Five Guys Franchise Group Dines Out on Automated HR and Payroll

Since 1986, Five Guys has been serving succulent made-to-order burgers with fresh toppings and stacks of hand-cut fries. Adopting the franchise model in 2003 has helped the company become one of the of the fastest-growing restaurant brands in the United States. The Rockham 5G group has been one of the most successful franchisees spanning four states.

Shanda McCain, Benefits Administrator at Rockham 5G, explains: “We now have 61 restaurants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Most of our employees are servers, supported by General and Area Managers, Directors of Operations, and our administration and finance teams.”

Things move quickly in the restaurant space: high employee turnover creates constant pressure to hire and onboard at speed and scale. And for Rockham 5G, managing payroll and benefits with disparate systems and processes was limiting the company’s agility.

To drive efficiency, Rockham 5G recently upgraded to a new human capital management (HCM) platform. But a difficult rollout led the company to go back to the drawing board, searching for an alternative solution. This time, Rockham 5G chose Paylocity, and things came together perfectly.

“Having just had a difficult experience with the iSolved HCM platform, we were naturally wary about making a second attempt to modernize our payroll and HR environment,” adds Shanda. “But the Paylocity team was tremendous, answering all our questions and alleviating our concerns about making the change. We have really enjoyed working with Paylocity.”

 

The Challenge: Checking Out the Menu

Manual processes and siloed data created heavy workloads for HR and restaurant General Managers. Rockham 5G sought a more integrated, scalable approach.

Slow Onboarding Processes Consume HR Bandwidth

To optimize staffing and ensure customers enjoy a great experience, Rockham 5G hires around 80 new employees during every bi-weekly pay period. In the summer months, when restaurants often see business increase, that figure can rise even higher. However, manual onboarding methods left the Rockham 5G HR team feeling overloaded. “We were doing everything on paper, then scanning and uploading documents into our systems,” says Shanda. “It took up a lot of time.”

Inflexible HR Software Creates Frustration

Initially, the iSolved deployment went well, as Rockham 5G rolled out the system at its newest restaurant. After that, though, things went downhill. “When we implemented the system at our other locations, we had minimal support, and the changeover became very complicated,” adds Shanda.

The system also created operational issues. For example, limited automation meant that calculating deductions for employee benefits was a demanding, laborious task. Shanda explains: “We had to work out what each employee was paying for their medical and dental plans, deduct that from their pay, check everything, and only then could we enter the details into the system. If our calculations were just a penny off, we’d have to start all over again.”

Complex Data Entry Increases Errors and Costs

The platform made things challenging for General Managers, too. Before every payroll, they had to pull information on employee hours and tips at their restaurant from the Crunchtime timekeeping platform, then manually enter the data into the payroll system. As well as being time-consuming, there was a high risk of error. “Mistakes would creep into people’s pay,” adds Shanda. “To correct errors, we had to FedEx checks to restaurants overnight, but that ramped up our costs.”

 

The Solution: Ordering Something New

Following a recommendation from a trusted partner, Rockham 5G selected Paylocity for its impressive benefits management capabilities, pricing model, and quality service.

Digital Processes Streamline Hiring and Benefits

With Paylocity’s Onboarding module, Rockham 5G has streamlined hiring, replacing manual processes and paperwork with digital workflows. “Making things easy for new hires was a key consideration,” says Shanda. “Paylocity felt more intuitive than any other option, giving new hires the flexibility to complete digital forms on desktop or mobile.”

Similarly, the Benefits Administration module has been a game-changer, automating complex, time-consuming deduction calculations. “All we do now is enter how much employees contribute to each medical, vision, or dental plan, and the system takes care of everything else,” says Shanda.

Integrated Systems Lighten the Load on Employees

Thanks to a custom-built integration, Rockham 5G can now pull data on employee hours and tips directly from the Crunchtime timekeeping system into Paylocity’s Payroll module, eliminating hours of tedious manual work. “All that our General Managers now have to do is check that employees have punched their hours into Crunchtime,” explains Shanda.

The Employee Self-Service module and Paylocity Mobile App have also made a big impact, enabling employees to view pay stubs and other HR resources online. “The iSolved mobile app was very limited,” continues Shanda. “As a result, we were sending out physical pay stubs and direct deposit vouchers to all 61 locations via FedEx. With Paylocity, we can move all that online which saves significant time and money.”

The Learning module has helped employees navigate the new platform. “If our General Managers need a hand using the e-verify tools in Onboarding, we’ve got clear guidance in Paylocity,” says Shanda.

Powerful Analytics Enables Smarter Workforce Planning 

Moving forward, Rockham 5G plans to make full use of the Data Insights module. “We’re just starting to leverage the reports in Paylocity,” adds Shanda. “The real-time data will help us understand turnover rates and labor costs and make smarter decisions around workforce strategy.”

 

The Results: Savoring the Perfect Recipe

In its first year of using Paylocity, Rockham 5G is already enjoying valuable operational benefits, including time savings, lower administrative costs, and increased agility

Paperless Onboarding Reduces HR Workloads

The new onboarding process is saving Shanda and the HR team significant time each month. “It has made a huge impact,” she explains. “We’ve eliminated the paperwork and scanning that consumed so many hours.” The new workflow will also make it easier to handle peak hiring periods. “Most of the students who were working with us over the summer have now headed back to college, so we’re currently hiring a lot of servers,” adds Shanda. “Paylocity will help us move fast and bring new crew members on board.”

Automation Eliminates Laborious Manual Work

Meanwhile, automated benefits management has unlocked massive time savings for Shanda. “By switching to Paylocity, we have saved between 50 and 60 hours over the year, and cut the labor involved in benefits administration by around 75 percent,” she explains. “I’m not bogged down adding up all the figures anymore. Paylocity has been a great labor saver.”

More Efficient Processes Unlock Cost Reductions

As well as lifting a heavy administrative burden off the shoulders of General Managers, the direct data transfer from Crunchtime into Paylocity has helped to minimize the risk of errors in employee payroll. “We no longer find ourselves having to write out checks and FedEx them to employees who had received incorrect pay,” says Shanda. “That’s better for them, and it saves us the mailing costs. It gives our employees more confidence in our processes.”

Similarly, the switch to digital pay stubs has enabled additional cost reductions. “Some employees still request a physical pay stub, but for the most part people prefer to check their pay online,” concludes Shanda. “That has allowed us to reduce the number of packages we FedEx to restaurants, and means General Managers don’t have the hassle of distributing paperwork to employees.”