Archdiocese Simplifies Payroll and Unifies HR Operations with Paylocity

The Archdiocese of Miami provides spiritual leadership and pastoral care to more than 1.3 million (over 750,000 registered) Roman Catholics across South Florida. Formed in 1958, the Archdiocese of Miami ministers to one of the most diverse congregations in the United States, with large Cuban, Haitian, Filipino, Venezuelan, and Brazilian communities, and celebrates the Mass in 12 different languages.

Lisa Pinto, Senior Director of Human Resources, explains: “In total, the Archdiocese of Miami consists of around 225 separate entities. This includes 109 parishes and 65 schools educating 37,000 students, plus outreach missions, charities, hospitals and health facilities, cemeteries, a radio station and seminaries. We’re a large operation.”

Historically, the Archdiocese had operated a largely decentralized administrative structure, with individual entities responsible for core functions such as payroll. But there was a downside to this model: processes became fragmented, with limited central visibility into operations.

Soon after arriving, the administrative team set out to refine this approach, creating an Office for Human Resources to oversee recruitment, compensation, benefits, and more. Among key HR objectives was to streamline and standardize HR and payroll processes and systems across all entities.

“We started by planning consistent HR policies, before going to market to find a new platform,” adds Lisa. “Paylocity stood out as a great option from the moment we connected with the sales rep. Not only was he very genuine and professional, but Paylocity had experience working with other churches, dioceses, and religious organizations, so we felt confident they could help us.”

 

The Challenge: New Beginnings

Multiple tax classifications, disparate systems, and non-standard processes made life complicated for Lisa and the team. They targeted a fresh start based on simplicity and efficiency. 

Disparate Payroll Systems Create Complexity

For every large-scale enterprise, payroll can bring major challenges. But things are especially burdensome for religious organizations, as employees and clergy fall under different tax regulations and require separate, more specialized processing.

For the Archdiocese of Miami, there was an additional layer of complexity, because individual entities relied on their own preferred systems and processes. “You name it, we were using it,” says Lisa. “Some entities were still writing out paper checks. Others were using Excel spreadsheets to manage and track pay, while some had implemented ADP or QuickBooks systems.”

Inevitably, this patchwork of systems made it difficult for the HR Office to gain a consolidated view of payroll operations, and to ensure accurate, compliantmanagement of 403(b) plan contributions.

Unique HR Policies and Processes Need Flexible Systems

As the Archdiocese began to map out requirements for the new system, it soon became clear that a standard HR solution would not fit the bill. Instead, a more flexible, customizable platform was essential to address the pressures of running such a large religious organization.

For example, the Archdiocese of Miami conducts very stringent pre-employment screening for teachers. “We run reference checks, fingerprint screening with national and local law enforcement agencies, certification with the Florida Department of Education, and more,” adds Lisa. “There are also differences in the way we manage paid time off (PTO) allowances for our teachers, compared to our administrators. We wanted to find a system that would support these non-standard aspects of our operations.”

Multilingual Workforce Makes Accessibility Vital 

The diversity of the Archdiocese’s employees made ease of use another key requirement. “Our administrators and employees come from across the world, and they don’t always have English as their first language,” notes Lisa. “An accessible, intuitive system was vital.”

 

The Solution: Running a Detailed Evaluation

After an in-depth assessment, the Archdiocese of Miami selected Paylocity for its user-friendliness, flexible architecture, mobile capabilities, and its track record of helping other religious organizations. 

To identify the best option, the Archdiocese of Miami invited vendors to present before a panel of HR and IT leaders. “Some solutions felt difficult to navigate and aimed more at corporate users,” says Lisa. “By contrast, Paylocity was very accessible. Our IT Director asked a lot of questions, and Paylocity answered with real expertise. We were especially impressed by the ability to create customized workflows.”

Achieving a Seamless Rollout Across Multiple Entities

Working with Paylocity, the Archdiocese of Miami implemented the new platform, starting with the entities that have the most employees—the high schools. To facilitate the changeover, Paylocity divided all the entities into groups of six, and assigned an Implementation Coordinator to each group to walk users through the system.

“The rollout was a great experience,” says Lisa. “Our main rep was always on top of everything from start to finish. In particular, he helped to migrate our employee records into the main HR system. We have employees from different cultures that use different naming conventions, which can cause confusion, but our rep helped us to clean up the data and standardize formats.”

Offering Employees Flexibility and Simplicity

Today, these entities are using the Paylocity Payroll module to run biweekly pay processes. Employees are clocking in through the Time & Labor module, accessed either on a kiosk loaded on a tablet or via the Paylocity Mobile App. “Our people love being able to punch in through the mobile app,” explains Lisa. “Plus, we use the geofencing capabilities to ensure accuracy.”.

Configuring Bespoke Recruitment Processes

Furthermore, the Archdiocese of Miami developed new processes for screening candidates for teaching roles using the Workflows & Documents module. “Two of our team members collaborated with Paylocity’s programmers to create a process where candidates receive a link, then upload their academic transcripts, go through certification with state agencies, and so on,” continues Lisa. The Workflows module allows the school's office to grant an approval to the candidate, then the HR team uses the Onboarding module to integrate successful candidates into the organization.

 

The Results: Enjoying a Successful Partnership

The switch to Paylocity has proved a big success, enabling the Archdiocese of Miami to simplify payroll, enhance processes, and uncover deep insights into HR trends that will boost retention. 

Standardizing Payroll with a Unified Platform

Now that entities are using Paylocity to manage payroll, the Archdiocese of Miami has eliminated the complexity and cost of running multiple systems and processes. The Paylocity platform provides rich capabilities to manage various tax classifications, exemptions, 403(b) and other retirement plans seamlessly. “During the implementation, Paylocity helped to remove anomalies and errors around people’s tax status,” adds Lisa. “They helped us step towards fully standardized operations.”

Gaining Full Visibility into Payroll and HR Operations

Working from one platform has also made it easier for the central HR and finance teams to gain a clear view across payroll operations and 403(b) plans. “Paylocity really delivers when it comes to reporting,” notes Lisa. “For example, we can pull data on pay and employee hours, establish how many people will be eligible for benefits, then project the cost of contributions for each entity.”

Reports from Paylocity also enabled the Archdiocese of Miami to identify high turnover among younger teachers following the pandemic. “We noted a high turnover among the younger teachers and a high proportion of our teachers in the 55-70 age bracket would soon retire," says Lisa. "The Office of Schools at the Archdiocese launched a mentoring program for teachers from the younger demographic to boost engagement and retention."

Adapting Workflows for Specialized Operations

Beyond pre-employment screening, the Archdiocese of Miami is using Paylocity to support many other tailored processes, such as managing sick leave and vacation time for teachers. “Very few platforms allow you to customize workflows, as their architectures are so rigid,” adds Lisa. “Instead, they will typically push you to purchase add-on components. Paylocity is the exception to the rule.”

Building Lasting Success through Close Collaboration

The partnership has become so strong that the Archdiocese of Miami now holds an annual Paylocity Day, as Lisa concludes: “Our account reps come on site to talk to our users about new features and functionality. It’s a great event, and one we look forward to as part of our partnership.”