Payroll outsourcing · Horticulture
A payroll that was bigger than it looked
How a Kent grower handed over a weekly and monthly payroll, recovered eight to ten hours a month, and cut back their own working hours.
Client
Amethyst Horticulture
Industry
Horticulture
Operations
Weekly and monthly, seasonal peak
Service
Managed payroll and pensions
The challenge
Amethyst’s payroll was not broken. It was run in house, carefully, and it was compliant. The problem was what it cost in time. It is also harder than the headcount suggests. Four people are paid monthly and fifteen weekly, rising to twenty two across June, July and August as seasonal staff arrive. Two pay frequencies, a summer peak that lifts the weekly payroll by almost half, and a weekly deadline that moves for nobody, all sitting with one person alongside their real job.
The solution
Amethyst moved their payroll to LitE eighteen months ago, covering both pay frequencies, the seasonal swing and pension administration.
8 to 10
Admin time saved per month
2
Pay frequencies side by side
18 months
And counting
The results
Time back, in a form that mattered
Eight to ten hours a month returned to the business, and enough of it together that the finance manager has been able to cut their own working hours.
The seasonal peak stopped being an event
Summer starters arriving, the weekly payroll growing by almost half and then shrinking again, all handled as routine rather than as three months of extra pressure.
Fast and accurate, in the client’s words
Weekly payrolls are unforgiving. The standard set for us was the one the client had already set for themselves.
Pensions handled alongside
Pension administration runs with the payroll rather than as a separate job somebody has to remember.
Being straight about the move
There was some trial and error at the start and it took a few weeks to settle rather than a few days. In practice there are two systems: one for sending us changes, files and messages and talking to your payroll team, and one where your staff get their payslips. Amethyst added a third themselves, because they wanted the option of paying people faster. Eighteen months on, none of it is something anyone thinks about.
I would definitely recommend LitE Payroll to ensure your payroll and pensions are handled competently and are fully compliant.
Pauline Ayliffe
Amethyst Horticulture
Running a weekly and monthly payroll with a seasonal peak?
We run weekly and monthly payrolls for UK businesses of every size, including the ones where the payroll is more complicated than the headcount suggests. Twenty minutes on the phone is usually enough for us to tell you whether we can improve on what you have.