Zaxbys Franchise Finds the Perfect Ingredients for Streamlined HR

For anyone that loves great food with a little extra zest and zing, Zaxbys is the place to go. One of the biggest names in quick-service food, the restaurant is famous for its chicken wings and fingers—all served with signature sauces ranging from smooth and creamy to nuclear hot.

Based in Florence, South Carolina, Guernsey Holdings is a rapidly growing Zaxbys franchisee. Having initially acquired 20 restaurants in South Carolina, the company has since expanded operations into Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and has big ambitions for the future.

Heidi Toms, HR Manager for the South Carolina locations, explains: “This has always been a dynamic, fast-moving place to work, with a great team. And under the ownership of Guernsey Holdings, we have really shifted gears, growing from 20 sites to 46 in just 18 months. The ultimate goal is to reach around 100 Zaxbys restaurants.”

Across all Zaxbys locations, Guernsey Holdings has 1,600 employees, including 800 in South Carolina. To help the three-person HR team manage key tasks such as high-volume employee onboarding, payroll, and reporting, the company harnesses Paylocity.

“We had outgrown our legacy HR systems, and when we acquired the Tennessee restaurants, they were already using Paylocity,” adds Heidi. “So, we decided to switch to Paylocity as a corporate standard. It has been a great move. Even after two years, we’re still discovering things that the platform can do, and we’re keen to deepen our relationship with Paylocity.”

 

The Challenge: Checking Out the Menu

As Guernsey Holdings expanded its footprint of Zaxbys locations, the HR team needed a scalable platform that would help to optimize processes and unlock time savings.

Updating Legacy HR and Payroll Systems

To manage payroll and other HR tasks for its South Carolina locations, Guernsey Holdings previously used a different solution, but it had major limitations. For example, whenever employees wanted to amend their W-4 form or direct deposit or access pay stubs, they had to go through their manager and then HR. “There was no app or self-service aspect in the system,” explains Heidi. “I had to spend a lot of time making updates, then sending confirmation to employees.” The system also had no function for storing electronic documents, leaving the company reliant on paper copies. “Our office was full of filing cabinets crammed with employee records,” adds Heidi. 

Simplifying Complicated Onboarding Steps

In the restaurant business, employee turnover is traditionally high: every week Heidi can hire and onboard between 15 and 20 new people. “We need to move fast and get people working shifts as soon as possible, or they will just walk down the street and find roles with a competitor,” says Heidi. In the past, the onboarding process involved working with multiple systems. “New starters would complete onboarding forms in one tool, then we used another tool to download and transfer that data into our previous provider,” explains Heidi. “It was a long, convoluted process.”

Driving Growth with a Committed Partner

As Guernsey Holdings considered bringing its South Carolina locations onto Paylocity, the company recognized the key criteria that the platform had to meet. “I sat down with our Vice President of Administration, and we identified strong customer support as a vital requirement,” adds Heidi. “We expect our partners to be responsive. We are growing so quickly, we need to know that someone will answer our calls or emails straight away if we want help with a report, for instance.”

 

The Solution: Adding a Little Spice

Guernsey Holdings now manages HR and payroll for all its Zaxbys locations in Paylocity, with flexible, digital workflows that reduce paperwork and minimize tedious admin work.

Enhancing Payroll Efficiency and Flexibility

Today, Guernsey Holdings uses Paylocity’s Payroll module to manage employee pay, and to transfer general ledger data into its accounting platform. “When we processed payroll in our old system, if we found that someone had made a clock-in error, we had to redo the whole process,” explains Heidi. “In Paylocity, we can just go to the off-cycle payroll tool, and quickly rectify things.”

Launching a Self-Service Model for HR

Thanks to the Employee Self-Service portal and Paylocity Mobile App, the HR team no longer has to act as middleman and change personal information for employees. “People love being able to access pay stubs and update their direct deposit details independently via the app,” adds Heidi. “And from my perspective in HR, the app is handy for pushing out reminders to people to sign forms.”

Streamlining Onboarding and Document Storage

Meanwhile, the Onboarding module eliminates the complexity of working across three different systems. “Our onboarding process is much simpler now,” adds Heidi. “New hires complete all the forms in the system, then I click one button to add their details into Payroll. And the integration with E-Verify cuts manual work.” Paylocity also enables the company to store electronic copies of employee records. “We love how documents are filed with employee profiles in Paylocity, and that we can use the Weblink tool to update multiple profiles in one go,” says Heidi.

Monitoring Trends and Employee Sentiment

Furthermore, HR, restaurant, and district managers are using the Data Insights module to analyze labor costs, overtime, and employee turnover. Also, the company uses the Employee Voice tool to monitor employee sentiment. “Before Paylocity, we didn’t have a survey tool,” says Heidi. “Now, we launch a pulse check every quarter, and we’re exploring using the system for exit interviews.”

The Results: Cooking Up a Treat

With Paylocity, Guernsey Holdings is well-equipped to support a growing workforce, boost HR efficiency and productivity, and sharpen the employee experience.

Saving Time and Cutting HR Workloads

The move to self-service HR has freed Heidi from tedious, time-consuming tasks. “People were quick to figure out how to handle their own admin, rather than going through their manager and the HR team,” explains Heidi. “That has been a big time-saver.” Heidi is also confident that placing modern tools in the hands of employees will drive retention. “Innovative tools such as the Paylocity Mobile App enhance our value proposition to employees, especially the tech-savvy younger demographic,” she notes.

Waving Goodbye to Stacks of Paperwork

Switching to electronic document storage has helped reduce volumes of paper that have to be filed in the HR office. “Today, we just scan any paper forms, add digital copies to the employee profile in Paylocity, then shred the documents,” adds Heidi. “Whenever we need specific items, we can retrieve them with a few clicks, rather than having to sift through different filing cabinets.”

Simplifying Reporting and Auditing

Similarly, the reporting tools in Paylocity have made it easier to pull data and gain insights. “We sometimes perform an audit for the Department of Labor, plus we do an annual compensation review,” explains Heidi. “Paylocity enables us to grab the information we need fast. Our reporting has improved across the board, because we’re no longer relying on error-prone spreadsheets and manual data entry.”

Getting New Hires Ready to Go

Finally, the streamlined workflows in Paylocity have reduced the time to onboard new hires by around 75 percent. “Replacing the complex data transfer steps in our old systems with Paylocity means we can complete the process in a quarter of the time,” says Heidi. “All we then have to do is double-check the forms, and we can get new hires started in one of our restaurants.”