Navy Canteens

BACKGROUND

Navy Canteens exists to benefit serving Navy members by providing a range of welfare and lifestyle benefits as well as Navy products and services. With over 100 staff, they operate canteens located on Navy bases across Australia along with providing Navy Merchandise, Holiday Centres, Ticketing, and Raffles. Navy Canteens initially approached EI for help with Outsourced Payroll and quickly realised that they could focus on improving whole-of-business operations, through improved compliance and expertise by engaging an HR Partner, HR Software and CFO services.

CHALLENGE

Navy Canteens’ existing payroll solution was no longer fit for purpose, as processing required a number of manual calculations, there was also a lack of integration with their accounting platform, and with minimal award coverage, not all employees were in the system causing a number of manual interventions. Additionally, a single payroll officer represented key personal risk as a lack of automation meant that processes and reporting were not streamlined. Navy Canteens did not have any HR Software solution in place meaning employee lifecycle, contract management, and L&D were operated on a paper-based system with a lack of process and on-demand reporting. With a finance system that did not meet the current or future business requirements, Navy Canteens needed to look at a whole of business solution that would ensure compliance, drive efficiencies, and deliver on-demand reporting and business insights.

SOLUTION

It was quickly identified that EI’s Outsourced Payroll solution supported by KeyPay would meet the requirements for employee self-service, on-demand reporting, ensure payroll compliance, and allow a reallocation of duties of an internal payroll resource. A phased rollout to accommodate the on-boarding of employees across different business units and award types was planned, and a Payroll Partner assigned to immediately provide advice and recommendations on compliance.

Navy Canteens also engaged a virtual HR Partner who immediately assimilated with the internal HR operations team to help identify and plan key HR business priorities, deliver on objectives, and provide support and guidance on HR directions where a second opinion was invaluable to decision making. By integrating with the entire business, the HR partner was able to quickly deliver confidence to the CEO that there was an expert on hand delivering support from an Industrial Relations point of view.

Early in the engagement period, EI introduced Navy Canteens to its partner William Buck who was able to recommend a complete outsourced finance solution that meet the immediate business requirements and was flexible enough to support the implementation of new payroll and HR software.

RESULT

Navy Canteens quickly moved to view their HR Partner as an extension of their team, integrating them across all areas of the business, bringing greater confidence in the HR plan and strategy. The head of HR was immediately able to focus more on strategic and high-level priorities while benefiting from an expert second opinion when making HR decisions. “Having an HR Partner in the business has been well worth the investment. I cannot say how grateful I am for the help our Partner has provided over the past months, nothing seems to be too much trouble, she knows her stuff and has become a trusted advisor across the business”.
A rollout of payroll software was planned for all business units and EI Payroll worked with Navy Canteens and William Buck to ensure that compliance, integration, reporting, and efficiencies were considered within each step of the process. “Because I know that I do not have to worry about payroll processing and compliance, there is more time available with internal resources allowing them to re-prioritise and deliver against other operational goals”