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Case Study > Kendall Hunt Publishing

Print Publisher Goes Paperless – For Payroll and Benefits

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Family-owned, Dubuque, IA-based Kendall Hunt Publishing (KH)—formerly William C. Brown Company—has been in business since 1944. The almost 80-year-old parent company has multiple companies under the KH umbrella including Great River Learning and Westmark Enterprises.  With more than 20,000 titles in print & digital e-books, KH serves both the higher education and PreK-12 markets.

KH’s 350 employees work out of office locations in Iowa and Florida and remotely in 29 other states. The makeup of their workforce is 50 percent exempt, 40 percent non-exempt and 10 percent part-time. Managing the HR needs of a workforce of that size has its challenges, so they are fortunate to have a seasoned Senior Payroll and Benefits Administrator named Melanie Zakrzewski on their team.

The Quest for a One-Stop Shop

Before moving to isolved, KH utilized ADP for payroll services. At that time the company was using paper timesheets, paper PTO calendars and paper enrollment packets, which was a chore to manage. They were looking for a one-stop shop for payroll, time and benefits—a solution that could greatly improve their processes.

In 2014 KH turned to HK Payroll Services, a regional reseller of isolved People Cloud that was eventually acquired by isolved. At that time, Zakrzewski was working for HK Payroll and was responsible for implementing KH onto the isolved platform! With her vast knowledge of the platform, she has been able to tailor the solution to fit KH’s business needs as they grew.

“The administrative burden has been lifted! It has improved our processes greatly. Custom reports have saved countless hours during our benefit audit. What used to take us two weeks to pull and gather for our auditors is now down to a few days.” This also has impacted their bottom line—it is estimated that isolved People Cloud’s simplified compliance reporting saves KH up to $35,900 over a three-year period.

In addition to Payroll (including tax filings and W-2s), KH utilizes isolved’ Benefit Services (including ACA forms, carrier connect for EDI feeds to carriers, 401(k) 360 feed and COBRA administration), Benefits Enrollment & Administration, Giving & Volunteering, Attract & Hire, Time & Labor Management, Onboard & Develop, digital handbook acknowledgement, WOTC integrations and more.

Single Solution. Countless Benefits

When asked how HR and the employee experience has improved since working with isolved, Zakrzewski lists the following benefits:

  • Employees can access time, payroll and benefits information all in one place
  • The Adaptive Employee Experience provides an easy layout and mobile access
  • Employees enjoy a smooth hiring and onboarding experience
  • Managers can review resumes and hire through the platform
  • No more paper—time management and benefits processes are now automated
  • EDI feeds eliminate the manual burden of updating carriers
  • Managed COBRA administration saves times and improved compliance

With many administrative tasks now automated, Zakrzewski can focus on furthering strategic initiatives, “We have more time to spend on company culture, interacting with our employees, being an HR department that not only looks out for the company, but also their employees.”

Having worked for a payroll vendor, Zakrzewski appreciates the effort that goes into creating good customer service and recognizes isolved’s commitment to customers. “Hands down the best support. Our team is amazing, from our Customer Support Representative to our Success and Account Manager. Everyone works together and their dedication is appreciated. They're the real superheroes. isolved listens, they hear our feedback and take it into consideration with updated features and enhancements. isolved is robust option for anyone searching.”

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