1. Making HR and Payroll easier
Sage HR & Payroll
Case study
The introduction of automatic
enrolment added a further impetus to
the migration project: “We already had
a pension plan with a good 50%
take-up, but we knew that auto
enrolment would bring added
complexity.”
The company has a diverse workforce,
from shopfloor assemblers and welders
to R&D engineers and a ‘work from
home’ external sales team. Shift-
working and overtime for shopfloor
operations also had to come within the
scope of any solution. “It was an
interesting challenge to find a solution
that could give us everything we need!”
Mariette comments.
After an in-depth review of the market,
Sage HR & Payroll emerged as the
frontrunner: “Ease of use was a big
factor in the purchasing decision. With
some systems, you couldn’t even work
out what they were trying to do. In
contrast, with Sage, it was instantly
clear and transparent. We felt that it
would be easy to extract information.
We also liked the fact that time and
attendance would be closely integrated,
especially as we had plans to extend its
coverage.”
Empowering employees to
self-serve
Now KROHNE benefits from a single
store of HR information: “It’s easier to
capture data and we no longer have the
risk of paper forms going astray.
Whereas generating management
reports used to be difficult we will in the
future be able to produce reports for
managers on, say, the training and
development their team has
undertaken.”
About KROHNE Ltd
KROHNELtdisaworld-leading
manufacturerandsupplierof
innovativemeasurementsolutions.
FinancialDirectorMarietteKeirhas
seentheUKworkforcequadruplein
sizesinceshejoinedthecompanyin
2000,fromjust50employeestoover
200today. “Throughoutthisperiod
ofdramaticgrowth,thecompanyhas
retaineditscorevalues.KROHNEhas
beenafamily-ownedbusinessforthe
bestpartofacenturynowandwe
believeouremployeesareour
greatestasset”saysMariette.
Moving with the times
Growth needs close management and
KROHNE recognised the need for a
more powerful and integrated set of HR
solutions. Mariette recalls, “We used to
maintain two completely separate
systems: one for HR to record the time
and attendance of our shopfloor staff,
and another for payroll only. This
introduced a whole layer of duplication,
with all the accompanying risk of errors.
In addition, our payroll system was
showing its age, becoming increasingly
inflexible and unmanageable.”
It was also difficult to extract
information: “From a management
perspective, reporting was difficult.
Our payroll data was scattered across
spreadsheets and we had limited
reporting, usually having to correct the
data, as, for example, last-minute
holiday may not have been captured.”
Customer
KROHNE Ltd
Industry
Manufacturing
Head Office
Northamptonshire,
United Kingdom
Number of UK locations
3
System
HR & Payroll
Outsource Payroll
Self-Service Module
Salary Sacrifice Module
ProMark Time & Attendance
“Ease of use was a big
factor in the purchasing
decision of going
with Sage.”
Mariette Keir
Financial Director at KROHNE Ltd

2. Sage HR & Payroll
Mariette notes, “It’s not just about
capturing names and addresses and
next of kin; the Sage HR system takes
employee engagement and our ability
to support them to the next level. Staff
and managers are empowered to be
part of the process, performing many
routine functions for themselves, such
as logging or approving holiday
requests, and checking company
policies and procedures. For example,
we’re hiring in many areas and the
solution supports us in recruitment,
also enabling employees to check out
internal vacancies. Importantly,
employees and managers can do all
of this without taking up the time and
resources of our small HR team.”
The company’s external sales team
can access the self-service capability
from home.
In enabling KROHNE employees to
update their records, the self-service
module improves the accuracy of their
HR data. The HR team retains control
of the process by setting the levels of
access and security for employees
and line managers.
Mariette adds, “I’ve been impressed
by just how readily our employees
have adopted this new way of working.
It’s also supporting us in our drive to
eliminate paper from our processes.
For their part, I believe our employees
appreciate being part of our drive to
improve outdated procedures.”
Transforming the payroll process
KROHNE has always outsourced its
payroll. Now data is first prepared
using Sage Payroll software and then
sent to the Sage payroll outsourcing
service.
Mariette recalls, “It used to be a
nightmare getting data out of the
system and over the internet to our
payroll partner. Now, we have clear
visibility of information on all
payments, deductions, pensions and
so on and can pick up on any
anomalies before we send it to Sage.
They produce the payslips and handle
the RTI submissions and payments to
HMRC.
It all goes smoothly and the Sage team
are a pleasure to work with.”
Employees can download their payslips
using the self-service function. Again,
this reduces reliance on paper-based
processes, though employees retain
the option to receive paper payslips.”
Recording presence and absence
Recording time and attendance by
clocking in is now a working practice
that extends beyond the shopfloor to
include all employees.
Explaining the rationale for this,
Mariette comments, “With three
different sites in the UK, we need to
know where everyone is, not least from
a health and safety perspective in case
of emergency or unexplained absence.
It’s one of the ways in which we care for
our employees; nevertheless, it has
been a cultural change and I’m proud
of the way that all our employees have
come on-board with this.”
End-to-end support
Mariette values the support received
from the Sage team throughout the
implementation and beyond: “The
migration was a major project for us
and Sage rose to the challenge of
implementing our new software to tight
timescales. They have made our lives
much easier, from training to data
migration and on to post-
implementation support. They are
always very responsive to our queries
or issues.”
Evaluating the overall difference that
the migration has made, Mariette says,
“We constantly review our business to
ensure we have the systems and
procedures in place to facilitate
innovation and support our phenomenal
growth. The solutions we have for HR,
payroll and time and attendance make
a significant contribution and we’re very
happy with our decision to go with Sage.
We now have a single source of
information and this, in itself, is
invaluable. But it’s much more than
that. We’re no longer just recording
data and maintaining a system; we’re
using the information to manage our
business better.”
How Sage HR & Payroll supports
KROHNE Limited
• A powerful yet user-friendly solution
for managing company growth
• Integrated software supports the
HR team and reduces the
administrative load
• Supports the drive to eliminate
manual, paper-based processes
• Self-service module engages
employees in maintaining their HR
records, improving data accuracy
• Payroll outsourcing works smoothly
and efficiently
• Expert support from the Sage team,
during implementation and beyond
“The solutions we have for
HR, payroll and time and
attendance make a
significant contribution
and we’re very happy with
our decision to go with
Sage.”
Mariette Keir
Financial Director at KROHNE Ltd
© Sage (UK) Limited 2015 06/15 HD
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