Case Study: Haygrove Tunnels

Haygrove Tunnels – Enhancing Time and Attendance Management with Better Times

Haygrove South Africa – Streamlining Time and Attendance with Better Times

Client Overview: Haygrove has been a leading innovator in the design, manufacture, and installation of agricultural tunnels since its inception. Founded in the UK in the early 1980s, Haygrove introduced field-scale tunnels to South Africa in 2001, marking the beginning of a significant expansion into the Southern Hemisphere. Today, Haygrove is a globally recognised company that protects crops in 57 countries, specialising in creating tailored tunnel and cover solutions to meet the unique needs of growers.

The company has grown significantly over the years, employing over 80 full-time staff across various departments, including sales, finance, warehouse, operations, HR, and project management. Hargrove’s commitment to quality and efficiency led to the introduction of a fabrication unit in 2014, enabling the company to reduce costs and improve delivery times for customers.

With a strong project management team and a clear project management model, Haygrove efficiently manages tunnel construction by working alongside growers’ resources to ensure timely and cost-effective builds. This continued growth, however, brought with it new challenges related to workforce management, particularly concerning time and attendance for both manufacturing and installation teams.

The Challenge: Before adopting Better Times, Haygrove faced several time management and payroll-related challenges, particularly with their remote installation teams and complex manufacturing schedules.

1. Complex Manufacturing Schedules: Haygrove’s manufacturing teams on-site at the Haygrove farm operated under tight and often unpredictable schedules. Many times, the teams worked overtime, weekends, and night shifts to meet demand. The complexity of managing these fluctuating schedules, including careful planning for worker allocation, created a strain on productivity and efficiency.
2. Inaccurate Timekeeping: Management identified that inaccurate timekeeping was affecting production. Overloaded working hours and incorrect tracking of employee attendance meant that overtime and weekend hours were often miscalculated. This led to unnecessary costs and operational inefficiencies that could have been avoided with more accurate tracking.
3. Remote Installation Teams: Hargrove’s installation teams travelled extensively across South Africa, mostly working in remote areas far from the Haygrove farm. These teams were responsible for organising material deliveries, traveling to various sites, and installing the tunnels. Due to the vast distances, unpredictable climatic conditions, and the often-difficult working hours (overtime and weekend work), tracking their time and attendance proved difficult.

Furthermore, the installation teams sometimes relied on additional workers from local areas, adding complexity to scheduling and time tracking. With many of these teams operating in regions with limited or no internet connectivity, relying on manual timesheets resulted in inaccurate data, and payroll data verification was problematic.

• Difficult Payroll Integration: Hargrove’s payroll system was not integrated with the timekeeping system, meaning HR staff had to manually cross-reference timesheets, making payroll processing time-consuming and prone to errors. The inability to monitor teams effectively while they were in the field made it even more difficult to track whether teams were on-site as scheduled.

The Better Times Solution: Better Times provided Haygrove with an all-in-one solution that addressed the core challenges surrounding time and attendance management. The app delivered real-time, verified data for both the manufacturing and installation teams, regardless of their location. Here’s how Better Times made a difference:

1. Mobile Time and Attendance: With Better Times, supervisors and employees now used their smartphones to clock in and out via the Better Times app. This eliminated the need for separate hardware and made it much easier for field teams to manage their time without relying on complicated systems. Supervisors could now monitor the clock-in and clock-out of multiple team members from their own devices, which worked even in remote areas thanks to the app’s offline functionality.
2. Geo-location and Fraud Prevention: Better Times implemented several fraud prevention features including NFC, QR code scanning, and facial recognition. These technologies ensured that employees could not clock in from unauthorised locations or have someone else clock them in, giving Haygrove management peace of mind that the data was accurate. Geo-fencing capabilities allowed the app to confirm that employees were on-site when they clocked in, adding an extra layer of security for the remote teams.
3. Real-Time Dashboard: The real-time dashboard in the Better Times app allowed Haygrove management to monitor team attendance and location data remotely. This was especially useful for overseeing installation teams spread across various sites, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away. The dashboard gave management a bird’s-eye view of the teams’ locations and hours worked, ensuring more efficient workforce management and enabling timely intervention when needed.
4. Offline Functionality: Given the remoteness of many of Hargrove’s installation sites, Better Times’ offline functionality was a key feature. The app allowed teams to continue clocking in and out even in areas with no internet connection. Once a connection was restored, the data would automatically sync with the cloud-based portal, ensuring accurate time and attendance records were kept without any data loss.
5. Efficient Payroll Integration: One of the key benefits of Better Times was its seamless integration with Haygrove’s payroll system. The app generated payroll data in a format compatible with Haygrove’s payroll software, making the payroll process much simpler and faster. Gone were the days of manually entering timesheet data; now, payroll data could be exported directly from the Better Times portal and imported into the payroll system, saving time and reducing human error.

Implementation: Haygrove took a measured and cautious approach when implementing Better Times. They began with a trial phase that focused on a few smaller, more complicated projects. This allowed them to monitor how well the system worked with teams on-site and in the field. During this phase, Haygrove quickly discovered the app’s suitability for their needs. The real-time tracking, offline functionality, and easy integration with payroll were especially valuable.

Once the trial phase proved successful, Haygrove expanded the use of Better Times across all projects. The training process was quick and straightforward, with supervisors learning to use the app efficiently in a short amount of time. HR and admin staff were trained on how to onboard new employees, load projects, and manage cost centres, and they quickly became proficient at handling the system independently. Within just a few hours of training, admin staff were running Better Times with ease.

Key Benefits:

1. Accurate and Real-Time Time Tracking: Better Times provided Haygrove with accurate and real-time time tracking for both manufacturing and installation teams, regardless of their location. This ensured that teams were working the correct number of hours and allowed Haygrove to manage overtime and weekend shifts more effectively.
2. Fraud Prevention and Accountability: The use of NFC, QR codes, and facial recognition ensured that only authorised employees could clock in, eliminating fraudulent time entries. Supervisors were held accountable for accurate timekeeping, ensuring fairness for both the employer and the employee.
3. Improved HR Efficiency: With payroll integration, HR staff no longer had to manually reconcile timesheets, saving significant time and reducing the risk of errors. The easy export of payroll data helped streamline the payroll process, improving overall efficiency in the HR department.
4. Cost Control: By improving time and attendance accuracy, Haygrove reduced the risk of over-booking overtime and weekend hours, which can be expensive. The system helped manage labour costs more effectively, leading to savings in the long run.
5. Improved Safety and Team Management: The real-time location tracking of teams contributed to better safety management, especially in remote areas. With visibility into where teams were located, management could ensure that employees were safe and accounted for, even in isolated regions.

Client Feedback: “Better Times has significantly improved our time and attendance management. The system is easy to use, and the support team is always available when we need assistance. We can now manage our teams, even those working in remote areas, more efficiently and accurately. The payroll process has never been easier, and our HR team has seen a major reduction in errors. Better Times is an invaluable tool for us!” – Haygrove South Africa

Key Takeaways:

• Better Times streamlined time and attendance management, ensuring accurate and real-time data capture.
• The system improved payroll efficiency, reducing errors and saving time.
• Fraud prevention features ensured that data integrity was maintained.
• Remote teams were easily managed, even in isolated areas, contributing to improved safety and team visibility.
• Overall operational efficiency was enhanced, leading to better cost control and improved employee satisfaction.

Conclusion: Better Times proved to be an invaluable solution for Haygrove South Africa, transforming the way the company manages time and attendance across both manufacturing and installation teams. With its user-friendly interface, offline functionality, and easty payroll integration, Better Times helped Haygrove save time, reduce errors, and improve the efficiency of their operations. This comprehensive solution allowed Haygrove to focus on growing their business while ensuring fair and accurate time tracking for their employees.

Craig Fussell

Better Times

Founder & Director