Worldline is a global leader in secure payments and trusted transactions. We are at the forefront of the digital revolution that is shaping new ways of paying, living, doing business and building relationships that pass on trust along the entire payments value chain, enabling sustainable economic growth. Our innovative solutions, rooted in a rock-solid technological base, are environmentally friendly, widely accessible and support social transformation.
Challenges
Worldline’s independence challenge: digitalisation and the employee experience
In 2019, Worldline became independent from Atos, until then its parent company. The business already had 12,000 employees of its own across 30 countries and, alongside the excitement that this opportunity presented, there were considerable challenges to overcome.
Within six months, Worldline needed to separate itself from 90% of the tools it had previously shared with Atos. Innovation and digital transformation, key drivers of Worldline’s strategy for clients, were now needed internally to design a new employee experience for its own workforce, managers and HR teams.
Digitalisation is a major part of today’s employee experience. Before becoming independent, Worldline had digital solutions in place for HR in some local offices owned by Atos, tools that would not be available once the separation had taken place. In other countries, however, there were no HR digital solutions in place. “This was a major mission for our company,” says Michael Oggenfuss, Global Head HRIS and Employee Services at Worldline. The business had to “speed up and harmonise our delivery of digitisation and the employee experience. Worldline needed to find answers - and fast.
Space was another driver for digitalisation. The office space required for paper documents is costly, with security risks associated with protecting employee records in the case of fire or, of course, in the face of the Covid-19-pandemic. When the pandemic began in 2020, with the large-scale relocation to remote working for many, the need to share documents and insights at all business levels made the business case for digitalisation overwhelming.
In 2020, Worldline itself acquired Ingenico, in the process adding a further 8,000 employees to its workforce across 50 countries. The Worldline senior team quickly made the decision to extend UKGto the newly acquired business
“We were looking for external consultancy groups to implement the solution … [but] we became convinced that UKG would do the best job ....”
Michael Oggenfuss
Global Head HRIS and Employee Services
The Solution
Why did Worldline choose UKG HR Service Delivery?
UKG was already a supplier to Atos, and so was known to Worldline and proved itself as the most competitive solution proposed. Compliance and adaptability to local legislation were important aspects to Worldline in making this decision. In some markets, for example, there is a requirement for physical signatures, while in others they are not legally required.
UKG was already a supplier to Atos, and so was known to Worldline and proved itself as the most competitive solution proposed. Compliance and adaptability to local legislation were important aspects to Worldline in making this decision. In some markets, for example, there is a requirement for physical signatures, while in others they are not legally required.
Trust builds with a pilot …
Worldline created a pilot program with UKG HR Service Delivery in two markets, Switzerland and the UK. The business wanted to see how the solution proposed complied with local legislation, how the product was used and gather feedback in the process. This was an important step, because it helped to bed down reliable, compliant and audit-proof HR processes at an early stage. In Switzerland, Worldline imported 20,000 existing documents into the UKG HR Service Delivery platform, while the digitisation process in the UK also accelerated.
Worldline’s Michael Oggenfuss had considered using external consultants during this phase, but decided that UKG was the best team to implement the complete solution. Trust is of vital importance to Worldline in all its dealings and Michael Oggenfuss confirmed: “We trust you … [during] our evaluation, we became convinced that UKG would do the best job.”
…and Worldline’s knowledge base grows
Worldline’s business case for using UKG HR Service Delivery in part lay in its ability to build a new knowledge base as an independent business, allowing employees to fill in forms, make requests and launch processes automatically. In addition, it has been exploring how UKG and SuccessFactors can work together to add value to local HR through the integration of both platforms.
The best of Global and Local
Worldline implemented “Document Manager” starting in the UK and Switzerland, followed by Finland only four weeks later. It has also had positive discussions with works councils in Austria, Germany and Belgium to roll out the solution as quickly as possible. Every time the product is implemented, and fully configured in one country, the solutions will be delivered as a full package to the next country. To achieve this, Worldline has had to consider every local need, to deliver a global template that is standard between countries yet flexible enough for local needs and improvements. And of course, all solutions need to address various compliance, legal and security issues.
The same is true of job roles. Worldline has aligned its roles globally, worked out whether any roles were missing, or new ones required. This will help Worldline speed up deployment of talent, without major needs for localisation. Finally, bringing in the UKG solution involved understanding that it always takes time to bring in changes and make sure that compliance, legal and security issues have been addressed.
The Worldline verdict
“UKG HR Service Delivery is a very solid solution.” says Michael Oggenfuss. “It has a very good footprint and track record. … You always have to look at the fit of the solution with your company, and ask yourself ‘Is this the right timing? Are we at the right entry point to start a digital journey?’ While always recommending others to check the market for themselves, Oggenfuss concludes that he “would definitely recommend UKG.”
Results
With UKG HRSD, Worldline was able to implement an integrated global HR solution that also meets all local market criteria thanks to its flexibility. Eliminating paper storage significantly reduces costs, while compliant processes across regions also reduce cost risk.
