Employment Hero ‘fits like a glove’ for NZ manufacturer Lynn River

About Lynn River

Established in 1969, Lynn River is a leading manufacturer and supplier of personal protection products for multiple industries across New Zealand and Australia. Offering an extensive range of safety wear from work gloves, to coveralls, earmuffs, safety goggles and so much more, it’s an operation that requires a powerhouse team.

We recently caught up with Brenda Higgins from Lynn River, who spoke to us about the challenges she faced overseeing accounts payable and payroll at the company – and how Employment Hero helped her overcome them.

From multiple systems, to all-in-one

Before Employment Hero, Lynn River didn’t have a comprehensive HR or payroll platform in place to help them manage their 20+ employees. Their payroll was split into two systems: a weekly payroll system managed in-house, and a fortnightly payroll system outsourced to a third party.

And that was just the payroll function – HR was also managed across multiple systems. Previously, new hires had to complete paper-based forms for essential things like bank details, tax codes, leave requests and other information. Brenda would then need to manually input this data into the payroll system, which was time-consuming and prone to error.

While Brenda was initially hesitant to move away from their existing processes, she said it was clear that the company needed a new approach. The HR team had been investigating options on the market, and after seeing the potential in Employment Hero’s integrated HR and payroll system, decided to make the switch.

Faster, smoother, more transparent payroll

After onboarding Employment Hero, Brenda says she quickly saw they had made the right choice.

Payroll instantly became a whole lot easier. Employment Hero’s payroll software automatically calculated employee leave balances, public holiday entitlements, and integrated seamlessly with their default working hours.

Because Lynn River has employees across New Zealand, each region observes different public holidays, and that would previously create a lot of manual admin for Brenda.

“When it’s Auckland Anniversary Day, the payroll software automatically knows to give employees in that region that day off,” she said. “That’s really amazing to see, and it saves me the hassle of doing it all myself.”

Another feature Brenda found helpful is the real-time payday filing functionality.

“I like being able to go back and double-check that our payday filing has been submitted and processed correctly. It’s great to have that visibility and peace of mind,” she said.

Plus, the history retention feature means Brenda can now review past pay runs in a few clicks.

“Normally, at the end of the financial year, you’d have to print everyone’s certificate of earnings, close off the year, and then you couldn’t look back without printing historical reports,” Brenda explained.

“But with Employment Hero, all the information stays there – If I have a query about a previous payroll, I can just go back and look at it whenever I need to.”

Centralised employee information and data makes compliance easy

Brenda and the HR team have also found Employment Hero to be highly beneficial for HR compliance. She can store all employee documents, including contracts and termination letters, in one centralised location.

“We just went through an ISO audit, and it was great to have all our employee documents easily accessible. It’s also handy during financial audits to have a clear record of employment contracts and documentation,” she shared.

Employees self-service features reduce admin workload

Another major advantage Brenda highlighted was the introduction of employee self-service capabilities. With Employment Hero, employees now onboard themselves by creating their own logins and entering their details online.

“That’s been really amazing and a huge time-saver,” Brenda said.

Employees can now submit leave requests directly through the HR platform, which will seamlessly integrate with payroll.

“The fact that it just flows through to payroll and automatically deducts the ordinary time and applies the leave is really helpful,” Brenda explained.

“Plus, if they change their bank account, address, phone number etc – they can just hop on and do that themselves which saves me so much time.”

From skeptic to advocate

Reflecting on her experience with Employment Hero, Brenda admitted that she was initially hesitant about taking on new software. However, after making the switch, she now wholeheartedly recommends it.

“A couple of local businesses have even come to see me about making the switch, and I showed them how well it works for us,” she said.

Brenda’s experience serves as a testament to Employment Hero’s ability to transform payroll and HR operations – and it’s just a snapshot of what we offer.

Looking to transform payroll and HR like Lynn River? Book a free demo with us today!