Dozens of job offers can be found on Polbank’s website. The bank recruits both experienced professionals and young people starting their careers. A large part of the tasks of the human capital management team are recruitment processes, which are a priority at this stage of the company’s development. Also, HR administration is therefore very labor-intensive – it is estimated that it involves nearly half of the resources of HR specialists.
This is a necessary cost at the stage of building human resources potential, but in a company like Polbank, which has ambitions to strengthen its market position also through a modern human resources policy, such an approach in the long term must change. Polbank’s managers realize that in the next stage of the company’s development, the accents should be shifted to achieving strategic goals and performance management. One way to achieve this is to outsource payroll processes.
The bank has been using payroll outsourcing since the beginning of its operations in Poland. This largely relieves the burden on the HR department. However, a potential threat was that the payroll application was owned by a vendor, which in Polbank’s view made it too dependent on the service provider. Therefore, the decision was made to change the strategy and the BPO provider.
It was decided to implement an IT system to support modern human capital management. The choice fell on the SAP HR system. The arguments in favor of it were the recognition it enjoys in the market (the world’s largest companies use it), the manufacturer’s guarantee of support, the security provided by monthly updates, including new functionalities and adapting the solution to changing labor and financial laws.
A new system and a new payroll BPO service provider is a big change, so Polbank, wanting to minimize risk, decided that all the necessary services: payroll calculation, SAP HR application service, SAP HR administration and IT hosting should be carried out by as few providers as possible. Other expectations of the service provider included security guarantees both related to compliance with legal requirements and meeting the requirements of the ISO 27001-compliant Information Security Management System. In addition, direct access to Polbank’s required reports and information was also a condition.
Polbank also expected an individual approach from the provider and flexibility in matching the offer to expectations. BCC’s comprehensive offer proved to be the optimal solution.
Step one – SAP HR implementation
The implementation of the SAP HR system covered the functional scope of the system necessary for basic HR and payroll processes: Organization Management, HR Administration, Payroll Settlement and Time Management. The implementation project was carried out by BCC consultants, who have extensive experience in such projects. External Services employees were also involved in the work, in order to be able to take over the payroll service efficiently and at no additional cost to the client.
HR administration, on the other hand, is on Polbank’s side and also takes place in SAP HR. The company has gained a state-of-the-art system that provides direct access to up-to-date data and offers extensive reporting capabilities, including ad hoc reporting. Both the data and the solution itself are owned by the bank and can be freely developed with new functionalities and applications.
Agnieszka Kutniewska, Team Manager at Polbank EFG’s HR Administration and Payroll Office, who participated in the system’s conception during the implementation and is now its key user, responsible for HR administration, emphasizes: “Previously, we used an outsourced SAP HR system in HR administration. So we knew its capabilities, but we couldn’t quite use them. The previous supplier imposed a certain template on us – a defined system structure that we were not able to adapt to our requirements. Now we finally have a solution that is exactly tailored to our needs and will grow with our company."
Agnieszka Kutniewska, Team Manager at the HR and Payroll Administration Office of Polbank EFG
Now we finally have a solution that is exactly tailored to our needs and will grow with our company
This, by the way, is already happening. Polbank recently launched a project to launch the tool All for One EasyReminder, which allows you to define and send notifications of HR events via e-mail and/or SMS, based on SAP HR (e.g., scheduled training, scheduled attendance or absence, employee evaluations, delivery of requests and applications, company events, etc.). The bank also has further plans to develop the system with functionalities to support organizational performance management.
“In the financial industry, the most important systems are those that support us in the delivery of banking services. The so-called back office systems, which are used to manage the organization, are of course important, but not critical to our business operations. That’s why, in the case of the SAP HR solution, the wide range of outsourcing services was a great asset to us. We appreciate SAP as a stable solution, used in the largest organizations. However, from the point of view of security and independence, we assess that one of the most important benefits we gained from the implementation is having our own system to handle HR processes. This has made us independent of the BPO provider. Previously, it was the BPO provider that lent us its solution for payroll processes. Now it’s the other way around, External Services performs the service on our system, which is besides used for other HR tasks." – Malgorzata Igras-Tomczak, Director of Human Resources Management at Polbank EFG, concludes.
Step two – we calculate payroll in SAP
External Services has been handling payroll at Polbank EFG SA since January 2010. In October 2010, the payroll service was expanded to include employees of EFG Poldistribution. This now totals more than 3,100 people.
In general, the scope of cooperation covers the payroll process implemented in the SAP system: from preparation of payrolls, pay slips to generation of salary transfers. External Services is also responsible for contacts with the US, Social Security, and PFRON.
The scope of cooperation with these institutions has been defined quite broadly. About Social Security, it includes, among other things, the preparation of documents providing the basis for the payment of benefits, including, among others, ZUS Z 3 and ZUS Z 3 A; registering and de-registering employees with Social Security, as well as registering changes and sending them to Social Security; preparing and sending settlement declarations (DRA, RCA, RSA, RZA) to Social Security; registering and de-registering contractors with Social Security on the basis of the list provided by Polbank.
External Services also prepares PIT-11 income information, PIT-40 and PIT 4R annual tax returns; verifies the correctness of calculated income in PIT-11 and PIT-40 and PIT 4 R returns, ensures that the data entered for US purposes is correct, and makes any corrections.
At Polbank’s request, additional reports and payroll statements are prepared, in addition to the payroll register, statements of variable components, transfers, bank accounts, statements of bailiff deductions are prepared. An audit of the correctness of payroll calculation is performed periodically.
The form of documents exchanged between Polbank and External Services is determined by the terms of the contract. For example, the payroll prepared at ES bears the signatures of authorized External Services specialists. The pay slips that employees receive comply with the requirements of the Social Security RMUA and are in the form of secure (secret) envelopes. Employment certificates are also prepared at the request of bank employees.
The generation and execution of salary transfers is the responsibility of ES. This is done from a special sub-account in Polbank’s bank account, credited with the appropriate amount before the payment day.
On the organizational side, currently the coordination of the entire payroll service process is handled by designated individuals, both on the Polbank and External Services sides. At Polbank, a payroll coordinator prepares the necessary data for calculating salaries, while another person acts as an intermediary between the service provider and employees who, for example, need a salary certificate. At ES, designated coordinators are responsible for handling the bank.
Due to the number of employees, but mainly due to safety rules, this role is performed by two people, using also, if necessary, the help of other specialists. The service provider guarantees the implementation of the service regardless of the circumstances, and this means that vacations or sick leaves of payroll specialists in External cannot affect the quality or timeliness of the service.
In addition to the classic set of tasks related to payroll settlement, ES specialists are also involved in the development and creation of data in the types of information in SAP affecting settlement and regarding absences, as well as participating in the employee suspension process.
This is an additional, but not the only, benefit of using a payroll service and implementing and supporting an SAP HR system with a single provider.
Step three – “unmanned system"
As part of External Services, specialists from BCC (currently All for One Poland) are also responsible for the administration of the SAP system, which is located at the BCC Outsourcing Center. This solution allowed Polbank to minimize the risks associated with systems unavailability, excessive waiting time for updates, lack of resources or technical support in case of system malfunction.
As Dariusz Osiak, Head of HR Administration and Payroll in the Human Resources Management Division at Polbank EFG, points out: “From the technical side, SAP HR is completely nonexistent for us. Servers, administrative work, ongoing maintenance of the system – all this is handled by the service provider. We get reports on work done or performance reports. As users, on the other hand, we are in contact with application service consultants, who are the first line of support for us and keep the system updated to changing legal requirements. In addition, as part of this service, we carry out development work to increase the efficiency of the system."
The application service is a remote assistance for users in solving problems that arise in the ongoing operation of the system. Experienced BCC service specialists are at the disposal of Polbank’s HR specialists on a daily basis, responding to requests registered in a special application, providing a single point of contact for the customer. Also, the response time is defined in the SLA contract, which is guaranteed by the highest global standards in the field of data security (Information Security Management System compliant with ISO 27001) and in the field of IT service management (IT Service Management System compliant with ISO 20000 and ITIL recommendations) applied at the BCC Outsourcing Center.
In addition, as part of the maintenance service, the SAP system is subjected to constant monitoring for possible errors, such as in the data entered by users, or in areas that may cause future problems in the operation of the system.
Outsourcing in HR – a strategic decision
Polbank has had a clearly planned HR strategy from the beginning of its operations on the Polish market. The main idea is to separate repetitive and time-consuming services that do not build the bank’s competitive advantage. Such services include payroll, which, with the ever-increasing number of employees, required more and more resources. The path Polbank has chosen is the right one – the company has been using External Services for more than two years, expanding the scope of cooperation to other companies.
Malgorzata Igras-Tomczak concludes: “We chose External Services’ payroll service because of its professionalism. In addition to qualified professional services, the company provides us with ongoing technological support, such as adapting the SAP HR system to changes in Polish law and our business requirements. Cooperation with a partner that offers comprehensive support for the HR area is time and cost optimization."