Enhancing staff payment systems at Hughes Supply: Providing employees with a range of tailored, modern payment options
| Published date | 01 January 2006 |
| Pages | 32-35 |
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390680000865 |
| Author | Jay Romans,Caryl Lucarelli,Lindsay Graham |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
32 Volume 5 Issue 2 January/February 2006
URING 2005, HUGHES SUPPLY, a
construction products distributor, made a
significant change in how its employees and
associates receive their paychecks, an efficiency
improvement which supports the third of the company’s
four core goals, which are:
1. To support and train our people for excellence.
2. To be the best in customer service.
3. To be the most efficient distributor.
4. To be “Hughes One,” a philosophy of teamwork
that allows all of its businesses to work together in
order to serve the customer throughout the
complete construction lifecycle.
Identifying improvement opportunities
The HR department at Hughes Supply saw an
opportunity to improve the distribution of paychecks
throughout the company. Paper paychecks, distributed
through the mail and special delivery carriers, had
historically been the norm and were traditional in the
industry. Rapid growth of the company in recent years
had stretched this system to the breaking point.
In December 2004, hundreds of employees who
didn’t have direct deposit were left without paychecks
when massive snowstorms grounded jets and closed
airports across the country. Though managers
scrambled to provide alternative funding to ease the
disruption while paychecks were snowed in at post
offices and special delivery carriers, it was a Christmas
without paychecks for some employees in areas affected
by the storms.
Recognizing that the company had outgrown its
paper pay system, the HR department, with support
from executive leadership, initiated a comprehensive
electronic payroll project called ePayroll, designed to
make Hughes Supply one of the most efficient
distributors of payroll funds in the USA.
The company’s goal, to have 100 percent of
employees on ePayroll, would eliminate the possibility
of another payroll disruption. This task seemed
straightforward, but there were several challenges that
could compromise success. More than 2,400 associates
were not on direct deposit. Some didn’t have bank
accounts. Some didn’t speak English and associates
were located in 40 states, each with its own state
payroll laws. If employees felt they were being forced to
receive their paycheck electronically, backlash to the
project was possible.
Benefits of ePayroll
The process of printing and distributing paper
paychecks and advice statements is expensive and
cumbersome, but the cost of late paychecks in terms of
managers’ time and associate morale may be even
greater. The executive team at Hughes Supply wanted
to ensure that all associates would enjoy prompt
payment, convenience and peace of mind when it
By Jay Romans, Caryl Lucarelli and Lindsay Graham
Hughes Supply
Enhancing
staff payment
systems at
Hughes Supply
Providing employees with a range of
tailored, modern payment options
D
When some Hughes Supply employees failed to receive
their paychecks, the organization took the opportunity to
develop a range of payment choices to suit the needs of
its diverse workforce. Here, the Hughes Supply HR team
explain how ePayroll was successfully introduced.
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