Paylocity Puts the Convenience Back in HR and Payroll for Weigel’s Stores

The Challenge

Nearly 60% of Americans have worked a job in the retail industry at some point in their lives. And it’s no secret that the retail industry can be challenging. “Our work is tough work. Convenience isn’t easy, and retail isn’t easy,” says Recruiting Director Kurt Weigel. “You have to work days, nights, weekends, and holidays. Retail isn’t for everyone, and we want to find those people who love to work and who want to be here serving our customers. Our biggest challenge was finding and retaining the right talent to serve our customers, and Paylocity helps us do that.”

Being fourth-generation family-owned and operated, Weigel’s looked to modernize some of their processes and software solutions. “We had to go with the times and update our HR and payroll processes,” says Kurt. “Our previous software provider had become quite antiquated, and there was no support. It was an extremely long manual process to get an employee hired.” Prior to the shift to Paylocity, Weigel’s was unable to offer direct deposit and had to manually process paper checks and mail them out every week. Payroll Administrator Bonnie May bore the brunt of that burden. “I used to have to come in on the weekends to process payroll taxes. I had to manually type them in, and then they were manually reviewed.” Bonnie laughs, “It was an interesting and long process.”

The Approach

Sowing new roots with Paylocity allowed the team to naturally streamline their processes with the new technology, especially in recruiting and payroll. “The technology has changed a lot in the last 15 years I’ve been here,” says Kurt. “Now things are text-driven. People are on their phones all the time, especially Millennials. We can reach out via text messages and contact them within seconds of getting their application. Before, we had a very tedious process. Since the demand can be high, immediate connection can be critical. Now with Paylocity, it’s a lot faster to get the applicant hired and in the system.”

The impact of new technology has also been seen across the organization with the shift to mobile access. Employees can now access everything from their timecards, to paid time off requests to benefit information, and more on their mobile devices. Employees have the same experience of a grab-and-go model with Paylocity's Employee Self-Service, a model that Weigel's has built their business on. Kurt and HR Manager Kelly Bowling are also fielding fewer questions now that HR and payroll information is accessible and available to employees at any time all within the Paylocity platform.

With so many locations and employees in both the high and low-turnover positions, engaging and retaining employees continues to be top of mind. Weigel's turned to Paylocity's social collaboration and internal communications tool, Community, to help with engagement. The team at Weigel’s could send messages to employees at all locations quickly and easily, and the various stores could also connect with each other.

“We’ve found it to be an incredibly useful tool during COVID-19 for communication purposes,” says Director of Human Resources Melanie Wilson. “We use it for announcements here internally, but it’s also an open forum for our employees to connect with each other. We recently had a statewide face mask mandate, and we leveraged Community to share the new policy and communication updates. We followed it up with some positive, fun posts such as a new contest and some employees shared photos of their masks. We try to keep it fun and collaborative, so it isn’t so directive and top down, and the Community tool allows us to do that.”

Rolling out a communication tool like Community can be a big step for many companies, especially ones with such a rich history. “We’ve been very old school in the past,” says Kurt.  “Previously, everything had been on paper, so this was very new for our organization. And honestly, opening [Community] up was a little scary. We proactively sent out some communications on respect and guidelines, but so far, our employees have done well with it, and we haven’t had any issues. Weigel’s core values include being a good neighbor and honesty, and we’re seeing this come to life through Community. Our employees love to share everything from store updates to photos and more.”

Another unexpected bonus to the adoption of Community was that it broke down barriers between the field and corporate office. Melanie says, “We’ve gotten more buy-in from people in the field than ever before. And more people are calling us for support, whereas they didn’t even know who we were before. We’re also seeing groups develop by stores and people interacting with the groups. It’s been great.” Kurt agrees that is has been well-received by everyone, “Employees love it. Store managers love it. District managers love it.”

As engagement has improved with the adoption of Community, the team is also seeing great results using the platform as an internal communications tool. “A lot of times, [internal] messages would be buried in with the rest of the mail that was sent to stores. It was almost like wallpaper. It would get put up for a while and then taken back down. Now, they can see it on their mobile device. They can see photos, what we’re doing for the community, and more. They can comment on it directly, and it really helps them feel involved.”

In addition to the connection that Community offers, the team was also looking into ways to keep their staff more up-to-date and informed. Kelly leverages Paylocity’s Learning Management System (LMS) by creating and uploading new content approximately every two weeks. She focuses on education and development by posting reminders, new training, and informative videos. Kelly also recently sent out her first survey to new hires using the Surveys tool. She says, “It’s new, so we’ll have to do a little more communication about it, but it’s neat. And I really like the dashboard that shows the results. I think it could really work for us!”

The Payoff

The partnership between Weigel’s and Paylocity has grown and flourished over the last eight years. By helping the Weigel’s team save time, Paylocity tools are allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives. Bonnie says, “I attended Paylocity’s Elevate Conference a couple of years ago and asked if we could set up these reports by store manager, and they showed me how to do it. Now the time it takes is cut in half!” 

The dashboards and reporting have helped the team save time and streamline operations. Melanie says, “The thing that impresses me the most about Paylocity is that you keep up with trends, and you move forward before we’re even ready to get there. That helps us keep moving the needle.”

The Paylocity platform opened doors for Weigel’s. Now employees not only have a direct deposit option, but they can view their pay stubs directly from their mobile device. Processing payroll is simpler than ever, giving Bonnie her weekends back. Kurt improved recruiting to get the most qualified candidates on board and working quickly. Melanie and Kelly have saved time with day-to-day HR functions and found an easy way to communicate with employees across all Weigel's locations.

From fresh milk to bakery fresh bread, Weigel’s prides itself on quality products and exceptional customer service. They expect the same level of customer service from their vendors and partners. Melanie says, “our Customer Service relationship with Paylocity has been great. We haven’t really had issues, but when we have needed assistance, we were able to get someone on the phone and get answers within the same day. We love the technology and engagement. As it grows, we can grow the relationship with our employees.”