Ungerboeck Onboards Top Talent Faster with 90% Less Work

The Challenge

In the past 40 years, recruiting and retaining top talent, streamlining onboarding, and reporting metrics had become ongoing priorities for Ungerboeck. But their antiquated processes had not evolved as fast as the rest of company, and turnover plagued the bottom line. To keep their position as one of the leading event software companies, it was critical to retain their key employees.

Without access to accurate data, it was difficult to know why employees were opting to leave. Global HR Director Mike Cameron says, “To gauge employee sentiment, we would have to dig through surveys or 380+ performance reviews. Realistically, mining qualitative data was something we just couldn’t do before.” It wasn’t just the cost of turnover impacting the bottom line. The onboarding process was lengthy and manual, leaving the HR team to spend hours entering duplicative information. The reporting options were limited, and the data that was available was extremely time-consuming to access. Being in the tech space, Ungerboeck knew that the data was critical to decision making, but they were left in the dark.

The Solution

 With a war on talent in the tech space, being able to onboard employees quickly can make all the difference. Ungerboeck turned to Paylocity for help. Paylocity's Onboarding enabled Ungerboeck to onboard new employees faster and get them working quickly which is critical to success. Paylocity’s Onboarding allows for a seamless transfer of information. Once a candidate is hired, their information automatically passes from the application through to their employee record. New hires can complete the required paperwork before their start date, allowing for a more engaging first-day experience. This both reduces the amount of manual effort put forth by the HR team and minimizes the chance for errors.

Ungerboeck employees also have convenient on-demand access to their files through Paylocity’s mobile app and are empowered to make updates in real time, such as direct deposit information, paid–time-off requests, changes in life events, or more. Mike says, “We’re an innovative events software company, and we're always looking for top talent to join our team. Paylocity has automated our onboarding processes, giving us an edge in reducing ramp-up time of new hires and ultimately keeping them engaged and on our team.”

The Modern Workforce Index within Paylocity's Data Insights is where Ungerboeck uses dashboards to track their progress in areas like employee sentiment, utilization, and organizational health. MWI generates scores and industry benchmarks in these categories to help the team understand how they’re performing in these crucial areas and how they stack up against the competition. These industry-specific benchmarks are based on anonymous, aggregated data from Paylocity's more than 25,000 clients. The customized recommendations give easy-to-implement action items to boost engagement scores. Leadership gets visibility into these efforts with executive reviews of HR metrics. Ungerboeck is able to leverage these scores for a competitive advantage. “It’s exciting to see the actual trends. We love to see that we’re ranking at the top for industry benchmarks. We’re a bit competitive, and that ranking has also become a recruiting advantage for us,” says Mike.

The Results

By modernizing their onboarding process, Ungerboeck’s HR team saved countless hours while also boosting their bottom line. According to a recent study by Deloitte, automation in onboarding alone can save a company nearly $7,000 annually. This significant savings doesn’t even account for the long-term costs of engaging an employee before day one. Studies report that 15% of employees noted the lack of effective onboarding process contributed to their choice to leave a company. “The onboarding automation has vastly reduced attrition while saving a significant amount of time and money,” says Mike. “Paylocity helps us reduce manual tasks by 90%, plus improves our decision-making with data and reporting. We can now spend our days strategizing and taking action on the recommendations provided to increase our engagement and culture.”

For the first time, leadership can keep tabs on key metrics. They currently rank above industry benchmarks with an employee sentiment score of 85%. More than three-quarters of their staff are heavily using and interacting with the Paylocity app on a daily basis. The built-in return on investment (ROI) calculator helps quantify their investment. Mike says, “I may only get 30 minutes of face time with the CEO, so I need to be efficient in that time, and having these snapshots is very helpful for us to dive in and foster a better conversation.” MWI’s recommendations, such as pulse surveys, have also helped Ungerboeck increase employee engagement and retain workers. According to the same study by Deloitte, companies that automate communications and engagement can approximately save an additional $23,000 annually. Mike says, “MWI is extremely holistic and powerful. We want people to onboard and stay, so being able to measure something like sentiment is really important. The quick snapshots are a great use of our time and have prompted important conversations with leadership on how to grow from here.”