Success story: Charles Tyrwhitt
Since initially investing in Access’ technology, Charles Tyrwhitt has selected additional software products to meet its developing and evolving business’ needs and objectives. All brought together under a single sign-on.
Business size
1,000 - 2,500 employees
Industry
Retail
Background
Since 1986, Charles Tyrwhitt has produced the finest menswear with timeless style.
From the flagship store on London’s famous Jermyn Street, Charles Tyrwhitt has a retail and online presence across North America, Europe, and Australia. With 40+ stores across the UK, France, and USA. Charles Tyrwhitt has just over 1,000 employees.
Culturally, Charles Tyrwhitt’s BE-liefs are to empower its workforce to:
- BE the BOSS;
- BE the CUSTOMER;
- BE the BEST.
Charles Tyrwhitt also place a keen focus on their social and environmental impact and have been carbon neutral for 2 years now as well as being a proud patron of The Prince’s Trust.
Why Charles Tyrwhitt sought an alternative HR software provider to replace its existing systems
In their day-to-day roles, the HR team were using several legacy, siloed systems, all requiring different log in credentials. Recruitment activity and data was accessible via one of the systems, learning information via another, time and attendance via another, and so on. This was time consuming, often presented confusion, and failed to provide Charles Tyrwhitt with visibility of its entire HR activity.
“Using different systems within our HR function was difficult. If the system hadn’t been used for a while, managers would easily forget their credentials and how to use it, etc. The journey for managers and senior leaders to obtain information was also unnecessarily time consuming and complicated,” says Phil Vickers, Director of HR (UK & USA) at Charles Tyrwhitt.
In addition to having a disjointed approach to HR, the systems that were being used were basic and limited in terms of functionality. Without mobile functionality or an app, retail staff would request leave through their manager, or have to log into their computer at home to submit the request. As managers didn’t have an oversight of other holiday and leave, any new requests would need checking before approving, often causing delay to the employee.
“The previous systems weren’t innovative or intuitive, nor did they enable employees to work efficiently. We’d desperately wanted a new solution for a while, as the preceding systems weren’t meeting the needs of the business. However, the challenge we’d always had was that as it was so exceptionally cheap, we couldn’t justify it; the business case didn’t stack up,” says Phil.
In late 2020, the previous software provider communicated to Charles Tyrwhitt that the HR system would be decommissioned in the Spring of 2021. The HR team therefore went through the process of finding a replacement HR solution.
Key criteria that Charles Tyrwhitt took to market when researching new HR software
- Integrated payroll
“The first – and probably most important - factor for us was that the alternate HR solution needed to be able to integrate with payroll. At Charles Tyrwhitt, we have many different employee contracts for our contact centre, retail staff, distribution centre, and head office - all with varying working hours, and on different rotas. So, we needed a system that could handle all these payroll variations,” says Phil.
- Self-service with a mobile app
“We also wanted something that visually looked better and more professional. It also needed to feel easier to use and access, and we knew an app would play a big part in improving the employee experience - as that would be how the majority of employees would use and access the HR platform. This would enable us to have the connectivity to all colleagues across the business,” continues Phil.
- Integrated and scalable
“From the challenges we had previously, we knew the importance of bringing everything together under one roof. The new HR software needed to bring appraisals, expenses, recruitment, etc together and provide us with one single source of truth for HR information,” says Phil.
With fully integrated HR and payroll software, Charles Tyrwhitt wouldn’t need to input the same data into multiple systems, but instead have access to real-time reports, allowing the HR team to make better-informed decisions.
The managers’ experience would also improve as, with everything accessible from a central location, multiple log-in credentials wouldn’t be needed, saving the team time and confusion.
Implementing the new HR and Payroll software
The project team worked closely with Charles Tyrwhitt throughout the process, following Access People’s six key steps to successfully implement Access PeopleXD – previously CoreHR before being acquired by The Access Group:
- Project planning
- Installation and configuration
- Onboarding and training
- Testing
- Rollout
- Monitoring
“Our project lead was great and made it so easy to navigate through the process, from start to finish. We were provided with a lot of support and regular communication. Our successful launch was testament to this collaboration, and the strong organisational and leadership skills exhibited from Access People throughout the project” says Phil.
The HR team disseminated internal communications to employees, including detailing a roadmap along with actions to all managers and senior leaders to ensure they were clear on what they needed to do.
Improving HR efficiencies with Access PeopleXD
Since initially investing in Access’ technology, Charles Tyrwhitt has selected additional software solutions to meet its developing and evolving business needs and objectives. All brought together under a single sign-on by using Access Workspace, Charles Tyrwhitt now has:
“We went from having numerous different solutions, all with different log-ins, to bringing everything together under one umbrella. We instantly saw the benefit of this, as managers now have everything available via a single sign-on. From a HR perspective, this has eradicated the need to source data and information from different places, which provides us with better reporting, and ultimately a more holistic insight into the business and our people,” says Phil.
Once a report has been created in Access PeopleXD, the ‘creator’ can update permissions to allow managers and leaders access; allowing the zed report to be accessed and ran at any necessary time. This breaks down siloes between departments, such as sharing a specific HR report with the finance team.
Find out more about our HR software PeopleXD in our 4-minute demo
Supporting employees across the country with the PeopleXD mobile app
The Access PeopleXD mobile app enables employees – wherever the retail workforce is based in the country – to request leave, access their online payslips, and update their HR information wherever and whenever they require via the self-service online portal.
Managers can now review all their team’s leave requests in one place. This enhanced visibility allows absences to be approved instantly and on-the-go.
From where we were before, the PeopleXD mobile app is far more professional, and makes us as a business look much more intuitive compared to what we were using previously. It’s slick, easy to use, useful, and visually looks 10x better.
Outsourcing payroll to Access Payroll Services (APS)
Access Payroll Services has provided Charles Tyrwhitt with accurate, reliable and fully-managed payroll to manage payroll risk, compliance and resources.
“With Access Payroll Services, we’ve been able to put payroll controls in place which are better than we had previously. Any monthly pay anomalies are flagged with us to check and validate via the exception reports. This has saved the team time and ensured payroll remains accurate,” explains Phil.
“The team now has access to reports that we didn’t have before, which has provided better visibility. Also, our data reporting is ultimately better as we have more data available in the system,” continues Phil.
For the Head Office team at Charles Tyrwhitt, month-end expenses can now be processed quicker and more easily, whilst reducing the chances of error.
Offering financial freedom to employees with Access EarlyPay
Access EarlyPay is an on-demand pay app that provides employees with instant access to pay they’ve already earned when they need it. This supports staff with their financial management by offering financial freedom to employees without impacting Charles Tyrwhitt’s payroll processes.
Retail employees often have fluctuating schedules, with their hours varying from week to week, making it difficult to predict and manage their finances effectively. EarlyPay allows Charles Tyrwhitt’s employees to track their accrued wages and draw down on them as and when they need to.
EarlyPay has been really useful for us as a retail business. With some employees working irregular hours on an hourly-rate, instant pay gives them the ability to bridge any gaps between pay checks to ensure they have the funds available when needed. The on-demand pay app has enabled us to support employees’ financial wellbeing. We’ve had a good uptake on the app.
Improving recruitment efficiencies with Access Volcanic
Access Volcanic is a recruitment website, powered by a secure SaaS platform, which is fully integrated with Access PeopleXD.
Since integrating Access PeopleXD and Volcanic, Charles Tyrwhitt has been able to successfully manage its recruitment process quickly and easily to continue to attract top talent into the business.
Through Volcanic, candidates can access company information and in-depth vacancy details.
“Volcanic is easy to navigate and use, personalised to Charles Tyrwhitt’s branding, and intuitive, providing candidates with a great first impression of the business. Managers and the HR team can access applications much quicker and easier now, and it’s all in real-time,” explains Phil.
Previously, managers and HR teams had to go into a system – that was maybe only used once or twice a year if it’s a small team – so log-in details could easily be forgotten. Finding your credentials and reminding yourself how to use the system was often time consuming and meant managers couldn’t self-serve.
“Recently, we’ve opened five new stores, and therefore needed to up our workforce numbers. In the last financial year, we’ve successfully recruited approximately 500 new employees via Access Volcanic. We’ve built an attractive careers site, and we’re really pleased with how the platform has streamlined our recruitment process,” says Phil.
Looking to the future
“We’re really pleased with how the Access suite of products has transformed our HR systems and processes. The all-in-one software supports our diverse HR needs, by allowing us to efficiently record time and attendance to simplify payroll. The integration of appraisals, recruitment, and hiring tools has streamlined our HR operations, saving us time and effort,” explains Phil.
“We’re looking forward to harnessing the power of predictive analytics to provide insights and intelligence to guide our HR decisions. The technology will enable us to anticipate trends, analyse patterns, and gain valuable insight into human resources, such as employee turnover,” concludes Phil.
Every solution, in one place, for your people
The Access Group's HCM division, Access People, offer an unrivalled suite of solutions for businesses, including HR and Payroll, Absence Management, Workforce Management, Compliance, Recruitment, Talent, Learning, Employee Benefits and Engagement, Health & Safety, all of which are underpinned by the powerful Access Workspace platform.
The Access Group is one of the leading providers of business management software to small and mid-sized organisations in the UK, Ireland, and Asia Pacific. We help over 100,000 customers across commercial and not-for-profit sectors become more productive and efficient.