|
For several years Fulbright & Jaworski has offered employees the option of not printing their earnings statements. Some immediately discontinued printing and obtained their earnings statement information by looking at their pay history in Vista; others flatly refused. Over the years we occasionally sent out messages or attached notices to the statements asking people if they wanted to stop printing their pay advice. We would get a few takers, but probably still had about 40% overall who did not want their statement printed. In California we were told that we had to print the advice. Many of our older employees were not comfortable with the computer and liked the comfort of a piece of paper in hand. Most were just downright stubborn--they had no real reason except that they were lazy!
Then came the green initiative at our Firm and it was decided that we would stop printing all advices, no excuses. We were going "Cold Turkey" and cutting everyone off! We also found out that in California we could stop the printing of the earnings statement as long as they had a way to access the information. We attached notices to the last pay advice people would receive in the middle of January informing them of the change and gave them instructions for accessing through Vista, and with the January 31st pay cycle we no longer printed any earning statements. Many individuals said that they didn't want to print at the office for fear of someone picking it up off the printer. We told them they could email it to their home email account and print at home.
With the January 31st pay cycle, the payroll department gained at least two hours back to their day not having to print and seal all the statements. We expected complaints and grumbling from employees, but everything was smooth. There were some password problems and we discovered a few things that weren't printed on our online statement that had been printed on the statement we printed from the check writer output, but those were easily resolved. Many people also discovered that their emergency contacts, phone numbers or other personal information was incorrect since they hadn't been logging into Vista regularly.
We all had fears about not printing the statements, but it was no big deal and I recommend everyone stop printing the statements. Not only does it fit with "Green" initiatives it saves money (and time) as well!
Meribeth Spilger
FULBRIGHT & Jaworski L.L.P.
|
