Customer Success: Simple HR

PaperWise PEO customer, Simple HR, able to expand with efficiency

Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) take on a heavy responsibility, providing cost-effective outsourced management of human resources, employee benefits, payroll, and workers' compensation. Simple HR provides services in two capacities. The first, and primary, function is as a PEO, while they also serve their clients as an Administrative Service Organization (ASO) or outsourced payroll. Founded in 2002, Simple HR provides employee management solutions for business owners who wish to spend more time on core business and less time on employer obligations.

At its headquarters in Destin, Florida, Simple HR delivers full service human resources, payroll processing, workers compensation, risk management, benefits, and training to their clients. By outsourcing these services, the clients of Simple HR have access to certified professionals that they otherwise may not have had resources to maintain in-house. Utilizing Simple HR assures business owners their human resource needs meet legal and industry standards.

Located in an area of Florida that encounters high traffic from tourism, the 300+ clients of Simple HR experience increased turnover as many jobs in the area are seasonal. Simple HR serves nearly 6,000 employees annually; internally, a staff of 25 associates maintains the organization. With a small internal staff and high volume of employees hired, paper accumulates quickly. However, in the world of Human Resources documents not only have to stay organized, but also require a certain level of security to remain compliant with regulations.

Reasons for Implementation

The decision to implement a document management system was based on three primary criteria. As an environmentally conscious company, investing in a solution was an important part of an overall corporate 'Going Green' initiative. Simple HR established a means of moving away from a constant use of paper, part of which was an investment in PaperWise. The solution provided a strong foundation for storing documents without keeping paper. Director of IT, Victoria Facciponti, explained, "Our next step of 'Going Green' is the addition of online Employee Enrollment, as well as Benefits Enrollment using the PaperWise WebWise application."

Another component that impacted Simple HR's investment was a need to store digital copies of records offsite or at multiple locations. Located in a hurricane zone, Simple HR called for a solution that would safeguard records from natural disasters or emergencies. "Maintaining business operations and the ability to respond quickly in the event of an emergency is a primary concern for us," said Facciponti. "PaperWise provides the safe storage we need to help us give peace of mind to our clients; today we are ready to take care of their needs under any circumstance." In addition to backup security, the system Simple HR needed had to meet the legal requirements for safeguarding documents, yet maintain the validity of a legally binding document.

Most importantly, it was essential for the solution to increase and improve customer service. It was a necessity for the internal staff of Simple HR to easily retrieve files and provide multiuser access, thus allowing team members to have any information available immediately. This capability increased operational efficiencies, allowing the team to provide quality customer service, the hallmark of Simple HR. "Installing the system also afforded us the opportunity to refine our workflow processes for efficiency ultimately reducing process time for many internal processes; each step of implementation continues to add new advantages that improve our service level to our clients and client employees," explained Facciponti.

Efficiency Gains & Benefits

As PaperWise has been implemented in various departments of Simple HR, the organization has been the recipient of many efficiency gains. "With PaperWise we have an easy to use system with the ability to customize and automate workflow processes, and have ownership of all locally stored programs and documents, from one dependable product," said Facciponti. Simple HR has reduced time spent entering document information and eliminated dual entry mistakes through custom script integrations with their payroll software which automatically captures data. Other customizations include the use of barcodes which automatically name document types, as well as automatic routing of documents for workflow processes.

Since the institution of PaperWise in August of 2008, Simple HR has nearly eliminated the need to purchase file folders or labels, and have not made any new purchases of these supplies in 2009. An excess of 4000 files would have normally been purchased, and their paper budget has dropped 25%, continuing to decrease as more automation is implemented. "Copies of every payroll report we process were typically stored in our full wall lateral filing cabinet system; As of January 1, 2009, those cabinets are now obsolete - everything is in PaperWise," said Facciponti. An additional wall of 20 four drawer letter filing cabinets are soon to be eliminated as back scanning files has nearly been completed. To date Simple HR has over 98,000 documents, representing over 125,000 scanned pages, with a minimum of 12,000, and counting, electronic documents that have been stored directly without printing, thereby eliminating the use of paper.

Today, Simple HR can expand without experiencing typical growing pains. Offsite paper storage needs are reduced allowing the business to increase in clients and employees without increasing the size of their storage facility. Multiuse capabilities of documents and automated workflows have made tasks easier and increased productivity among the staff. The clients of Simple HR have found the company can offer quicker turn around on new hire approvals, as well as processing and retrieval of all documents. One of the primary benefits gained is the ability to safeguard their information. "We bear the responsibility to maintain and store employee documents for our client employees as well as our own internal documents. PaperWise allows us to maintain security of our documents, not only through backup capabilities, but through permitting customized access, giving us the ability to control which employees or departments may view or modify stored documents," explained Facciponti. "This is major for everyone involved, from internal staff, corporate management, and most importantly, our clients and client employees."

Future Focus

As the company continues to utilize their solution, they anticipate further efficiency gains. "We are currently scheduled to update to a new version of our payroll software which will allow added integrations with PaperWise," said Facciponti. The company will have to adjust current automations to match the new software; however, they will be able to print directly to PaperWise and add more screen scraping to reduce dual entry of index values. In 2010, they intend to begin utilizing WebWise when they anticipate creating an online enrollment packet and benefits enrollment for employees. According to Facciponti, "The results we have had already using PaperWise are really impressive; we look forward to the future results that are possible for us as we continue to build on our solution."