RAM, South Africa, Chose Synerion’s Wokforce Management Solutions
About RAM – Hand to Hand Courier
As the only South African hand-to-hand courier that doesn’t use subcontractors within the borders of South Africa, RAM has an unsurpassed track record of delivering securely, intact and on time.
Established in 1988, the company has grown in size and stature and today has 27 hubs across Southern Africa, an unrivalled fleet of over 1,600 vehicles and around 2,800 personnel, all trained and motivated to deliver on the brand promise – to handle every delivery as if it was our own.
RAM is committed to looking after its primary asset: its people. RAM fosters loyalty among its staff by paying above average salaries, up-skilling them through on-going training and incentivizing them via a coordinated performance reward program.
The Challenges
RAM has about 2,800 permanent employees: drivers and assistants, warehouses and HQ workers, staff at client sites, as well as certain additional temporary workers during high-sessions. The company operates in shifts and employees are paid according to a combination of actual attendance and the work schedule (where for example, any early or late arrivals are deducted from shift start time).
The previous workforce management solution used by RAM did not answer its needs. The fixed pattern scheduling system did not allow for much needed ad-hoc modifications. Moreover, managers could not validate attendance reports and overtime on a daily basis. As a result, there were many payroll calculation inaccuracies, forcing the payroll department to retrospectively make the necessary adjustments.
RAM, committed to foster employee satisfaction and act in fairness and transparency, was looking for a solution that will assure that employees are paid accurately to begin with.
“The system we previously used lacked necessary functionalities, making workforce management a very labor intensive process,” says Santiago Rabellini (ISA Accounts), CA (SA) at RAM. “There were inaccuracy issues with, night shifts, overtime and paid time off and a multitude of payroll discrepancies, where employees were short or over- paid.”
The Solution – Synerion Direct
RAM chose Synerion Direct as its automated workforce management solution, including attendance
and absence management, scheduling, manager self-service and smartphone app for reports of its
sales reps and in-house staff at client sites.
Synerion’s solution was mainly chosen because of its flexible scheduling capabilities – assigning employees
to shifts according to fixed patterns on one hand, and making ad-hoc modification as required on the other. The solution meets any of RAM’s payroll processing needs, regardless of their complexity.
With Synerion’s solutions all data is automatically updated in the system in real-time, allowing managers to access data of the employees they oversee, validate timesheets daily and produce their time-sheets in order to process and calculate payroll. Managers can also view pending time off to see what days are available for employees to use in order to approve or decline paid time off requests. Shift scheduling is automatically updated when the manager captures and approves the leave.
RAM’s labor demands can fluctuate considerably from day to day, so being able to quickly make changes that are immediately visible in the system is a crucial feature. With Synerion’s scheduling system, managers can look at employee scheduling in relation to workloads and quickly make adjustments to schedules.
“Synerion’s solutions provide managers with the tools they need to run their individual departments more efficiently.” says Santiago Rabellini. “The managers now have hands-on data and factual information that enables decision-making, ad-hoc modifications and timely reaction as needed.
Since we started working with Synerion’s systems and began paying employees according to a combination of actual attendance and the work schedule, our payroll calculation accuracy significantly improved. The lack of the time spent going back and reviewing payroll, accruals or time-off and other administrative tasks, improved efficiency and even employees’ satisfaction. Our employees now have transparency to their reports and know that they are accurately and fairly payed.”
The Synerion Mobile Pro, a mobile app has additional capabilities that RAM will use. This application would be especially helpful for sales reps and in-house staff at client sites, who are not near a location with biometric time clock at the start or end of their shift and must instead fill out a paper time card. With Synerion Mobile Pro they will be able to clock in and out via their smartphones, report tasks performed, view their time-sheets, their schedules and vacation balance and submit absence request.
Results
For companies such as RAM, with multiple locations or employees who are constantly on-the-go, having an effective and comprehensive workforce management solution in place is a necessity. It provides an efficient, easy-to-use automated solution that gives organizations visibility and control over time and attendance data and a more comprehensive view of daily business operations.
Benefits
- Greater payroll accuracy and increased employee satisfaction.
- Reduction in administrative efforts and costs.
- Greater flexibility, visibility and control of staff throughout the organization.
- A more agile operational effectiveness.
- Improved absence management.
- Real-time employee attendance information.
- Effective planning and allocation of staff.
