Recovering 18 hours per week in a production company HR department
We replaced paper attendance lists with a proximity system and integrated it with the HR portal. Employees check their own vacation status.
StalMet Konstrukcje from Niepołomice employs 84 people. Every morning, the HR manager spent over 3 hours manually re-typing data from paper attendance lists into Excel. We implemented a simple proximity system that calculates work time for her.
The challenge
In March 2024, StalMet had a significant mess with vacations. Employees were constantly knocking on the HR office door to ask how many days off they had left. The HR manager, Mrs. Grażyna, had to interrupt her work, search through binders, and calculate it manually with a calculator.
On Monday mornings, a queue of 7-9 people with paper requests would form at the door. Errors in re-typing overtime hours occurred an average of 4 times a month. This generated tension during payroll and forced tiring corrections in the payroll system. The company was losing time on arguments over a 15-minute delay instead of focusing on welding structures.
Our approach
Our team (3 people) started with a site visit to the production hall in Niepołomice. We checked where best to mount the terminals to avoid blocking the passage during the 6:00 AM shift change. We chose two points at the main entrance and one additional in the dining area.
For the first 11 days, we tested the system in parallel with paper so people could get used to tapping their fobs. Marcin from Wawel Solutions Group trained the foremen on how to independently correct errors in the system. This was crucial because the foreman knows best if someone was late due to a machine failure or simply overslept. We count facts, not promises, so we chose simple devices without unnecessary gadgets.
The solution
We installed 3 proximity terminals resistant to dust and grease. Every employee received a durable RFID fob instead of a card, as it is harder to break in a work pants pocket. We also launched the so-called HR Kiosk – a standard tablet in the canteen with our app.
Now, after tapping the fob, everyone sees their current vacation status and can send a request for time off with one click. Data flows directly to the payroll program. The system calculates night and Saturday bonuses according to rules established with the owner. Everything works without HR's manual involvement, and the binder with attendance lists has gone to the archives.
Results
HR recovered exactly 18.4 hours in every working week. There are no more queues at the office door, and the number of mistakes in payroll dropped to zero. Employees are calmer because they see their work time on the tablet during every breakfast break.
Timeline
-
March 2024Process audit and site visit at the hall in Niepołomice
-
April 2024Installation of 3 terminals and distribution of fobs to employees
-
May 2024Foreman training and full paper shutdown
"Honestly, I was afraid the guys on the floor would complain about these fobs. It turned out they prefer this to searching for a pen at the security gate. HR finally has order and no one is shouting about miscalculated night shifts."