Westside Donut Ventures LLC, which owns and operates Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins restaurants in New York City, Long Island, and upstate New York, has grown from one location in 2006 to more than 70 stores, including adding 25 stores in 2018 alone.
Challenges
Manual HR and workforce management processes diminished productivity at Westside Donut Ventures. HR staffers found it time-consuming to ensure that all new-hire onboarding paperwork was properly completed and approved. Moreover, their emailing of new employees' personal information to the main office posed potential security problems.
Tracking paid time off, leave, and benefits for 90 managers on spreadsheets created more challenges, as did tracking time off for an additional 1,000 employees. Five payroll staffers manually entered employee time for third-party payroll processing.
Each Monday, the operations director was deskbound when reviewing payroll for three to four hours before processing, reducing his time for store visits. And when managers distributed paper checks, if employees cashed them a day early, the payroll company assessed a costly fee.
"I told the owners, 'We can't keep running like a mom and pop shop.' We've got to get software that will give us access to everything in one place and when we're on the road," said Wyclif Kpanou, Director of Operations at Westside Donut Ventures.
Solutions
To have one source for workforce data, improve efficiencies in HR and payroll processes, align employee scheduling, and better manage labor costs, Westside Donut Ventures selected UKG Ready®, a comprehensive suite of cloud-based solutions that integrates all employee data in a single platform.
The solution delivers mobile functionality that enables employees to view their schedules, timecards, accrual balances, and pay statements, as well as request time off from anywhere. Managers can remotely approve time-off and leave requests and review and act on workforce reports on their mobile devices 24/7.
“We all know payroll gets adjusted week by week. You see where you are and make improvements. If you wait three days before you get these numbers, you're already three days behind the power of making the decision. UKG has given us the power to make faster decisions, which has been a real benefit.”
Wyclif Kpanou
Director of Operations
Results
New hires now complete their required employment forms in the solution online, for approval by the main office, and their personal information is secure in the system. Within 24 hours, new hires can be approved and working.
Kpanou spends 90% of his time visiting store locations or traveling to them. Having mobile access to payroll information on the go means he no longer spends hours each Monday reviewing payroll at his desk. Payroll is completed and available for reporting on Mondays by 1:00 p.m. In an emergency situation, payroll can be submitted on Tuesdays by 1:00 p.m., and employees are still paid on Wednesdays.
"I can review payroll data on my phone from anywhere and click on a button to accept it, and payroll is submitted," said Kpanou. "Payroll is done in minutes, and I have the report on my phone." The report shows payroll-percentage comparisons by store and helps him determine the cause of higher payrolls.
"We all know payroll gets adjusted week by week. You see where you are and make improvements," he said. "If you wait three days before you get these numbers, you're already three days behind the power of making the decision. UKG has given us the power to make faster decisions, which has been a real benefit."
Other benefits include the elimination of manual time entry for payroll processing — greatly reducing payroll staff time — and employees are paid via direct deposit or a prepaid card, eliminating fees for early check cashing.
With UKG Ready, district and store managers use their mobile devices from anywhere to access real-time payroll information and compare employee hours with schedules to control labor costs. Employees use the mobile app to view their pay statements and W-2 forms and request time off. Managers can check schedules before responding to time-off requests, see the number of employees working at their locations, and track new hires, turnover, and terminations. Mobile access to information is improving workforce management, supporting paperless processes, delivering time savings, and enhancing employee engagement.
Moving to UKG Ready has given Westside Donut Ventures the ability to view workforce information — such as employee time, accruals, store payrolls, and time off paid — every day, in one place. "This is the goal with operations: being mobile and having visibility into the business without having to be on a computer," said Kpanou. "For us, it's been an asset from day one with UKG."
