For the international Hannecard group, expert in industrial rollers, time and workforce management remains a key issue. Established in no less than 16 countries, the multinational has more than 600 employees, with several hundreds of them distributed across four sites in France. To keep track of hours worked, the management adopted UKG’s Efficient 5 solution some ten years ago. In September 2021, the organisation chose to go a step further in its digital transformation by migrating to the UKG Ready solution. Fabrice Bossé, Manager of Human Resources, Pay and HRIS at Hannecard, takes us behind the scenes of the project, for a look at the issues and the process of transition to UKG Ready and the results achieved.
The challenge
Before adopting UKG Ready, Hannecard France’s objectives were threefold. The company wanted to:
- Improve the productivity of the operational and HR teams;
- Improve efficiency, particularly in the field of compliance;
- Analyse data in greater depth for the sake of greater agility.
As well as introducing a new card reader and better time tracking, Hannecard was impressed by UKG Ready’s integrated leave management function, which convinced the company to take the plunge.
The challenges from the perspective ...of
“Our goal was to help managers by making them more autonomous, explains Fabrice Bosse, Human Resources Paying and HRIS. ‘We wanted to allow them to plan their own schedules, extract information to display on the bulletin board and manage staff leave and absences better… In short, we wanted to give them greater visibility, all the more so because we need to take into account a specific function, variations in working hours.”
… of the employees
Also on the agenda was making our employees’ everyday lives easier. And for good reason, because in addition to swiping, they had to fill in a paper form. The HR team then scrupulously compared the data recorded in the system and the paper documents before sending the information to Payroll, potentially increasing the risk of error and employee queries.
… of the HR team
With UKG Ready, Hannecard wanted a better distribution of roles between HR and Operations in the processing of tasks relating to human resources. By providing managers with a more reliable and easier-to-use tool for time and workforce tracking, HR would be able to devote themselves to other tasks, engage in more in-depth data analysis or better ensure the company’s full compliance.
The solution
In order to carry out the project, Fabrice Bossé was supported by his general manager, as well as by a consultant and a UKG project manager.
“The introduction of the team immediately gave us confidence”, explains the Human Resources, Payroll and HRIS Manager. “The fact that the consultant was an Efficient 5 expert and knew our case very well really simplified the situation.” Fabrice Bossé was able to focus on a needs analysis while the consultant directed his attention to UKG Ready’s parameters.
Two sites, La Flèche and Rhône Alpes, representing over 170 employees, were chosen to start the adventure.
Between the launch of the project in February 2022 and the handover to the teams barely seven months elapsed. Implementation was carried out quickly, giving the HR team time to support the change with managers and employees.
“We organised several workshops: firstly in June and then after the summer break.
I started training managers in order to introduce the tool and its functionalities to them. The employees were then provided with training. The last session took place in early October 2022”, explains the HR professional.
The results
“UKG Ready surpassed our expectations”, says Fabrice Bossé. “Managers have a better understanding of the experience of their employees: they know if they arrive early or if they work longer hours at peak times, for example. They have access to the staff’s work time counters, benefit from greater visibility and are supported in making the right decisions. Our managers are strong supporters of UKG.” Furthermore, they manage absences and anomalies, tasks previously allocated to HR, directly.
On the employee side, adopting the tool has also been rapid, and the feedback has been positive. Employees now have access via the tablets that are available in their workplace and also on their smartphones to all relevant information. “Many employees have downloaded the app to their phones”, clarifies Fabrice Bossé. Employees also have the possibility of booking their leave directly via the time clock! As for paper forms, these are now ancient history.
“I was dealing with a lot of paperwork before, but now I hardly have any’, he says. Our aim is to eliminate the use of forms by the end of the year. Moreover, some managers have contacted me to tell me they have already stopped using them. It saves time and paper, both for my employees and for me.”
Indeed, today, the information extracted from the system is so reliable that Fabrice Bossé no longer needs to double-check before sending the information to Payroll because everything is now automated. “It’s really reliable. The solution offers a lot of security. I tell the staff that if there’s a mistake, it’s human error: a manager or employee has provided incorrect information. The configuration itself cannot create any errors. This reassures our staff.”
The extraction of pre-configured reports is another positive aspect for Fabrice Bossé, “The monitoring dashboards are accurate. I have more confidence in the data. And this simplifies everything because we have the precise information in real time, which enables us to be more adaptable and efficient.”
« I was dealing with a lot of paperwork before, but now I hardly have any. Our aim is to eliminate the use of forms by the end of the year. Moreover, some managers have contacted me to tell me they have already stopped using them. It saves time and paper both for my employees and for me. »
Fabrice Bossé
Manager of Human Resources, Payroll and HRIS at Hannecard
The next steps
Now that the first sites are running fully autonomously, Fabrice Bossé has freed up time to devote to the implementation of UKG Ready in the company’s other French factories, which will affect around 50 employees.
And Fabrice Bossé wants to go even further in finding the right solution for the ongoing optimisation of the group’s efficiency.
Stay tuned for future developments!