Correct Craft Plots a Course for HR Growth with Paylocity

Just as a boat captain needs to be skillful and well-equipped to plot a safe course across rough waters, companies in the boat manufacturing industry must run a tight ship to prosper in changing economic conditions. 

Correct Craft has been an expert in navigating these waters since 1925. From building innovative watersports boats like the iconic Ski Nautique, to producing military craft that supported the Allies in World War II, the company has a long history of innovation on the water. Over the decades, Correct Craft has grown into a global leader in waterski, wakeboard, and wakesurf boats, while also expanding into other areas of the marine industry including fishing boats, inboard engines, marine supplies and services, and other advanced manufacturing. 

In recent years, Correct Craft has grown rapidly making key acquisitions and strengthening its position in the marine industry. “We now have 15 brands and 19 locations across seven states,” says Noel Putze, Human Resources Director. “We’re constantly hiring and onboarding new team members to support our growing operations. With our acquisition strategy, we must be prepared to onboard entire organizations. When you reach that kind of scale, you can’t keep relying on spreadsheets, paper-based processes and separate HR systems—it just becomes unmanageable.” 

For this reason, Correct Craft made the tough decision to rethink its entire approach to HR technology—moving away from its legacy HR solution and other HR applications and implementing an all-in-one integrated HR and payroll platform from Paylocity.

 

The Challenge: Navigating Troubled Waters

Multiple HR tools, clunky and inefficient manual processes, and a lack of integration caused problems for Correct Craft’s HR team and its employees.

Putting a Drag on Progress

Correct Craft used a legacy provider as its main payroll processing platform, as well as four other systems for various HR functions such as background checks, applicant tracking, and communicating with employees. Due to a lack of integration between these systems, the HR team spent considerable time processing data manually with spreadsheets, and key processes such as onboarding were still partially paper-based.

“I would have to run three different reports and Frankenstein them together, because our platforms just didn’t talk to each other,” says Becky Hahn, HRIS Analyst. “That left a lot of room for error, and when you’re operating at the level we are, those types of errors are not acceptable.”

Reaching Breaking Point

The level of support provided by the company’s existing vendors also left much to be desired, especially when the HR team needed help with major projects such as integrating newly acquired businesses. “We had a situation where the first payroll for one of our new businesses was full of major errors,” says Noel. “As a team, we vowed that we would never repeat that experience. It was time to find a new partner who would help us achieve our business goals.”

 

The Solution: Plotting a Course for HR Success

By replacing five separate systems with a single integrated platform from Paylocity, Correct Craft began transforming the efficiency of its operations. 

Finding the Right Partner

The corporate HR team at Correct Craft evaluated several leading vendors and decided to partner with Paylocity. “We conducted a needs analysis with each of our 15 brands and used that as our guide,” says Noel. “Paylocity was the one vendor that could deliver on all our most important requirements—efficient payroll and integrated benefits, a great mobile app to empower our employees, enhanced reporting and dedicated customer service with a direct point of contact.”

Guiding a Successful Implementation

Correct Craft took a phased approach to their Paylocity implementation, working with each brand in turn and applying any lessons learned to continuously improve the rollout strategy. “I want to shine a giant spotlight on our Paylocity implementation team—they were absolute rock stars,” says Becky. 

Noel agrees: “We have a large number of brands and some of our payrolls are very complex. Paylocity really got into the details and took care to ensure that our payroll process was the best it could be.”

Compliance Comes as Standard

One of the key themes for Noel and Becky is compliance. “As an HR practitioner, I recognize the importance of compliance, but employees care more about their experience and what is impactful for them on a day-to-day basis,” says Noel. “With Paylocity, compliance is just a given—it’s built into the platform. So, I can shift my focus to things that really make a difference to our employees.”

 

The Results: Setting Sail for a New World of HR Efficiency

With Paylocity, Correct Craft now has the platform it needs to transform people management and achieve its ambitious growth goals.

One Platform for Effective HR

Now that Paylocity is operational, Correct Craft has a single platform that can support a full spectrum of HR and payroll functions, replacing the cost and inefficiency of five separate solutions from different vendors. Employees now have a single Mobile App that gives them access to all the HR tools they need, as well as using Community for easy communication with HR without having to leave the shopfloor. And from the HR team’s perspective, reporting is much easier and more powerful, with instant insight into employee turnover, overtime and demographics.

“We’re just getting started with Paylocity’s Data Insights,” says Noel. “Having the data at our fingertips is huge. It allows HR to add value as a strategic business partner.”

Fully Digital Onboarding

With Paylocity, onboarding is now a fully digital process, eliminating paperwork and saving around 72 hours per week for HR and employees. The new system also enables more flexibility—for example, office-based staff and manufacturing workers now enjoy more personalized experiences that are relevant to their role.

Rapid Return on Investment

Looking forward, Noel and Becky are excited about their next steps with Paylocity. “We have barely scratched the surface, particularly with Community and Data Insights,” says Becky. The team is also planning to fully digitalize employee records, which they estimate will save 10,400 labor hours per year across all companies. Furthermore, the company estimates that the combined labor and material cost savings will reach almost $300k. Noel concludes: “It’s a game-changer to know that with Paylocity, we have all these tools at our fingertips.”