12 Oaks Parking scales operations with better scheduling and time tracking

OVERVIEW

Back in 2017, Jeremy Scott left a multinational parking company with a single purpose: to rebuild.

He wanted to run his own business, one that was family owned, and one that genuinely cared about its clients. With this vision, he started 12 Oaks Parking in Atlanta, Georgia with only a handful of locations. Five years later, the parking services company has now expanded to 100 locations across the United States and employs over 200 valued team members.

Providing a wide range of vehicle-related services including valet parking, garage management, shuttling, and event parking enforcement, 12 Oaks firmly believes it’s their determined focus on superior customer service that sets them apart.

“We're going to solve any problem you have, and we're going to figure out the answer,” says Jeremy, now CEO of the company. “You're not just a number to us - as a customer, you're extraordinarily important.”

CHALLENGE

As 12 Oaks entered more states, they quickly realized their method for scheduling and tracking employee time was not sustainable. Inefficiencies were emerging, putting customer satisfaction at risk. “We knew that as we expanded we had to find a better solution,” reflects Jeremy. “We saw the growth coming.”

12 Oaks' previous system did not support multiple time zones. Because of this, upper management was forced to create multiple accounts and juggle each one separately, severely limiting visibility into scheduling and attendance.

“If you were trying to look at multiple accounts you had to log out and log into another account just to pull a report, look at scheduling, or look at labor costs,” says Cliff Dugan, Director of Operations.

But a decentralized system was not the only issue 12 Oaks faced. Their scheduling lacked flexibility and customization, meaning they couldn’t comply with break laws in California, and they couldn’t assign pay rates by team. They also suffered from persistent timesheet errors that resulted in slower admin time, inaccurate payroll, and unhappy team members.

SOLUTION

12 Oaks needed an all-in-one workforce management system that would be scalable and flexible enough to sustain future growth and ensure customer satisfaction. Specifically, they required robust capability for managing things like break rules, timesheet edits, and alternative pay rates.

Most importantly, 12 Oaks wanted a system that prioritized frontline ease of use. “Whether it be clocking-in, approving timesheets, or setting schedules, if the software doesn’t work for employees and managers, it doesn’t work for me, no matter how easy it is on the back end,” says Cliff.

With Workforce.com, 12 Oaks found the partner they needed. “It all boiled down to the flexibility and ease of use. Other platforms just didn’t have the flexibility we needed,” says Cliff.

RESULTS

12 Oaks moved all shift scheduling and time tracking onto Workforce.com’s cloud-based system. An extensive user hierarchy keeps employee information organized between locations, while a highly customizable time clock app lets 12 Oaks capture clock-ins, break times, and alternating pay rates at every location. Here are some of the results 12 Oaks has seen with Workforce.com:

Multiple locations in a single system

Unlike with their previous system, schedules and timesheets are no longer siloed in separate accounts between time zones. Now, Cliff can access all locations from a single Workforce.com account, making it easier to pull reports, approve timesheets, and view labor costs.

“The beauty of Workforce.com is that with each location you select a time zone - the schedules then show up reflecting that time,” says Cliff.

Faster payroll with fewer errors

With a custom payroll export, timesheet auto-approvals, and daily timesheet reviews, Workforce.com catches wage and hour errors before they hit payroll, cutting processing time in half and preventing tedious retro pay calculations.

“We worked with our current HCM, to figure out what data we needed,” says Cliff. “We then brought that to Workforce.com and they helped us build the export. Now we're able to account for things like cash tips received, PTO, or even California meal penalties.”

Rapid user adoption

Above all else, 12 Oaks chose Workforce.com for its straightforward interface. Designed with hourly employees in mind, users began checking schedules, clocking-in, and requesting leave over the app in no time following implementation.

“When we saw how user-friendly and flexible Workforce.com was, that's when we knew we had a good system - it’s so easy out in the field,” reflects Cliff.

Compliance with California break laws

12 Oaks now has the capability to handle complicated meal and rest break rules in California. “We can set up all the parameters that are required for shifts over five hours,” says Cliff.

Managers can automatically populate schedules with compliant breaks, and employees can record their breaks via the Workforce.com timeclock app. All break times and missed meal break premiums are reflected on timesheets come payroll.

Flexible pay rates between teams

Management can assign pay rates to specific teams in Workforce.com, meaning employees automatically earn the right amount based on where they work for the day - no more going line by line figuring out pay rates at the end of the pay period.

“The fact that we are able to set up different pay rates at different locations for specific employees means their pay is always correct,” says Cliff. “This cuts out a ton of questions down the road.”

Even through all their success, the people at 12 Oaks remain focused on their original vision: being family-run and customer driven. To achieve this vision, they have Workforce.com by their side to take care of the basics.

“We made the decision to get a software that was going to allow us to be scalable,” says Jeremy. “We're in the right place now with our system.”