Groupalia adopts Cezanne OnDemand to help centralise Human Resources information

SOUTHWARK, U.K. - July 4, 2013 - PRLog -- The company also aims to promote transparency and the free exchange of information using the integrated employee portal as well as take full advantage of the performance management module and integration with an external payroll application.

Specialising in online sales of leisure-related activities, Groupalia offers attractive and cost-effective ways to enjoy free time as well as providing an interactive space for users to exchange experiences. Founded in 2010, the company’s e-commerce strategy reflect the sector it works in, where innovation, speed and flexibility are the key to success on the web.

The company has recently made it possible for users to simultaneously access thousands of offers through its website and through mobile applications. This new initiative, which puts the company at the forefront of innovation in this sector in Spain, significantly increases the deals available to users and the reach of the company, making the company’s website the “go to” destination for anyone looking to buy products and services at a discount.

Users visiting the website now have more choices and can more easily find offers that best fit their preferences, and location, across all of the activities the site covers; beauty, eating, entertainment, travel, education etc.

Supporting dynamic and open human resources management

Groupalia has a very flat reporting hierarchy. Based on the concept of open spaces, managers and employees work in the same environment, which promotes collaboration and teamwork. The company’s dynamic and flexible workforce currently stands at 244 people, with an average age of 28 years. Among the values that define the way the company works, are transparency, humility and excellence.

Celia Fernández, HR Director of Groupalia, explains: "Our business model is about change, innovation and speed, with products and services constantly being updated. We need people in our team who can cope with this dynamic environment, want to get involved with the philosophy of the company, and can respond quickly to change.”

The company’s rapid growth and international expansion, which included the company extending its operations to cover Italy, meant that Groupalia needed a system that would allow them to access information at any time, "With new people joining the team all the time, and our international expansion, traditional spreadsheets weren’t allowing us to respond to requests for information about the structure of our organization. This information frequently needed to be presented to the shareholders of the company and, as it was in different folders, databases and in Excel documents, it was extremely time-consuming to pull together – especially as our organizational structure was changing all the time, "says Celia Fernández.

Gaining global insight from up-to-date organization data

Groupalia began their search by looking for a solution that would let them simply and easily generate accurate organisation charts as well as access all of the information they needed. Cezanne OnDemand met all of the company’s functional requirements and also provided the flexibility required by the company.

Celia Fernández says: "Cezanne OnDemand provides the information we need. It does this automatically and easily and allows us to configure some details to get more dynamic organisation structures. Having access to up to date data helps us make intelligent decisions because it provides a complete view of the whole company".
She continues, “Being able to see relationships in our HR data in this way makes it strategic. It helps inform how we design our processes, and the decisions we make relating to our growth and change objectives. It has also improved the connection between people and made information easier to see.”

Saving time and money by centralizing absences and holiday management

Following the implementation of the Cezanne OnDemand HR solution in 2012, the company has also benefited hugely from centralising holiday and absence management thanks to the flexibility of the HR system. Celia Fernández explains: "the system allows us to set up as many different holiday plans as we need and relate them to different areas of work. It even lets us reflect different regulations in different countries, something particularly important to us as we must respect the legal requirements of both Spain and Italy".

Clarity is an important principle for the HR team of Groupalia, which is why having reliable, accurate tools to manage employee time off was important. Cezanne OnDemand automatically calculates each individual’s holiday entitlements based on the employee’s contract, the company’s policy and in line with Spanish and Italian law as appropriate.

For the HR team at Groupalia, another outstanding feature of the system is reporting. “Cezanne OnDemand helps us generate different types of analytical and statistical reports”, explains Celia Fernández. “Reports, such as rates of absence, average age of workers, and other reports that help us adapt the business to our ever-changing reality, are in high demand.”

Maximising potential with performance management and payroll integration

For the moment, Cezanne OnDemand is only being used by the human resource department, although the company plans to open it up, first to managers, then team leaders and later to all staff. The goal is to have a true employee portal. “We are currently developing permission settings to ensure information security”, says Celia Fernández. “We want everyone to be able to use the system, so we can build a solution that meets all of our needs. The best way to do that is to generate feedback using the system itself”, she adds.

Groupalia’s immediate plans also include the roll out of the integrated Performance Management module, which they expect to use throughout the year. “We are aware of the full potential of Cezanne OnDemand, and do not want to miss anything” explains the company’s HR Director. “We intend implementing performance management before the end of the year, and integrating Cezanne’s HR software with our payroll system too. Our aim is to have a truly comprehensive HR system in the coming months.”