IWS Digitally Transforms Scheduling and Time & Attendance with WorkForce Software

Founded in 2009, IWS is an Australian-owned and operated company providing a service-based solution for clients to outsource their scheduling, timesheet and attendance, payroll and bookkeeping needs.

With origins in the franchise sector, the company has expanded to retail, hospitality, health and fitness, and other sectors with high numbers of deskless workers that rely on casual, shift-based labour. Their clients in Australia and New Zealand include Subway, Nike, Laser Clinics and Pizza Hut.

“There are no other companies out there that do what we do,” says Rob Dryden, CEO of IWS. “There are many different scheduling software, lots of payroll outsourcing companies, thousands of bookkeepers—we’re unique because we bring all of that together. Our customers have a central point of contact that they can call if they have a problem with their scheduling system, or they’ve got a payroll query, or they’ve got an accounting or bookkeeping question. So, that’s our key value prop, if you like.”

The Challenge

Many franchises in Australia and New Zealand relied on inefficient processes like building, managing, and interpreting timesheets and data in Excel, and entering pay rules and awards manually into payroll systems—creating extra work and exposing businesses to potential payroll and compliance errors.

The Solution

The Outcomes

Proven Reduction in Labour Costs

Partnering with WorkForce Software, IWS offers its clients greater visibility into employee resources, enabling greater control of labour costs. When IWS first rolled out the WorkForce Suite and integrated it with payroll, their return on investment was a 5% savings on labour costs in the first 12 months.

“We see a lot of customers save on labour cost, just by paying people what they actually work, instead of being paid for what they were scheduled to do,” Dryden says.

Simplicity & Scalability

IWS continues to grow from a small business in 2007 to a national organisation in 2021—and the WorkForce Suite has scaled alongside IWS’s business growth. One key customer in the quick service restaurants sector expanded from four stores to 180 stores in less than ten years, and another big-brand retailer grew from ten stores to 50 in eight years.

“When customers open a new shop, it’s really easy for us to add them into the WorkForce Software solution and all of a sudden, they’re up and scheduling straight away,” says Dryden. “When our customer logs into their account they have complete visibility over every single one of their stores. They can see every single one of their employees—who’s scheduled when, who’s clocked in late, who’s clocked out early, who’s getting overtime, who’s being paid what rates.”

Successful Partnership

WorkForce Software’s local presence in Australia and New Zealand was a significant reason IWS chose WorkForce Software as their partner. IWS values the knowledge and expertise that local account management teams and developers can offer. Queries are addressed quickly, and the implementation of new systems and updates are deployed effectively.

“Our team works really closely with their support team,” Dryden says. “They’re not just a big US-based company that don’t have a presence here. We really like that they’re based here in the region, they’ve got a local development team, a local Account Management team, a local support team—that stuff’s really important to help facilitate responsiveness to issues, to help deploy and implement the system effectively.”