Business Cases
BUSINESS CASE: SYZ GROUP
Website: https://www.syzgroup.com/
Number of employees: 270 employees
Industry: Private Banking
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Geneva
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- About Syz
- The challenges
- The solution
- The results
- Conclusion
ABOUT SYZ
The Syz Group is a family owned and managed Swiss financial group focused on excellent long-term investment performance, robust risk management, and personal service for clients. Descending from a family that have been entrepreneurs for centuries, the group was co-founded in 1996 by Eric Syz who still leads the firm alongside his two sons and a team of industry experts.
THE CHALLENGES
Syz Group needed a new Human Resources Information System (HRIS) to further support the transformation of the organization and optimize HR management. Thomas Heurtevent, Senior Compensation and Benefits Manager, as well as the HR lead on the project, explains this in more detail:
“We concluded that we need a Human Capital Management (HCM) system that would enable us to fully integrate employee personal, professional and payroll data with our payroll engine. This needed to be done in a way that would not change the existing underlying processes that were well-established with our payroll vendor.”
Performance management and onboarding were two other processes that required new tools:
“We wanted to take a fresh approach better reflecting our vision of performance management and wanted to be able to manage objectives, evaluations and employee development planning as either separate or integrated processes. PeopleWeek enables us to do this. Additionally, we needed to manage onboarding and employee transfers in a seamless way between the HR and IT teams and without affecting existing processes.”
THE SOLUTION
The Project team was looking for a user-friendly software interface, but also a solution that’s both off-the-shelf and customized to Syz’ requirements:
“We were initially impressed by PeopleWeek’s customisable UI and the ease with which clients can manage many of their own configurations autonomously. However, we were also conscious of the fact that Syz wanted to avoid as much as possible making changes to existing internal processes that worked very well, for example payroll and onboarding. Most HR systems do not allow this unless you purchase a highly tailored solution, which is clearly more expensive and time consuming to implement.”
THE RESULTS:
It took PeopleWeek and Syz 16 weeks to implement the software functionalities for the 270 employees within the group. Group Syz was very satisfied with the results: “PeopleWeek was able to provide ready-made solutions to most of our requirements and partner with us to develop new solutions where needed. Thanks to the modules we implemented – People, Payroll, Onboarding, and Performance – I can confidently say that we have modern and efficient tools, which can be further developed as our needs evolve. For Nicole Aepli, Head of HR Strategy:
“PeopleWeek brought both HR and IT know-how to the table. In some areas we knew exactly what we wanted from a new HRIS but in other areas we were looking for creative input to help us re-think some of our practices. PeopleWeek’s shared this experience with us during the design phase.”
CONCLUSION:
Nicole’s thoughts on the partnership and the PeopleWeek experience:
“Overall, it has felt like a collaborative partnership both during and post implementation. Together, Syz and PeopleWeek have implemented user-friendly solutions needed by our employees, managers and HR. Importantly, the project was delivered on time and budget.”
BUSINESS CASE: ACE & COMPANY
Website: https://aceandcompany.com/
Number of employees: 40
Industry: Private equity
Founded: 2005
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
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- About ACE & Company
- The challenges
- The solution
- The results
- Conclusion
ABOUT ACE & COMPANY
ACE & Company (“ACE”), founded in 2005, is a global investment group specialized in private investments The company has offices in Geneva (headquarters), London, Cairo, New York, and Hong Kong. Anushan Sinnathamby is an Administration Manager at ACE. He’s in charge of cross-team communications, making sure that all processes are in place and working smoothly. Anushan is the main link between management and employees.
THE CHALLENGES
Anushan remembers the struggles he and his colleagues faced before implementing PeopleWeek: “We used multiple tools to keep track of important data and events. It was quite complicated for me to share new policies and important articles with team members. “ Another important aspect was having a clear overview of employee absences and public information: “Keeping track of absences, vacation days, holidays and who’s working where – that wasn’t an easy task. We needed a solution that enables me to have line of sight of employees’ whereabouts.”
THE SOLUTION
Anushan got in touch with Patrick Sikias, the founder of PeopleWeek, to explore how PeopleWeek could help ACE: “Patrick explained to me how PeopleWeek could help ACE to be more efficient and that its unique software has both HR and employee collaboration modules, which is exactly what we needed.”
The modules ACE uses are People, Time & Attendance, Remoting Working, Intranet for News, Documents, Lists, Contents publishing, and Voting. “We were shown a one-stop HR and collaboration platform. I couldn’t wait to see the final implementation.” The implementation took about 1 week for ACE & Company’s 40 employees.
THE RESULTS:
Two-and-a-half years since implementing PeopleWeek, Anushan explains how the software has made his day-to-day tasks easier:
“I can have all the information I need in one place. PeopleWeek has given me the flexibility to share files, documentation, news and presentations with all teams, as well as to vote on important decisions within the company and keep track of absences and employees working remotely. Another important aspect for me is autonomy. After implementing PeopleWeek, I do not need to involve our IT team to manage the system. I can make changes, create my own lists and add new policies in real-time and on my own – the way I see fit.” Anushan is very positive about the customer support and development team: “The training went smoothly. From day one we have received great support from the technical team whenever we needed it. As a result, any issues have been resolved swiftly.”
CONCLUSION:
A few closing words for organisations similar to ACE & Company: “I would recommend PeopleWeek as an ideal off-the-shelf but at the same time customized software solution. If you like practical modules that provide you with complete control and autonomy, then PeopleWeek is the way to go.”
BUSINESS CASE: GEROFINANCE
Website: https://www.gerofinance.ch/
Number of employees: 370
Industry: Property management and real estate sales
Founded: 1962
Headquarters: Geneva, with several agencies located in French-speaking Switzerland
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- About GeroFinance
- The challenges
- The solution
- The results
- Conclusion
ABOUT GEROFINANCE
GeroFinance creates winning synergies thanks to the expertise and complementarity of each partner entity. The company is present throughout the French-speaking region of Switzerland with agencies in Geneva, Vaud and more recently Valais. They benefit from solid experience in all areas of property management and brokerage, including management of rental properties, villas and commercial premises, and tax and financial advice.
THE CHALLENGES
The HR department at GeroFinance remembers how they conducted their daily work processes before implementing PeopleWeek: “We took care of most of our day-to-day tasks by hand.Eventually, we realized that it might be beneficial for us if we digitalized our work processes. That could help us be more organised and efficient.” The group currently consists of 20 agencies, which created the challenge to synchronise all of them: “We determined that if we want to have a smooth flow of information among all colleagues and keep every entity informed about company policies, we needed a proper tool. We intended to centralize and promote communication between all agencies.”
THE SOLUTION
Martine is Deputy Director of Human Resources at GeroFinance Gerofinance | Régie du Rhône. She feels like they are very well supported and that everyone in PeopleWeek’s team did and does everything to meet their needs, while being open to developing new features when GeroFinance had specific requirements. As a result, the daily workflows at GeroFinance are digitalized and their cross-agency collaboration has improved significantly: “It’s very easy to be up to date with a particular entity’s news and events thanks to the News and Events modules. I can be miles away from my colleagues yet know who’s where and what they are working on. The software provides us with a high level of transparency, control, and effectiveness.” In addition, the Absences and Expenses features have proven to be very useful for Martine and her colleagues: “By using the Expenses module, our employees can easily record their expenses and have them approved. For us, the HR department, it’s a very important feature that allows us to generate reports on expenses and gives us the autonomy to define and change the expense category and types with just a few clicks. The Absences module has been very important for our concierges. This module gives them the opportunity to coordinate each other and make sure there’s always someone to greet and assist the guests.”
CONCLUSION:
One very important aspect for any potential collaboration is setting realistic expectations to meet the needs of the client: “For me, personally, I think it’s very important to clearly define the requirements from the start. With PeopleWeek, we feel like they were truly committed to solving our problems and help us overcome our challenges. Moreover, we get the necessary training to quickly learn how the modules work in order to use them to their best potential. I would recommend PeopleWeek to any medium- and large-sized organisation looking to digitalize their daily workflows, improve cross-department collaboration, and to increase efficiency with the help of a variety of user-friendly modules.”
BUSINESS CASE: VILLE DE BULLE
Website: https://www.bulle.ch/
Number of employees: 195
Industry: Public administration
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Bulle
Number of employees: 195
Industry: Public administration
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Bulle
Read More
- About Bulle
- The challenges
- The solution
- The results
- Conclusion
ABOUT BULLE
Bulle is a city of more than 25,000 inhabitants, capital of the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg. The present-day municipality, situated at an altitude of 771 metres, was created by the merger of Bulle and La Tour-de-Trême in 2006. Bulle is a young, attractive, dynamic economic centre for regional development, extremely well located between Bern and the Lake Geneva region. Bulle has a rich variety of clubs and associations that provide the population with high quality cultural, sporting, leisure and entertainment activities. Education services, mobility and urban planning are high quality. All-in-all, Bulle provides a very good quality of life for its inhabitants.
THE CHALLENGES
Brigitte Perret is the head of Bulle’s HR department. She identified that improving communication and transparency of the organisational structure were two priorities: “We used several channels of communication and it quickly became apparent that that system we used had its limitations.We needed a tool that would allow us to house all those separate channels in one place. We knew that if we were able to do this we would be able to foster much more effective cross-team collaboration. In addition, we needed to improve understanding of the organisational structure, reporting relationships and the role of different departments. For this reason, we wanted to publish the organisation structure to all employees and share news about what is happening across the organisation.”
THE SOLUTION
Brigitte and her team came across PeopleWeek when researching different platforms. She describes her first impressions of the software: “It really didn’t take long to realise that PeopleWeek ticks all the boxes for us. The software offered the various modules that we needed for our daily HR activities, we well as providing an internal communication toolkit.”
THE RESULTS:
Bulle decided to initially purchase four modules, and the implementation took approximately two months. Brigitte explains how PeopleWeek has made the team’s tasks easier: “The Intranet and Collaboration modules, that contain the sub-modules Projects, News, Events, Contents, Lists, Tools, and Surveys, help us keep employees well-informed and provides a smooth exchange of information.Internal communication and engagement have really improved. Employees really like the expenses module. It is easy to register an expense and reimbursements are managed efficiently and quickly. It is now very simple to keep track of training course attendance and completion rates. Moreover, employees can request new training courses and make suggestions about existing trainings.” One specific module remains Brigitte’s favourite: “I’m particularly impressed with the Evaluations module. Since we started using it, the performance assessment process has been much easier and more efficient. This module ensures that everyone has regular and detailed feedback on their performance and knows where and how they can continue to develop and improve.”
CONCLUSION:
Bulle’s HR operations and employee communications have significantly improved since they started using PeopleWeek. As a result, Brigitte is very satisfied: “We’ve enjoyed a very fruitful collaboration with PeopleWeek. Their team is very flexible and always solution-oriented. I would recommend PeopleWeek to any organisation looking to improve their daily HR processes, cross-team communication, and employee engagement.”
BUSINESS CASE: vVARDIS
Website: www.vvardis.com
Number of employees: 50
Industry: Private
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Zug, Switzerland
Read More
- About vVARDIS
- The challenges
- The solution
- The results
- Conclusion
ABOUT VVARDIS
The New Science of Oral Health. A quest.
Driven by our desire to erase the #1 disease in the world – tooth decay – we at vVARDIS have a vision. vVARDIS believe that oral care is the indispensable foundation of holistic health and wellbeing and we’re on a mission to improve the quality of oral care for all – with the goal of creating a drill-free future for the next generation.
vVARDIS combines revolutionary patented technologies and leading-edge science with the legacy of Swiss purity and precision, in an advanced regimen that helps eliminate initial decay, restores, strengthens and whitens teeth, and provides healthy, long-lasting protection without sensitivity.
ABOUT NICK
Nick Egger works as Chief People Officer at vVardis. As such, he is responsible for HR strategic planning and all HR operations. Before starting in his role back in August 2021, he worked for 25+ years in various Senior HR roles for organizations with up to 10,000 employees. He worked in various geographies, such as in Asia, Europe and the USA.
THE CHALLENGES
During his first days at vVARDIS, Nick quickly realised the need for a change:
“We used 2-3 different tools for handling employee and payroll data, including Excel. We used spreadsheets and had to enter changes manually – and that left quite a large room for error in the record management with no established workflows”
“Recruitment was a tedious task: finding potential hires, responding to emails/notifications, scheduling and doing the rounds of interviews, creating reports for each round, dealing with declines… It’s easy to lose track and be out of sync with your colleagues and candidates.”
vVARDIS concluded that they needed a tool to digitalise all their HR operations in order to improve efficiency:
“We faced many challenges when it comes to collaboration and defining who does what. We needed to find a solution – and we needed to find it quickly as we are in start-up/scale up mode.”
THE SOLUTION
Shortly afterwards, Nick got in touch with Paul Jon Martin to discuss possible solutions to vVardis’ challenges.
“I wanted to find a vanilla solution that is also customisable and intuitive to use. PeopleWeek offers exactly that: ready-made software that is also tailored to what our need.
Pragmatic, insightful and easy-to-use HR modules with a payroll integration on employee data – thanks to partnership with Loyco – and strong focus on data protection and security (Swiss base DB), with a clear overview of all operations in sync with our People Strategy – it became clear early on that PeopleWeek is a one-stop-shop for our HR operations at vVARDIS.”
Additionally, Nick liked the fact that vVardis and PeopleWeek have a similar mindset:
“Swiss-made next-generation products, science advanced and having the willingness to deliver as well as working for consumers to shape a better future thanks to unique products – we have that in common! That made the decision to go with PeopleWeek incredibly easy.”
All organisational and people data was imported into the system within four weeks, enabling vVardis to go live about six weeks after making the decision to implement PeopleWeek.
THE RESULTS:
Now that vVardis uses PeopleWeek, Nick is much more comfortable:
“I’m more at ease and have more confidence now that I know that all of the employees’ records are under “one roof”, safe and secured. It runs smoothly, with no data points missing and no dual entry of data. It is also linked to our payroll provider Loyco. As a result, I can now focus more time on talent management programs and organisation design, HR strategy and rely on a solid and transparent organisation layout.”
The recruitment process is much simpler now:
“Everyone involved in the hiring process has access to an applicant’s page, can leave comments to discuss impressions, while seeing my colleagues’ notes and remarks about our valued candidates. The recruitment module is intuitive, there are less barriers than what I was used to with major HR software’s. It enables everyone to be up to date and on the same page.
Additionally, thanks to the state-of-the-art collaboration tool, our people are much more aware of their responsibilities and who is who and doing what in the organisation. This ensures higher visibility and makes it easy for me to provide process definitions to the employees.”
Autonomy is another benefit for the HR department at vVardis:
“My team and I can manage the employee and payroll data, add new hires, and make changes in the system independently. Since the software is easy to use and requires no additional training, we don’t have to rely on an IT team and lengthy UAT testing.”.
CONCLUSION:
Nick has some closing words about vVardis and PeopleWeek:
“We feel like we are being listened to and that PeopleWeek is fully committed to fulfilling our needs – time and time again over the past months this has proven to be the case. PeopleWeek did an implementation that usually takes around 12+ months in less than 6 weeks. The level of professionalism, the quality of the delivery and expertise they have shown is something we like to be associated with.
My team and I are extremely satisfied with PeopleWeek’s software and collaboration tool, and I would recommend it any small/medium-sized companies (SME).
It’s been great to collaborate with the PeopleWeek team and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next, it looks promising and deployable quickly & easily”.
BUSINESS CASE: vVARDIS ADVANCED HR ANALYTICS USING DATA IN PEOPLEWEEK
Website: www.vvardis.com
Number of employees: 60+
Industry: Private
Founded: 2020
Headquarters: Zug, Switzerland
Read More
ABOUT vVARDIS
The New Science of Oral Health. A quest.
Driven by our desire to erase the #1 disease in the world – tooth decay – we at vVARDIS have a vision. vVARDIS believe that oral care is the indispensable foundation of holistic health and wellbeing and we’re on a mission to improve the quality of oral care for all – with the goal of creating a drill-free future for the next generation.
vVARDIS combines revolutionary patented technologies and leading-edge science with the legacy of Swiss purity and precision, in an advanced regimen that helps eliminate initial decay, restores, strengthens and whitens teeth, and provides healthy, long-lasting protection without sensitivity.
ABOUT NICK
Nick Egger works as Chief People Officer at vVardis. As such, he is responsible for HR strategic planning and all HR operations. Before starting in his role back in August 2021, he worked for 25+ years in various Senior HR roles for organizations with up to 10,000 employees. He worked in various geographies, such as in Asia, Europe and the USA.
THE CHALLENGE
vVardis is a fast-growing business and we need to have detailed analytics on revenues and costs, budgets, and forecasts. This includes employment related or namely people costs, which, like many businesses, is our single largest category of expenditure. Our analytics also need to be broken down into many different categories, for example, by country, entity, department, function, business line, and individual movement comparisons. We also need line of sight of our budgeted vs. actual vs. forecast costs by month, quarter, and annual. Such people related data is used to support informed business decision-making and to understand profit and loss across the business.
Whilst PeopleWeek contained most of the data needed by HR and Finance to provide this level of detailed reporting, the process of consolidating it was very time consuming. I also recognized that the way vVardis needs to use the data is very specific to our organisation, as is the case for most organisations, and that we could not expect an HRIS to deliver a standardized reporting output that would meet our needs.
THE SOLUTION
The first step was to design a data model that would provide the breadth and depth of analysis required by the business. This was a collaborative project involving myself, the CFO, and an external consultant with specialized skills in building business analytics who has an extensive knowhow of HRIS systems and processes. It was an iterative process that probably took us about 10 hours over the course of a week to build the People spend Forecast (PsF) module.
The next step was to build an automated model that would ingest and then analyse the employee data that was already in PeopleWeek. We did this using Power Query (a free tool within Excel), which imports data from PeopleWeek in Excel format.
The required data was easily exported from PeopleWeek using their existing standard Excel reports (e.g. the employee master data report, payroll data, and future recruitment). We needed to add a few additional data points to the model, such as estimated social security costs (percentages) and monthly currency exchange rates for each country in which we operate.
It took our external consultant about 10 days over a few months to build, test and deploy the agreed model. That included the design, the engineering, testing and production deployment.
THE RESULTS
The result is a highly customized model that enables vVardis to produce a detailed and broad set of employee cost related data, including comparisons of actual costs vs. budgeted costs vs. forecasted costs, and to do so using many splits of organizational data (using the Excel slicers), different cost types, and even precise costs by employee, as well as track employee movements month by month Vs budgeted data.
When we compared the final annual results generated by Finance’s general ledgerand those generated using our People Spend Forecast (PsF) model based on PeopleWeek data, there was a 99.8% accuracy.
CONCLUSION
When an HRIS like PeopleWeek is used to manage a broad range of HR processes and your employee data management is of high quality, it is possible to produce very detailed and customized reports and analytics.
There are many very accessible and low-cost tools that allow you to export the people data, transform it into the required format and naming conventions, and ingest it into a tailored model that meets the requirements of a typical organization.
Whilst our solution took a little bit of effort to set up, once created we can directly ingest the standard reports from PeopleWeek and it is far better than having a generic set of dashboards that look pretty but do not really add business value !
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Note: If you are potentially interested in taking a similar approach to vVardis, PeopleWeek is happy to connect our clients to the external consultant that worked with Nick to build their analytical model. Please contact pauljonmartin@peopleweek.com.