Tag: Payroll

Early Adopter Sees Big Benefits from Integrated Payroll

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Neal Jackson likes solving problems. As accounting manager and controller in charge of payroll, finances, and accounting for Lawley Auto Group, Jackson wasn’t about to let his software technology slow him down. That’s not what he’s about. And it’s not what Lawley Auto Group is about either. The multi-location dealership—headquartered in Sierra Vista, AZ—lives by its motto, “Nobody beats a Lawley Deal. Nobody!” We don’t doubt it.

“I’m always looking for constant improvement. That’s something I’ve always enjoyed about Dealertrack and now Netchex. There’s always improvement being added—we’re not just standing still and milking a cash cow.” Neal Jackson, Accounting Manager and Controller at Lawley Auto Group

(Re)Doing the work

Each month (and sometimes more often) Jackson and his team would pull reports, then set about the task of redoing them. “It was very hard to get reports out of payroll in a manner that was usable. So I spent a lot of time taking reports out of Dealertrack and converting them in an excel file. And that was pretty time consuming due to all the noise that was in them,” Jackson explains. New legislation in Arizona around paid sick leave, in addition to other measures, was forcing Jackson and his small team of three to manually adjust payroll for the 250+ employees across eight different locations. And, with various types of pay, Lawley Auto Group needed to find a better way. “And that’s what I’m about here: always looking for a better way to do something,” explains Jackson. “That’s what keeps me excited about doing my job here. I’ve been doing this since ‘93…I enjoy solving problems. So, whenever there are new solutions, typically, I’m an early adopter.”

Integrated Solutions for Better Processes

Lawley Auto Group partners with the specialists at Hireology, a hiring and recruiting software company, to improve retention and attract top talent. And it was Hireology who mentioned a new Payroll tool, called Netchex, to Jackson. Netchex was designed to integrate with Dealertrack DMS and reduce the manual back-and-forth between the DMS and data. A better system meant better processes, less paperwork, and less human error. With the old payroll system, Jackson was reviewing multiple levels of payroll for every employee across every location. Plus, he couldn’t communicate through the system with other managers to review reports. Jackson was eager to take the next step.

A Catalyst for Optimization

When he considers the time-savings that Netchex offers his team, Jackson says the impacts were immediate. He was able to convert a full-time payroll position into a part-time clerk, freeing that individual to focus on other areas of HUman Resources within the dealership. “She spends half the time she used to on payroll,” Jackson estimates. And his own time, which used to be consumed with manual conversions and revisions was suddenly more flexible and productive. “It was probably a day each month that I was doing that. These were manual things I had to do, that I no longer have to do with Netchex.”

Jackson was also happy to learn Netchex was able to handle Tech Time. “Tech Time has been a huge, huge time-saver for me. And, one of the reasons is that we’re semi-monthly and one of those Tech Time conversions happens at month-end. And that’s three or four hours at month-end that I need to be doing something else, but I’m just playing with spreadsheets.”

The process improvements didn’t just free Jackson’s time on payroll and reporting, however. He’s seen an overall impact across the entire dealership group. “Because we’re a centralized accounting office for multiple dealerships, we rely on fast, easy information from the outlying departments to produce payroll, to get it all done. And that’s another thing that the Netchex system allows us to do.”

From First Day to Sales Floor

“One of the main things we switched to Dealertrack for was the HR processes. Prior to Dealertrack, our process was very paper-driven.” As an early adopter, Jackson and the team at Lawley Auto Group took full advantage of Netchex and the HR Solutions that integrated through Dealertrack DMS. With everything up-and-running, the paper-driven days are now a distant memory. “If you’re hiring someone, it can be done through their home computer, where they can pretty much do all their onboarding paperwork from their computer at home,” Jackson explains. “…the day they start they’re pretty much already done. Their first day is spent in their home department and not filling out paperwork in HR.” With the path to productivity clear, direct, and largely digital, new hires at Lawley Auto Group hit the ground running.

A new technology decision can be intimidating. So called “early adopters” often take big risks while the majority of their peers ride out legacy technology and stick with the status quo. It’s not always easy, but it can be rewarding. For Jackson and his team, uncovering faster reporting and smoother processes was worth the risk.“Pretty much anything I put into Netchex, data-wise, I can get out through a report.” To learn more, download a copy of the Lawley Auto Group Story here.

Interested in learning how Integrated Payroll, powered by Netchex, can help your dealership? Schedule a demo.

 

Roadmap to Dealership Success

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Three Steps to Set Your Dealership Up For Success

You’re on a quest to deliver the ultimate customer experience. But, the path to success is full of twists and turns—and even roadblocks. If your dealership doesn’t have the right technology, top talent, and the best support in place, you simply can’t deliver the best experience. Fortunately, Dealertrack DMS and the teams at Hireology and Netchex have designed a roadmap that brings all three together. These industry-exclusive integrations offer a powerhouse of connected technologies for your dealership.

Follow along in the visual guide below to see how all three work to bring your dealership the best in cloud-based DMS technology, strategic human capital management, and payroll optimization.

 

 

Five Tips Before Rolling Out Payroll Powered by Netchex

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New technology within your dealership has the potential to harness your data and unlock powerful insights that improve your business. And as your dealership grows, you’ll likely experience several key technology transitions that help you achieve these goals. Organizing your data, building insightful reports, managing payroll and time attendance, the essential list of responsibilities that your HR team manages goes on. Dealertrack DMS has partnered with the experts at Hireology to provide an integrated solution that offers a full suite of human resources tools and payroll powered by Netchex. Here are the five things your dealership should know before you transition to this new technology.

1 – Prepare

In 2021, Dealertrack DMS will sunset our legacy Payroll system and help our dealer partners as they transition to new options. One of the key benefits of Dealertrack DMS is our open system which allows dealers to use third party vendors of their choice. As we roll out a new, integrated Payroll powered by the experts at Netchex, dealers will have the option of using an advanced Payroll system that performs through their DMS. In order to prepare, Performance Manager Mark Gabriella recommends that dealership controllers and accounting get their employee payroll master up-to-date.

2 – Set up

Implementing a new technology within the dealership—and one that impacts your human resources, payroll, and accounting—is a big deal. Before, during, and after the transition, Gabriella suggests dealers schedule weekly meetings with your contact at Netchex.

3 – Communicate Internally

In addition to weekly status meetings with your vendor, holding regular internal meetings, sending status updates via messaging boards and weekly emails, and keeping an open-door policy at the office are key. “Making sure you’re in constant communication with your employees is important in any transition,” Gabriella points out.

4 – Set Expectations

On that note, setting expectations for your staff can lift the uneasy feeling that comes with a technology transition. “If you don’t know, then ask. There are no stupid questions,” Gabriella points out. Let your staff ask questions, ask for more training, and set up time for discovery to ensure that everyone has a clear roadmap before them.

5 – Your Performance Managers Are Here For You

Finally, just like a new DMS transition, “there’s always a small valley of despair. As employees become more proficient with the technology, it gets better,” Gabriella states. And, he notes, “the Performance Managers can provide a bridge over that valley.” Dealers have the added benefit of having a Performance Manager in their corner to ensure the transition is a success.

Dealertrack DMS has partnered with the experts at Hireology to provide your dealership with a comprehensive human capital management system, with payroll processing and human resources powered by Netchex. Learn more here.

PAYROLL: DISCOVER THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE HIDDEN IN YOUR BIGGEST EXPENSE

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Dealership managers are laser-focused on procuring vehicles and parts inventories with margins in mind. Marketing campaigns are carefully scrutinized to make sure every dollar produces results. Yet, dealerships’ largest operational cost – payroll – is often thought of as a “necessary evil” and gets little attention. As long as checks get cut on time, everything is OK, right?

Not necessarily.

Payroll can account for an average of 60% of a dealership’s total expenses.¹Payroll systems are typically viewed as simply a way for the human resources (HR) team to administer employee compensation. Some rely on outdated spreadsheets to manage the process. Others wrestle with large enterprise-level systems that have too many bells and whistles and not enough auto-industry-specific features.

What many dealers do not see is the opportunity hiding in payroll and benefits management to create competitive advantages by streamlining inefficient processes, realigning human resources to focus on talent retention, and reducing compliance risk.

Payroll can account for an average of 60% of a dealership’s total expenses.

Breaking the Stereotype

It’s no secret that dealerships struggle to hire and retain qualified employees. In a market where unemployment is low, the pool of candidates is already limited. Plus, a Hireology / Cox Automotive study reveals that only about one in 100 people would consider working for a dealership because of their perceptions of what it’s like to work in the industry.²

The only way to solve the issue it to address it head-on. Dealers develop strategic plans to manage margin compression, customer loyalty, and F&I efficiencies by leveraging data from their dealership management system (DMS). Now it’s time to use the same approach to improve employee relations.

By integrating the DMS with the HR management system, dealers get more accurate visibility into how employees are compensated, with which they can make better long-term decisions.

And the payroll process is greatly simplified, freeing the human resources team to focus more on culture-building initiatives that appeal to current employees and potential recruits.

Building a Competitive Advantage

The automotive industry is evolving along with changing market forces. Younger generations are less interested in commission structures and want the comfort of pay stability, benefits, and work-life balance. Dealerships seek ways to respond that address these desires that workers can find in other industries, but still motivate employees to meet sales and service quotas. It’s a fine line.

Integrating the HR system with the DMS can help find a balance that works for dealership management and team members while creating a competitive advantage in the following areas:

Streamline operational expenses and tasks
Most human resources teams pull double duty entering data about commission plans / pay structures, schedules, time off, tax withholding, and other key data into multiple systems. It’s a never-ending, time-consuming process that is prone to error. The American Payroll Association estimates an error rate of 1–8% of gross payroll.³

Dealer managers usually have little visibility into how the process is managed because they rightfully rely on comptrollers or payroll management personnel to handle the function.

The integration of the DMS with the HR system streamlines how data about sales is filtered into the commission equation, minimizing the impact of human error from duplicate data entry.

Overall visibility into employee management is improved, enabling managers from multiple teams to more easily pinpoint operational inefficiencies by assessing metrics that are valuable to them. For example, sales managers can see which team members are nearing overtime. HR leaders can evaluate what benefits are not being used and adjust plans. General managers can see trends in turnover based on a number of factors such as role, manager, and commission structure.

Also, it’s not uncommon to hear horror stories from payroll managers about the excessive amount of time it takes to process checks every two weeks. Many note they spend 60–75% of their time every month just making sure payroll is accurate and issued on time.

HR systems that are integrated with the DMS can greatly reduce the amount of time spent on processing payroll and managing benefits. The HR team can then shift their focus to creating much-needed employee engagement programs.

For example, the Kingman Honda dealership in Kingman, Arizona, reports recouping about one day worth of work every week after switching to another DMS. The efficiencies come from more straightforward car deal posting processes and bank reconciliation, easier accounts payable, simplified cashiering, and faster, more direct vehicle stock-in processes. Essentially, updating data in one system automatically syncs data with other systems such as payroll.

Boost talent retention
Employees want to feel like they are in control of their careers. Dealerships that proactively address talent retention are more likely to see better overall results because employees are satisfied, motivated, and understand what is expected of them.

The integration of the HR system with the DMS enables dealerships to provide transparent views into their schedules, compensation structures, and benefits from personalized dashboards that they can log in to and view. Managers and employees have access to the same information and can have open conversations based on data if questions or discrepancies arise.

These types of solutions are commonplace in other industries where companies compete for qualified candidates. New employees will expect technology-enabled onboarding, the ability to check their benefit status online and a user-friendly interface for HR-related tasks. Dealerships need to provide this type of solution for employees to stay current with workplace trends.

Accurate performance and compensation data is also a valuable tool for managers to review and proactively facilitate conversations with employees about what’s going well and areas for improvement. It’s an opportunity to shift the culture to a spirit of coaching and feedback.

Reduce compliance risk
Are you 100% confident your payroll system is 100% accurate all the time? If not, you have a compliance risk. Keeping up with constantly changing state and federal regulations is challenging. Dealerships are open to steep fines or lawsuits, even for what may seem like simple mistakes.

The probability is so high that many dealerships keep a law firm on retainer just in case compliance issues arise.

By integrating the DMS with the HR system, you eliminate the need to manually track compliance updates. An integrated talent management solution automatically populates the relevant modules with updated information such as tax compliance, minimum wage, overtime regulations, equal employment opportunity compliance, employee verification, and other important compliance directives.

Get More Information
When so much of your capital is invested in people, shouldn’t you be 100% confident that the systems used to manage payroll and benefits are accurate, streamline processes, and provide insights that enable the dealership to build a competitive advantage?

To learn more about strategies for recruitment and retention, read “8 Keys For Hiring & Retaining Staff at Dealerships.”

1. NADA. “NADA Data Annual Financial Profile of America’s Franchised New-car Dealerships.” 2018.
2. Hireology. “Cox Automotive Dealership Staffing Study.” 2017.
3. Katz, Eyal. “Payroll Errors That Cost You Money and How to Fix Them.” Business 2 Community, 2017.