TO CORRECT BY 10:00AM THIS MORNING!
Date: April 2, 2014 8:20:25 AM EDT
To: <*@cs.vt.edu>

HI *****,
There is a missed punch for <Redacted UTA name>  on <Redacted date> that needs to be corrected and approved.  This has to be approved by 10AM this morning.  This will appear in green once it is approved.  I will be in a staff meeting until around 9:30 but let me know if you have troubles. I have attached instruction here for you.

Thank you!!
-- 

Begin forwarded message:

From: 
Subject:  HOURS
Date: April 1, 2014 9:33:54 AM EDT
To: <@cs.vt.edu>

Hi ****,
<Redacted UTA name> shows clocked in on 3/31/14 at 9:06pm but without a clock time.  This needs to be looked at immediately.  If he forgot to clock out, that will need to be corrected and approved TODAY.  ALL HOURS must be approved today.  Please take a  look at his entries.

Sorry to broadcast my email, but I completely agree with <the faculty member who sent the previous entry>. The current version is simply not right for managing students. He makes very good points; we are facing similar issues in our group as well.

My main concern is the timing. If my students work late in the evening on the last day of the pay period, I should have more time than until noon of the next day to approve. This should be true for any employee, especially myself since I am adjunct. It is reasonable to expect a grace period.

Additionally, our UTAs are entrusted with many responsibilities and it seems they should definitely be able to edit their own time sheets. It also seems unnecessary that they record their hours real time. Maybe they will adjust to this, but this does not seem to be a good match to their workflow. They are not employees who clock in for the day and take a lunch break. They work office or lab hours and they may spend a random hour grading or reviewing an assignment for me. They are very effective and accountable and this level of monitoring seems unnecessary and counterproductive.

Needing to perform clerical work at this detail level is a nuisance and deters from my work teaching students.

I've got 5 UTAs to supervise, so this is eating a fair amount of my time. IMO, this should be handled by a staff member, not by faculty. That said, the system they've adopted is a chittering horror.

I could go on, but that would just consume more of my time. If I were an HCI person, I would use this system as an example of a <expletive deleted>-poor design followed by a <expletive deleted>-poor implementation.

QTP: whose brother-in-law runs the company VT licensed this from?

One word:

Horrific!!!

My dog could come up with a better system (and it would be cuter).