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How Waterware plugged their HR and payroll leaks with Employment Hero
At a glance
Company
Waterware
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Employees
40
Product
HR & Payroll – Platinum
Read this case study if…
- You’re a medium-sized B2B wholesaler juggling admin-heavy HR.
- You want a more intuitive, automated system for onboarding, offboarding and asset tracking.
- You’re ready to consolidate HR and payroll into one smart, easy-to-use platform.
About Waterware
Waterware is a trusted New Zealand-based importer and wholesaler of premium bathroomware, plumbing supplies, and radiant heating and cooling systems. Working with various professionals from commercial builders and plumbing merchants to architects and consultants, they’ve spent over 30 years establishing a reputation for precision and innovation in the building supplies sector.
We spoke with Waterware’s Office Manager, Danielle Ware, who plays a central role in keeping the business humming across administration, customer service, and people operations.
Her reflections on the pre-Employment Hero era tell a familiar story for growing businesses struggling with clunky, manual systems.
Before Employment Hero
Before Employment Hero, Waterware’s HR tasks were entirely manual. From onboarding new hires via spreadsheets to juggling contract documentation and staff asset allocation, efficiency was being consumed by admin tasks.
“I was onboarding new staff using an Excel spreadsheet to track action items, training plans, contracts, data collection – it was all very manual, very laborious,” she explained.
That changed when the company’s General Manager discovered Employment Hero and asked her to look into it. What began as a simple HR project quickly became a complete transformation of their core HR and payroll processes.
An onboarding process that flows well
The more Danielle looked into Employment Hero, the clearer it became: this was exactly the solution Waterware had been missing.
One of the first wins with Employment Hero has been transforming how Waterware handles employee onboarding and offboarding. What was once a manual, time-consuming process is now seamless and automated.
“I love creating the onboarding and offboarding checklists. We’ve set up custom checklists for different departments, and everything is triggered automatically once a new employee is added. It’s made life so much easier for me.”
The ability to assign tasks to multiple stakeholders – from the accounts team to sales managers – meant accountability was embedded into every checklist.
“It’s a great way to get more people involved and ensure nothing gets missed.”
Danielle has even customised the onboarding flow to add a human touch to create a more personal and human experience, making a stronger and more welcoming first impression for new hires.
“I can ask each new hire a short questionnaire when they set up their profile. I use that to build a little employee spotlight for our website. It’s a small thing, but people love it.”
Patching up leaky payroll
Initially, Waterware started with Employment Hero’s HR suite. Their payroll processes remained with another platform until costs started creeping up and the inefficiencies became impossible to ignore.
“After seeing how easy Employment Hero’s HR software was to use, we decided to consolidate everything under one roof, including payroll, which just makes more sense. Now with Employment Hero’s payroll software, everything just syncs up seamlessly – from sick leave to annual leave – without any manual follow-ups.”
While Danielle doesn’t directly manage payroll, she sees the benefits every day.
“Our payroll processes before Employment Hero meant someone would have to fill out a manual form, then someone else would manually add the details into our previous payroll platform, plus several steps in between. Now, it’s automated and clean.”
A system built to handle the pressure
The impact of Employment Hero extends well beyond Waterware’s onboarding and payroll.
One of the most valuable tools in their day-to-day operations is the asset register, which now plays a central role in tracking company-issued devices like phones, laptops, and tablets.
“Before, it was all on an Excel sheet. If we even remembered where it was. Now, it’s so easy to see what device is assigned to whom, which just gives us that peace of mind.”
Employment Hero has also transformed document management. With policies, contracts and company documents stored centrally, staff now have instant access to the information they need to do their best work
“It’s great having everything, like our work-from-home policy, in one place. It saves time and makes things so much easier.”
The performance review process got a refresh too, bringing more transparency and structure to an important part of staff engagement.
“We trialled the one-on-one tool for performance reviews. All the questions are pre-set, and the system sends reminders and collects feedback. It’s so much easier than doing it all manually.”
Leave management with no blockages
Leave management has seen a major upgrade, too. Previously, employees would need to email their manager to ask for time off, a process rife with error, from lost messages to payroll confusion and more.
“Now it’s just an online form. Managers approve, it syncs with payroll automatically, and that’s it. You don’t have to think about it again.”
Even better, Employment Hero’s mobile app, EH Work, puts everyday HR tasks in the hands of employees, which helps alleviate the burden for managers. Employees can easily view leave balances, submit leave requests, and access payslips directly from their phones.
“People have really embraced the app,” she said. “It’s intuitive, and it puts everything they need right in their pocket.”
Want to experience Employment Hero for yourself?
For Danielle, the value of Employment Hero is crystal clear, and she wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others in her industry.
“I save hours a week with Employment Hero. It’s just so intuitive and easy to use. I wouldn’t be looking to change HR systems… Employment Hero does everything I need,” she shared.
Employment Hero is an all-in-one Employment Operating System for HR, payroll, and recruitment built to simplify compliance, automate admin, and empower your people. From onboarding to offboarding, we streamline every step of the employee lifecycle so you can spend less time on processes and more time scaling your business.
Want to see how companies like Waterware are transforming their HR operations and driving real business impact? Book a demo with our business specialists today.
