The Long Beach City Council is planning to investigate the cost-effectiveness of its timekeeping system without the help of any prospective vendors. The organization, which has traditionally used paper-based timesheets to calculate remuneration for employees' time and attendance, will analyze the costs of processing payroll records and time-off requests manually, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

City manager Pat West and City Attorney Robert Shannon said that the City Council would turn down a $10,000 bid from a potential contractor because it could become a conflict of interest and might be perceived that one supplier had an advantage over other candidates.

The fiscal year 2012 budget included $2 million for a new timekeeping system, according to the source. The agency's payroll system and human resources departments are also expected to get a facelift with $8 million that was allocated to upgrades. Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske said the council might move quickly to get the system improvements underway once they determine there is in fact a tangible return on investment.

It might be difficult for employers to absorb the upfront costs of a new payroll processing system, but the benefits are manifold. Staff overhead costs decrease as employees are no longer tasked with manually tallying up employee attendance totals, and businesses may find they save money simply because human errors are greatly reduced.

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