How Astute by Deel
enabled NECA to
streamline a complex
payroll process
Results at a glance:
Complete integration between timesheets, payroll, and invoicing
No more paperwork meant remote work, enhancing the team's work-life balance
Seamless management of different awards and agreements
Meet the company
NECA Electrical Apprenticeships, owned by the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA), is a non-for-profit training organisation. It offers training for electrical and telecommunications apprentices wanting to qualify in those trades.
Juggling a diverse workforce and complex clients
Before using Astute Payroll, NECA was using a very basic payroll system involving paper timesheets and excel spreadsheets.
It might sound like a simple process, but its demands were challenging. NECA manages the attendance of more than 1,000 apprentices across three states and as well as around 100 staff, who are paid fortnightly.
With its growing workforce, a variety of work arrangements, differing pay weeks, and a range of enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) among its customers to grapple with, processing wages and invoicing was time-consuming and lacked traceability.
"Timesheets, payroll and invoicing were all separate tasks," says NECA Group Payroll Manager Beverley Hewer. "We wanted total integration between all three. We didn't want a system that required us to upload the transactions to a separate accounting package; we wanted the payroll itself to generate the invoice."
"Astute Payroll saves us a massive amount of time each week. Plus the system generates invoices immediately, allowing for better cash flow."
Beverley Hewer,
Group Payroll Manager, NECA
Complete integration and low-stress accounting
Astute Payroll has been a game-changer for NECA. The system allows timesheets to be submitted, approved by the client and interpreted with ease. It also offers full integration between payroll and invoicing, enabling the team to work faster and more efficiently, which minimises the potential for human error.
"The payroll process allows me to run different pay weeks within the one payroll. The employees can easily swap between jobs that have a 36-hour week and/or a 38-hour week in the same week," says Hewer. "Managing customers with very different awards and agreements is also seamless."
"Astute Payroll saves us a massive amount of time each week. Plus the system generates invoices immediately, allowing for better cash flow."
Astute Payroll has also made the business more cost-effective.
"Our team of three is very small given the numbers of wages being processed and invoices generated. I don't think we realised this until we spoke to people in other companies," says Hewer. "Plus, having an online system with no paperwork allows all payroll staff to work remotely, enhancing their work-life balance."
What they love most
The personal connection
"We went live within two weeks. We had our personal contact at Astute who was very familiar with what our company did and was of huge help. So after she set us up, I was able to easily take over," says Hewer.
"These days we have our own accounts manager at Astute. I meet with her regularly via Zoom, we have a great relationship, and she deals very quickly with any issues we might have."
What were the
results?
The team at NECA can trust and rely on the platform, particularly with its auditing capabilities.
With the peace of mind that they can manage their payroll compliantly, NECA is now looking forward and considering more integrations to optimise and streamline their workflows even further.
With compliance front of mind, Astute Payroll enables auditing at every stage of the payroll process. And with the federal government proposing wage theft laws next year, upping the risks associated with underpaying or incorrectly paying staff, Hewer is happy to have a platform she can trust.
"Digital reports are available in one place and everything is traceable. I have total audit facilities on what goes out of the payroll and who makes changes. We also have a record of expenses, when they're approved and who approved them."
NECA is even planning further integration with Astute Payroll.
"In the future we would like to integrate the system with an HR package in the front end, which would allow the recruitment information to come into the payroll, and would save even more time."
Have you got a similar challenge
that needs addressing?
Book a free demo today to learn how Astute Payroll can help.