We use paper, although I believe the digital option is available. For me an app would be a nightmare because I don't have a phone that can use apps.

Welcome, MarieTodd!

Is there any possibility that the app would allow for a worker to 'punch in' under different work categories (wedding/funeral/Sunday) with different pay rates? If so, that might spare you the need to adjust their hours so much.

For now, as an old I.T. guy, I'd say: don't despair! If you've only gone through one payroll cycle so far, that's no reason to give up on resolving the problems. While there may not be any wonder-worker I.T. people at your diocesan HR department, the problems you're experiencing are probably the same at every other parish, and that should provide a motivation for them to improve the procedures.

Is it possible to pay the musicians an amount different than what it calculates for rate X hours? If it is, maybe you could have them mark a Mass as 1 hour, funeral as 2, wedding as 3, if those each pay $150, 200, and 250 - just some way to differentiate them.

Why would the diocese roll out a new payroll system which didn't adequately reproduce even the results of a paper trail.... when most dioceses are already strapped for money?

The diocese had to change payroll systems because the previous one went bankrupt and was sold - due to the corrupt behavior of its owner. So, the diocese changed to a large monolithic payroll system that forces you into their mold rather than working with the customer. The app only allows people to clock in and out - like an old-fashioned time clock - so there is nowhere for the musician to indicate what they're doing or to differentiate between jobs. I, as the person inputting physical time cards, can differentiate between jobs and make sure the musician is getting paid the agreed upon rate. Thanks for the comments so far. I appreciate the input.

There is an attitude that is prevalent regarding musicians and some few other kinds of work that since the parishioners or the DRE, or the custodian, or the secretary, or even some disgruntled choir member doesn't see the work that is done and the "worker" isn't observed at the organ or in an office on a 40 hr. schedule that no work has been done.

Several years ago I did a brief, informal survey of practices regarding substitute organists due to a discussion with our Pastor at that time. I was astounded at some of the responses I received. "Boy! I wish I was an organist. $80 for one hour of work." "My business manager is driving me crazy with making me count up 40 hrs each week. I can't count time spent with wedding couples or families preparing for funerals because I'm paid by them and not the Parish." and on and on.

I explained to an exceptionally obnoxious woman at one parish that when you pay the organist you are not paying for one hour. You are paying for 20 years of study, thousands of hours of practice and study under the sometimes humiliating guidance of a teacher or teachers, and usually a good number of years of additional practice and study beyond that. She, of course, didn't get it.

It is of course absurd. Here is another. Some many years ago, now, the faculty of a Catholic Liberal Arts College was told that the Academic Dean wanted every one of the faculty to punch a time clock to make sure that everyone was putting in their 40 hrs. To this I, and several others, agreed to cut back on our time. I suggested that she might have some trouble finding someone to take my Fri. morning class if I had to spend too much time advising students, or in meetings, or whatever whimsical assignment I might receive that week. She backed down, but I never believed for a minute that she was quite serious about it.

Absurd!

Very little gets me as upset as this topic: musicians aren’t like secretaries or custodians, and our hours of work cannot be counted the same way. When I’m researching choral pieces or playing through SATB scores at the piano at home, that’s work, even though no one at the parish saw me do it.

I was told by the school-parish HR director in 2018 that even though I had to be at work for...

—school Masses at 7:15am 3 days per week
—Saturday Masses from 4:30pm-6:30pm every week
—Sunday Masses from 7:30am-11:45am every week
—The noon and 5pm Sunday Masses also, if the other organist couldn’t make it (for no extra stipend)
—adult choir rehearsal from 6:30pm-9:30pm (the actual rehearsal was 7-9) every week
—all the typical holiday work that we do (Christmas, Triduum, etc.)

...that I also had to maintain 8-5 office hours every weekday, M-F, because that was expected of all “exempt” employees without exception. What a bunch of malarkey! I told them I wouldn’t remain in a position which had those requirements, and that they would never find someone foolish enough to accept those terms. They were begging me to stay after my last day because — SURPRISE! — no one wanted that absurd 7-days-per-week-plus-holidays job. Naturally, I declined to remain.

Such people should be invited on a Wednesday morning to prepare everything for the evening’s rehearsal and perform as organist and choirmaster on the following weekend.

It only takes a few hours. Surely they have the requisite skills and can handle it with ease.

A former employer switched from time sheets to a time clock because they thought that their employees were recording more that actual hours worked. In reality,the employees were arriving at 7:50 a.m., but had been recording 8:00 a.m. Likewise at the end of the day. The extra minutes added up, and the time clock ended up costing them a substantial amount in additional wages.

Have the musicians clock in for all the time they spend preparing for Mass and special events (i.e rehearsals, practice, voice lessons, etc.) They will soon have much more than the 2 hours for Mass built up.

This is precisely why I retired from full time church music. I have a DMA and years of experience. You want to pay me by the hour? No.

For what it's worth, I get paid "hourly", as in for example, $100 per hour. An hour is a mass, rehearsal, or whatever similar event. Anything that would demand more than that pay rate would be billed in multiples; 1.5, 2, 3 hours, etc. So a typical week sees me working 4 "hours". However, when I report my hours, I simply report the masses I played for, rehearsals I had, then the accountant takes it from there.

For those who would rather see salary, I choose to be paid "hourly" for those busy times of the year when I have to turn down other possible work to make way for church obligations.