Birmingham Airport Authority

Business Overview

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport is Alabama’s largest airport serving the Greater Birmingham area and surrounding Southeastern cities.  Offering more than 160 arrivals and departures daily to major cities throughout the United States, Birmingham International ranks in the country’s top 75 airports in terms of passengers served annually, and is expected to serve more than 3 million travelers in 2009.

Challenges

The airport authority parking garage system had an antiquated mechanical time clock system that recorded the working hours of its employees.  When employees arrived to work, they punched into the clock with punch cards and punched out at the end of their shift.

Accessing useful data from the clock system was cumbersome.  Getting real time information on current work assignments took time, and generating reports for work scheduling, forecasting and budgeting had to be done manually.

The authority had also received disturbing information that some employees had punched the clock for others, making it appear that their co-workers were on the job when in fact, they were not.

Solution

Talent Tree implemented its TalentPort Technology with the Versa Clock and Camera System.  The technology helps the authority manage business 24/7 with real time information on the work environment.

Outcome

The Airport Authority was instantly pleased when it got real time access to information.  It was also impressed with the flexibility of the technology.  With the Versa Clock and Camera System, managers had real time head count reports.  They were secure knowing they had accurate information on who was on the job at all times.

Employees punched in to a real time system and the camera system showed who was in the work environment.  This assured management that employees assigned to work were on the job; it also created a safe and secure environment that could be monitored 24/7.

Daily forecasting reports are now generated through the system, giving management easily- accessed data for daily, weekly and annual spending reporting as well as real-time human capital reporting.

O’Neal Steel, Inc.

Business Overview

O’Neal Steel is the largest family-owned full-line metals service center in the United States with more than $2.3 billion in annual sales.  Founded in Birmingham, Alabama in 1921 by Kirkman O’Neal, it operates today from 70 locations in North America, Europe and Asia.

O’Neal’s customers are in aerospace and other high-performance metals markets.  The company’s products include carbon, stainless and alloy steel, aluminum, pipe, tubing, expanded metal and bar grating.  As the saying goes at O’Neal, “If we don’t have what you need on hand, we can get it.”

Challenges

O’Neal Steel had grown significantly over the years and by late 2007 it had operations in 30 work site locations across the United States.  The company needed to develop standardized processes and procedures to increase the effectiveness of its operations, gain more efficiencies and  reduce costs.

At the time, every one of its work sites was operating independently.  Each office had its own staffing suppliers and ordering processes,  and billing rates differed widely.  Without a staffing model, there were no standardized job descriptions or best practices to guide work force decisions.  In some cases, employees worked in temporary positions for years when they should have been converted to permanent, full-time status.  The amount of time it took to bring on supplemental staff varied widely and turnover rates were inconsistent.

Solution

Talent Tree brought two technological solutions to O’Neal to help the company take control of its work force management needs.  We introduced our Talent Management Solution (TMS) to address their operational needs and implemented our Dashboard technology solutions to capture information critical to understanding what was happening in each of the company’s 30 locations.  Both technologies provided significant enhancements in the company’s ability to generate reports related to work force management issues.

Talent Management Solution (TMS) – This technology addresses all of the logistics of hiring and managing a work force.  The on-line system makes it possible to post job openings, review applicants, hire employees and track employee work times.  It is an ideal tool for large companies with multiple locations.   Additional benefits brought by TMS include:

• Structured reporting and approval hierarchies
• Invoice reconciliation
• Archived records
• Cost control while managing multiple vendors

Dashboards – This technology gives an employer an accurate, real time picture of what is happening with its work force.  Weekly, monthly and annual spending information is readily available as is information on open positions, turnover and length of time it takes to hire.  The customized reporting capability of this technology gives insight to real time events and trends, information that helps employers make decisions that are timely and smart.

Outcome

Talent Management Solution (TMS) was the complete package that O’Neal needed to manage its work force effectively.  Since its implementation the company has seen significant cost savings.   In one location alone, the company reduced its work force management costs by 30 percent.

The implementation of Dashboards has given O’Neal an accurate picture of its work force activities.  It now can view information on a comprehensive, corporate-wide level as well as a detailed site-by-site perspective.   The work force spend is monitored closely and the company is getting invaluable information on turnover and other employee issues that affect overall performance.

The implementation of the TMS and Dashboard technologies transformed O’Neal’s ability to manage its work force.  Benefits of the systems include the following:

• The company has a centralized, consistent staffing model that governs its human resources processes and procedures in all locations across the country.
• The company has cut down the number of staffing suppliers to a more manageable level, and the costs associated with multiple vendors are being carefully monitored and controlled
• All orders for supplemental staff go through a central portal so the company has a total picture of its staffing activities
• The company has standardized job descriptions, titles and pay scales for every position in the work force
• The hiring process is now supported with a streamlined, information-rich system that scores candidates according to job descriptions and standardized requirements
• The company is getting higher quality employees due to improvements in the hiring process
• The company has a consolidated invoice system, improving responsiveness to vendors and saving invaluable time once spent on managing invoices independently
• Widely fluctuating bill rates have been replaced by consistency across the organization
• The company is gaining insight to employee turnover and its causes, information that helps identify training and coaching needs
• Real-time accurate reports are generated on time worked and absenteeism
• The company enjoys an enhanced reporting capability that includes the ability to forecast its spending across the country and in individual locations

Client Name

ThinOps Communications LLC

Business Overview

ThinOps Communications is a leading global business outsourcing (BPO) company that provides a full range of outsourced front- and back-office solutions to a select group of Fortune 100 clients.  Providing cost effective solutions for ever-changing customer demands, ThinOps’ services include innovative and strategic customer relationship management, 24/7 back-office technology, order entry, post-sales support and more.  Key to its success is the professionalism and enthusiasm of its employees who provide service that looks and feels like the internal marketing operations of ThinOps’ clients.

Challenges

A young company with a rapidly expanding customer base, ThinOps turned to Talent Tree to solve two important challenges:

• The company needed an automated way to capture its training activities and costs.  Without such a system, supervisors couldn’t see if trainees were getting to class on time and staying for the duration.  ThinOps needed to be sure employees were getting the training they needed to uphold the company’s promise of professionalism.  ThinOps also needed to be sure that the client training dollars were meticulously spent.
• ThinOps needed a real-time picture of activity on the call center floor.  A visual tool that showed real-time production would help both managers and employees measure and interpret activity in a timely manner. 

Solution(s)

Talent Time – This web-based electronic time system requires ThinOps trainees to log in and out of their respective training programs by clicking on a training icon and entering unique login and password information.  It also allows supervisors to view trainee activity in real time.

Reader Board – Talent Tree used its Dashboard technology to create a customized reader board that showed the real time production activity of every associate.  Results are displayed on flat screen TVs located throughout the call center.

Outcome

With Talent Time, ThinOps got the information it needed to manage training effectively.  Supervisors now authorize training time for designated employees through a centralized system.  They know when an employee begins and ends a training session and they can see trainee progress in real time through training modules.

Training activities are also documented and archived for research and reporting purposes.  If a client has any questions regarding ThinOps training programs, the information is readily available.

The custom reader boards Talent Tree developed through its Dashboard technology transformed the ThinOps call center immediately, injecting energy and accountability into the work day.  The brightly lit TV screens installed throughout the call center project information that helps supervisors manage work flow.  Employees are motivated and engage in healthy competition as they strive to meet production goals.  Individuals who generate sales through customer interaction are instantly congratulated on their success and collective achievements are celebrated when they happen.  Likewise, the information acts as a catalyst when an employee is challenged by performance issues.  In such cases, supervisors are able to step in proactively with coaching or additional training.