From “cheat sheets” to payroll automation

From “pay cheat sheets” to payroll perfection

Nugent Sand Company is a leading producer of construction aggregates, with seven locations across Kentucky and Indiana. Nugent Sand’s Director of HR and Payroll, Beth Preher, is tasked with running weekly payroll for nearly 150 employees while maintaining compliance with strict tax regulations and complex union rules.

Business Challenges

• Payroll process was lengthy, error-prone and 100% manual
• Payroll included managing four workers’ compensation plans, two pension plans and three 401k plans, as well as rules from three different union contracts
• High risk of error with payroll classification and compliance

ADP Workforce Now delivered fast and error-free payroll, immediate, up-to-date reporting, and seamless compliance with complicated multi-state and multi-union pay and tax rules.

From “cheat sheets” to payroll automation

The absence of a formal tool for managing payroll was causing significant challenges for Nugent Sand. To ensure payroll was processed accurately and on time each week, Preher had to manually enter timecard data, creating “pay cheat sheets” for each work site and union contract. This was incredibly time-consuming, given the roughly 20,000 cost codes in operation at Nugent Sand and the complex rules associated with each one.

Now, all that information is stored in Workforce Now and available at the click of a button. Preher uses drop-down menus to select and cross-reference pay class codes, and then seamlessly approves and processes the employee’s payroll. And when new contracts stipulate different pay class codes, she can easily add those codes into the system on an ad hoc basis.

Since implementation, Workforce Now has saved her at least one day a week, freeing her up to focus on more strategic endeavors.

Everything, everywhere, all at once

“I love Workforce Now. It’s awesome because it makes my job a lot easier, especially with reports and everything in one place,” said Preher. Workforce Now provides Beth with a central view of all things HR and payroll- a massive advantage is when it comes to managing worker’s compensation, ADP built several custom reports that allow Nugent Sand the ability to easily track claims and complete complicated MSHA reports.

Compliance with tax and union rules

Before ADP, Preher was juggling rules from three different unions, trying to maintain proper tax compliance and paying employees across two states. With Workforce Now, she creates “set and forget” rules which are applied to the appropriate paystubs moving forward. Additionally, Workforce Now automatically applies union rules to employees’ pay, removing guesswork and ensuring Nugent Sand is compliant with all union rules and regulations.

When the COVID pandemic hit, Preher was especially appreciative of the HR updates ADP sent, allowing her to make adjustments, enforce mandates and rules, and keep the company and their employees safe. When asked to expand on how ADP was a key partner during the pandemic, Preher responded, “In the sense of helping with the different rules that kept coming down every other day. Getting that information quickly was key, because rules seemed to change almost every hour.”

Empowering employees with digital timecards

But Workforce Now isn’t just making Preher’s life easier – it reduces complexity for employees. Workers submit timecards digitally, using similar drop-down menus to indicate the cost code for their work. And when some employees complete anywhere from 5 to 10 different jobs in one day, each with its own pay code, this significantly streamlines the process.

Workforce Now empowers employees to manage their own data and rest assured they’re being paid accurately for their work.

Building for a better future

One of Preher’s favorite parts about partnering with ADP is access to the ADP community. As a valued member of the ADP Ambassador program, Beth participates in online webinars and exchanges tips and tricks with other users on how best to leverage Workforce Now. Looking to the future, Preher is planning to expand the use of Workforce Now at Nugent Sand. Above all else, she is hoping to equip each and every employee with access to self-service tools, but has plans to dive deeper into Workforce Now’s capabilities.

“The biggest challenge I come up against nowadays is having to reset an employee’s password,” Preher quips. With all the time and energy Workforce Now has freed up, the sky is the limit for how Nugent Sand can build a better future for their company and their employees.