How Wholesale Domestic cut payroll time by two thirds and reclaimed 60% of HR admin time with Employment Hero
66%
of time saved during payroll processing
60%
of HR admin time reclaimed
100%
autonomy for managers with in-app capabilities
Company
Wholesale Domestic
Industry
Retail
Employees
118
Business Type
Core
Location
UK
Favourite Features
About the company
Wholesale Domestic is a leading Scotland-based bathroom retailer, offering everything from baths and tiles to heating and full home wall coverings. With over 118 staff across three showrooms, a head office and warehouse, the business serves both trade and retail customers.
The challenge
When HR Manager Lucy Crawford joined the business, she was juggling HR and payroll across three disconnected systems:
- A clunky HR portal for holidays, performance reviews and personal details.
- A rota and timesheet tool that only partially synced with HR.
- A manual payroll process in Sage which requires re-inputting data.
But it wasn’t just Lucy who was struggling to engage with these outdated platforms. Employees without laptop access missed key documents and updates, and clocking in required tablets which didn’t support employees on the road. Managers couldn’t approve leave requests without computer access, which delayed the approval process by days or even weeks.
“My day-to-day workload was so challenging, especially when jumping between systems. Payroll alone took me around 20 hours a month. When you’re the only HR person in the business, that’s just not manageable.”
The solution
Lucy chose Employment Hero to consolidate the multiple platforms into one intuitive, mobile-friendly system. Her priorities of streamlining HR, payroll, rotas and timesheets whilst empowering staff to self-serve on the go was met instantly.
“We didn’t want something that looked like it came from the 90s. Employment Hero felt modern and familiar, like the apps our team already used.”
In addition, the system’s automation capabilities meant double-handling and manual input errors were drastically reduced. When setting up the payroll, Lucy ran a couple of initial parallel pay runs before launch to make sure everything ran smoothly, and it more than paid off.
“When our first pay run with Employment Hero went smoothly, I knew we’d made the right call. The whole process was accurate and so much faster. What used to take me 20 hours a month, now takes only six.”
The ROI
The business has seen measurable gains across time, cost and engagement.
- Payroll processing reduced from 20 hours to 6 hours per month, a 66% time saving.
- 60% of HR admin time reclaimed, allowing the team to focus on strategy.
- Autonomy for managers to approve leave and rotas in-app.
- Improved onboarding with new starters arriving already confident in the platform.
- Higher staff engagement via shoutouts, birthdays and value-based recognition.
“We’ve created an HR strategy for the first time and my colleague is building a training programme. We finally have headspace to focus on people.”
Why it matters
With just two HR people in a team of over 100, efficiency and impact make all the difference. By reducing manual work and enabling self-service, Employment Hero has transformed Wholesale Domestic’s people operations and has given Lucy back the motivation she needs to succeed in her role.
“Before, I felt like a system administrator. Now, I feel like an HR professional again.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
With a lean HR team managing over 100 employees, Wholesale Domestic needed a way to streamline payroll, HR and timesheets into one central platform. Their previous setup required juggling multiple disconnected systems and manual payroll processes. Employment Hero offered an all-in-one, mobile-friendly solution that cut down admin and improved employee experience from day one.
Yes. With over 118 staff members across showrooms, warehouse and head office, Employment Hero gives Wholesale Domestic the flexibility to manage shift work, rosters and mobile staff with ease. Employees can clock in, access documents and request leave via the app. No more chasing approvals or relying on desktops.
Employment Hero helped Wholesale Domestic reduce payroll processing time by 66%, going from 20 hours to just 6 hours per month. It also enabled the HR team to reclaim 60% of their time spent on admin, giving them capacity to launch strategic people initiatives for the first time. That’s time saved, cost reduced and engagement boosted.
By digitising offer letters, contracts and onboarding checklists, new starters arrive ready to go, reducing manual paperwork and improving consistency. Documents are signed and stored centrally, and compliance tasks are tracked with full visibility. Wholesale Domestic also uses the platform for onboarding content and company values, helping new hires feel confident from the start.
Absolutely. Employment Hero is built for scaling businesses with lean HR teams. Whether you’ve got 10 or 300 employees, the platform gives you powerful tools to simplify HR, payroll and employee engagement, without needing extra headcount or clunky workarounds.
