Staff Writer- Emily Heins

For many Gustavus students, keeping track of hours worked is a routine part of having a campus job. This semester, students, employees, and administrators will be adjusting to a new system for recording those hours. The college has introduced Rippling, an employee-management platform that includes time tracking and other workplace functions. 

Before Rippling, Gustavus used Ellucian Colleague for its employee management and timekeeping processes. Unlike the previous system, however, Rippling is a broader platform and combines multiple functions, including time tracking, scheduling, payroll, and human resources into one system. 

According to the Director of Human Resources, Nicole Goebel, the change represents a major update for the college. The previous system had been in use for more than 30 years, and many other colleges were already going through changes to modernize and update their employment system. 

Now what has changed between the old system and the new system, Rippling? Well, the difference goes beyond simply just updating the college’s technology. According to Goebel, “the old system was adequate for the college’s needs, but lacked many things including an actual time keeping system.”

Previously, the College had to invest in other tools to allow people to clock in and out of positions across campus. Supervisors in those areas often spent hours on additional processing for each bi-weekly payroll. This meant that timekeeping was not handled through one centralized system. Instead, different tools and additional administrative work were needed to make sure employee hours and payroll information were processed. 

Goebel says with Rippling, Gustavus administrators can use Rippling’s data feed to transfer benefit information directly to our vendors without manual entry. The new payroll system will grant much greater efficiencies as the system will do much of the manual processing on its own, which was previously being done by administrators. 

“Rippling will allow a more organized and straightforward system for hiring employees and getting them through the registration process, not just keeping track of work logs. It will greatly make Gustavus staff’s jobs easier,” Goebel said. 

Another administrator who has made the transition to Rippling gave their opinion and perspective on the system was Administrative Coordinator of Alumni and Parent Engagement Emily Seppelt. Seppelt explained that overall the transition from the old system to Rippling is seen as positive. “Rippling will give more opportunity for students and staff to do things in one system,” Seppelt said.

As a previous student of Gustavus, Seppelt explained that many employees were only paid once a month on Self-Service during the years the old system was in place. For example, she noted that at the beginning of the school year, employees would work all the way through August and not get paid until September. 

“However, now with Rippling non-extempt employees, including students, will be given a twice a month payment,” said Seppelt. However, Emily did note that the adjustment for student employees as well as staff, especially those who have been using the old system for a while, will take some time to adjust. 

As for the student perspective, first year student Kyera Eustice was very pleased with the new system. “I felt that going through self-service was very easy and organized. I had only used the old system for a short period of time and the transition was pretty easy,” Eustice explained.

Eustice also believes Rippling will hold people accountable for clocking in and out and get rid of potential dishonesty that followed the old system.

Sophomore student Chloe Larson had a different perspective of the change. “Generally, I was confused as to why the change was necessary. It seemed that homebase seemed to work pretty well before,” Larson said. She also mentioned difficulty finding things, considering it’s more advanced. “Rippling just seems less intuitive than the old system.”

While students and staff have different opinions about Rippling, the transition marks a significant change for Gustavus. As students and employees continue to adjust to the new system, only time will tell how Rippling will shape the experience of working on campus.