Ireland-based company automates employee time tracking while complying with EU working time regulations
Benefits
Lely Ireland distributes a complete range of agricultural machinery through a network of dealers in Ireland. It also distributes Toro commercial products, supplying professional turf maintenance equipment to the golf market. The family-owned company is committed to leading the industry in innovation, which remains its strongest competitive advantage. But innovation at Lely Ireland does not stop at agricultural and turf care products. The company is dedicated to making its operations more efficient and cost-effective.
Challenge
For years, employees at Lely Ireland tracked their working hours, time off, and business expenses on paper. As the number of employees grew, so did the paperwork.
“We were spending more and more time moving paperwork around,” said Managing Director Richard Harris, who noted there were often discrepancies that had to be checked and double-checked, which protracted the already-lengthy process. In addition, Lely Ireland was required to comply with the European Union’s Working Time Directive, which regulates employee working hours, rest breaks, and holiday entitlements. The company needed an efficient system of record-keeping to ensure compliance.
“...[T]here were often discrepancies that had to be checked and double-checked, which protracted the already-lengthy process. ”
Solution
More Manageable and Accurate Record-Keeping
Harris evaluated different services for tracking employee time and expenses and found that the combination of Replicon’s TimeAttend and WebExpense best met his company’s needs for a more manageable time and expense tracking process. “I used the free trial and very quickly found it was exactly what we needed,” Harris said.
All of Lely Ireland’s employees quickly adopted Replicon’s TimeAttend to track attendance, and were thrilled by how easy it was to submit their business expenses using Replicon’s WebExpense module. The switch to Replicon software was particularly well-received by employees who work off-site.
“We have a number of people who are remote and it’s very handy: They can log in their time remotely, and their holiday requests can be cleared by their supervisor,” Harris said, adding that it’s also useful for making sure they have appropriate coverage when employees are out of the office.
Replicon’s hassle-free attendance tracking software also gives Lely Ireland accurate records to document compliance with the EU’s Working Time regulations.
SaaS Solution Controls Costs and Minimizes IT Needs
When Lely Ireland originally implemented Replicon’s TimeAttend and WebExpense, it hosted the software on its own servers. However, when Harris realized the company could always have the most up-to-date version of the software and no system downtime for software upgrades, it was an easy decision to switch to Replicon’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. With SaaS, hardware and IT infrastructure are Replicon’s responsibility, as are maintenance, upgrades and data security.
“It is handier [with SaaS] because you’re always working on the latest version,” said Harris. The SaaS system also eliminates hardware costs and lets the company control software costs by making them regular components of doing business instead of capital expenses.
Smooth and Quick Implementation
The move from paper-based processes to Replicon software, as well as the recent switch to SaaS, were “almost seamless” according to Harris, who says they were up and running practically overnight with no issues.
Lely Ireland did not require an IT consultant, even though Replicon makes available a team of implementation specialists. Instead, Harris and his IT team managed the project themselves. because Replicon’s highly configurable system made it easy to accommodate the way Lely Ireland operates.
“It’s a pretty easy system to set up,” said Harris. “Using TimeAttend has been simple and the application is working very well for the organization. It’s certainly made all our time-tracking processes much more efficient and easier to manage. It doesn’t take long to get used to administering the system and, once you have it, it doesn’t even compare to having to do it on paper. I would recommend it to anyone.”
“It doesn't take long to get used to administering the system and, once you have it, it doesn't even compare to having to do it on paper. ”
The Results
- Lely Ireland easily complies with EU Working Time regulations
- Recent upgrade to SaaS cut costs and reduced the need for IT support
- Transitioned seamlessly from paper to software
"Using TimeAttend has been simple and the application is working very well for the organization. It's certainly made all our time-tracking processes much more efficient and easier to manage. I would recommend it to anyone."
Richard Harris
Managing Director
