The Challenge

With some 300 people on staff, Horizon House has to contend with complex human resource (HR) and payroll administration requirements. Since its inception, the company had kept the process in-house by purchasing third-party accounting software, but realized that the functionality of its incumbent system and associated internal processes were no longer meeting the organization’s increasingly complex HR and payroll administration needs, especially when it came to reporting.

“Our internal system made running payroll fairly simple, but getting 
even the simplest HR report was a challenge. It could 
take up to 30 minutes to produce a report, with no ability to summarize 
data. We also have a complicated benefit plan structure with tiered plans. 
So when staff members changed tiers, it was very hard to manage. We 
were not able to consolidate employee deductions easily either.”

— Christine Seymour, Director of Accounting

At Horizon House, HR and Payroll are two separate departments. HR is responsible for setting up new employees and payroll deductions. Payroll is processed by the Accounting Department. The division of data between HR and Accounting created inefficiencies and significant challenges to accurate and ad hoc reporting.

Finding the right outsourced HR and payroll solution was no small task. Horizon House needed a system that could handle departmental allocations, shift differentials, a large general ledger, in-house check printing, and multi-tiered benefit plans while supporting a 24/7 senior living facility. It also had to deliver fast, customizable reporting so HR could work more independently from Accounting while still sharing a single, accurate employee record.

The Solution

Horizon House turned to PayNW’s cloud-based workforce management suite, seeking an agile, local partner. The solution unified HR and payroll on a single database, streamlined benefit plan administration, and enabled customized reporting. Training was tailored to HR and Payroll staff, and a custom interface imported payroll into their accounting package automatically.

“After careful due diligence, we knew we had found the right partner to solve our HR and payroll challenges.” — Christine Seymour

The Results

Horizon House saw immediate improvements after implementing PayNW’s workforce management solution:

• Report generation time decreased by up to 90%.

• 30 department heads gained direct access to payroll data, simplifying budget preparation.

• HR and payroll operations were streamlined, boosting staff productivity.

• Benefit plan management and certification audits became much simpler.

• Administration time and costs were significantly reduced.

• Managing employee deductions became easier thanks to the system’s flexible data structure.

“Now, we not only do more with less people, we have also spread our accounting knowledge across more staff members. Adopting PayNW’s solution was the best business decision we could have made to enhance the efficiency of our HR and payroll functions.”

— Christine Seymour, Director of Accounting