Agri Supply Cultivates Increased Control Over Labor Costs, Improved Workforce Productivity with Kronos® Solution
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"Something for Everyone." That's Agri Supply's motto. And if you're looking for items for the farm, shop, or home, you'll find them at this agricultural supply company. Headquartered in Garner, North Carolina, the company operates seven retail stores in four states, in addition to its online store, mail order business, and wholesale division. Commercial farming operations, small weekend farmers, and homeowners can choose from more than 23,000 agriculture, landscaping, and lawn and garden products.
For years Agri Supply had been using a combination of in-house and outsourced systems for human resources, payroll, and time and attendance. This cumbersome arrangement made it difficult for the company to share accurate information between systems. It even resulted in delayed delivery of employee paychecks. The cost of outsourcing payroll was a significant expense, and was coupled with poor customer service that often led to errors and additional work Agri Supply staff.
The answer? Kronos. Agri Supply turned to Kronos for a single solution for its human resources, payroll, and time and attendance needs. Following a speedy implementation, Agri Supply has a newly integrated, streamlined process for managing its workforce. This translates into lower labor costs. Improved workforce productivity. Better decision making. And increased control over labor budgeting and overtime.
Disparate systems mean high costs, low reliability
Prior to moving to Kronos' Workforce Central® suite, Agri Supply outsourced its payroll process. The company experienced a number of problems and many members of the staff were frustrated with the arrangement. "We had no control," says Carol Wagoner, director of human resources for Direct Distributors, Agri Supply's parent company. "If we missed a deadline, we just missed it — there was nothing we could do. And more than once our checks weren't delivered on time because of factors outside our control, such as the weather."
Another problem: the cost of outsourcing. Explains Wagoner, "We found that we could do anything we wanted — for a fee. And we weren't getting the level of customer service we needed. We would call three times with the same question and get three different answers. It even caused us to process things incorrectly.
With its employee information in a separate human resources system, Agri Supply was also faced with the challenge of sharing data across disparate technologies. This process negatively impacted workforce productivity since it often proved time-consuming and unreliable.
The benefits of a one-vendor solution
Agri Supply selected the Workforce Central suite to manage its human resources, payroll, and time and attendance processes. A six-month implementation was carried out by just two employees. Wagoner also credits Agri Supply's Kronos application consultant with helping the company implement the solution so quickly.
A single-solution, single database vendor has a host of benefits. Key for Wagoner: the ability to easily add on products as the company's needs evolve. "With Kronos I can add features such as compensation management or performance management when our company needs them," she explains. "Whatever the need may be, it's flexible and cost-effective to add to our existing solution with Kronos." Agri Supply plans on adding employee and manager self-service, and also applicant tracking to its current Kronos solution.
Real-time labor info helps cut costs
The response from Agri Supply's managers has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Wagoner. "The store managers love Kronos — it has completely changed how they go about budgeting." Today, Agri Supply store managers can get a daily, even hourly, look at how stores are performing against budgets. It's all possible with access to high-quality, real-time labor information. Before Kronos this information wasn't available until the following month, when it was too late to do anything about it.
True visibility and control has changed all that. With a clearer picture of labor costs, Agri Supply has been able to reduce its overtime to almost zero. Now managers can quickly access labor data to see which employees are clocking in early, and take appropriate steps to stay on budget. Kronos has also helped the company deal with market fluctuations. "We had a period of slow sales, and one of our store managers was able to cut $10,000 off his payroll one month to compensate for the lower revenue," says Wagoner. "Without Kronos at his fingertips, he would have been in the red."
Another benefit? Kronos gives Agri Supply a better look at employee attendance, helping the company control absenteeism. "You don't have to sift through time cards or six months of calendar notes to see how many days an employee has missed," says Wagoner. "Kronos clearly shows us tardies and unexcused absences." The information has also come in handy in controlling unemployment costs. "If we have to terminate someone because of their attendance and they file for unemployment, I can prove our case by simply running a report that shows how many times they were late," Wagoner explains. "It's safe to say that we've saved thousands of dollars this way."
Empowered managers, better decision making
Customer service was an important consideration for Agri Supply, and the company was diligent in communicating its expectations to the Kronos team. According to Wagoner, the expectations have been met. "The customer service at Kronos is great. We get a quick response whenever we call. Someone is always ready to help us and they really know what they're doing. We have a lot of trust in Kronos."
In evaluating Kronos, Wagoner found that by switching to Kronos and bringing the payroll process in house, Agri Supply would save $100,000 over five years. While this impressive cost savings convinced the company's president to approve the purchase, Wagoner has found that the increased control over labor costs has convinced managers of the solution's value. "The biggest positive impact has been the control Kronos puts in our managers' hands. It allows them to make better decisions with more information. As a management tool, it's phenomenal."
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