Hancock Structural Steel Updates Processes, Gaining Efficiency

ExakTime’s Digital Time Tracking Takes Efficiency to the Next Level

Hancock Structural Steel, LLC is a full-service fabrication facility located in Northwest Ohio with more than 35 years of experience in the steel industry. The company specializes in structural steel and miscellaneous steel fabrication but also provides project management, design, sublet steel erection, detailing, and transport services.

The family-run business was originally started as a sister company to a general contractor. In 2021, the general contractor business was sold, with the son taking over the fabrication shop as CEO. Anne Pfleger, Director of Operations, says it was the perfect time to revamp the company’s HR processes.

“We had the opportunity to do things a little bit differently, including looking for technology.” Pfleger says. “We were used to using paper before but were ready to brave the new world of HR technology.”

Challenge

As a smaller company, Pfleger was the only one doing HR work, so Hancock Structural Steel needed solutions that would make processes faster and easier, saving her from putting in 13- to 14-hour days.

“It was top of mind to find better ways to complete some of my tasks in less time because there are other things that I need to be focusing on,” she says. “We needed a solution that could take stuff off my plate.”

An important objective was using technology to do the heavy lifting with workforce management processes and tasks to avoid hiring additional hard-to-find employees.

One thing on Pfleger’s plate was manually entering paper timecards into payroll. She needed to move the company’s staff to a digital solution. The good news was the new CEO was on board with adopting technology to not only save time and money but improve the company’s timekeeping processes.

Solution

The company implemented Arcoro’s ExakTime time tracking solution.

ExakTime

Pfleger says the company’s initial software interest was digital time tracking because using paper timecards simply wasn’t efficient. But she soon found out just how much this cloud-based solution could take off her plate, including shortening the payroll process. Hancock Structural Steel uses Foundation software for payroll, which ExakTime integrates with.

“That really excited me even more. The integration with Foundation made the decision even easier.”

The company also uses ExakTime’s geofencing and cost code features for shop work. The geofence is set at the shop’s address and workers clock in on site and assign themselves to a job and cost code. Workers can’t clock in or out from outside the shop.

Once she took care of digitizing timecards, she could focus on other HR tasks, like developing relationships with employees and strategic initiatives to retain and grow the workforce. Implementing ExakTime saved Pfleger so much time, she was able to reduce her overtime and found some much-needed work/life balance.

“I look forward to discovering other ways Arcoro’s HR Technology can save me time in other aspects of my job responsibilities. Having a better work/life balance and reducing your work stress makes you a happier employee.”