Article: Case Study: Improving productivity and performance with automation

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Case Study: Improving productivity and performance with automation

Here’s how Ajmera Tyres augmented its business processes by embarking on a change journey and automating core people processes.
Case Study: Improving productivity and performance with automation

Renowned for quality services and an unwavering commitment to customers, Ajmera Tyres (ATPL) made its mark as the biggest tyre products retailer in Nagpur. It is now amongst the top 5 in India.

Established in 1968, ATPL has since grown from a team of 9 to its current 200+. 

At the start, however, ATPL had no HR management system (HRMS) to streamline staff operations. This lead to human errors from following manual processes and from unnecessary time being invested into what should have been simple one-click tasks. 

But ATPL overcame barriers to business growth. Here's how it enhanced employee processes and, as a result, improved performance: 

Human errors from manual processes: The need for change

Basic processes such as attendance capture and validation, and expense and payroll calculations were done on spreadsheets and similar tools. This was leading to continuous errors, recalculations, and the adjustment of miscalculated amounts – a lot of manual work and rework. 

By then, the workforce had increased to more than 200-strong. But with the larger scale of people operations, the employee experience was being diluted. Queues outside the HR department were proof. 

The process itself was asking for change. However, it did not come easy to a company that was primarily geared towards manufacturing, both in operations and in mindset. 

Shifting a majority blue-collared workforce to a modern automation tool would prove to be a challenge. 

Hence, in ATPL's transformation journey, it was important to adopt a simple yet people-friendly HRMS, so that the system would be easily accepted by end-users. There began the search for an HR information system (HRIS) that would add value to the employee experience. 

The exploration and adoption of automation tools

The HR team initiated the automation journey by first evaluating solutions on the market, but none met the dual goal of streamlining people processes and of providing an easy-to-navigate interface. 

The extensive product research took ATPL to industry forums where they heard about Keka – a product equipped with effortless biometrics and real-time attendance data synching with the cloud. Because attendance management was one of ATPL's pain points, the group needed a partner that could alleviate these stress factors.

The Keka team supported ATPL throughout the onboarding and implementation journey. For example, the policy set-up, creation of job portal and hiring portal, and training sessions made for a seamless adoption experience. 

The Keka platform became a one-stop destination for any employee-related information, thanks to its intuitive and user-friendly design. 

Realising the Results

Biometrics-based attendance data was synchronized real-time with the portal, making it easy for the managers and employees to track the attendance patterns of employees and resolve issues early on. 

With support from Keka, there was an increase in the company's success ratio. Apart from this, the accuracy of attendance-capturing lead to greater transparency and accountability amongst employees. This resulted in staff becoming more punctual. 

The removal of manual interventions meant managers would have to approve attendance regularisation requests from employees, keeping the onus of discipline on staff members. 

Because of the Keka employee portal, staff members could now be self-reliant when it came to personnel concerns. Using the Help Desk communication channel, they could resolve issues quickly within well-defined standard operating procedures. 

Keka helped to streamline people processes and productivity, as evident in the following key metrics: 

  • With 100% data accuracy attained, there was a 32% increase in people's productivity. 
  • Data-orientation of the team increased overall, with a 95% increase in ease of capturing attendance, and an 80% increase in ease of access to HR data, for the HR team. 
  • Time was also significantly saved, with 30 hours saved in payroll processing and 8 hours saved in employee grievance management

HR processes, such as attendance and leave management, and payroll calculation and distribution, rely on numerous data points that make some tasks complex. Any mistakes due to human error can lead to significant employee disengagement. 

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Topics: HR Technology, Strategic HR, #Research Insights, #HRTech, #SMEcorner, #PerformanceBeyondProductivity

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