Location
Philadelphia, PA
Industry
Non-Profit
Employees
5,500+
Technology
Payroll, HR Solutions
“The success of the transition was that PrimePay met each business manager and payroll administrator where they were most comfortable. Our relationship with PrimePay is a true partnership. It was evident during the transition and is still evident two years later.”
Maureen Gallagher
Director of Human Resources, Archdiocese of Philadelphia

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The territory of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia includes the City and County of Philadelphia as well as surrounding suburban counties. It provides pastoral care for nearly 1.4 million Catholics in the region.

In addition to its administrative offices, it is composed of 217 parishes, 120 regional and parish Catholic elementary schools, 17 high schools, four schools of special education, and an extensive social services ministry. The Archdiocese also features a seminary that educates and forms men for service in the Roman Catholic Priesthood. Through its central operation and various related entities, the Archdiocese employs approximately 13,000 people in the Philadelphia area.

Challenge

With so many components spread over such a large geographic area, payroll and tax burden compliance across the board posed challenges for the Archdiocese as there was no standard payroll provider for all entities.

When the Archdiocese converted from a defined benefit plan to provide for employees in their retirement to a defined contribution plan via 403(b) provider, it was required that all payroll information be submitted to a third party provider. Payroll service provider standardization was critical to making that process efficient and accurate.

“The compliance piece is a challenge that cannot be underestimated when you’re talking about all those parishes,” said Marc Fisher, the Director of Parish Services and Support. “Trying to get information from [the parishes] on a timely and consistent basis across all entities was taking an enormous amount of time.”

“PrimePay allowed us to standardize, but were still flexible enough to deal with different situations presented at the various parishes,” said Marc Fisher, the Director of Parish Services and Support.

 

Consistency

That all changed for the Archdiocese in 2014 when they made the strategic decision to standardize all payroll processes and join the PrimePay family. Because of the flexibility offered from PrimePay, each entity was able to choose which payroll platform best fit their unique needs. For example, some of the larger parishes use PrimePay’s newly redesigned Online Payroll platform. Those who are more comfortable calling in their payroll have been connected with a dedicated service representative.

 

Remember that 403(b) plan? PrimePay stepped in and took control of these files and facilitates the process by sending them to the Archdiocese’s third party administrator.

Compliance woes were also erased when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia joined PrimePay. With multiple locations and employee sizes, PrimePay is able to ensure every regulation is met, from payroll to taxes to retirement plan offerings.

“PrimePay allowed us to standardize, but were still flexible enough to deal with different situations that present themselves within various parishes. They’re still able to take a fax from some of these locations whereas others are online,” explained Fisher.

Conclusion

By standardizing their payroll processes through PrimePay, the Archdiocese has taken great strides toward efficiency and compliance with its payroll processing. It has also enabled administrators to focus more on decision making that affects the life of the institution.

Maureen Gallagher, Director of Human Resources, sums it all up with this powerful statement regarding each of the locations of entities that make up the Archdiocese, “PrimePay met each entity where they were at, where they were most comfortable.” With flexibility, compliance assurance and standardization, PrimePay and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were able to establish an efficient and beneficial relationship