Senior Living Provider Eliminates Inefficiencies with New HR Provider
Legacy systems that were not industry-specific and could not share information caused time-consuming and costly inefficiencies for a senior living provider with 26 communities and more than 1,400 employees. Employees had to spend a substantial amount of time on repetitive administrative tasks and correcting errors. In order to address these issues and prepare for future growth of the company, Adams Keegan introduced industry-specific HR and scheduling systems to increase the efficiency, speed, and accuracy of administrative tasks. Find out how a systems overhaul and a service-oriented model for HR management helped to enhance operations for this senior living business.
With more than 1,400 employees, 26 senior living communities across nine states, and a small human resources team, this senior living provider was in need of more reliable, efficient HR processes. Their payroll and employee management processes had become inefficient due to the combination of vendor issues and management systems that were not comprehensive, industry-focused, or integrated with one another.
The company relied on a large payroll bureau for HR and payroll, but the vendor was not providing the necessary support to allow HR to focus on their primary goal: continuing to build the strong, caring culture for which the company is known. Administrative tasks frequently fell through the cracks, and the vendor was often difficult to reach or unresponsive. The frequency of errors required the internal HR team to manually enter and re-enter employee data on a regular basis, diverting time and energy from employees and residents. Plus, the company was in growth mode, and these inefficiencies made it more difficult to acquire new facilities and onboard employees.
The company’s systems for managing re-occurring tasks, such as time & attendance and scheduling, were also time-consuming and inefficient. The systems were not designed for their industry, and were ineffective at anticipating cost overruns due to unexpected overtime and shift differentials.
Plus, the recruiting and hiring process was managed at the individual facility level, which led to inconsistencies in job descriptions and hiring criteria – not to mention the time that facility executive directors were having to spend on the process. With so much time spent on administrative tasks and the hiring process, the team could not channel their energy into onboarding, training, and mentoring employees.
The company’s CEO noted, “One of the things that sets our organization apart from other senior living communities is our culture of caring. We really invest in training our employees to put resident care above all else, but the time spent on unnecessary, repetitive administrative tasks was preventing us from nurturing that culture. We needed a provider who could not only remove those tasks from our team, but also provide an improvement in service.”
The Challenge
The company’s HR team needed to offload tedious, repetitive administrative tasks from themselves and from community executive directors to free up time for strategic activities that build and reinforce the company culture. They required an industry-specific solution that would help manage benefits enrollment, garnishments, wage verification, unemployment, and other common HR and payroll needs for 1,400 employees.
It also needed a more efficient and integrated system for managing day-to-day administrative tasks, such as applicant tracking, time & attendance, scheduling, and tracking critical secondary information like employee licensing and compliance. All of these functions were happening on disparate systems, which often led to errors or oversights.
The solution would need to be scalable, since the company frequently purchases or takes over operations for new communities. When they acquire new communities, it is critical to onboard and set up new employees in the system quickly to minimize operational disruptions.
The Adams Keegan Solution
After reviewing the company’s existing HR operations and processes, Adams Keegan identified many areas of inefficiency and process bottlenecks that could benefit from their unique, service-oriented model.
In addition to the process improvements, Adams Keegan introduced Efficenter,® its industry-leading human resources information system (HRIS), as well as multiple best-in-class industry platforms to help manage applicant tracking, time & attendance, and scheduling. Efficenter’s flexibility resulted in the ability to integrate with these platforms, providing management with one set of data with which to guide decisions.
Switching to an industry-focused scheduling system was another critical piece of the solution, as it allowed them to identify and prevent labor cost overruns before they happened. This is a game changer in an industry where labor costs are a primary driver of bottom line results.
The Results
Since partnering with Adams Keegan, the company’s HR team has been able to focus less on administrative tasks and more on initiatives that add true value for their employees and residents. The new solution has also provided substantial improvements in efficiency, speed, and accuracy.
For example:
- The integrated best-in-class platforms enabled by Efficenter provide enhanced business intelligence to inform and improve decision-making.
- The new applicant tracking system ensures executive directors no longer have to individually manage the hiring process. While hiring decisions are still made locally, job postings and candidate filtering happen centrally, and that makes hiring more efficient and consistent across all locations.
- The new, industry-focused scheduling system helps reduce labor costs significantly, benefiting the bottom line.
- Employees can call the appropriate Adams Keegan contact directly and receive support much faster than with the previous vendor.
- A team of Adams Keegan experts is available to help with legal, payroll, policy, or other HR issues.
- Adams Keegan taking over activities handled by the previous vendor and internal HR team reduced costs paid to external HR vendors by more than 35%, in addition to reducing the administrative burden and improving service levels.
Plus, new locations and employees can be onboarded and set up in the system, usually within 48 hours (compared with 4–6 weeks with the previous vendor). Now, the company can scale up and grow much more quickly and efficiently.
After the change to Adams Keegan, the company’s CEO said, “With Adams Keegan, we have more time to spend on reinforcing the culture of caring that attracts our residents, and we can operate more efficiently and effectively than ever before. It hasn’t just helped our bottom line. Their support has also allowed us to improve all levels of care.”
By working with a partner committed to removing administrative burdens, this company was able to eliminate inefficiencies, improve processes, and get back to investing in people, not administration.
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Adams Keegan