CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
Spice and Seasoning Manufacturer Improves Workforce Management Timekeeping and Payroll Processing Reduced by 20% Elite Spice, Inc., a spice and seasoning producer for the commercial food industry, reduced employee scheduling, time-tracking, and endof-pay-period-processing time by 20% using cloud-based Attendance on Demand. Previously, Elite Spice had used a rudimentary timekeeping system that was accurate but limited in features and reporting. They wanted a system that could keep up with their rapid growth and handle both permanent and temporary staff. Elite Spice turned to Attendance on Demand for help. Now Elite Spice creates employee schedules and tracks hours with ease. What once took a couple of hours to complete each week is now done in a matter of minutes, saving time and improving accuracy.
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
page 1
CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
About Elite Spice, Inc. Elite Spice Inc., founded in Jessup, Maryland in 1988, is a highly specialized spice and seasoning producer for the commercial food industry. They provide spices and seasoning products to the top multinational food processing companies. Earning a “Superior” from the American Institute of Baking and supplying certified kosher products, Elite Spice meets their customers’ needs quickly and efficiently. Elite Spice has more than 400 employees and five locations on the East and West coasts: four in Jessup and one in Reno, Nevada. The plants run two shifts and pay hourly employees on a weekly pay basis.
Demanding More from Time and Attendance Up until a year ago, Elite Spice used a simple computer timekeeping system for its workers. It kept track of 310 hourly employees working in their warehouses. Two managers administered the scheduling, timekeeping, and reporting system for all the employees. Creating employee schedules for day and night shifts for workers in the different locations across the country was a challenge. The system only captured limited employee and shift information. This made it difficult to schedule employees and sort and total labor hours for reports. The old system required minor tweaks and timecard adjustments each pay period, adding to the payroll process. “We liked the system we had but it just wasn’t detailed enough,” said Debbie Ingle, Controller and Personnel Manager. “We weren’t able to get as much information out of that system as we would have liked. As we grew, we needed it to do more.”
Duplicate Information in Separate Systems Another problem was duplicate information. Employee information was entered in both the timekeeping system and the payroll system. Other HR information was maintained manually in paper files. This process was inefficient and prone to errors. In addition, paid time off (PTO) requests for vacation or other benefit time requests were submitted on paper. The managers entered it into both the schedules and the payroll system so that it could be tracked and reported. Keeping the information in multiple places created inconsistencies.
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
page 2
CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
“They were completely separate, standalone systems that did not talk to each other,” said Ingle. “We wanted systems that would communicate and share information.”
Tracking Temporary and Seasonal Workers Elite Spice also used manual processes for handling temporary and seasonal workers’ hours. Unlike full-time employees that used the automated timekeeping system, temporary workers were employed through an agency and used a paper timecard to punch in and punch out. Each week the managers made a photocopy of each timecard, and then faxed the timecards, and any other attendance related information, such as absences and tardies, to the temporary agency. This process was time-consuming and took the managers away from other critical tasks. Scheduling was complicated as well. Within the two shifts, employees work many different schedules to cover different parts of production. Tracking who was supposed to be where and when could be very trying as the pay period wore on.
“We wanted systems that would communicate and share information.” Spicing Things Up Elite Spice wanted better control of their labor hours and dollars. They were rapidly expanding, had outgrown their current system, and needed to accommodate change. They wanted easy interaction and integration with HR and payroll, better scheduling reports, and better labor tracking. Elite Spice turned to the experts at Labor Strategy (Greensboro, NC) to implement Attendance on Demand, a cloud-based time and attendance solution. Elite Spice appreciated that there was no software to buy and how easily the workforce information at the different locations could be reached through the cloud, safely and securely. Labor Strategy integrated Attendance on Demand into Elite Spice’s operations and improved their timekeeping processes and access to wage and hour data. “It tracks so much more information,” said Ingle. “The old system just carried the very basic information, but there are so many more fields you can run reports on.”
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
page 3
CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
Temporary Problems, Permanent Solution With Attendance on Demand, the hassle of copying and sending timecards to the temporary agency is gone. Attendance on Demand can track both the Elite Spice employees and the temporary agency’s workers but filter out the temporary hours before sending to payroll. Temporary workers’ hours are exported to a separate Excel spreadsheet and emailed to the agency. “This works great for our temps,” said Ingle. “The temp workers are paid much more accurately. And, if we hire the temps as full-time employees, it is easy to keep their attendance records intact.”
“All three systems now talk to each other. It is a complete end-to-end system.” Specific Results Attendance on Demand has streamlined workforce management and time-tracking at Elite Spice. It also simplified scheduling by creating a set of repeating schedule patterns. Employees are assigned to a pattern and their schedules are automatically populated each week. Timecard edits occur quickly and easily, making adjustments for missed punches or acknowledging exceptions to work schedules, like tardies or absences. Attendance on Demand allows information to be exported into Excel so that it can be sorted and totaled into meaningful reports. The problem of duplicate information was eliminated. When a new employee is hired, his/her information is entered once and shared among the HR, Attendance on Demand, and the payroll systems. This eliminates errors and the redundant task of entering employee information into three separate systems. If an employee address or phone number changes, it is corrected in one system and shared with the others automatically. “All three systems now talk to each other. It is a complete end-to-end system,” said Ingle. Attendance on Demand helps Elite Spice with employee performance reviews. Managers can review reports of attendance habits and go over them with employees. Communication is improved because managers have a tool that can help with discipline or can substantiate merit increases based on attendance habits. Employees know where they stand.
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
page 4
CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
Implementing PTO was also improved. When employees request PTO, the manger adjusts the schedule to note the time off. Their timecards reflect the time off and worked hours. At the end of the pay period, the information is downloaded to the payroll system which takes care of benefit time accruals and paid time off. Anytime, anywhere access to cloud-based Attendance on Demand is also a feature that Elite Spice values. “The old software was licensed only to my desktop computer. It was a major undertaking to get other people access to the system,” said Ingle. “Not having the software and data stuck on one person’s computer is a major advantage.” Overall, Attendance on Demand cut down the time it took Elite Spice to prepare payroll from a couple of hours to about 20 minutes. Managers can easily prepare schedules and track time and attendance. Elite Spice managers can now concentrate on their core business of the manufacturing and production of seasonings and spices.
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
page 5
CASE STUDY
Elite Spice
Demand More
with Attendance on Demand
About Labor Strategy, LLC. Labor Strategy, LLC. (Greensboro, NC) implements time and attendance solutions for a range of businesses. With over 20 years of specific experience in the time and labor area, Labor Strategy helps organizations streamline payroll processes and control costs through high-quality service and support. The Labor Strategy team collaborates with businesses to eliminate manual intervention and duplicate data entry, and instead puts into place solutions. Advanced time clocks and services take the work out of complex employee scheduling, labor and wage calculation. www.laborstrategy.com
About Attendance on Demand, Inc. Attendance on Demand employee time and attendance service supports the labor management needs of thousands of companies and a quarter of a million employees across North America. Launched in 2006, Attendance on Demand is a rapidly deployed, cloud-based solution that minimizes a company’s risk and technology investment while providing advanced features for securely managing labor data — calculating pay rules, scheduling employees, budgeting labor, and automating recordkeeping for labor law compliance. With over 99.9962% uptime and above average customer retention rates, Attendance on Demand removes the worry of maintaining expensive infrastructure. An extensive North American distribution network helps organizations use Attendance on Demand to reduce labor expenses and improve decision-making.
To find out how Attendance on Demand can help your organization, call 800-465-9980 or visit www.attendanceondemand.com
Attendance on Demand is a registered trademark of Attendance on Demand, Inc.
www.attendanceondemand.com
800-465-9980
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