Automotive Accessories Distributor Gains Momentum with Paylocity

Since the mid 1980s, the Meyer business (Meyer Distributing and Meyer Logistics) has been a leader in automotive aftermarket accessory distribution. The business has humble roots in Haysville, Indiana as a distributor of truck bodies that quickly grew into the organization it is today with nationwide warehouse, distribution, and logistics.

As Meyer Distributing continued to grow into a large company with approximately 1,500 employees, its processes needed to scale as well. Paper-based, manual systems took up space, time, and energy the small HR team didn’t have. But Kristy Neukam, VP of Human Resources, was looking for something specific: technology that could integrate with Microsoft Great Plains, which Meyer uses as its ERP software.

“We did RFPs with Paylocity, Paycom, Paycor, ADP, and UKG, and the biggest takeaway is that they could not integrate with Microsoft Great Plains and other important systems easily,” she remembers. Once she learned Paylocity would meet her team’s needs, Meyer Distributing shifted into gear and sped toward greater efficiency and a better employee experience.

The Challenge: Paper-Based Roadblocks

Meyer’s decision to bring Paylocity on board hinged on alleviating the manual processes the team had with its previous solution. Leadership wanted a solution to free the team up so they could focus on strategic initiatives like data analysis and culture building.

Manual Payroll Is Its Own Full-Time Job

The nature of Meyer Distributing’s operations makes for a complicated payroll. With employees working nationwide, the company must comply with a complex mix of state and federal tax regulations. And while some employees are paid a set rate, others have a different pay structure like the CDL drivers, who are paid per mile.

“We were doing all of our withholding and unemployment taxes in-house,” Kristy says. “Being in 44 states, that can get a little challenging. Even though we were a hundred percent compliant and never missed a payment or a deadline, it became a full-time job within itself, so we needed to get some assistance.”

Missing Data Leaves HR Guessing About Trends

Kristy and her team were bogged down in manual processes that left no time to create reports, which left them in the dark about workforce and compensation trends. “People can’t be working 50 hours week in, week out for 20 years. They’re just going to get burnt out,” Kristy says. “Without the scheduling and forecasting and looking at those overtime trends, we won’t know who we need to hire when, and when our markets need to shift.”

But with the need for occasional overtime comes the need to consider compensation. “Knowing and seeing where those labor costs are going, we want to pay our employees well, but within a range for long-term sustainability as well,” Kristy says. She continues, “If you don’t have good data, you don’t have anything and you’re just going with a gut assumption.”  

Employees Struggle with Communication and Connection

Meyer Distributing employs a wide variety of workers, from warehouse staff to truck drivers to salespeople, meaning a large portion of its workforce is deskless. There was no way to get employees across the company’s locations connected to each other, and HR had difficulties with broadcast messages. “We’re a very family-oriented business, we’re still family owned and operated, and we pride ourselves on that,” Kristy says. “But it was email or a phone call,” she remembers about distributing company-wide information.

The Solution: From Manual to Automatic

HR put new processes in motion with Paylocity’s all-in-one platform, which adds value for employees at all levels of the organization.

Employee Feedback Provides Honest Insights

Face-to-face conversations and written surveys do not always yield the most forthcoming results. Employees may be concerned if they have constructive criticism, even if action on their insights will improve the organization as a whole. To circumvent this, Kristy and her team leverage Employee Voice within the Paylocity platform to automatically collect anonymous employee feedback.

“We’re using feedback for exit interviews, culture surveys, and leadership surveys to figure out what employees are interested in, what they need, and what they want,” she says. “Being able to share the results with the supervisors who need that data is really valuable because our team members can get that 360-degree whole picture.” 

LMS Offers Upskilling and Reskilling Opportunities

With so many moving parts in the Meyer business, there are nearly endless opportunities for employees to pursue new opportunities. “All of our LMS courses are open to everybody, and we can see what steps employees have taken for their career path. For example, if someone is on the warehousing side and they want to become a CDL driver, that’s huge,” Kristy explains. “We’re big on promoting from within if we can, and we see how we can level them up to get there. Whenever they take an opportunity, whether it’s in volunteering or in getting a certification, those are steps that say they’d like to be a bigger part of the organization.”

On Demand Pay Provides a Competitive Advantage

Like most organizations with hourly employees, Meyer Distributing and Meyer Logistics are competing with other logistics businesses — and the gig economy — for talent. Many workers prefer the weekly or daily pay other companies can offer, so giving employees the ability to request earned wages puts Meyer at a huge advantage in recruiting.

“Our employees use On Demand Pay a lot. It’s one of the things that we put on our recruiting advertisements, that they can get paid the same day after their first paycheck. Some people utilize it because we’re a biweekly pay that they utilize it as a weekly pay, and we find it as a good tool because not everybody can go two weeks without getting paid,” Kristy says.

The Results: Revving Up Success

Paylocity gives the Meyer Human Resources team and employees the tools to efficiently manage admin and fuel connection.

85% of Employees Use the Paylocity Mobile App

Employees use the Paylocity Mobile App to request time off, submit expense reports, and chat with their colleagues. “Our employees love Paylocity and the mobile app,” Kristy says. “We’ve had supervisors that have used other HRIS systems — Workday or Ceridian Dayforce — and they’re over the moon with Paylocity. The ease of use of it and the simplicity of being able to do what they need to do without having to get bogged down with a lot of other areas.”

Even Kristy and her team appreciate the mobile capabilities of Paylocity. “I’m able to do things right from my phone: posting announcements, taking pictures to post to Community groups, accessing pay stubs, and sharing information quickly. It’s so easy,” she says. 

Self-Service Removes Administrative Burden from HR

The Meyer Distributing HR team has significantly cut down on their repetitive administrative tasks with Paylocity’s Employee Self-Service, empowering employees to keep their own information current. “If they have a baby or get married, they don’t have to rely on HR anymore. They’re able to process their life event themselves, and then we verify the information. All the little things like this make life a lot simpler for sure,” Kristy says.

The capabilities of self-service keep employees engaged and less reliant on HR. “We want to help our employees all the time,” Kristy reassures, “and we’ve really been able to say you can go do this. You’re able to change your W-4, tax statement, direct deposit, and can even use the pre-check calculator to see the impact on your check. It really gives ownership back to the employee and lets them be vested in it.”

Community Facilitates Family-Oriented Culture

Meyer Distributing aims to preserve its family-oriented culture, and Paylocity gives the organization the ability to truly connect using Community, the in-platform social collaboration hub. As Kristy explains, “Community has been a good communication tool and a really fun way to follow employees and celebrate moments like birthdays and work anniversaries.”

Employees also use Community to recognize causes, share tips, organize clubs, buy and sell, and coordinate volunteer efforts. “It’s a great way for employees nationwide to share and feel like a family because we’re a family, and we care about our people,” Kristy says. “You have to have a little fun at work every now and then instead of just the daily grind.”