With a clear emphasis on improving efficiency and reducing payroll costs,
Lindsay felt that Rota Horizon was the obvious choice to deal with the demands
faced by her managers. “I’d used Rota Pro (an earlier version of the software)
during my time with De Vere Hotels, and helped to run the trial of Rota
Horizon at Village Hotels,” said Lindsay. “The system allowed us to manage
staff attendance at work, and to cut payroll cost through effectively managing
start and end times, planned hours, overtime and breaks.”
Malmaison & Hotel du Vin expects Rota Horizon will have a significant
impact on their costs. “It’s worked so well at De Vere for over 10 years now
as an efficient and cost-effective management tool,” Lindsay explained, and
added that “the ROI is easily justifiable in payroll savings.”
With dedicated teams from both Thinking Software and MAL/HDV working together
on the rollout, the Group had Rota Horizon up and running very quickly. “The
implementation and training processes were seamless and straightforward”, says
Lindsay. “Justin Hemming led the team from Thinking Software, and he made sure
that time was spent understanding our reporting requirements and business
practices. Matt Hemming (his no-less-capable brother) was just as effective
when we needed post-implementation support. They worked closely with our PD
Directors and the MAL/HDV HR team to ensure that we ended-up with a tailored
solution. It was quite a partnership, and it’s worked.”
Amongst the reports and features which Lindsay highlighted, the Department
Rota, Rounding Rules, Break Rules, Rota Locking and Authorisation Process,
Budget Tools, Employee Reporting, Payroll Management, Forecasting, Contractual
Hours and Managing Overtime seemed to be the tools most commonly used by
managers across the Group.
When asked how cost savings and improved efficiency have driven the project,
Lindsay commented that “we’ve seen a huge increase in payroll efficiency, from
breaks right through to managing start and end times. And what’s more — the
global side of the system has allowed us to compare hotels easily, so that
we’ve been able to spread best-practice and best-efficiency ideas from the top
performers to the rest of the managers in the other hotels.”
Support is excellent, and very fast — hotels find it easy to get a quick
response if they need help with Rota Horizon.
Lindsay was especially positive about the levels of customer backup provided
by the support and training desk at Thinking Software. “It’s excellent, and
very fast — hotels find it easy to get a quick response if they need help with
the system. Over the past 10 years, I’ve recommended Thinking Software &
Rota Horizon to several other companies, and their experience has been just as
positive. I’m convinced that Rota Horizon is the way to meet the needs of time
management in hotels. Frankly — I love Thinking Software!”
Lindsay Southward Group Director of People & Development Malmaison &
Hotel Du Vin
