The Larderhouse
As restaurateurs we are extremely busy people and prefer to spend our time on more creative issues within the business. Despite this we knew we needed to do something to make the burden of our payroll process easier and alleviate some of the month end pain for ourselves and our staff. Visibility and clarity over wage % to turnover was also a big factor. Things that were difficult working from a paper based system. Working with Just Add Tech meant that after our initial meeting they were able to take away the pain and present us with a finished solution ready for implementing using their detailed knowledge of solutions. We simply would not have had time to do this. It has been great being able to tap into those skills as needed. We look forward to seeing what they come up with next.
– James Fowler, The Larderhouse – thelarderhouse.co.uk
Business Name: The Larderhouse
Commencement Date: March 2017
Nature of Job: Staff Scheduling and Payroll Integration
Systems Used: Deputy and Xero Payroll
- Growing company with multiple sites in an industry notorious for high staff turnover
- Manual processing of staff rotas and payroll processing
- Over reliance of payroll processing on one part-time member of staff
- Disconnected processes and systems making wage % turnover difficult to manage
Referral from accountant who understood the needs of the business were changing and that the processes were over reliant on one person and cumbersome. Upon review of the company’s current rostering and payroll process it was obvious that the current systems would not cope with increasing demands put on the paper orientated process and over reliance on one individual. This was highlighted as a key area to discuss with the client. At the meeting, this issue was discussed, including the fact that the company needed to change processes and systems to ensure it could continue to deal with the increase in staffing levels whilst maintaining a sensible wage % turnover.
To assist the company in addressing these key issues, we worked alongside the client and their outsourced finance department to understand the key processes and responsibilities in place. These sessions helped to help identify whether the objectives and systems were aligned. The key outcomes of these sessions were:
- Weekly paper based rotas were outdated and error strewn
- Manual interventions and duplication of data input was created meaning additional workload and possible errors
- Management needed to take more control over the wage % and have more visibility over the figures
- The process needed to be simplified and automated where possible so that more people could be involved and reduce reliance on one part-time person
- Cut off for the monthly payroll needed to be changed so that processing was not rushed at month end and reduce errors made and reviews completed
- Improve communications between employees, employer, management and payroll staff
- Implement system for beginning of new tax year and assist in running a parallel run to ensure system accuracy
Because of these issues, we then completed thorough research of the options available, compiled a report of the options and worked with the client to review these. We then went through a process of testing, selection, implementation and training.
- The company has reduced its wage % turnover
- Reduced the payroll processing time by several days by integrating Deputy to Xero Payroll
- Made management responsible for timesheet authorisation reducing burden on payroll, reducing queries and errors
- Improve internal communication with staff by leaving messages and sending automated open shifts via Deputy
- Scaling the business without increasing payroll resource is now a viable option
- Payroll can be processed from anywhere in the world in minutes
