Euro Garages
Euro Garages is the UK's fastest-growing forecourt
operator, employing nearly 1,000 staff across 84 sites in the North
of England and Midlands. Working closely with corporate partners
including Burger King, Spar and Starbucks, the company is driven to
provide quality, convenience and customer service.
Company overview
Euro Garages is the UK's fastest-growing forecourt operator and
one of the sector's largest independents, employing nearly 1,000
staff across 84 sites in the North of England and Midlands. Working
closely with corporate partners including Burger King, Spar and
Starbucks, the company is driven to provide quality, convenience
and customer service.
Fast growth
Euro Garages was founded in 2001 by the Issa family with the
acquisition of a single forecourt site in Bury, Lancashire. Since
then, it has acquired an average of 10 sites each year, making it
one of the UK's fastest growing operators. The group's rapid
success has been driven by its innovative approach to forecourt
trading.
It acquires and redevelops under-performing sites in high
density locations, optimising fuel volumes and driving additional
revenue by offering convenience retail and ancillary services.
The payroll challenge
Rapid growth has seen staff numbers increase significantly, with
the majority of employees working in the forecourt's retail stores
and fast-food outlets such as Burger King, Starbucks and
Greggs.
As is typical for the retail sector, staff turnover is above
average with around 30 new starters and leavers each month. Routine
tasks are also made more complex by the need to gather timesheet
information from staff across 84 different sites.
"We are very pleased with Access SelectPay. We got a
great system, delivered on time and on budget." Tracey Simpson
Payroll Manager
With additional site acquisitions in the pipeline, company
directors Zuber and Mohsin Issa wanted to be sure they had the
systems in place to easily accommodate Euro Garage's future
growth.
Control & flexibility
Users of a payroll bureau since formation, the company sought
greater control and flexibility through an integrated system. "The
logic was that by moving the payroll in-house, we would be able to
manage increasing transactions more easily and cost-effectively"
says Payroll Manager Tracey Simpson. "For example, we wanted the
flexibility to make changes to information without involving a
third party, and have a process for maintaining the smooth flow of
information between the payroll and the finance ledgers."
The next logical step
Already long-time users of Access Dimensions, Euro Garages made
an appointment to view Access' integrated payroll solution, Access
SelectPay. Being Microsoft SQL Server-based, the solution offers
high-performance processing regardless of the number of employees
supported. "SelectPay was definitely the logical step for us" says
Tracey. "We already have a relationship with Access and we were
attracted by the ease by which SelectPay could be integrated with
our existing Dimensions solution. It was
clearly a very powerful system and we knew it would easily keep up
with our future growth." Following a "very professional product
demonstration" Euro Garages' stakeholders decided that Access
SelectPay would be a sound investment.
Personal support & training
Following careful planning between Tracey and the Access
consultant, Access SelectPay was implemented on time (four days)
and in budget.
During this time, we were on site to guide Tracey through the
learning process, something she describes as 'absolutely
brilliant'.
"Your consultant was very patient, showing me what exactly
needed to be done and then let me try it without interfering."
Tracey added.
Although newly implemented, with the right guidance, Tracey felt
confident enough to carry out the all-important Christmas payroll
run without any problems. Since implementation, Euro Garages has
experienced a number of key benefits:
More accurate information
Tight integration between the existing Access Dimensions system
and Access
SelectPay means that payroll data updates the nominal ledger
without re-keying. This not only saves time but reduces errors.
"Already, the level of system satisfaction is higher. We have
greater visibility of information which has built confidence in the
quality of our management reporting" says Tracey.
Straightforward import of pay data
In order to gather accurate information from the retail side of
the business, it was essential that Access SelectPay could integrate with Microsoft
Office. We created powerful two-way links with Excel so that
all timesheets submitted in this way can pass into SelectPay into a
consistent format without re-keying. In this process, we excelled.
"Your consultant's knowledge of Excel was second-to-none; gathering
information from multiple sites is very straightforward."
Smooth process for new starters Access SelectPay covers all
statutory requirements and is capable of handling any number of pay
types and frequencies.
Our software makes it very easy for Euro Garages to administer
the process of managing pay for new starters, who are initially
paid weekly and then monthly after 6 weeks. All processing
requirements, e.g. basic, holiday, fuel allowances etc., are
handled as standard alongside all pensions and deductions.
Reduced costs
Euro Garages was also keen to utilise the e-payslips function.
With almost 1,000 employees based across its estate and head office
in Lancashire, payslip preparation not only takes up valuable time
but is costly in terms of print and postage. This function enables
Tracey to deliver payslips direct from the system and securely into
the inbox of every member of staff, password-protected for
security. "Our staff find it a lot easier to access and retrieve
their pay information now and it's certainly saved me a couple of
hours' manual processing each month," says Tracey.
Continued support
Now fully confident in standard payroll duties, Tracey is keen
to extend her knowledge of the system. "I know I'm only scratching
the surface, so it's good to know that I have a support team
on-hand when I need it. Everyone I've spoken to at Access has been
exceedingly helpful. You come across as a company that works
closely together; I've not once been made to feel silly, however
small my enquiry!"
Concluding Tracey concludes "We are very pleased with Access
SelectPay. We got a great system, delivered on time and on budget.
At Euro Garages it's vital that our passion for quality and
customer service is shared by our employees and a reliable,
efficient payroll system plays a key part in that."
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