HR inherently consists of a lot of repetitive processes and paperwork. Doing it manually and relying on physical documents makes responsibilities like hiring quite difficult and time-consuming.
A new, innovative software called Workstream is working to improve this. Franchises representing 46 of the top 50 quick-service restaurant brands have implemented the platform to ease their hiring and payroll process.
“I’m the HR person, the payroll person, and the safety director, so I deal with a lot of complicated things,” says Deb Merril, executive vice president of a 12-location Jimmy John’s group. “My prior hiring system was all paper. We printed packets and employee handbooks almost every day.”
There was no online application, which meant people had to come into the store to apply. This also made it extremely difficult to track applicants’ progress and to make sure every item was filled out on all the packets. “I spent 20–30 hours per location every week completing HR tasks.”
“Before with the paper method, there was no way for me to know if applicants were being contacted,” Merril says. “If the store was in a staffing crisis, I didn’t know if it was because employees weren’t responding to applicants or if we had a problem with advertising.”
To solve her hiring problems, Merril began hunting for an HR tool. “I took a long time to switch over to a digital onboarding platform because I had tried it in the past, and every system was too complicated for my field managers,” Merril says. “So when I found out about Workstream, I was a little hesitant. Thankfully, switching to Workstream was painless and completely worth it.”
“After implementing Workstream, I got the time I spend on onboarding down to 30–60 minutes a week,” Merril says. “The process is also so much easier for my managers, which makes everyone happier and allows employees to focus on making sandwiches rather than on payroll or HR tasks.”
Not only is Merril able to cut down time spent on tedious hiring and onboarding tasks, but she’s also able to keep better track of applicant’s progress. “Now, if I want to, I can look at each individual location and see who applied and how long it took for employees to respond to that application,” says Merril. “I can look into the individual chats and see if the applicant asked a question or how the conversation between the employer and applicant went.”
Since switching to Workstream, Merril’s Jimmy John’s locations have seen an increase in applicant volume. “The fact that somebody can apply from their bed, in their pajamas, and fill out all of their onboarding paperwork from their phone has increased applications,” Merril says.
“One of my favorite things about Workstream is the ability to send out yearly handbooks to my 200 employees in one simple text message,” Merril says. “All of my HR forms can be sent out via text message too, which puts an end to the physical payroll and HR work. It all happens online, including the storage.”
The platform is easy to use for both applicants and employers. “I can have the administrator view or the applicant view, so I can see exactly what they see,” Merril says. “It’s just really streamlined the hiring process.”
“Workstream is fast, it’s efficient, and it’s slick,” Merril says. “Furthermore, it aligns with the Jimmy John’s brand, ‘freaky fast’ some might say.”
To learn more about Workstream and how to manage your HR processes, visit their website.
By Abby Winterburn
