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Demonstrating best practices in the HR field using UltiPro, Ultimate's “HR Heroes” are winners in their industry. We are pleased to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of these individuals for their achievements.
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On Opening Day 2007 of Major League Baseball, the Tribune Company of Chicago put one of its high-profile businesses, the Chicago Cubs baseball team, up for sale. The sale was completed almost 2.5 years later in a complex transaction. The protracted sales process included a parent company’s bankruptcy, a “perfunctory” team bankruptcy, an economic crisis across the U.S., and an extremely difficult financing environment. Jenifer Surma led the Cubs’ human resources department through this marathon process.
While there are unique challenges in each divestiture of a business, the public nature and high visibility of the Cubs presented exceptional challenges. The sports organization dealt with rumors within its own walls as well as frequent, sometimes daily, media coverage. “Usually we want to give employees enough information, but in our case we also needed to manage the barrage of external information, and we wanted to make sure our staff was getting accurate and timely information—all so we could stay ahead of the exaggerations and speculations that were around us.”
This was accomplished by putting out internal memos and emails from the Cubs’ CEO and HR Director—a strategy designed to keep a step ahead of the media on important milestones and to remind staff not to believe everything that is published. HR wanted employees to be the first to know the important details and to not to be misguided by the media and bloggers. During the process, all staff meetings were more frequent and the doors of management were open to employee concerns and uncertainties. To the extent information was known, it was shared with staff. Plus, all employee requests received a personal response from the HR department.
There were several suitors for the Cubs, and the organization could not contact the potential owners until exclusivity was established. In spite of this, the HR team knew the organization had to establish independent payroll, HRIS, and benefit programs. HR did its due diligence and selected UltiPro as the best solution because of its multi-state taxation capabilities, experience with other sports clubs, and broad range of human capital management functionality, including performance management and recruitment.
Because the Cubs were moving away from a large enterprise system, Surma planned for a six-month transitional period. However, she and her team ended up with 60 days at year end to activate UltiPro, roll out a new benefits package, and complete the company’s first open enrollment. The HR and finance teams worked together nights and weekends to pull off an error-free payroll on January 1, 2010 and to enroll eligible staff in the company’s new benefits program.
Today, employees are settling into a great family ownership and enjoying enhanced benefits, and the finance and HR teams are happy with the choice of UltiPro to meet the range of HR/payroll needs for the Chicago Cubs.
August, 2010
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K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. is a privately owned grocery chain that employs almost 13,000 associates in more than 100 locations. The company decided to advance its HR capabilities by activating state-of-the-art HR technologies to replace its previous systems for human capital management (HCM), which included a customized AS400 solution and spreadsheets. Kathy Jones, HRIS technologist for K-VA-T, worked with her team not only to roll out the new solution but make fundamental changes in the way HR, company leaders, and employees manage information and interact.
By educating employees and managers about how everyone would benefit from the change, Jones and her team are helping K-VA-T management glean critical HR metrics using customized reporting available via UltiPro's business intelligence tools. For tasks that used to require cumbersome paperwork, like associate reviews, supervisors manage the processes online without contacting HR or being constrained by office hours or time zones.
K-VAT associates now print their own payroll records, reprint W-2s, set up and change their direct deposit, change their benefits selections based on life events, and update their personal information using the UltiPro portal—a significant change in culture and processes for the company. Today, tasks that used to take days now take only seconds and without any paper involved.
“I want to thank my team for helping me to orchestrate this broad shift in process for K-VA-T,” said Jones. “Because people have adopted UltiPro as the hub of their workforce activities, K-VA-T’s efforts to reduce our carbon footprint are moving forward while HR and leadership are functioning more strategically and effectively. I think our hard work is benefiting everyone at the store.”
May, 2010
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In light of all the natural disasters that have impacted the world in recent years, Ultimate Software is pleased to recognize Bruce LePard, SPHR, senior vice president of HR for American National Insurance, which has approximately 3,000 employees and offers a broad line of products and services in all 50 states.
When Hurricane Ike forced the evacuation of the city of Galveston, Texas and left many homes and businesses in turmoil, American National’s HR group showed their resolve in an emergency through determination, hard work, and much innovation as they worked from temporary facilities. The goals were simple: account for all employees, provide as much support as possible, and return to Galveston as soon as possible.
Working in close quarters akin to a submarine, Bruce’s team managed hotel room assignments, provided emergency cash services, coordinated services with counselors, fed employees, ran an employee contact center, and offered plenty of moral support. Using UltiPro, they had the necessary employee data and were able to pay employees without interruption, sometimes using only a laptop in a motor home and a regular phone line.
In the end, the greatest accolades came when the human resources department was recognized as “a decided asset” by the board of directors during the company’s annual board meeting. Today, the company has re-grouped and is operating successfully.
“It’s all about regarding our employees as our family,” said Bruce. “This organization truly is family-oriented, and when disaster hits, everyone pitches in because we all are affected.”
Here are some comments from American National’s associates regarding the HR team’s monumental efforts:
• “A hearty thank you to Bruce LePard for making this a less stressful event. From handling payroll to lunch specials, the human resources team was there for us.”
• “Bruce LePard and the HR staff have been in the forefront of recovery from this whole turmoil. They offered water, coffee, cheery faces in the morning, free lunches, and even tetanus shots.”
• “Not only did American National keep us on payroll, they offered loans and payroll advances if needed.”
• “American National reassured me that the “resource” in human resources meant we were united and would stand together. The HR department under Mr. LePard kept us up to date and became a beacon of light. I could feel certainty that our American National family was on its way to future recovery.”
April, 2010
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Until about four years ago, the HR department at NFI Industries was viewed as a traditional, administrative department. A new SVP of HR, Nancy Stefanowicz, was hired with a mission to transform the HR function to become a strategic part of the business, as well as be more efficient in a growing and changing organization. Expanding her team from less than 10 to 30 today, representing 5,400 employees, she led the team in a diverse and distinguished roster of accomplishments, including:
- Spearheading an effort to create and develop the company’s mission, vision, and values
- Rolling out UltiPro as its central tool for human capital management, including HR, payroll, benefits, recruitment, and self-service for managers and employees, available through the desktop browser and kiosks at five locations
- Deploying e-learning tools, positive leadership training, quarterly awards for employee recognition and employee appreciation days
- activating a new, competency-based performance management process for over 1,000 exempt and corporate non-exempt employees, leveraging UltiPro’s Performance Management functionality to facilitate a completely paperless environment
- Cost savings as a result of improved recruiting processes, reduced administrative headcount, and cuts in printing and distribution
- activation of a three-year wellness strategy to improve overall health for employees and positively impact the company’s bottom line
For their outstanding efforts in strategic HR, Stefanowicz and her team were recently named HR Department of the Year at the 12th Annual Delaware Valley HR Department of the Year Awards Dinner, sponsored by The Rosen Group and the Philadelphia Human Resources Planning Society.
Today, Stefanowicz is a key business partner at NFI with a seat at the executive table, dedicated to ensuring HR is strategically aligned with the business. Many congratulations to Stefanowicz for making her vision at NFI a reality and for elevating her team and their contributions to the company.
March, 2010
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With the help of nearly two dozen colleagues, William Pokluda, Senior Manager of Human Resources for Daymon Worldwide, just re-engineered HR and payroll processes to leverage technology, build efficiencies, move to near-paperless operations, and take their HR and payroll operations to a new level. Ultimately, Pokluda believes that happy employees are at the root of the company's success so his goal is to build a culture of empowerment, outside-the-box thinking, and self-sufficiency for approximately 1,500 employees.
To facilitate the process, he managed the 'big bang' roll-out of UltiPro--payroll, HR, recruitment, employee self-service, manager self-service, time & attendance, onboarding, performance management, learning management, and life events--on January 4, 2010! Kicking off the project late summer, Pokluda is also using UltiPro's functionality to manage another 1,500 international employees through the core UltiPro system so corporate leadership can efficiently track global workforce from any where with an Internet connection.
"We're all about people. We want Daymon Worldwide be a great place to work and, although we were on our way, we believed we needed to fundamentally transform the day-to-day functions of HR and payroll to fit where we want to be in the near future," says William. "UltiPro is a big part of our transformation and has been very well received. We have truly unified human capital management processes and have the tools to improve collaboration, make more informed business decisions, and support a culture of communication."
William Pokluda
Senior Manager of Human Resources
Daymon Worldwide
February, 2010
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In June 1998, Cathie Hollowell started at General Growth Properties with the primary responsibility to identify and activate and HR/Payroll solution. Several promotions later, and as of March 2009, Hollowell became GGP's Senior Vice President of HR. Only a few weeks following her promotion into this role, the company announced that it was undergoing significant reorganization. During the months that followed, Hollowell completely re-engineered her team to maximize efficiencies and, at the same time, support employees and managers during a time of uncertainty. According to Hollowell, the key was to design a flexible HR structure with a simple focus toward "getting back to basics." She sees her department's goal to provide business intelligence information to executives for quick and critical decision-making.
"If HR wants to be a true business partner, then HR needs to be flexible. Since 1999, UltiPro has helped my team to activate cutting edge HR technologies. When our business climate changed, UltiPro’s reporting allowed us to function as efficiently and effectively as possible. My team has had to completely change the way we interact with employees, modify our goals, and transform the way we do business at General Growth, and Ultimate Software was very supportive of our situation and played a big role in making that possible."
Cathie Hollowell
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
General Growth Properties
January, 2010
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