Thermo Bond "Powers the Towers" with Help from Onboard by HR Cloud
Read more about how Thermo Bond, a manufacturing organization, solved its onboarding challenges with ease using Onboard by HR Cloud, available on ADP Marketplace.
Thermo Bond, an ADP client, was clamoring for new ways to improve its HR processes. When its HR leader discovered ADP Marketplace, it helped to change the way the organization handles its day-to-day workforce management.
Like many small-to-midsize businesses, the 140-employee firm managed HR on a paper-only basis. As the organization's HR professional, Bryce Armstrong had his work cut out for him. So he turned to ADP Marketplace for help with their onboarding challenges. What he found was Onboard by HR Cloud, which is integrated with ADP Workforce Now.
Soon after Armstrong joined Thermo Bond Buildings in June 2017, his mission became clear. The Elk Point, S.D., manufacturer was looking for Armstrong to transform outdated human resources mechanisms. Now in its fourth decade, Thermo Bond manufactures the small footprint buildings and enclosures that sit at the base of telecommunication towers and hold the technology for each tower.
"When I started, I was handed a cart of paper files and two massive filing cabinets," Armstrong says. "Not one single folder was the same and there were problems with alphabetizing."
Confusion and frustration quickly ensued as he managed the onboarding process for new hires and current employee HR issues. If Armstrong received personnel data requests from Thermo Bond workers, for example, he'd have to dig deep into the files. With that, his main question to management was, "Can I digitize this, please? This is a nightmare."
The business agreed, and Armstrong was off and running with Thermo Bond's HR transformation. He quickly realized even his new digitized file management system wasn't enough. The existing onboarding task, for example, was still lagging. It was taking too long to onboard new employees using a paper-based system, which relied on ensuring originals were mailed to him on time.
After some research, Armstrong got a recommendation to look into ADP Marketplace, which provides integrated HR solutions for workforce management. Most of all, ADP Marketplace offerings integrate data and functionality with ADP technology platforms.
Through ADP Marketplace, Armstrong analyzed his onboarding solution options and narrowed his search down to HR Cloud, which offers a full suite of HR applications — including much-needed onboarding — for small- to mid-size businesses. Thermo Bond, which was already using ADP Workforce Now® for payroll, chose to integrate Onboard by HR Cloud to automate its HR function for onboarding. He purchased his solution directly from ADP Marketplace using his ADP Workforce Now login credentials for single sign-on, and was able to easily add the subscription cost to his ADP invoice.
"The integration with ADP payroll is fantastic," Armstrong adds, pointing out that HR Cloud tracks everything — from start date to EEOC classification, employment verification and more — with simple keystrokes.
The issues with onboarding were soon addressed. With the Onboard by HR Cloud software, Armstrong can automatically send out a reminder to new Thermo Bond personnel when paperwork is overdue. He can also collect and file the paperwork automatically.
"All of their paperwork gets done before their start date, which is incredible," he says. "In the past, only essential employee paperwork would be complete before the employee start date. They could work here for three weeks and still not turn in all the additional supplemental forms."
As is the case with many employers, Thermo Bond utilizes E-Verify, a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. HR Cloud was able to reduce the time-consuming process down to five clicks by using HR Cloud to manage E-Verify.
Regarding the integration procedure itself, things could not have been smoother, according to Armstrong. "There's a button in Onboard by HR Cloud that you click and it syncs everything with ADP," he says. "You simply click a button and your employee data is imported."
On the ADP Workforce Now front, Armstrong says he and his colleagues use reports practically every day.
Looking ahead, Thermo Bond is currently implementing ADP Time & Attendance. And while Thermo Bond is not yet using ADP Mobile, there are plans to add that, too. Armstrong says the business can take advantage of the mobile option whenever it goes out to either set up a new building or fix something with an existing structure. Currently, remote Thermo Bond workers tell the firm about specific jobs, and that's written down on a piece of paper.
"The mobile option is going to make it so that we know exactly what's happening: where our people are and what they are doing with real accuracy and in an automated way," he explains.
Armstrong says he is impressed with the ADP Marketplace platform, which gives organizations like Thermo Bond more choices for integrated HR solutions like Onboard by HR Cloud.
In total, there are 250-plus HR solutions available on ADP Marketplace today, and Armstrong is looking for additional integrated solutions as he continues the HR transformation strategy for Thermo Bond.
Thanks to writer, Tom Starner, for his assistance with this article.