Madeline Owens
Lantern Staff
In an effort to make payday more quick efficient, changes have been made to the way college workers will now receive their paychecks.
Direct deposit has always been an option for college employees including student workers.
In April 2019, the Board of Trustees approved the change of evolving to paperless alternatives by no longer using paper checks.
All employees have the option of either direct deposit or using a payment card.
“The change was recommended to enhance the employee experience and provide quicker and more efficient handling of employee pay methods,” Associate Vice President of Human Resources Shelley Stultz said. “The decision was recommended by the Executive Council after soliciting feedback in Student and Employee Forums.”
The reloadable Visa debit card, also called Commerce DirectCheck cards, are a type of payment card that can be used at any bank or ATM that accepts Visa.
According to Stultz, the payment card is a much better option than the paper paychecks because the employee’s pay is immediately accessible on their card or through direct deposit by the time payday rolls around.
“With a paper check, the check has to be picked up, taken somewhere and either deposited or cashed, and the funds may need to clear the bank they were written against before they are accessible in your account,” Stultz said. “Last year we had well over 100 paper paychecks that were never picked up by student workers. We made several attempts to contact those who have unclaimed paychecks, and eventually we have to turn them over to the state as unclaimed wages which is required by state law.”
For those employees who are concerned with the security of the payment cards, rest assured the cards are safer to carry around than cash or checks.
Similarly to checking and savings accounts, there is full federal protection in case of unauthorized errors or transfers within the account.
So far, employees have had nothing but good things to say about the new way of payment.
“We have received very positive comments from new employees receiving a payment card,” Stultz remarked. “No negative feedback has been reported to payroll.”
The Butler Community College Human Resources employees want to make it very clear that they are there to help set up or answer any questions in regards to the new payment card system.
