August 20, 2004

Paperless payday pays off for MGH Radiology

While many employees look forward to getting their paychecks on payday, MGH Radiology staff look forward to accessing their paychecks online. With almost 1,000 employees, MGH Radiology is the largest department to go paperless with paychecks. The department was a pilot site this spring to test whether the option of not printing direct deposit advices - the notices that employees who have direct deposit receive - would work effectively for a large department with a wide range of employee role groups located in different areas of the hospital and off campus.

"Everything went very smoothly," says Martha Munhall, of MGH Human Resources, who coordinated the pilot. "The advices really are just a piece of paper. They aren't official documents, so employees are able to get all of the information online with PeopleSoft."

All employees can access the exact pay and benefit information listed on the pay stubs in their PeopleSoft Employee Self Service (ESS) account from any Partners or home computer on Wednesday afternoons, earlier than Thursday's pay advice distribution. And if employees need payroll information for official personal business, the Payroll Department can provide documentation.

"Some of the Radiology employees have access to computers and some don't." says Bonnie Pray, MGH Human Resources supervisor. "So staff was informed about public terminals in the Employee Access Center on Clinics 117, and the department has additional locations for those employees to access computer terminals."

Robin Gubbins, a radiographer for Outpatient Radiology on WACC 2 and 5, says that she has adjusted to not getting the physical paycheck. "You can easily access the information online, print it out or go back and look at past paychecks," she says.

Denise Palumbo, RN, administrative director for Radiology, adds: "The transition to paperless paychecks is a success in leveraging technology to streamline even the most basic processes such as distributing pay advices."

For David Hiett, RN, of Radiology, going paperless was a significant benefit since he lives in New Hampshire and doesn't always work a shift on payday. "Checking my paycheck online makes it so easy now," he says. "All I have to do is log onto the website from home."

For more information, managers should contact their department Human Resources generalist. Employees who want to go paperless can visit http://ibridge.partners.org/getaccess