Caring for those who care the most

Rapid growth from aggressive merger and acquisition along with organic growth, resulted in this medical center growing beyond its original four walls and expanding into other locations in the United States and around the world. Leaders clearly understood that HR and payroll processes and systems – designed for a smaller local presence – needed a major update to support their aggressive growth strategy. HR support was out of date. The software needed an overhaul.

Medical center employees often just talked to a manager or visited the HR office to get their questions answered or benefits changed. Self-service was limited and not user-friendly. Many of the processes were manual, so services and interactions with employees were inconsistent. Caregivers working outside normal business hours found it difficult to get the support they needed. And when they did get support, they had to take valuable time away from patient care.

With new hospitals being acquired and joining the healthcare system’s growing national and international presence, it was time for an HR and payroll transformation, including a cloud-based software platform.

KPMG's team consolidated systems, centralized service delivery, and standardized business processes.

The result? This health system and its leaders now rely on an integrated HR and payroll infrastructure and strategy designed to scale with the organization’s growth, deliver reliable data quickly and seamlessly to leaders, and provide employees with an enhanced experience so they can focus their full attention on caring for patients in the communities they serve.

The project transformed the way employees interact with HR and payroll support through process updates and implementation of technologies and cloud-based Workday software that enable them to take care of business with mobile devices, through an online portal or by calling a central HR services group.

Leaders of the health system decided to transform its HR and payroll processes, including implementing a cloud-based Workday software platform.

KPMG created a team of professionals who quickly learned the organization’s culture and then worked shoulder-to shoulder with our client to assess the situation, identify the challenges and roadblocks that would hinder the company’s growth strategy, and define changes to the processes, software system, organizational structure, and shared services necessary to create a flexible structure that could support the aggressive plans.

We established guiding principles for the work, defined an end-to-end program design, created a target operating model, set key milestones, created a robust change-management plan, and then got to work implementing the transformation.

Next up? Continuing the implementation across the organization’s remaining back-office functions in financial and supply chain management.

Focus on business results, not technology

Keep the big picture in view. When undertaking a business transformation or technology implementation, make sure that the project will deliver business results and support your strategic goals.

Use leading practices

Others have been down this road before you. Take advantage of their experiences. Don’t just implement the same technology you used previously and don’t map out the journey by yourself. Engage a business partner with the experience and skills to help you move toward your goal efficiently and effectively.

Manage the change

Communicate the changes clearly and make sure employees understand how it will affect them. Align the change-management plan with your organization’s culture and values.