Background
- Location: United Kingdom
- Size: 94 employees
- Sector: Manufacturing & Engineering
Challenges
HR
At the point of first engagement, the client had a full-time, in-house HR Advisor who completed the day-today administrative tasks and was able to handle some of the basic employee relations activity.
However, they lacked the knowledge and experience to provide high-level support or work on the HR strategy for the business. This related to a total direct employment cost of £35,000 a year for their HR Advisor plus additional costs in HR consulting and outsourcing support to handle their more complex case work.
The client employed around 100 people across their manufacturing and administrative functions and wanted to reduce their HR overhead to maximise their spend and have access to more senior HR support when needed.
Payroll
Their monthly payroll of over 100 employees was completed by an in-house payroll controller, but when they retired, the client reallocated the workload to an employee within their Finance function.
However, they underestimated the payroll preparation time commitment and the professional accountant found themselves being tied up with transactional payroll tasks which were distracting them from the more value-adding finance activities they had been employed to provide.
Healthy & Safety
Working in a relatively high-risk manufacturing environment, the client had a full-time H&S individual who implemented a sustainable way of managing their H&S activities by empowering the management team to take on the day-to-day responsibilities and keep the business compliant. The restructuring of responsibilities meant the nominated H&S manager role was redundant as there was no need for a full-time employee, but the organisation still required a nominated competent person for legal and insurance compliance.
Solutions
HR
The company engaged with Vero HR who suggested an enhanced Vero Partner model, making HR Advisor and HR Director support available to them through the flexible Vero Time Bank model.
Payroll
With the headache of this part of their HR inefficiencies removed, the client was impressed with the flexibility and cost-efficiency of the Vero outsourcing model and explored options to streamline other people-related areas of their business. The outbreak of COVID-19 proved that the payroll preparation activity could be completed remotely, and with so much time spent on preparing the payroll ahead of processing, Vero HR stepped in to develop a bespoke payroll.
Healthy & Safety
Fast forward six months and the client has explored the options to find further efficiencies by engaging with the new Vero Health & Safety service. Engaging with Vero H&S in the early stages meant the client could define exactly what their requirements were and scope the service they needed with an existing trusted partner.
“The client was impressed with the flexibility and cost-efficiency of the Vero outsourcing model”
Results
By moving to a flexible outsourcing model with Vero HR, the client was able to reduce their fixed HR costs by over £18,000 per year.
What’s more, the new payroll support service eliminated the need for their finance contact to get caught up in this time-consuming work and allowed them to dedicate that time to value-adding finance activity instead. This would be the first client to utilise the skills of the team for payroll preparation (as different to processing payroll) with Vero HR working closely to design the best solution to match their requirements.
Engaging with Vero H&S in the early stages meant the client could define exactly what their requirements were and scope the service they needed with an existing trusted partner. The result: a bespoke service that further reduced their direct employment costs and helped lower their annual insurance premiums.
One of the priorities for the client when outsourcing their activities was not only to reduce costs but, in doing so, to ensure they did not lose the personal relationships held between their employees and their HR provider.
The Vero HR approach to providing dedicated contacts across all of their services allowed the client to continue to work in a way they needed, at a price that suited them.
“Vero HR provides good, efficient support and has an interest in helping us improve. Our contact is personally engaged in our business, like one of our employees, which is perfect.”
– Managing Director
