There are significantly fewer mistakes now. The data are more accurate.

Challenge

Alenka Kolenc, administrator of key data on time and attendance and salaries of employees at Vrtko, and wife of the owner of Vrtko d.o.o. Igor Kolenc, describes the challenges they had faced before they started using the new SPICA All Hours solution for recording working hours, explaining that a mistake related to working hours causes pain to the employee concerned.

There were other problems or challenges as well, the biggest one being the export of data from time and attendance records to data for wage calculations. The program was slow, and the overview of the data therein was not as explicit as it is now. Workers did not have immediate and up-to-date data on the recorded working hours.

Alenka Kolenc describes the past situation: “Previously, I received data on mistakes from 20 garden centers at the end of every month. All this information had to be checked once a month. Prior to the new solution, I spent at least two days each month correcting data on employees’ hours worked. Now this is being resolved on an ongoing basis, automatically.”

Igor Kolenc, owner of Vrtko d.o.o. and Alenka's husband, likes to describe the past challenges with the following example: “Unit managers were also responsible for the distribution of employees' working hours. However, many did not take this seriously. There were situations where employees came to work even when they were not ordered so. In one of our centers, business hours started at eight a.m., but one of the employees arrived at work as early as six a.m. When the manager asked her why she was coming so early, she replied that it was because of the bus timetable. When asked what she did until eight, she replied that she swept the floor and tidied up a bit. Well, she was not a cleaner, but a saleswoman. It turned out the employee had a lot of unauthorized overtime hours. And she just kept collecting them.”

About Vrtko and its vision

The company Vrtko needed a new solution urgently due to its quality growth. Its beginnings date back to 1991. In the beginning, the company mainly engaged in their own cultivation of ornamental plants. The cultivated plants were sold at the Ljubljana market and the nearby flower shops. We could say that the business started in a garage.

In the field of seedlings, the company now has exclusive sales agreements with the largest reputable European producers of seedlings and seeds: Dümmen Orange, Florence, Deliflor, Gediflora, Dekker, Graines Voltz, Semo, Gautier. It has four branch offices in Slovenia, as well as a company with its own premises in Croatia and a company with leased premises in Serbia. In Slovenia, it is also active in the field of retail, and it has three garden centers and a flower shop.

The company mainly distributes its products with its own fleet of 4 trucks, two vans and 5 light vans.

“We are proud to have grown from a small garage company to such a diversified group as it is today. And that we have outgrown companies in our industry that were once significantly stronger than ours. Some of them do not exist anymore, and some are now smaller than us,” says Igor Kolenc.

Such growth of the family business required a change in the organization and recording of time and attendance, which is crucial for good organization, payroll and other data necessary for the company’s operation.

Solution

The company decided to start using the SPICA All Hours solution.

“Now we can quickly see if someone comes to work too early, and ask their managers what the reason is for that," says Igor Kolenc.

Alenka Kolenc adds: "Workers can now monitor their working hours on an ongoing basis by themselves."

That's not all. There are significantly fewer mistakes now. The data are more accurate. The export of data from the working time records to the payroll program is automated. The program is significantly faster than the previous one, and the overview of the data is better than it was in the past.

There is no need for all workers to submit data for review at the end of each month. The workers as well as the managers can spot mistakes on an ongoing basis. This means there is no more stress of having to find the wrong data for the whole month at the end of each month.

Not only do workers no longer come to work early and have too much overtime, besides monitoring at what time employees come to work, Vrtko will soon be able to track when employees actually start working as well. Employees will report twice. At the entrance to the company and then at the workplace or at the entrance to the work unit or center. Field workers already start work from home with remote notification.

In some units, employees are already monitoring which employees have notified the date of their leave. The data is transparent and everyone can view it. Thus, the employees can agree between them on leave dates. In many units, they are already self-managing their leave so that work does not suffer.

Results

• Prior to the introduction of the SPICA All Hours solution, we had to check the working hours records every month, and this task took 2 whole days. Now everything is automated.
• The number of overtime hours has decreased because employees no longer come to work early and because the control over the authorizing of working hours is effective.
• The time necessary for the coordination of absences from work has reduced because everyone can view data in a transparent way. In individual units, they can now more effectively manage their absences due to vacations or other reasons, and agree on their own.
• We will also soon be able to measure the time when employees are actually at work, not just present at the company.