How Hypertherm consolidated payroll providers and gained peace of mind

As long as employees are getting paid, companies can be reluctant to change payroll processes. That is, until the risks become impossible to ignore.

At Hypertherm Associates — a U.S.-based manufacturer of industrial cutting solutions and software — managing payroll for a global workforce was a complicated, manual task that involved significant regional challenges. Almost every country where Hypertherm operated had its own payroll provider, and juggling various systems and relationships was inefficient and increased the risk of human error.

The process in each country involved pulling information from various emails and spreadsheets, inputting it into different systems for pay run approvals, and reviewing the outputs to verify everything was correct.

Meanwhile, approvers had to navigate different workflows, which created more complexity and increased the chances of late payments. In one case, the team even had to email individual payslips one by one.

Overcoming these challenges meant standardizing all non-U.S. payroll operations.

This wasn't the first time Hypertherm tried to consolidate payroll. They previously engaged another payroll provider across their European locations, but their services and support fell short.

This time, Hypertherm turned to Safeguard Pay. The platform offered:

1- Seamless, verified Workday integrations to increase automation and eliminate manual work

2- A breadth of services and worldwide reach to help fix global challenges

3- Expertise with global payroll complexity and regulations to ensure compliance

Safeguard Pay was acquired by Deel, exposing Hypertherm to a larger global presence, services from an extensive product suite, and access to 24/7/365 customer service.

Since partnering with Deel, Hypertherm’s payroll efficiency has improved dramatically. With increased standardization, they've eliminated the need for regional teams' involvement, freeing up resources for more value-added tasks. They've also reduced the risk of human error and improved the accuracy of each payroll run.

“We have not missed a single payroll cycle since moving to Deel, and the global payroll team can now focus on improving payroll results.” —Rob Starkey, Corporate Controller and Treasurer at Hypertherm Associates.

Workday integrations have been another significant time saver. Deel automates data transfer between Workday and Hypertherm’s payroll systems, so associates no longer have to extract reports or reformat information in Excel. Data is more accurate than before, and the team spends more time analyzing and assessing data rather than inputting it into systems.

Hypertherm's payroll process is miles away from the chaotic system it once was. Using Deel, Hypertherm got the streamlined practices they'd always wanted, facilitating easier procedures and allowing the company to easily expand into new regions. The ability to scale without growing the payroll team is invaluable to their global operations. Partnering with Deel wasn’t just the right decision — it was the only decision.