“We didn’t have a platform and I noticed it a lot when it came to absences. Now, with Factorial, employees simply submit a PTO request, and it automatically sends a notification to the manager for approval.”
Kimpton Hotel was the first boutique hotel and restaurant company in the United States. Since then, they’ve expanded globally, with over 55 destinations and a multicultural workforce. Handling critical HR tasks like approving PTO requests and recruiting new employees manually was labor-intensive and inefficient for their rapidly growing team. Lidia Balaña and David Cortiñas, Coordinator and Director of People & Culture, elaborated on how their document management and PTO processes drastically improved after implementing Factorial.
Kimpton’s challenges
“When Kimpton Vividora Barcelona opened, nothing was in place. It was the opening of a new hotel and we needed to set up the entire human resources system from scratch – assemble the teams, do the whole recruitment process, organize our data.”
They began Kimpton Vividora Barcelona with a small team and they were able to get by with only spreadsheets for scheduling, PTO requests, and recruitment. Eventually as they started to expand and grow, spreadsheets weren’t cutting it anymore. The system they had been relying on led to errors, inefficient time management, and didn’t meet the needs of their growing staff. Here are the key challenges David and Lidia highlighted.
Key challenges:
- Manual documentation: At the beginning, Kimpton didn’t utilize any software. Employees had to use Excel spreadsheets to request for time off. Afterwards, this manual request would go through three layers of approval – department heads, HR, and finally, the general manager. It was slow and labor intensive.
- Error-prone process: Kimpton’s use of spreadsheets and paperwork led to frequent mistakes. Especially as the workforce increased, the volume of requests and tasks increased causing mistakes to become more frequent.
- Multiple tools: They used different tools for each task—payroll, shift scheduling, time tracking, data management and document management. Utilizing multiple software platforms led to duplicated tasks, inefficiencies, and confusion. While their information was finally digitized, nothing was centralized, ultimately making their efforts counterproductive. With a growing workforce, they could no longer afford to spend time on redundant tasks.
- Restricted access to information: Employees didn’t have access to their PTO balances or an overview of schedules.This lack of transparency led to confusion and miscommunication
- Cluttered record-keeping: Using Google Drive and other digital platforms to store their important documents, contracts, and employee data was disorganized. Employees and managers spent unnecessary time looking to locate and access these documents.
- Difficulty handling expansion: As Kimpton expanded across multiple countries, staying organized with employee data became increasingly difficult. It also caused disjointed communication between teams from the lack of time tracking, scheduling transparency, and multi-step processes.
- Adding new team members: Kimpton relied on spreadsheets to conduct their recruitment process which prolonged the process. It lacked the urgency to find and hire the best candidates to join the team.
Factorial Solutions
“I had many tools—digital signature tools, time control tools, a history database, and a system—but nothing was integrated or unified. In the end, I realized I was losing a lot of time either duplicating information or completing the same steps to fill things out.”
Factorial eliminated Kimpton’s need for spreadsheets and relying on multiple platforms. Here’s how Factorial became Kimpton’s all-in-one business management software:
- Scalability: Factorial’s platform ensured that while David’s team grew, his HR workload would never. Processes that were previously done through spreadsheets like PTO requests were automated and streamlined. This freed up David’s time so he could focus on his team and finding the best talent to join his team, rather than focusing on administrative tasks.
- Automating approval workflows: Employees have more visibility into their PTO balance and can send requests directly to their managers. Once approved, company wide calendars will be updated to reflect the time off which provides all employees with greater visibility.
- Well-designed interface: David and his team found Factorial’s platform intuitive and user-friendly, allowing for easy use and quick adoption. Additionally, Factorial’s straightforward interface enabled the entire team to navigate through the platform without extensive training. This ease of use is what led David to choose Factorial as their all-in-one business management software.
- Quick adoption rate: Factorial emerged as the only option that met both needs, providing essential tools and a user-friendly experience. Although David looked into multiple tools, Factorial was the most practical option for him and his team ensuring seamless usage and implementation. He realized that out of the platforms he reviewed, Factorial was the only option where new team members could quickly understand and utilize its functions, from time tracking and payroll management to recruitment and performance reviews.
- Simple recruitment process: With the help of Factorial AI, Kimpton’s recruitment process drastically improved. Kimpton was able to find the best candidates for their team as Factorial centralizes all communication, scheduling, and documents for every stage of the hiring process.
Results with Factorial
“When I was searching for a solution, I evaluated 10 different tools. In the end, I chose Factorial because it was the most practical and user-friendly in the market. It needed to be a software that was useful for me and useful for my team, and that from a UX/UI perspective represented the innovation that Kimpton represents”
Factorial was a crucial tool for Kimpton as it improved their documentation processes, organized their hiring process, and aided them while they expanded their team. By consolidating these tasks into one platform, Kimpton’s manual business workload has been eliminated. Therefore, Kimpton can focus on providing their employees with tools and resources they need to continue to uphold premium services to their clients. Ultimately, Factorial proved to be an essential tool for Kimpton as they needed to focus on scaling their team.
- Recruitment: Factorial AI aided Kimpton throughout their recruitment process. This AI-driven process prioritizes candidates, centralized communication, and streamlined hiring workflows which accelerated recruitment efforts. This allowed David to find the best candidates quicker and ultimately, saving time spent reviewing resumes and applications.
- Document Management: All employee documents are securely stored and easily accessible. In addition, Kimpton can now request digital signatures from employees straight through the platform making it easy to gather documents for new hires.
- Time Tracking: Employees can clock-in/out through the mobile app or desktop version with geolocation enabled. Furthermore, scheduling is automated, reducing the time spent creating multiple schedules for their expanding team.
- Performance Reviews: Automated reminders, customizable evaluations, and detailed performance reports improved appraisal processes. With personalized and tailored questions, conducting smooth and effective performance reviews has become easier. As their team grew, this approach allowed more tenured members to take on greater responsibility.
