Case Study
Energy and Logistics Solutions
| Name: | Bonney Energy |
| Sector: | Energy and transport logistics |
| Employees: | 230 |
| Region: | Tasmania, Victoria |
| Products: | Transport, energy and logistics |
| Website: | www.bonneygroup.com.au |
| Product used: | Ready Workforce by Zambion |
Energy and transport logistics provider Bonney Energy is managing the complexities of multiple enterprise agreements across states and businesses with Ready Workforce by Zambion.
Bonney Energy is a recognised leader in the transport, energy solutions and logistics business throughout Tasmania and regional Victoria. With a mission to deliver ‘exceptional value and customer service’ to customers, payroll and HR play a critical role in its operations.
“Payroll and HR are exceptionally important to us. If you ensure all of your payments and conditions are correct, then your employees are much more likely to be happier in their work and more productive.”
Ready Workforce by Zambion Integration
Bonney Energy’s implementation of Ready Workforce by Zambion was characterised by a rigorous approach to testing to ensure that all employees would be paid correctly from day one. With the eventual transfer of payroll data described as ‘easy, spot on, perfect’, the company factored in extra lead time to ensure all the company’s payment rules were written and tested beyond doubt.
“We spent a great deal of time in the onboarding phase testing to ensure the rules created through Ready Workforce by were correct. We tested absolutely everything – even things that had never happened – so we knew we had everything right. The help and support from Zambion during that time was vital.”
The challenge
Bonney Energy operates three different businesses under its Bonney Energy Tasmania, Bonney Energy Victoria and Lloyds North brands. With four weekly payrolls and two monthly payrolls to manage alongside the added complexity of multiple enterprise agreements in different states and industries, the company had an ongoing challenge with the manual intensiveness of its previous payroll system and provider.
“We wanted a fully-integrated system that was easy-to-use but smart enough to handle the complexities of enterprise agreements with very little manual time investment. We also wanted a very good reporting suite, and preferred a cloud-based system that would eliminate the need to log-out and log-in or have multiple browser windows open to access employee databases across our different companies. Another must-have was an easy way to calculate back-pay – I previously needed to calculate almost a year of backpay manually after one of our EAs took 46 weeks to sign off.”
The solution
Bonney Energy selected Ready Workforce by Zambion ahead of two other competing systems in 2018. In addition to meeting criteria like minimising time spent on manual tasks, providing cloud-based access and providing more advanced reporting, Bonney Energy found Ready Workforce by Zambion could cope with one of its prime challenges – the inherent complexities of multiple enterprise agreements across its operations.
“We have four enterprise agreements just covering fuel delivery drivers – one in Tasmania and three in Victoria. While you would think they would be paid the same, all of them are slightly different. There are differences between common hourly rates and EA rates, how many ordinary hours need to be worked, or the amount of leave loading that needs to be paid. Two EAs have eight classifications within them. Making sure this is all calculated and the payment is correct can be complex. The development team who helped with the integration understood there were complex issues and we provided as much information as possible. While we initially planned to get it up and running in 12 weeks, for complex businesses I would recommend giving yourself a bit longer lead time than that to ensure the rules in the back-end of Ready Workforce by Zambion are written correctly and everything is tested. It’s important to pay your people correctly and we believe no one should ever be blasé about that.”
The results
Bonney Energy’s payroll and HR operations have become simpler to manage using Ready Workforce by Zambion.
“The main thing is Ready Workforce is really easy to use. You can use it without indepth training; you can get your rules set up and work around the system and find things really easily. The knowledge guides are increasing and improving all the time and are all available within the system. That makes it all really easy to set things up, from your clothing order forms and employee change forms to bank and super details – that was all easy to do. Rostering is also great – you can set your rosters up quite easily.”
Bonney Energy is now using Ready Workforce by Zambion for a wide range of workforce management functions.
“We handle all our licensing through Ready Workforce by Zambion. For example, we manage our truck driver dangerous goods and heavy vehicle licence expiry dates. We also use Ready Workforce’s timeclocks. Our staff can come in and clock in and that goes into a timesheet that managers can approve. Most of our employees have the Ready Workforce by Zambion app on their mobiles which they can use for tasks like putting a leave request in, submitting a timesheet, ordering a uniform, or making changes to payroll forms, while some can check-in and check-out using the app. Everybody is also able to log-in from a PC or laptop.”
“Ready Workforce by Zambion can meet the needs of transport industry employers regardless of the complexities of any agreements, as long as they take as much time as required to ensure that all the rules in the back-end are written correctly and that everything is tested thoroughly through the implementation phase. The fact that it is all able to be written, tested and work perfectly is amazing. We had definitely nothing but a positive experience and I would certainly recommend the product.”
Debbie Pulford
HR/Payroll Officer and RTW Coordinator
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