Case studies
We help businesses at any stage in their HR or Payroll transformation journey. We can start from the beginning with a business case or top line strategy, join in the middle building out a tech road map or desiging a new operating model or help with a QA and technology adoption. We have some examples below but the best way to understand how we can help is to reach out – a member of our team will be happy to run through how we can support you.
Technology assessment and recommendations
LACE partners was engaged with an organisation in the information services industry, with operations across 37 countries and with 16,000 staff, to help the HRIS team assess their options for a move from an on premise Oracle solution to a Cloud based solution. This project took approximately six weeks.
The challenge
The client was a rapidly growing organisation and had seen its operations move from a traditional credit business to a digital online business. As a result of this growth there was a recognition that the business needed to significantly ramp up their skills and capabilities with an old on premise Oracle system in place. The system no longer met the requirements of the new digital business and so a full assessment on the viability of the existing tech landscape was needed.
The approach
Working together, LACE Partners and the client undertook an ‘as is‘ assessment of the technology landscape, interviewing 15 members of the IT function and HRIS Team. As a result of this LACE distilled the people plan and strategy into the drivers for change for HR and HR Technology, combining those together to determine a case for change for on premise to Cloud. This was followed by a soft market test to get indicative pricing for future licensing for cloud and potential implementation, given the scale of the business.
The outcome
A case for change was developed which detailed the benefits of moving from on premise solution to the Cloud. A cost model comparing the current costs to future costs was developed, detailing cost savings from moving to a Cloud-based solution, from the current on premise system in place. This resulted in a recommendation paper outlining next steps.
Our services that supported: Digitised workforce, People strategy
Maximizing Workforce Management systems
LACE partners was brought in to support a client working in the food and beverage industry, operating in more than 40 countries and with over 600,000 employees, to maximise workforce management i.e. increasing utilization of employees and therefore profitability by business unit, across the entire organisation. This was to be achieved through improved WFM processes and through a HR system that would underpin workforce management, and interface into the workforce management tools that were being developed by the business. LACE partners worked with the client for six months, however, the project finished prematurely due to the impact of COVID-19 on the organisation.
The challenge
The organisation had purchased in advance cloud licences for SAP SuccessFactors, which they were not fully utilizing, so asked LACE to support in recommending how they could get the most from the system. As a federated business model they needed to understand how to roll out across their business units in the most effective way with the least resistance and the lack of understanding the benefits for the client were evident early on in the process. The rationale for the project was confused between use of licences and the need to drive efficiency at an operating unit level.
The outcome
Although the impact of COVID resulted in the project being completed early, a number of successes were realised, with some key outcomes including an updated plan for change across the organisation, a business case developed detailing the pricing of the project roll out in the UK, a full scope of the project mapped out across the UK part of the business, an improved design to maximise their workforce management system, as well as an engagement plan for the UK part of the business to successfully roll out the project.
Our services that supported: Digitised workforce, People function
Payroll, time and attendance RFP, implementation
The client was a rapidly expanding international veterinary company. The incumbent HCM and Payroll solutions were not fit for purpose and reaching end of life support. Recognising the need for a new HCM and Payroll solution, automation, and standardised ways of working, the Leadership team (Finance, IT and HR) identified the requirement for specialist support to guide them through their transformation.
The challenge
A very short-term end of life payroll provider contract meant a fixed period in which to migrate to a new Payroll and Time provider for the client. There was no dedicated HCM tool and most processes were manual (e.g. Excel). This resulted in partial processes via the existing technology. It was an ongoing concern for the client and resulted in regular payroll and time errors and significant manual effort to resolve issues. There was also no clarity over roles and responsibilities across the business, HR or Payroll. Added to this was a multi-site landscape with different approaches and ownership of HR and payroll tasks that added additional layers of complexity.
The outcome
LACE looked at six providers in the market and then down-selected to three for an RFP. The client had an end date requirement that meant accelerating and completing the selection process four weeks faster than normal, in a total of eight weeks to increase implementation time. Working closely with the client the development of a go-live strategy was put in place, which put live a pilot group of fast track payrolls to test out deployment, parallel run, support, etc, eight weeks before main go-live.
Three months of payments to the previous provider were saved through the speed of execution (approx. £500k) and the programme manged over 800 individual practices through go-live (fast track of 10). LACE developed a slow release strategy to bring new practices onboard and raised 1200 tickets in the first week of go-live, resolving 1,000. In total there were 16 payrolls, one pay run, 800+ T&A schedules that were managed and over the course of the programme, we project managed a client side team of nearly 35 people and an SI team of 15.
Our services that supported: Payroll, Digitised workforce
Elevating to a client-centric experience
LACE was asked to work with the HR operations leadership team from a business in banking with over 45,000 employees in 26 countries, to develop an experience for employees that adds value to the HR technology that employees were already using. In addition, we were asked to deliver metrics to support demand planning and service quality, whilst embedding a robust stakeholder management process.
The challenge
There was a perceive disconnect between the HR Shared Services Team and the rest of HR, which resulted in limited confidence in capability. In addition the case management technology was not set up effectively to support the tracking of queries, transactions and issues.
The approach
Setting up key areas for prioritisation and checkpoints to measure success was the first area of focus. Assessing the current channels of service delivery and how the management of requests and processes followed, as well as defining the appropriate roadmap to improve the usage of the existing case management system. Then the assessment of the existing metrics and issues of reporting were reviewed, which followed a framework for the HR Shared Services Team to drive the service catalogue (created to help standardise the HR services used across all countries), as well as the design of a stakeholder engagement model, so that the HR Shared Services Team had a way of getting buy-in from the rest of the business.
The outcome
New recommendations were delivered to the client on how to measure ongoing satisfaction, including changes to the existing HR turnaround times, KPIs and reports, as well as providing recommendations on how the business could capture queries into categories, which would make it easier to review issues occurring and where the business could focus on areas for continuous improvement.
Multiple phase end-to-end HR transformation
LACE were engaged to help this fast growing, online fashion retailer with 4,500 employees across seven countries, with its global HR transformation, from development of the overall business case through to implementation of the new HR operating model (people, processes, systems).
The challenge
Issues with data and quality, as well as inadequate cross functional communication, localised and inefficient business processes were just some of the issues the client had before we were asked to support. The HR system was seen as unpopular and there was a perception of a lack of accountability and ownership. In addition, critical payroll issues contributed to the business losing revenue.
The approach
The first step was to facilitate workshops with Workday partners to define both a global and local configurations, leading to client testing and an overall adoption approach agreed. This was followed by a review of the data ownership model (as well as policies and end-to-end processes) that could be used to develop the HR strategy and operating model so that it met the overall business objectives. Next the future HR shared services operating model was mapped out, followed by a post implementation HRIS support model that allowed for an increased build in HR capability to drive greater usage and adoption of Workday.
The outcome
Operating model optimisation enabled processes to be simplified with the business making a conscious effort on change management and delivering a sustainable plan for ongoing user adoption of Workday, beyond the ‘go-live’ and in to business as usual (BAU). The business case for changing the operating model was robust and led to a successful implementation of a new HR shared services organisation, including channel strategy, knowledge strategy, as well as implementation of a new service delivery platform (Zendesk).
Our services that supported: People function, People strategy
Organisational design review
LACE Partners were asked to lead an organisational design review for a business in the travel and transport sector operating with 53,000 employees across 14 countries. The review included an assessment of the operating model for the business’ support functions. This would include defining the organisational design principles with the Exec board, developing and executing the organisational design approach, as well as facilitating workshops for the future state operating model and developing a transition plan in place to achieve this.
The challenge
The existing inconsistent functional operating model caused by the group of businesses acting as devolved organisations meant roles, accountabilities and structures varied from country-to-country and company to company within the overall group structure. In addition to this the lack of accurate data and insights into costs, volumes and spend across the various functions, led to lack of efficiency and duplication across different functions.
The approach
Based on their requirements and our recommendations, we were able to deliver an Executive Summary of their current processes and challenges, along with advice and recommendations on how to optimise their resources and systems to best serve a global workforce, ensuring that all employees receive accurate and timely salary payments processed in a cost efficient, automated and compliant manner.
The outcome
The overall organisational design and approach was outlined with a best practice, standardised approach to organisational design across the group, identifying the key steps and content required, as well as providing a comprehensive set of tools and templates that could support each business in the group (e.g. high level capability matrix for teams, stakeholder management matrices, etc). In addition, a full transition and implementation approach and plan was successfully embedded in to the business, which included an implementation roadmap and transition to business as usual.
Our services that supported: People function, People strategy
HR technology roadmap and product selection
LACE Partners were asked to support a technology and data organisation with 6,500 employees across 47 countries, with the client having recently undertaken two large acquisitions, resulting in more than doubling their employee population and creating a fragmented HR systems landscape.
After a recent pulse survey, it was evident that their employee experience was being impacted, potentially by tools that were no longer fit for purpose. LACE was engaged to develop an as-is state assessment, HR technology strategy and roadmap, business case and product selection to support their HR technology transformation.
The challenge
The rapid increase in population growth had resulted in multiple HR systems being used, as well as fragmented data landscape, which not only led to issues with existing staff, but also the onboarding of new employees too. Prioritising technology by function and business made for a difficult HR technology roadmap that needed to be built out. With the acquisitions the business also saw that behaviours in the business still resembled that of a smaller organisation, so an alignment was required that matched the new size of the organisation.
The approach
An examination of the end-to-end ‘as is’ technology landscape was first required, bringing HR, IT and other key business stakeholders together to identify high-level system requirements. Where gaps existed, LACE built a comprehensive list of project solutions that would maximise the use of the current systems, or implement new technology to help the development of the overall HR tech roadmap. A tool that enabled stakeholders to assess the benefits and execution of projects and identify dependencies was created, as well as a future technology roadmap, assessment of current Workday platform to determine if it was fit for purpose for one of the recent acquisitions. An RFP was also created for any new technology based on 1,500 requirements, which formed part of the selection process, in which LACE facilitated for the client.
The outcome
A clear articulation of the business’ priorities was agreed, as well as the implications for HR service delivery, that ensured alignment across all business functions. The plan for how existing HR technologies was laid out and recommendations on new potential technologies delivered alongside the future roadmap and selection process for new vendors. This was made possible through the active HR and IT leadership teams working in partnership with LACE to deliver on the business objectives.
Our services that supported: Digitised workforce, People strategy
Payroll assessment and target blueprint
LACE Partners were asked to support a client in the technology and data space with 6,000 employees across 49 countries, which had been a huge growth and expansion to 45 countries in 2018 alone, through acquisition. This rapid expansion had implications for the payroll function in terms of standardisation and alignment of practices across all of the new businesses that had joined the organisation. Global processes were needed to be put in place to prepare the business for their next phase of growth.
The challenge
The major expansion through acquisition and across multiple countries resulted in a number of challenges, including lack of utilisation across systems (core HR and payroll), as well as a lack of utilisation of the functionalities. Departments were siloed and this resulted in cultural resistance to change at a wider group level, as well as poor vendor relationships because of multiple relationships that needed to be managed. Manual processes also needed tighter control and standardisation and the governance and risk management framework needed to be more robust.
The approach
LACE set to work assessing all requirements of the 49 countries and providing recommendations on how to optimise resources and systems to best serve a global process. New processes end-to-end from HR to payroll were mapped out and revised governance models were put together. A new provider recommendation was made and LACE Partners helped to facilitate the selection of this new payroll provider.
The outcome
Payroll data processes were revised and aligned on a global level across all 49 countries and a blueprint for future international payroll was delivered to the Leadership Team. Training programmes were put together to support processes and ensure teams knew best practice in how to review data for payroll processing. Training was also delivered to both HR and Payroll teams, as well as a change management communications timeline for the project, to ensure all staff were confident in the ongoing success of delivery of the new system.
Our services that supported: Payroll
Digital adoption solution implementation and HR acquisition communications strategy
LACE Partners were instructed to support an oil and energy organisation with 5,000 employees and 3,500 sites to implement a digital adoption solution (DAS) over a five month period.
The challenge
The client had purchased a HR technology platform which was resulting in limited self-service capabilities and managers using the platform itself. Due to the large number of sites the implementation was only partially complete when the issue of a lack of user adoption was recognised. Due to previous acquisition activities, the HR function recognised that communication roll-out and adoption had been fragmented and so wanted to use a digital adoption platform to help employees to make the most of the system that had been embedded.
The approach
LACE Partners project managed the implementation of the DAP in partnership with the provider, working on aspects such as technical and functional design, development of content architecture, testing and administrator training. A full analysis of the existing communications approach was created and a suite of templates for acquisition and business as usual (BAU) HR communications was established. LACE also advised on the overall content management strategy.
The outcome
As a result of the roll-out of the DAP employees/users were able to complete self-service transactions by using the contextual ‘in application’ support. The branded templates created by LACE supported consistency of messaging and the repeatable acquisition communications strategy outlined a standard communications plan that could be used for all future acquisitions. Training and support materials ensured the HR teams were able to deliver the future BAU approach in house.
Our services that supported: People experience
HR diagnostic review
LACE were engaged with a private equity business to support one of their portfolio company (PortCo) to conduct an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) review of the PortCo, which was a B2B payments organisation.
The challenge
LACE were asked to project manage the environment, social and governance (ESG) review for the business, developing a people governance diagnostic approach as a key component of the review, which had to be built afresh.
The approach
LACE worked with the client to put together a 10-week end-to-end project co-ordinating with private equity business and PortCo, as well as two additional SME firms involved in conducting the review. A desktop analysis of existing information and series of stakeholder interviews were conducted, along with interviews and working sessions. The review included employee relations and engagement, talent acquisition, talent management, performance management, reward and recognition, diversity and inclusion and HR systems and tools review.
The outcome
A Governance diagnostic approach and report was completed which included recommended actions to address the required areas of focus. The recommended action plan was put in place which addressed the issues, risks and opportunities and highlighted by the review which was presented to the portfolio company executive team.
Our services that supported: People strategy
HR operating model review and redesign
LACE Partners were engaged to review the UK HR operating model and identify a business case for change (Phase 1) for a hospitality and entertainment business with worldwide operations and over 20,000 employees. Our team designed a bespoke future target operating model for the HR function (Phase 2) along with an implementation plan. LACE were then retained to provide an advisory role as the client implemented the change.
The challenge
The growth of the business – a projected increase in 6,000 employees over a three-year period – required a thorough review of how HR operated. Poor customer reviews and a lack of aligned purpose from the Executive Team and the HR function meant that external support was required, as well as a review of the technology landscape to improve reporting.
The approach
LACE worked closely with the HR and Exec Teams to assess and diagnose the current state of the HR function using LACE review methodology. Focus groups were set up to test findings and get into the deep root of issues, with voice of the customer (VoC) sessions conducted. A ‘design phase’ was then run, which included a new organisational design for HR and team training on that organisation design.
The outcome
A new CPO-1 organisation structure was outlined which reduced the span of control to rebalance the leadership team. Service delivery was improved by enhancing employee and manager self-service functions and creating a HR planning function of five people. A consolidated data and analytics reporting mechanism was developed which included the development of an analytics team, as well as a new employee experience role in the HR leadership team. This helped the business to refocus its employee value proposition (EVP). The approach also outlined a clear governance control framework which focused on customer experience. The business also benefitted from an improved focus on culture, diversity and wellbeing. By providing training for the wider HR function we also worked to embed the changes through the organisation so it could continue to develop.
Our services that supported: People strategy, People experience, People function
Process re-engineering, change and adoption support for a UK Workday and Saba process improvement roll out
LACE were asked by a company working in the defence industry to focus on the capture and analysis of payroll data to optimise the global payroll operating model. The existing payroll operating model utilised a mix of regional service centres, in-house resources and outsource providers.
The challenge
A previous launch of Workday and Saba had resulted in limited take up by the business. Complicated HR processes had resulted in low user adoption and issues with compliance and controls for the new system. The wide and diverse group of stakeholders across different functions also added a layer of complexity.
The approach
A variety of different activities to understand the landscape, processes and relevant personas in the business was conducted. This led to a tailored adoption approach for all users across the diverse stakeholder groups. A roadmap for successful delivery was put in place and a build out of definition workshops – to identify an optimium ‘to be’ set of processes aligned to business principles was created. Roels and responsibilities were created using RACI charts and the production of system requirements for Workday and Saba was created. The materials were delivered to the business which then formed the basis of the training given in video and written format.
The outcome
A comprehensive suite of tools enabling the business to deliver changes in to business as usual (BAU) was completed. This included a full communications plan, trainers plan, post-go live instructions. In total the client received 32 process maps and journeys, 211 change impacts, 247 system changes, 17 personas and 31 work instructions to help the client execute the successful adoption plan.
Our services that supported: People experience, Digitised workforce
HR technology selection
LACE partners were asked to support the digital transformation in HR over a seven-month period. This was through managing the HR technology selection process, in addition to the selection of an implementation partner, to deliver on the new system to be embedded into the business.
The challenge
The client had a legacy core HR system that did not deliver on requirements of the business that often resulted in offline ‘workarounds’. An example of this would be using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to house employee data. There were multiple software applications that did not integrate efficiently or at all. Moreover, there was no formalised procurement process for any large-scale purchases of technology products. The business was unsure of the most relevant metrics and data they should be reporting on, to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity within their workforce.
The approach
We analysed and advised on whether an ‘all-in-one’ enterprise system which covered all HR requirements was the best fit, or a selection of ‘best of breed’ products across different elements of HR would be more appropriate for the client’s needs. We also developed a structured RFP process to be distributed to all suppliers bidding for the work. Lastly, we supported in the collection of core requirements needed from key stakeholders in the business. This included mapping out user journeys and an ideal ‘to be’ as a result of the implementation of the new HR tech system.
The outcome
We identified that the company would benefit most from a single ‘all-encompassing’ system that covered all HR requirements. A robust procurement process was put in place which was also adopted by other business functions for different large-scale purchases of products or services for the business. A fully managed RFP process was delivered by LACE Partners on time and in budget, including the creation of the RFP documentation to be used with all suppliers bidding for the work. Similar to the procurement process the RFP process was also used by other departments as a benchmark. We achieved the main goal of a successful selection of HR technology product (Oracle HCM), as well as an agreement on the implementation partner to deliver the project.
Critical Success Factors
Prior to LACE arriving the approaches to selection were unstructured and therefore the business needed to move away from that approach to procurement and purchasing decisions. A ‘buy in’ from the business was needed to deliver a structured approach to the selection process. The development of relationships with the right stakeholders, from throughout the business, needed to progress. Additionally, the alignment of HR, IT and Procurement stakeholders were important to support the service delivery from day one. The utilisation of external good practice tools to expedite decision making and challenge the status quo.
Our services that supported: People function, People strategy
Why employee listening is key to good experience
In this week’s blog LACE co-founder Cathy Acratopulo speaks with Simon Smith, the CPO at Aston Martin, about employee listening strategy. Read on to learn what approaches are most effective and what role they play in optimising employee experience – or listen to their...
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Pay transparency: What challenges should organisations be aware of?
In the latest HR On the Offensive podcast, Chris and LACE Director Pavan Bilkhoo speak with their guest, Michelle Gyimah, who is a keynote speaker and a consultant specialising in gender and ethnicity pay gaps. The discussion revolves around the challenges and...