Growing Industrial Group Forges a New Model for Ultra-Efficient Digital HR

When you grow rapidly through acquisitions, you don’t just gain more assets and operational capabilities. You also take on the working processes of the acquired companies. To ensure long-term business success, integration and optimization are critical. 

Over the last three years, The Industrial Service Group (ISG) has expanded from a family of three companies to 16, with 49 separate locations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, the group specializes in delivering maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services to maximize uptime and performance of rotating plant equipment, such as valves, compressors, motors, and pumps. 

Steve Meacham, Vice President of Human Resources, explains: “We now have 1,200 employees across all group companies: the largest has around 300 people, and the smallest just ten, but most of our companies employ around 50 to 100 field technicians, managers, and salespeople.” 

While each new acquisition retains its own name, identity, and control over operations, ISG’s shared services function provides IT, finance, HR, and payroll support across the group. For HR support, Steve and his team build and implement standardized, integrated processes with Paylocity. 

“When I started at ISG, we had three companies, all managing HR their own way. The largest company was using Paylocity, but only for payroll,” adds Steve. “That was a great starting point. Since then, we have implemented Paylocity 17 times as we’ve grown. We refreshed that initial Paylocity implementation, and now every group entity is live on the platform, including our corporate office.” 

The Challenge: Bringing HR into the Modern Era During Multiple Acquisitions 

Limited digital tools and outmoded, inconsistent processes hampered ISG’s recruitment efforts, productivity, and strategic planning as the company followed through on its acquisition strategy. Steve set out to modernize the HR function. 

Paper-Based Hiring Undermines the Search for Talent 

Across its companies, ISG hires hundreds of new employees every year. In the past, the recruitment process was heavily reliant on slow, antiquated methods, such as paper application forms. “Some of our companies had a website where applicants could upload a resumé, but few had implemented digital tools to manage recruitment,” explains Steve. “Relying on paper forms wasn’t just inefficient, it also created a poor experience for candidates, especially those used to digital applications.” 

Manual Onboarding Curbs HR Agility and Efficiency 

Other key HR processes were similarly outdated. “When I arrived here, I received a binder of onboarding documents to read and sign, along with my I-9 Form and employee handbook,” adds Steve. In fact, HR would often spend half a day going through paperwork with every new hire, plus additional time later to explain available benefits and the open enrollment process. 

As ISG made more acquisitions, it was also difficult to track some HR processes and ensure compliance. “We recently acquired a company with seven locations in Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana. Managers at every one of those sites followed their own procedures,” says Steve. 

Scattered Data Hinders Workforce Planning 

With employee data stored on paper and across multiple systems, ISG also found strategic planning challenging. “We’re reaching a pivotal time for the blue-collar industry,” explains Steve. “A large proportion of the workforce is aged 45 and above and will retire in the next ten to 15 years. We need to track the demographics of our labor force, and plan ways to reshape our recruitment strategy to attract the next generation of labor and safeguard the future of the business. A big part of that is investing in leading technology like Paylocity which is a mobile-first platform which gives us an advantage against other competitors.” 

The Solution: Reshaping HR Processes Across All Companies 

With all group companies set up in Paylocity, ISG has replaced paper-based and manual processes with modern, efficient workflows for recruitment, onboarding, learning, analytics, and more.

Digital Processes Streamline Hiring and Onboarding 

Within Paylocity, ISG uses the Recruiting module to digitize and streamline hiring. “We can post roles on job boards and company websites, identify applicants with the right skills, then send offer letters. We can even run background checks via an integration with Verified First,” adds Steve. 

On accepting the role, new hires receive a link to the Onboarding module, where they upload their personal details and driver’s license, complete I-9 Forms, and sign the employee handbook. “We have customized onboarding packets for each role,” adds Steve. “It’s all in electronic format, and once documents are signed, they automatically drop into the employee’s record. It saves us so much time and empowers the employee to complete it before their first day.” 

Tailored Training Sharpens Employee Skills  

ISG also uses the Learning module to deliver tailored safety, anti-harassment, and IT training, empowering employees to gain new skills and helping ISG maintain compliance. Plus, Steve harnesses the system to simplify benefits administration: “We recorded our open enrollment presentation and automatically deliver to new hires, so we don’t need to run one-to-one sessions to explain things. Employees can then sign up for benefits via an integration with Employee Navigator,” he adds. 

Powerful Analytics Uncover Labor Trends 

With the Data Insights module, ISG now has a clearer understanding of workforce trends and dynamics. “We are always pulling reports that show the big picture, such as turnover, headcount, and workforce demographics,” comments Steve. “We’re also building new KPIs to help monitor compliance, especially around I-9s and motor vehicle record checks.” 

Ongoing Feedback Enables Better Employee Experiences 

Furthermore, ISG uses Paylocity to enhance the employee experience. For example, the Paylocity Mobile App allows field technicians to clock in remotely, check pay-stubs, and book time off at their convenience. The group also uses Community to announce birthdays and open enrollment timelines, and Employee Voice to gather feedback. “Running surveys on benefits has been very useful,” explains Steve. “We measure satisfaction levels and dropped one provider based on the responses. It shows our employees that we are listening to them and making decisions based on their feedback.” 

The Results: Strengthening the Foundations of the Business

ISG is going from strength to strength with Paylocity, boosting HR productivity, ensuring compliance, and connecting with the new technical talent that will be integral to long-term group success. 

Modernized Workflows Help to Attract New Talent and Scale During Acquisitions 

With Paylocity, ISG has transitioned from antiquated, disjointed HR to efficient, integrated workflows. For example, the move from paper to digital recruitment is helping to attract talent, as Steve notes: “People in their 20s and 30s grew up with mobile apps and expect hiring to follow the same model. We’ve brought HR into 2025 and beyond with Paylocity. Plus, we can securely store all applications and show auditors there was no bias in the hiring process.” 

The move to standardized processes has also helped ISG scale its operations. “Every time we make another acquisition, we can simply roll out the HR best practices that we have built with Paylocity, helping to drive efficiencies and ensure compliance,” says Steve. 

Process Enhancements Unlock Massive Time Savings 

ISG has also unlocked major productivity gains with Paylocity. Today, HR can prepare annual Equal Employee Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports in two minutes, while sending guidance on open enrollment saves hours of one-to-one meetings. Meanwhile an integration between Paylocity and ISG’s ERP system means HR is no longer forced to enter new hire data into eight separate systems.  

But the biggest saving comes in onboarding. “As new hires complete all forms before arriving, we save four hours on their day one. That’s four hours for both HR and employee. Last year, we onboarded 392 people, so the total saving climbs to more than 3,100 hours,” adds Steve. 

Data-Driven Insights Enable Strategic Planning 

Finally, ISG is building stronger foundations for the business with Paylocity. Steve explains: “With a few clicks, I can see in one company we have 25% of the workforce aged 45 and above. With that insight, we can plan hiring targets and strategies for the next ten years.” In one initiative, ISG is connecting with colleges to attract the skills needed to drive success today and into the future. These insights will help ISG continue its growth trajectory and ensure success for its employees.