Time spent for administrative tasks cut in half. With HRlab.
Since its founding in 2006, Löwenstark Digital Group GmbH has evolved into a corporate group with various subsidiaries. What is special about this setup: Although we consist of multiple entities, we consider ourselves as one company and collaborate collectively to deliver digital solutions to our clients.
230 Employees
4 Locations
Marketing Agency
About Loewenstark
Originally, we started in the field of online marketing and SEO optimization. Over the years, our company portfolio has expanded to include topics such as web development, performance marketing, reputation management, content marketing, and much more.
While home office was used as an option before the pandemic, over the past two years, a new remote culture has been established. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that we also hire colleagues who work exclusively from home. Currently, we employ around 230 employees, with about 80 colleagues working entirely in a home office setup.
Our company structure inherently required a high tool flexibility and evaluation opportunities across departments and locations, which HRlab was able to meet.
The Challenge
Why did you look for an HR software?
When we started searching for an HR software, Löwenstark was organized in a total of 10 LLCs. Additionally, we used two isolated solutions that were not compatible with each other.
The result: Manual and repetitive maintenance of all employees across the different entities. Simply creating a new employee in all relevant tools took about 45 minutes of administrative effort. Moreover, some evaluations proved complex to conduct.
We also experienced rapid growth at that time. Our new remote culture naturally came with a wide variety of industry experts to hire, as we were not limited to a specific location in talent acquisition. At the same time, it brought entirely new challenges in terms of successful employee management.
Did you try other solutions before turning to HRlab?
Before we started searching for an HR software, we initially tried to use Excel to manage HR tasks. However, each reporting came with the need to correct errors from previous reports.
To provide some context, we started searching for an HR tool during the peak of the pandemic. This also made the topic of personnel costs a significant concern.
At the same time, our core business involves expanding our services continuously. Therefore, we had to take a decision: hire more staff or effectively optimize our daily HR processes to support our growth in a sustainable manner.
Why did you choose HRlab?
HRlab was able to provide the flexibility we needed. Another very important aspect in our decision-making process was an efficient communication with DATEV. As well as the integration with our self-developed CRM system. These factors alone eliminated several hr-software providers right from the start. Transparency and automated processes were also high on our priority list.
Looking at our company growth, HRlab's flexible pricing was further a decisive factor. We also felt that HRlab simply offered the best fit for a long-term partnership and competent support.
And it was reassuring to see that one missing functionality, which was important to us, was implemented based on our needs and interfaces were tailored to our requirements.
The Solution
How did the implementation process go?
As promised, the implementation of HRlab was finalized within three months. Factors that helped a speedy implementation process: the fact that our internal master data, i.e., the personnel records, were already largely digitized. A well-established internal know-how on how to transfer data into the system. And regular meetings plus the availability for quick inquiries. All of the above ensured a smooth and well-structured rollout of HRlab.
Did you face challenges? How were they resolved?
As mentioned earlier, HRlab built a new interface according specifically to our requirements. The few technical challenges that came up in the process were actually quickly resolved thanks to a direct and solution-oriented communication.
Looking back, there were only 1-2 minor issues, such as when creating companies. At that time, there was no copy function for different locations. Therefore, the permission had to be manually assigned for each location. However, this has been addressed since, and all upcoming companies can look forward to this improvement.
Any feature you benefit from daily?
The data analysis and Flex-Reporting are incredibly helpful for both reviewing past developments and creating forecasts.
Moreover, the transparency in the personnel files is invaluable. One small but very helpful feature is the ability to switch flexibly between employees within the personnel files. This greatly simplifies tasks, such as comparing different salary histories.
Additionally, the task management is heavily utilized, as we have set up individualized workflows from the very beginning. For instance, we have workflows for regular feedback conversations, where both managers and employees are automatically reminded from within the system to prepare accordingly.
Open feature requests?
A small improvement suggestion from us: after filtering by department and then accessing individual employees, the applied filter is lost when navigating back to the overview. We do have a workaround, but it would be more convenient if set filters remained persistent. Another point to consider is perhaps providing an optimized overview of each employee's gross salary for a given month.
High flexibility & fair pricing
Efficient & tailored interfaces
Capable & trusting cooperation
Final Thoughts
Since implementing HRlab we benefit from significantly higher transparency across all departments and responsibilities. Additionally, with each new employee onboarding, we consistently find that the system is very logically structured and intuitive to use.
Our administrative, time-heavy workload has drastically reduced because all data and reports are reliably stored in one place and accessible with only one click. As a result, we work more efficiently and have the confidence of accurate data. For example, with HRlab, we need half the time for the whole payroll process for almost twice as many employees compared to before.
One last point: even after the implementation, we highly appreciate the regular communication and support from HRlab. The quick response to inquiries and the implementation of our feedback into new features is very motivating. The collaboration truly feels like a strong partnership.