KPMG intends to charge fees for late timesheet submission
Late last year, KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, caused a fuss when they announced that they would begin to fine employees who handed in their timesheets late.
Many employees are unhappy about this policy, as they feel like it is a patronising and childish way to treat professional adult employees.
This kind of punishment policy in the workplace has become more controversial in recent years, as HR and management focus shifted to employee wellbeing and retention. Punishing employees can be effective at correcting the problematic behaviour, but can lead to employee hostility, anxiety, and a lack of motivation so can be damaging in the long run.
The company says that the fines are necessary due to the importance of the timesheets, which allow them to track work performed and accurately bill their clients. They are aiming for 100% of timesheets being submitted by the deadline, although apparently employees who are ill or out of the office over the deadline period will get some flexibility.
Other reasons why companies choose to use timesheets include tracking project costs, understanding employees’ workloads, and using the information over the long-term to help predict future costs.
Some of the disadvantages of timesheets that we have discussed before at Time and Attendance UK include vulnerability to falsification and bad management of the timesheets leading to a resentful “Big Brother” feeling which can discourage employees.
Earlier last year, KPMG were forced to withdraw another unpopular policy regarding charging employees if they lost certain IT equipment. Charges still remain on the loss of very small items, such as mice, tablet pens and Ethernet cables.
It is the only one of the Big Four companies who are implementing a policy like this. EY didn’t say how they dealt with late timesheet submissions, Deloitte sent email reminders, and PwC insist that late timesheets have to be authorised by the employee’s manager.
The fine proposed is £100, to be taken out of the employee’s share of the annual bonus once they have missed four separate timesheet deadlines. This means that their contractual wages would be unaffected, which stays within the law. Otherwise, KPMG would need to get permission from the employees to reduce their wages. Without getting that permission they would risk charges of unfair wage deductions.
Is this a good business decision for KPMG or not? Here at Time and Attendance UK, we disagree with it on the grounds that punishment is not an effective long-term solution.
The question which KPMG should examine is why are people handing in their timesheets late, or not at all? The company obviously understand that sometimes circumstances get in the way, since they allow up to three missed deadlines and make allowances for illness.
Rather than taking away £100 from employees’ bonuses, which does feel like it comes from the same place as turning off the WiFi when your teenager doesn’t clean their room, perhaps KPMG should link the handing in of timesheets more firmly and officially to workplace performance, so that the first time an employee misses four deadlines they have a chat with their manager to see if there’s any problems, and if it keeps happening it can be escalated through disciplinary procedures.
A different approach would be to flip the script and reward employees who submit their timesheets by the deadline four times in a row. Companies might complain about the extra expense, but they need to remember that delayed timesheets will cost them money.
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Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/20/kpmg-to-fine-staff-for-late-time-sheets
https://www.ft.com/content/ab942e7e-03b1-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1