News

Zoës Kitchen managing bilingual workforce via UltiPro

September 25, 2012

Zoës Kitchen is leveraging UltiPro's end-to-end human capital management to more effectively manage its growing workforce, proactively anticipate and handle turnover, and more easily and quickly recruit employees, Laurie Halvorson, HR director at Zoës Kitchen, said in a company press release.

Growing about 40 percent each year, Zoës Kitchen needed an HR solution that could help it implement its strategic plan for organic growth while holding down costs. Zoës Kitchen has approximately 1,200 employees in many states — of which about 20 percent are fluent in Spanish, so it was important that the company's new HR technology provider deliver information to employees in both English and Spanish. Zoës Kitchen went live on UltiPro in 2010, and has since transformed its HR operations to handle new locations and more employees with greater ease and speed, Halvorson said.

"We have two people handling HR and payroll for our company," she said. "Our goal with UltiPro was to maintain our lean administrative team despite business expansion, and we have accomplished this objective. We added 16 locations in 2011, and we didn't have to add administrative headcount, which is a huge achievement for our business. UltiPro's 24-7 direct access for managers and employees has made a significant business impact because individuals can get and update information independently, and UltiPro's workflow features keep the HR team informed and current."

A key factor in the success of the project, Halvorson said, has been high adoption of the solution among employees across the organization. Making information immediately available to employees in multiple languages has been one of the most critical elements for Zoës Kitchen.

"Employees can select their preference for an English or Spanish version of UltiPro. We can even provide their paychecks in Spanish," she said. "UltiPro's options for bilingual capabilities at Zoe's definitely have fostered better communication throughout the company, and our employees appreciate that we use an HR solution that caters to their needs instead of the other way around."

Because UltiPro allows Ultimate's customers to report on any of the information that covers the entire employee lifecycle, managers and executives are more easily and quickly able to analyze areas for improvement, such as the most effective methods for recruitment and turnover.

Managers at Zoës Kitchen also have the ability to handle the entire hiring process from their locations. Pre-employment questionnaires help them narrow the talent pool to candidates who are the most qualified.

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