Electrical Contractor Overhauls “Archaic” HR Processes
Canyon State Electric Co., a 44-year-old commercial electrical contractor with over 200 employees across Arizona and California, overhauled its inefficient, paper-based HR processes—such as hiring, onboarding, and payroll management—by adopting Arcoro’s integrated HR management solutions to streamline workflows, improve communication between field supervisors and HR, enhance employee visibility into benefits, and ultimately boost workforce productivity and retention.
Canyon State Electric Co., Inc. is a leading provider of commercial electric contracting services throughout the Phoenix Metro area, Arizona, and California. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, the 44-year-old company has more than 200 full-time employees working throughout the state on multiple projects. Canyon State Electric specializes in energy-saving programs, design-build custom electrical projects, commercial and industrial electric services, tenant improvement, and many other aspects of electrical construction.
Challenge
With multiple job sites and a small HR team, Canyon State needed to find a solution that would allow the company to hire, manage, and grow their workforce efficiently.
Manual processes made hiring—including managing job postings, sorting and storing applications, and contacting applicants—take much longer than the team expected. Field supervisors were unable to provide feedback directly from the field. With barely enough time to post and interview candidates for open positions, the Canyon State team also struggled with creating a great onboarding experience that would encourage productivity and help retain their best employees.
Hiring and onboarding were not the only challenges impacting the business. With an “archaic” paper-based system, employees didn’t have visibility into crucial information, like benefits, and information was easily lost. This caused the HR team unnecessary headaches as they had to spend excess time collecting information anew as well as correcting any errors—especially in payroll.
To alleviate these issues, the team needed a solution that would simplify critical processes and increase efficiencies while enabling their small team to focus on retention.
Solution
To address their HR management struggles, Canyon State Electric’s Director of Special Systems, Chris Reyes, decided to look into Arcoro’s full suite of HR management solutions. After hearing about Arcoro’s capabilities and multiple integrations, the company decided to implement Arcoro’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Onboarding, Learning Management System, and ExakTime time and attendance.
ATS Helps Attract the Right Candidates
Before Arcoro, hiring and onboarding were challenging. According to Reyes, paper applications were sometimes misplaced or hard to read, taking valuable time from other critical HR processes. Once implemented and connected to the company’s website and Indeed, Arcoro’s ATS helped automate job postings and candidate communication while the cloud-based portal allowed managers to see the information at a glance. With this new technology, Canyon State’s recruiter now spends less time on recruiting while also sourcing better candidates and getting that information to managers in a timely manner. “With Arcoro, we were able to be remote and avoid being chained to the office,” Reyes said. “We didn’t miss a beat in terms of applicant tracking.”
Onboarding Software Gets Workers on the Job Fast
Prior to Arcoro, the HR team struggled to onboard new hires. Getting information to and from new hires and inputting it into their system took a lot of time and energy. With Arcoro's solution, information gathered in the Applicant Tracking System flowed directly into the Onboarding module, simplifying the process of completing required documents and better ensuring their accuracy. In addition, the candidates themselves enter and upload all information, so there are fewer data errors. “Arcoro really saved us a lot of time,” Reyes said.
“Our HR processes are easier and faster and have added to the employee experience.”
— Chris Reyes, Director of Special Systems
ExakTime Reins in Payroll Costs
Before Canyon State implemented Arcoro’s ExakTime Time and Attendance solution, tracking time was a laborious process that could take up to two days to complete. Paper processes meant that sometimes hours could be inputted wrong and ultimately, end in disputes and confusion. However, once ExakTime was implemented and paired with the accounting system, the process turned into a 30-minute task at most. “ExakTime has helped us greatly in how we do our payroll,” Reyes remarked. “We went from a tedious manual process to something that is easy to review in only a couple of mouse clicks.”
A Robust LMS Helps Boost Retention
Automation has the potential to help several aspects of a business, including boosting employee productivity and engagement. Previously on the backburner due to lack of time, Arcoro’s cloud-based Learning Management System allowed Canyon State to conduct, track, and report on any of the training that new employees need to be successful. With feedback that can be easily provided and accessed, employees feel more in touch with the company’s goals.
Overall, Arcoro’s HR solutions simplified several key processes and gave back time to focus on things that mattered—especially during a global pandemic. “I know that the number one highlight of 2021 for the HR Director was the Arcoro platform,” Reyes said. “The ATS and Onboarding Modules helped her team do their job that had become very stressful due to the pandemic. There were many things she had to work on, and I know that having a streamlined process definitely helped to know that those things were handled and that she could take on the many things that came at her during the pandemic.”
Goals
- Quickly hire qualified candidates to meet growing demand
- Get new hires on the job faster
- Eliminate time-consuming paper processes
- Improve employee retention
Results
- Automated process allows small staff to achieve ambitious hiring goals
- Onboarding module gets new hires on the job faster
- Saved time and money on processing payroll
- Boosted employee productivity and engagement
Modules Used
- Applicant Tracking (ATS)
- Onboarding
- Learning Management (LMS)
- ExakTime Time and Attendance
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