Turning The Page: Bringing A Publisher Into A 21st Century MSP 

The Dilemma

A leader in the media and publishing space was operating their business using many inefficient, outdated processes. The management and tracking of their contingent workforce was done almost entirely on paper, utilizing paper timesheets, collection boxes, and mail tracking systems. The company knew they needed to start operating in a more modern and efficient manner with updated processes to save themselves time and money. They needed to quickly change their payroll and managed services processes, so they turned to DZConneX's (DZX's) experts to help them make these vital changes.  

The Strategy

With outdated tracking methods, scattered onboarding systems and disorganized services all across the board, DZX knew they needed to implement consistent standard and automated processes from top to bottom. Our experts focused on updating our client's manual payrolling process and contingent worker tracking processes to innovative digitized methods to ensure efficiency. As their MSP, DZX handled the talent acquisition efforts for our client so their internal teams could focus on other pressing job duties. Our newly introduced digital processes made contingent worker management and payment infinitely smoother than ever before. 

The Impact

With a fully optimized payroll system and an MSP program that delivered efficiencies at every intersection, DZX’s client identified savings opportunities it never knew it had. Our MSP program saved them countless hours, which in turn saved them money as well. Now having visibility into all aspects of its talent, the company understands where to allocate new resources or where to cut back on spending. Most importantly, they know where their business is headed next at any given moment. 

Publishing Industry Fast Facts

716,000 industry employees 

$41.34 average hourly earnings 

$28 billion annual industry revenue 

17,304 total businesses 

Many of us take for granted today the ease at which we are able to assess where we are (both in the location sense and otherwise) at any given moment. From our bank accounts and our 401(k)s, to the amount of steps we’ve taken since getting out of bed, people can almost instantly discover areas of their life that need to be improved, taken back or maintained. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case in the talent industry. After decades or longer spent using traditional pen-and-paper methods of recording work hours, managing payroll processes, and supervising service providers, transitioning to digital methods can be an immense burden for HR departments, talent acquisition specialists and project managers alike. The case was no different for DZX’s client, a leader in the media and publishing space.

With a contingent workforce consisting of anywhere from 500 to over 1,000 individuals at any given time, the company had an almost constant flow of contingent workers going in and out of the organization without much insight. Former employees were brought on, rolled off and brought back on again numerous times, yet there was no simple method in place to streamline the onboarding and re-onboarding processes. In order to reduce hiring paperwork for this steady flow of contingent workers, the client often opted not to terminate temporary workers from company payroll systems. Not only did this lead to limited reporting capabilities, but it left HR departments and managers without knowledge of who was actively working on a project and who wasn’t.

In addition, these time-consuming tasks left internal recruiters and HR managers responsible for sourcing and hiring with little time to do that. It was a never-ending cycle of inefficiencies. Suffice to say this industry leader was in need of a strong, immediate push into 21st century talent management. And DZX was the one to help them accomplish just that. 

Mailing It In

When a company’s payrolling and contingent employee tracking processes are outdated to the point where employees are still manually entering time on paper timesheets and submitting them in collection boxes, simply tinkering with existing infrastructure would not be enough to repair a system in such disarray. Workers not located at the company’s headquarters even had to physically mail in their timesheets for processing, leading to delays in submissions and, thus, delays in paychecks. Although these workers weren’t full-time employees but rather payrollees, the client was the one actually paying them, putting the administrative burden of managing them, tracking them, and onboarding and offboarding them squarely on the shoulders of the client.

To make matters worse, HR and IT departments were often unaware of new worker start dates until the day of or sometimes days later, which caused delays in equipment set-up, compliance, form submissions, and more. Not only were payroll processes causing frustrations and extraneous work, but these contingent workers were brought onto projects from all over on an ad hoc basis, often with little to no tracking or insight on spending in any department of the business.

Evidently, this project would require the installation of a brand new, from-the-ground-up system. Additionally, the client required that the complete company transformation be finished in a timeframe about 30 percent quicker than such an undertaking would normally take, but DZX was still up for this challenge. 

Cleaning Up The Mess With MSP

The heaviest weight DZX lifted off the media and publishing company’s back was the management of all of its payrollees. The days of paper timesheet submissions and approvals disappeared. Now, each payrollee would come and go through DZX and an IQN digital time management system where hours could be recorded, tracked, managed and investigated, if necessary. Additionally, DZX's experts integrated the IQN system into the client’s enterprise resource planning system – which was a substantial task since prior data was not fully digitized before DZX’s arrival.

DZX implemented consistent standard and automated processes across the organization, including onboarding and offboarding procedures, so that the IT department could create and disable accounts and know who was working at any given time. We also developed automated and ad hoc reports for the client to determine who was actively working and what the contingent workforce spend was in a moment’s notice. This provided the client with never-before-seen penetration into where money was coming and going, where it could be better optimized, and where additional talent was needed. The company’s talent was better organized, and it was seeing the bottom-line impact because of it.

After the initial payrolling overhaul, DZX introduced an MSP program as well. Implementing this process saved more than just the budgets of HR departments and project managers, but also time that had been previously spent supervising the entire outdated payrolling and talent supplier processes. The MSP provided internal recruiters with the time they needed to focus on full-time internal sourcing and hiring, and the spending insight they required to ensure budgets were met at all times.

On its face, this project merely brought DZX’s client into the digital age – but it delivered so much more than that. Completed in the short timeframe, the implementation cleaned up the client’s messy program and helped discover savings at every step. It reduced and/or entirely eliminated time-consuming practices and optimized contingent labor spending. The workforce was happier, HR was more organized, and the business was better in the end. To this day, the project continues to be one of DZX’s most successful, game-changing implementations to date.