Efficient Kronos Solution Repays Leonidas’s High Expectations on Daily Basis
Until just a few years ago, there was likelihood of Leonidas entering the computer age. But then the chocolate manufacturer knocked on Kronos’ door, which provided Leonidas with a system to handle time registration and access control. The benefits of the move quickly became clear. In addition to the financial benefits, the overall atmosphere within the company improved dramatically and the system provided Leonidas with the opportunity to expand its HR-related activities into other areas. Having a dependable Kronos time registration and access control system working for it gave Leonidas a firm foundation to build on. And successfully, too: this spring, Leonidas won the award for the HR Team of the Year.*
Leonidas: a short history
Leonidas was founded at the beginning of the last century by Leonidas Kestekides, a Greek-American confectioner who exhibited his chocolate wares at the World Expositions held in Brussels and Ghent. His chocolate pralines were a huge success and he won a wide range of awards with them. In 1913, Leonidas Kestekides decided to base himself in Belgium, where he sold his pralines as he cycled through the streets of the capital. In 1935, the business was taken over by Basile Kestekides, one of Leonidas’s nephews. In honour of his uncle, Basile decorated his products with an image of the Spartan king, Leonidas. In 1970, Leonidas became a limited public company. Its market share grew steadily and Leonidas opened a number of shops and chocolate-making facilities.
Leonidas continued to grow until it became the largest manufacturer of pralines worldwide, with 1400 retail outlets in forty countries and a total product of 7000 tons a year. The company now has almost 350 points of sale in Belgium and a turnover of approximately 62 million EUR. Recent years have seen Leonidas experience remarkable growth in the export market, with the brand building significant market share in Japan, Hong Kong, Latin and North America and China, where it is the only leading brand of chocolate to market its products through specialised shops.
High time to computerise
Yet despite all this rapid growth, the idea of computerisation at Leonidas tended to lag far behind – and until five years ago, all time registration and payroll work for the company’s 420 staff was still being done manually. “Every payday, employees would come and complain that they had not been paid correctly. Which resulted in a great deal of dissatisfaction among staff,” recalls Olivier Ghenne, Director Human Resources and Corporate Stores at Leonidas. “To tackle all of the problems relating to payroll issues, we had five people working in the wages department. Which was far too many.”
Also at the time, Leonidas had no real HR department, either. Olivier Ghenne explains: “When the process of paying salaries doesn’t go well, you can’t really expect staff to be receptive to the idea of training courses or job assessments. Everything was getting jammed up as a result. Staff trust was at very low ebb.”
So it was high time for Leonidas to take the bull by the horns. “We were one of the last Belgian companies of any size not to be computerised. Things had to change – and quickly.” To make overall operations easier, Leonidas invested in new machines and a computer system in 2004. And to place things on a generally more professional footing, the chocolate manufacturer also introduced a unique solution for access control to the workshops and a time registration system for its entire staff. This had the effect of simplifying day-to-day management enormously.
By installing the Efficient application provided by Kronos, Leonidas now had an automated time registration and access control system that met its every need: it was simple, flexible and affordable – and it was also compatible with Securex, which was social secretariat used by Leonidas. In fact the company was already using Magistral, the Securex software for personnel management and payroll calculations.
After the preparatory work was carried out in-house by Leonidas, Kronos and Securex developed and thoroughly tested everything. Within six months, Efficient had been fully implemented and linked to Magistral. The original intention had been to run parallel operating tests for three months to ensure the system was running smoothly. “After just two months, we stopped the tests using paper,” says Mr Ghenne. “Why bother doing the same work twice when the system is working well?”
Calm social climate
The transition from a paper-based system to a totally automated one was a real revolution for staff at Leonidas. The error rate in processing hours worked and paying wages fell significantly. The system also provides an insight into occupancy rates and hours worked in each store. Which enables Leonidas to calculate the profitability of every kilo of pralines sold – something it was not able to do before.
Leonidas operates with seasonal workers, which means that there are plenty of irregular work schedules to deal with. During the peak season, workers may put in up to 50 hours a month, whereas in the low season, they don’t work on a Friday. By having a clear overview of these work schedules, Leonidas is able to deploy its staff much more efficiently and hence make cost-savings. Previously, without a stable payroll system, this was just about impossible.
The financial impact has been major. In the past, there used to be an average of a hundred or so errors and omissions in each payroll. Combined with all the administrative rigmarole that went with it, this was costing Leonidas a lot of money. Today, the new system also means that fewer people are required in the HR department. All of which meant that Leonidas was able to recoup its investment in less than a year.
For Olivier Ghenne, the biggest advantages are the improvement of the overall climate within the company, as well as the increase in the level of trust among staff. “In stark contrast to what was happening previously,” he says, “I virtually never hear any complaints from staff these days. And thanks to the way the payroll function has stabilised, the working atmosphere and general climate at Leonidas have improved enormously.”
“By using Kronos, we have achieved a stable solution for time registration which means that everyone’s wages are paid correctly. And the result of that is a calm working climate and a satisfied workforce.” Olivier Ghenne, Director Human Resources and Corporate Stores
Efficient is evolving
Originally, only payroll staff had access to the system. Now department heads and store managers can also view Efficient using secure web access to see who has clocked in or out when and where, as well as who has taken holiday time when. This prevents the need for all sorts of questions and queries and makes operations far faster and more efficient than before. Reception is also always notified when an individual staff member has not come into work. Employees can indicate whether they are simply at a meeting off-site or will be absent for the whole day. This makes monitoring everyone much simpler.
HR Team of the Year
This spring, Leonidas was voted HR Team of the Year, a much-deserved reward for all of the effort and investment the company has made over the past five years to make operations more professional.
In 2008, the Leonidas HR team set up an internal training centre that is unique in the world of chocolate-makers. Sales staff can be trained in their own stores, including focusing on the history of the company and the Leonidas mission and values, as well as details about the products and how they are marketed. According to Olivier Ghenne, the company’s investment in Efficient has helped to keep prices steady, too. “If the foundations of the company are not strong, and staff administration in particular, we cannot build any further. By using Kronos, we have achieved a stable solution for time registration which means that everyone’s wages are paid correctly. And the result of that is a calm working climate and a satisfied workforce. Without correct pay, we would never have been able to invest in training. So indirectly, Kronos has made a contribution here, too,” he concludes.
*HR Team of the Year:
The “HR Team of the Year” award was conferred upon Leonidas by HR Tribune in recognition of the chocolatier’s investments over the last five years in making its retail operations more efficient and professional. The “HR Team of the Year” award honours a specific project that has been brought to a favourable conclusion. This initiative seamlessly integrates with HR Tribune’s vision: to promote the exchange of best practices in the sector.
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