How a fast-growing van accessories manufacturer swapped last-minute firefighting for a payroll partnership built on care and attention.
Rhino Products designs and makes roof bars, racking, ladders and accessories for working vans across the UK. Over the last decade the business has grown fast, and its UK headcount has nearly doubled across several entities.
For Finance Manager Neil Clarke, all that growth puts payroll firmly in the spotlight. “Payroll is a very key part of that. Getting it correct and accurate first time.”
When the care went out of the service
Rhino has outsourced its payroll since 2017. For years it worked with a bureau that knew the business well. Then that bureau was bought by a much larger provider, and the service changed.
“It was quite clear that we’d become more of an income on a sheet rather than a group of people who needed their payroll caring for and looking after.”
Rhino does a lot of the groundwork itself. Neil’s team calculates salaries and overtime before anything goes to the processor, so they know exactly what should come out the other end. The new provider wasn’t checking what came out at all.
“In some cases we were getting to 10 versions. They were just throwing it in the system and sending it straight back to us. They clearly weren’t sense-checking it.”
These weren’t small slips either. Duplicated salaries meant one employee was suddenly down to be paid tens of thousands in a single month. The fact that such a glaring error wasn’t spotted showed that the checking was pretty much non-existent.
Neil changed his own processes to help, adding up to 90 minutes of extra prep every period, but this did nothing to improve the accuracy. All the versions and error-correcting meant that approval was sometimes only made minutes before the approval window closed, which caused a massive amount of stress for the Rhino Products team.
Coming back to people they know
Several of the Ascend team had looked after Rhino’s payroll at its original bureau. So when CEO Stewart Waddell got in touch, the decision was an easy one.
“They’d always been attentive. We never had too many issues with payroll. So it was quite an easy choice for us to think, let’s move back to someone we know and trust.”
A transition built on conversation
From the start, Neil noticed the difference. “Ascend were paying care and attention to what we were giving them. We were having feedback and conversations.”
Those conversations haven’t stopped. Neil and the Ascend team still catch up monthly on how payroll is running and how to make it even smoother on both sides.
“It’s about working in partnership,” Neil explained. ”That’s how Ascend has been standing out to me.”
Technology that does the job
Rhino Product’s payroll runs on Ascend’s Elementary platform, and Neil keeps his expectations refreshingly simple. “We just want a payroll system that works and people we can rely on.”
“ Our previous provider had many different reports, the majority of which we didn’t need. We want our payroll report each month, and Ascend produces one with more than enough detail for our analysis and reporting.”
The team worked with Rhino at go-live to set up the reports it needed, and the door’s open for more. With 190 employees, automated payslip notifications matter too. “If they don’t get told in the morning that there’s a payslip coming in, they start to worry.”
Always knowing who’s on your payroll
With the previous provider, if someone was off, nobody seemed to know who was handling Rhino’s payroll. At Ascend, Rhino has a dedicated processor backed by a team manager.
“I’ve never been in a position where I thought, I’ve got no idea who’s going to look at this for us today.”
When there has been a need to gain specialist advice, Neil is confident he will have access to the people he needs to speak to. “Replies come through quite readily, and information comes through when it’s requested.”
A partner that treats your problems as its own
Rhino Products is an owner-led business with a personal approach to the people it works with, and they look for the same values from their suppliers.
“I appreciate the attentiveness that everyone in the Ascend team has been giving us. It feels a lot more personal, which is important. It’s nice to work with a company that treats our problems as if they’re their own and looks to get them resolved as quickly as possible.”
If your payroll provider treats you like a revenue line rather than a partnership, it’s time for a change. Get in touch with the Ascend team and find out what a payroll partnership should feel like.
