Rebuilding Trust in Payroll

Before Frontline	After Frontline
Manual, error-prone payroll: Relied on paper and spreadsheets; frequent mistakes and low staff trust. (“Payroll errors… corrections nonstop.”)	99.94% payroll accuracy: Errors and corrections dropped, turning payroll’s reputation around.
Cumbersome process: Three people spent three full days on each payroll cycle, twice monthly.	2/3 less processing time: Now just one day for two people per cycle; paper forms dropped 98%.
Disconnected systems, compliance gaps: Missed overtime, duplicate timesheets, and overpayments.	Centralized, compliant, cost-saving: One system for all; reduced overpayments and saved $15–20k/year.

Summary

Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, a bustling Texas school district with around 3,600 full-time employees and up to 4,000 paid each month, found its payroll department stuck in a relentless grind. Led by Melissa Coulombe, Director of Payroll, the team struggled with fragmented, error-prone manual processes that drained resources and left staff trust at a low. By moving to Frontline’s Time & Attendance system, Hurst-Euless-Bedford transformed its payroll process, cutting time spent, increasing accuracy, delivering cost savings, and restoring confidence districtwide.  

A Complex District, Unique Payroll Needs

The payroll department at Hurst-Euless-Bedford, just four people strong, handled every aspect of payroll, timesheets, supplemental pay, and state TRS reporting for thousands of employees. The scale and diversity of their workforce brought unique challenges: bus drivers, custodians, teachers, and support staff all with different schedules and pay frequencies. Amidst this complexity, the pressure to pay everyone correctly, every time, was unrelenting. 

Battling Manual Processes, Errors, and Dissatisfaction

Before Frontline, Hurst-Euless-Bedford’s payroll was a patchwork. Auxiliary staff punched time on one system. Others handed in Excel sheets or literal stacks of paper. Only a portion of employees used the digital system in place at the time, since adding everyone would have doubled costs. As Melissa described, “We had people clocking in from who knows where. The geofences were not foolproof.” Payroll for three different employee groups ran at three different times each month. The sheer amount of manual work added up quickly: “It was probably taking three full days for three people: two specialists and myself. That’s a lot of time to do each payroll, twice a month.” 

Mistakes were inevitable. Timesheets had to be reviewed and reworked. Extra duty and supplemental pay were tracked with up to 1,000 paper forms every month. Employees logged time off in a completely separate system. “Trust in Payroll was low. We sometimes noticed errors on timesheets, which led to having to make corrections.” 

Compliance risks loomed. Overtime for non-exempt staff sometimes went unrecorded, and the process wore down everyone involved. “We’re working this whole time on improving efficiency. We could see that it was going nowhere fast with this other time clock program.” 

Finding the Right Fit for a Connected Payroll Future

Melissa had used Frontline before and appreciated the customer service. When she learned that switching to Time & Attendance would save $20,000 a year — and let the district finally put all employees on one system — she saw the path forward. “When I found out the pricing difference, it was $20,000 less to make the transition, and we could have all of our employees on the product.” 

Frontline’s ability to connect time, attendance, and absence management in one platform eliminated the patchwork of systems and closed compliance gaps. The mobile app was a draw as well: “Having the app is huge, because the app was not good on the other system. The training and the customer service were also a big factor.” 

After a full review and with input from key stakeholders, the district made its choice. “We considered another competitor but found Frontline so much better.” 

Fast and Intentional: Implementing Frontline

The district started implementation in May and went live in August — a three-month sprint that demanded focus. Reconfiguring how they used Absence Management alongside Time & Attendance was crucial. “There are always going to be people who are resistant to change. But the rollout on campuses went really well because they had enough notice. We had been telling them this was coming: ‘Get ready.’” 

Melissa and her team prioritized communication and manager training. Humor helped, too: “The toggle is real” became an inside joke about navigating new systems. “They adapted very well because it is a very user-friendly system.” 

On the hardware side, Hurst-Euless-Bedford rolled out badge-scanning time clocks for auxiliary and campus staff and enabled mobile punch-ins via the mobile app. “We worked with [Frontline recommended time clock partner] Touchpoint. They had plug-and-play scanners — if you have a computer, you can plug it in, pull up the kiosk, and people can just swipe in with their access badge.” Over time, savings with Frontline funded steady upgrades from basic barcode readers to high-quality, robust scanning SmartClocks. “At the end of every year, when I see how much money I have left over, which is usually from the price difference [compared to the old system], I purchase any additional needed equipment from Touchpoint so they can just use their access card and swipe it. It’s beautiful.” 

Accuracy, Efficiency, and a New Era of Payroll Trust

With Frontline, payroll finally went as intended. The work that once felt like wading through a roiling sea of paper — every pay cycle, every late night — suddenly ran smoothly. Time spent per payroll cycle dropped by more than two-thirds: “Probably one full day for two people instead of three full days for three people.” Paper forms all but vanished. “We would get stacks of papers — I would say a thousand papers a month — and they were entering that data into a spreadsheet to get them formatted so we could upload them into our system.” Now, the team only enters about 20 paper forms each month: a 98% decrease. Coaches and athletics staff now handled time entry online with no more stacks of paper. The transition to digital was real. 

Errors and corrections faded into the background. “We have a 99.94% accuracy rate in payroll,” said Melissa. Staff who once dreaded dealing with Payroll now see them as partners. “It’s a really good process now. People like Payroll again. We were the bad guy before, and now people are like, ‘Payroll! Yay! Thank you!’ We have come a long way as far as our customer service, which is really good. Reputation-wise, I would say it’s a 180 for Payroll from way back in 2022 to now.” 

For the first time, all time worked and leave requested is in one system. “Having all of our employees in a system that is connected to the time-off system was important. We put everybody into Absence Management as well, so all time off is going into the same place instead of three different places or being requested on a paper sheet.” 

The financial impact? Annual cost savings of $15,000–$20,000, now redirected to hardware improvements and better service for all staff. “We never would have been able to do that with the other system because we could not afford to put all the employees in.” Overpayments shrank; duplicate timesheets disappeared. “There has definitely been a reduction in overpaying people, because sometimes they would turn timesheets in twice, or we would not realize that they turned in a sheet as well as a copy. Some departments would fax them to us. So just having it all in the computer eliminates the repetitions and the duplicates.” 

Compliance is no longer an afterthought. Overtime for non-exempt staff is caught and paid. Employees can see, edit, and verify their own time, gaining transparency and control. “Now, we can see it all within the correct pay period on their single timesheet. So that data is captured, and we are able to pay more currently, so we do not have a lot of people not knowing when they are supposed to get paid.” 

Do It: Plan, Integrate, and Give Yourself Time

For other districts considering Frontline Time & Attendance, Melissa’s advice is straightforward: “Frontline is the whole package—especially if you have Absence and Time together.” As you implement Time & Attendance, take a fresh look at Absence Management to ensure it’s set up for your needs. Allow yourself ample time. Be organized. Communicate, especially with staff. Change can feel hard, but it goes better when people feel prepared. 

“They are the whole package as far as the ability to use timesheets in a flexible way. The customer service, the training, ease of use, transparency—it’s a very clean package and attractive to the eye.” 

The story at Hurst-Euless-Bedford isn’t just about technology. It’s about a payroll team gaining pride, a district rediscovering trust, and thousands of staff feeling seen and being paid accurately. Because in the end, it’s not the systems but the people who matter most.