Question - Health

1. Is Kronos being used within the health portfolio; if so, (a) for what parts of the portfolio, (b) what functions does it perform (c) what is its cost and (d) when was it installed.
2. Does Kronos make excessive work hours more immediately visible to managers and was this a major reason for its selection.
3. Has Kronos resulted in a reduction in staff working excessive work hours; if so, what reduction.
4. Has the Health HR section grown in size (a) since or (b) as a result of Kronos' introduction; if so, what has been the increase in (i) FTE and (ii) payroll.
5. Has there been any staff feedback about Kronos; if so, what feedback.

(1) Yes, Kronos is being used within the ACT Health Directorate (ACTHD) and Canberra Health Services (CHS).

(a) In ACTHD, Kronos is currently being used on a trial basis within three Divisions - Digital Solutions Division (DSD), Corporate and Governance Division (C&G) and Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Division. 

CHS currently uses Kronos at North Canberra Hospital (NCH).

(b) Kronos is a Time and Attendance system approved for use in the ACT Public Service which provides robust and transparent rostering and scheduling, live time attendance records, and interpretation of employment entitlements to staff into the payroll system for payment. Kronos also provides managers and executives with oversight of patterns of working hours and leave and flex accruals and trends.

(c) Kronos is a licence-based arrangement with the cost per licence being $192 per employee annually. Based on current staffing numbers at NCH, this is an annual cost of $386,496. For ACTHD, the approximate cost for 2023-24 will be $67,200.

(d) Kronos was implemented in ACTHD in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to support areas using shift-roster arrangements.

CHS is unable to provide a response as the system was in use prior to the transition of Calvary Public Hospital Bruce on 3 July 2023 to Canberra Health Services.

(2) Kronos was implemented as a time and attendance system primarily to record staff attendance associated with shift rosters during COVID-19 and ensure accurate and timely payment of staff entitlements. This also enabled tracking staff from a work health and safety fatigue management perspective during the public emergency response. While not the primary reason for using the platform, the reporting tool enables managers to have visibility and manage the hours worked by their employees.

CHS is unable to provide a response as there is no pre-implementation data to provide a comparison.

(3) The use of Kronos was initially limited to the COVID-19 branch in ACTHD. Kronos has subsequently been rolled out to three other Divisions only since August 2023 on a trial basis. There not yet been an assessment on whether Kronos has resulted in a reduction in staff working excessive hours.

As outlined in the response to question 2, CHS is unable to provide a response as pre‑implementation data is not available to provide a comparison.

(4) (a-b) (i) Initially during the pandemic and through the decommissioning of the COVID area there was a team of approximately five staff. With Kronos functioning being transferred to the HR area there was a Kronos team funded within ACTHD HR section of three FTE set up to implement and support a Kronos trial across the Directorate. This resource has now decreased to one FTE as of 1 May 2024. 

(4) (a-b) (ii) The current additional 1 FTE for Kronos has a cost of $122,935 which includes on‑costs, workers’ compensations costs, superannuation and salary.

(5) Yes, there has been feedback from ACTHD employees using Kronos. Below is a summary of survey processes:

- Two different surveys were distributed, so the questions were not identical. A number of questions were directed at managers only.

- Approximately four months after the go-live date, 43 out of 67 ACTHD C&G staff 
(64 per cent) completed the 'Kronos roll-out: reflection survey' between 31 October and 6 November 2023. 

- Approximately five months after the go-live date, 50 out of 277 DSD staff (18 per cent) completed the 'Kronos user survey' between 27 February and 4 March 2024; however, due to low participation, caution should be used when interpreting the DSD results.

Findings from the surveys, noting caution is required in interpreting data is:

- Overall, the average rating out of 10 was 5.23 (C&G: 5.19; DSD: 5.26).

- About half of respondents (C&G: n=22, 52 percent; DSD: n=28; 56 per cent) had enough information and support to use Kronos.

- Less than half of C&G respondents (n=19, 45 per cent) and one-third of DSD respondents (n=15, 30 per cent) reported that Kronos is easy to use.

- A third of C&G respondents (n=15, 35 per cent) and a quarter of DSD respondents (n=13, 26 per cent) reported that Kronos helped them manage their time.

- Four out of 10 DSD respondents (n=21, 42 per cent) reported that Kronos helps their manager understand their work patterns.

In CHS, staff are not routinely asked for feedback about Kronos, however I am advised that recent communication to NCH staff about Kronos upgrades has been well received.