HR Manager
Services:
Payroll (420 employees)
About the company:
We operate in 47 countries and the company currently employs around 13,000 people. Our business is B2B and the main pool of clients are industrial manufacturers. As a systems logistics integrator (a 4PL provider), we handle every type of transportation that exists in the world. As a 4PL operator the company acts as the architect of logistics solutions for the client, selecting the best, optimal contractors and building a fully transparent system of logistics costs. 4PL logistics is one of the most promising types of service: most large companies that have appreciated the advantages of an integrated approach to logistics are moving to this model. The company's head office in Russia is in Moscow, with regional offices in Saint Petersburg, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad.
About myself:
As for me personally, I moved to Russia from France a long time ago - I have lived and worked here for more than 20 years. I came into the logistics industry six years ago; before that I worked in mechanical engineering at a company that is another UCMS Group client, and even earlier in construction and in the oil industry. Over 20 years I have in effect travelled the whole country 🙂 as far as Sakhalin, where I have been more than once. All those years my main goal has been finding and developing talent for the business. And despite all the crises and difficult situations Russian business has been through over these years, I believe I have achieved all my plans.
When I joined the company, a global project to outsource payroll in Europe had been launched. The main goal, of course, was to bring as many countries as possible into one project to reduce the Group's overall costs. But the European provider used by our French colleagues was not present in Russia. Given all the specifics of Russian payroll, working here with that partner was not possible, so I suggested looking at local players. That is how you were invited into the pool of potential providers. At the time my HR team was very sceptical about the outsourcing model. The general mood was not positive, and it was important to me that the in-house team become a full part of the project. The initial project calculations showed that moving to outsourcing would be too expensive for us, especially during the crisis (the end of 2014), so the matter was postponed and we carried on as before. Later, however, it turned out that the employee responsible for this work often had to work overtime, so we incurred additional costs, and the original outsourcing project calculations had been inaccurate. The work was resumed, and four years ago we started working with UCMS Group.
When choosing a partner for an outsourcing project, the ratio of quality and scope of services to the corresponding cost was a significant criterion. In addition, experience and references about your work with another client were a big plus for me. I was confident that everything would be done well and on time.
Your proposal was fairly simple, optimal and transparent, with the integration process presented clearly.
It was important to us that the move to payroll outsourcing be invisible and painless for employees. That is exactly what happened.
Personal involvement is needed from time to time, if some non-standard situations arise that involve additional costs. For example, working under force majeure during the lockdown in the pandemic. Here I am grateful for the excellent work of our account manager: when there is a problem, it is resolved fairly quickly and on time.
I would also highlight your proactive approach: the ability to anticipate possible problems or questions and the willingness to look for a solution:"There is this question, what is your solution?".
I am genuinely pleased with our cooperation.
We are now waiting for you to develop the self-service portal, and with it all possible electronic services for users, including searching for the necessary information. Vacations, payslips, online consultations for employees by phone or any other mobile device in a simple and accessible way. The company employs different categories of staff, including drivers. That is a separate group of personnel with no access to a computer and only a phone as a means of communication, so mobile solutions would be very welcome. In addition, in today's environment companies increasingly want to calculate the total compensation an employee receives for their work. The result is presented in various forms, but most often it is a one- or two-page document setting out everything: salary, various accruals and the cost of training. Sometimes companies also calculate the cost of a car and fuel. If you look only at income, everything is in 1C, but for a clear visualisation that data still has to be processed in Excel. It matters to me not only to get the figures but to present them.
Such a document is not needed for all employees but mainly for "white-collar" staff. Perhaps in future we will extend it to everyone. Logistics is a modern industry that has changed a great deal in recent years in terms of digital tools. And now not only we but all market players are developing and implementing innovative solutions to improve efficiency and introduce optimal tools for clients. The main trend is digitalisation: fewer papers, speed, reliability, clarity. Clients value that highly. And since we try to keep up with the times, you, with your special developments and your search for new tools and innovative solutions, become an organic part of our ecosystem, sitting at the intersection of IT and payroll.
I have already mentioned the human factor: if a company has one payroll specialist who has done everything wonderfully for years, doubts remain anyway. It is one person, and it is the payroll for the whole company. Entrusting the entire scope of work to one employee is a big risk for me. And besides, why do yourself what others can do better?
You are experts in your field, you follow all changes in the law, and you have all the tools to make sure everything is done on time and correctly. Outsourcing is not our job or our business, and we cannot do your job better than you.
We, as logistics providers, say the same thing to our clients. For example, there are large manufacturing holdings with their own logistics, and that is fine, but for them logistics is simply a supporting internal function. For our company logistics is the business in which we are professionals with extensive experience and competencies. Payroll is one of the tools of internal work, but not the foundation of the business. The foundation is our people: how professionally and well they work, how they develop, build careers, bring in new clients and so on.
The first thing that comes to mind is no bluff. You work modestly and honestly.
That is surprising. One can even forget that we have a contract with you. And yet the subject of the cooperation is payroll, which matters to everyone, and I have never once heard criticism or a complaint about the payroll. For an HR director it is a burden that you take off their shoulders. It matters to me that you work excellently: you honour our contract without surprises, without unexpected issues, correctly. I am not exaggerating, that is genuinely the case.
I remember that a company took part in the outsourcing tender that tried quite aggressively to win and promised a great deal. It was tempting, but I did not believe it. We are not Apple, not Rusal, not an oil company; we are logistics providers, modest ones 🙂 The most important thing for me was to ensure correct and timely salary payment. I felt that you and I would get along. And we did.
