To help control costs, manage budgets, and enhance the federal grant tracking process, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department has selected workforce management solutions from Kronos Inc.. Kronos will be used by all employees across all divisions to enhance efficiencies and improve labor-related decision making, the company announced.

The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department selected the Kronos time and attendance, absence management, labor analytics, activities, and mobile applications. Kronos was selected to automate and standardize processes to help achieve real-time visibility and control over labor-related decisions, according to the company.

“In the face of the recession and constrained budgets, state departments are challenged with increased demand for public services," said Christine Carmichael, director, public sector practice group, Kronos. " Forward-thinking agencies such as the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department are transforming the way budgets are managed by closely monitoring and controlling their operational expenses. We look forward to helping the department through rapid cost reduction and improved efficiencies.”

Kronos will replace manual, paper-based processes, which the state highway department has outgrown. The parties anticipate that with an automated workforce management solution, the department will minimize costly payroll and other labor-related errors. Also, the time required to complete the processes will be significantly less with Kronos and employee and supervisor time will be freed for other activities. These benefits are expected to enable the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to better control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve productivity

A critical area where Kronos will play an important role is tracking of labor costs to specific projects of the department. Accurate accounting of labor hours and associated costs by job or project will help expedite the federal reimbursement and grant-seeking process significantly.

Mobile applications from Kronos will help the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department more effectively manage its remote employees as these workers will be able to track time, request time off, and punch in and out from remote work locations – all in real time. And supervisors will be able to use their mobile devices to respond quickly to employee requests.

“Labor cost is one of the largest operational expenses for state departments and we needed accuracy in processes to more effectively manage budgets and offer continuity of superior services," said Ralph Hall, assistant to the director, and Crystal Woods, division head of Human Resources, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department. "And Kronos offers more than just timekeeping accuracy," they said. "It enables us to analyze trends, expedite federal aid reimbursement, and much more. We are excited about this selection.”