Gerard celebrates 45 years at UGL
In Gerard Mulligan’s career as payroll officer at UGL, he has witnessed the transition from manual timekeeping to automated systems and been able to mentor others throughout his four decades in the industry.
Tell us about your journey at UGL
“I began my career when I was in year 11 in high school and went for an interview at Goninan for a junior clerk role, I also had to sit an apprentice aptitude test, as this is how it was 40 years ago. I got all the math questions right, which helped land me the role of a junior clerk at the Broadmeadow office. In this role back then there were no computers, everything was manual. This included time sheeting, which was card based, so the team had to manually clock in and clock out. Then in 1993, I took over the role as paymaster for the railway division for the Broadmeadow site. In 1999, Goninan was bought by United Constructions then later after a name change became UGL. There are 250 people at Broadmeadow that I look after for payroll. In my role I am constantly learning to ensure everything runs seamlessly.
This year I am celebrating 45 years in the finance team for transport at the UGL Broadmeadow location.”
Have you witnessed any big changes?
“A positive impact was in 2002 when UGL stopped using paper time sheets and started using Kronos. This is an automated workforce management system that helps track employee times and payroll accurately. This is what I still use now as the guys don’t use paper anymore. They just swipe on and swipe off, and I just look at the data to ensure there are no errors and help fix entries if employees might have forgotten to swipe in.”
In your time at UGL who have been your mentors?
“I have had some great mentors in my time at UGL. My first pay master, Dennis Gleeson was my mentor for many years when we worked together until he retired. I also help other sites with their Kronos queries, by stepping them through the system and training other colleagues, as I know it inside out. I try to help everyone where I can. Using clear communications and being flexible with strategy ideas is key to my role. I am very big on fixing a problem as that is the positive way to solve a task.”
