CityTime is an automated payroll system for New York City employees. It’s been more than 11 years in the making, has cost over $722 million (originally estimated to cost $63 million in 1998) and six consultants have swindled more than $80 million from it according to a New York Times article.[1]
Incredibly, Karen Shaffer, an assistant commissioner of the Department for the Aging, acknowledged in a signed statement to the city's Conflicts of Interest Board that between March 2009 and August 2010 she was paid for 290 hours of work that she did not perform.
She said she did so by manually entering false information into the CityTime automated payroll system.[2]
Finally, Officials at the contractor, Science Applications International Corp., said they will reimburse the city the $2.47 million that project manager Gerard Denault unfairly billed when he worked on the massive project to switch city employees to the system.
In a letter to the executive director of the city's Financial Information Services Agency - which now oversees CityTime - SAIC's senior vice president said it was impossible to determine how many hours Denault should have been paid for.[3]
Wrong Focus
CityTime was pushed by one powerful administration insider: the budget director, Mark Page. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Page, 62, a numbers cruncher … had become frustrated and distrustful of city workers… They described Mr. Page as “…a veteran bureaucrat and descendant of the financier J. P. Morgan -- …appointed in 2002. A dour man respected for his mastery of numbers, Mr. Page had long been frustrated by myriad union timekeeping rules.”
So we have a dour, frustrated, city bureaucrat who thinks strong controls are necessary to properly control the time keeping practices of city employees. Unfortunately, these strong controls are the wrong controls.
How many times have you observed an employee coming to work on time and leaving on time, but doing nothing during the day? Absolutely nothing!
In Albany New York, several auditors in my office observed a State employee sitting on top of a parking garage getting a tan every day. He would clock in, and then proceed to his supposedly hidden location. This went on for weeks. It took us a little time to identify the person, but our major question was – where was the supervisor?
Isn’t it more important for employees to be productive than to be clock watchers? Shouldn’t supervisors monitor productivity more than time? Personally, I value productivity over time rules.
People don’t like to be controlled. The more you control them, the more they rebel and figure out how to beat the system. Years ago, a major New York State agency required its employees to punch a time clock. One smart employee realized that Macy’s had the same time clock for its employees. So this enterprising State employee and a few of his colleagues would simply take the afternoon off and punch out at Macy’s!
Another important concept to keep in mind - most employees want to do the right thing. There are a relatively small group of liars, cheaters and people who steal. Unfortunately, management in many organizations create an environment that fosters the mistrust and distrust the dour Mr. Page was concerned about.
The CityTime system is approaching 3/4 of a billion dollars. It’s predicated on a concept that is doomed to failure as Assistant Commissioner Karen Shaffer already showed.
If managers would move to managing based on values instead of rules – the workplace would be better for it.
[1] Chen, David W., Serge F. Kovaleski, and John Eligon. "Behind troubled city payroll project, lax oversight and one powerful insider. " The New York Times. (March 28, 2011)
[2] Chen, David W. "Assistant Commissioner Who Faked Time Sheets Is Demoted. " The New York Times. (May 26, 2011)
[3] "CITYTIME BOSS' OWN CHEAT SHEET. " New York Post (New York, NY). (May 26, 2011)
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