Belgium Airport Services trusts in SD Worx as co-pilot

• … has far fewer errors and issues when it comes to paying their employees;
• … gains time to spend on strategic HR projects;
• … can be assured they will have enough staff to handle the workload at any moment;
• … recruits motivated and skilled temporary workers.

Despite the global economy slowing down in 2019, Liège Airport set a record, processing over 900,000 tonnes of transported goods. Belgium Airport Services, one of the airport’s 65 logistics providers, contributed significantly to this achievement, backed by both SD Worx People Solutions and SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions.

Together from take-off

When Belgium Airport Services was established in 2018, the company immediately chose SD Worx as its payroll partner. HR Manager Catherine Fontaine joined the company in 2019: “Thanks to having SD Worx by our side, we also levelled up in terms of professionalism.”

Spot-on payslips

Just like in most new organisations, not all processes run smoothly from the start. Even less often are they digitalised from the very beginning. Catherine Fontaine: “Up until last year, our tools for time registration were … a pen and a piece of paper. Our cargo workers had to fill in themselves what times they started and when they ended their days. Every month, we had trouble paying our people correctly, just because our timetables didn’t match the information in their time sheets, which led to errors, recalculations and confusion.”

Marie Noël is the payroll consultant at the Liège office of SD Worx and lead payroll consultant for Belgium Airport Services: “We’d encountered a similar problem with another customer and suggested Protime, our time registration and tracking tool, to Belgium Airport Services. Catherine invited me and a Protime colleague to present the solution and was immediately convinced by the system.”

“Protime has really helped us become more efficient and professional. We put in the timetables and the workers have to badge in at the start and end of their workdays and pauses”, Catherine Fontaine explains. “Now, there’s no more room for discussion or doubt and we have far fewer errors in our payroll. It’s just a matter of downloading the data from Protime and uploading it again into payroll and voilà. What’s more, instead of having to find solutions to these issues, I now have more time to dedicate to my other HR projects.”

“We wanted the hours actually worked to correspond perfectly with the coded hours – not only for us to save time, but also to make sure it was clear for all employees. With Protime in place, we can now guarantee that.

Out with the old, in with the new

As a cargo services provider, the workload of the Belgium Airport Services team varies from week to week. Catherine Fontaine: “In the course of a year, there are a few slow periods, with Chinese New Year a good example. Our biggest customer is Chinese, so during that time, our workload reduces significantly. At other times, though, it’s just plane after plane that needs to be loaded or unloaded. That’s why we also rely on temporary workers.”

The cargo handler signed a contract with another HR company to attract and manage temporary workers, with varying degrees of success. Catherine Fontaine explains: “The other provider was very reactive and waited for us to ask for a solution. In short, I didn’t feel like we were getting the service we deserved.”

Marie and her team heard about the issues with finding enough temporary workers and suggested that Catherine meet the newest member of the family, SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions.

Sandrine Flusin, regional director at SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions, gave the presentation and was convinced they had won over Catherine and Belgium Airport Services. “We had great interaction during the presentation, but also before and after, while chatting and getting to know each other. Views and personalities just matched.”

Belgium Airport Services started working with SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions at the end of October 2019.

Thorough pre-screening

“At SD Worx, we go further than just inviting candidates to our offices, interviewing them and then sending them through to the company”, Sandrine Flusin explains. “No, we only want candidates who truly match the culture and way of working at Belgian Airport Services. That benefits both the company and the applicant.”

In order to enable this matchmaking, Sandrine and her team visited Belgium Airport Services, got a tour and explanation of what has to be done, asked about work ethics and values, etc. With that information, they set up a company profile for Belgium Airport Services on their Apply tool. Sandrine Flusin: “Via this profile, an applicant sees a short video about what it’s like to work at the company they are applying to and what their values are. This helps candidates make the right choice, saving time for the HR manager in terms of ensuring high-quality job interviews.”

Catherine Fontaine: “I can only confirm. We see that temporary workers recruited now are really motivated and eager to learn and help.”

Investing in training for temporary staff

Besides the company profile,SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions is investing in a logistics training programme for temporary workers. “For a company like Belgium Airport Services where the workload is more fluid and where, at certain times, there is no need for temporary workers, retention is very difficult. As SD Worx, we are investing in a series of training courses that the temps can follow when business is slow. This gives them the chance to improve their knowhow and get extra certifications. With this initiative, we want to bind those temporary workers to us and to Belgium Airport Services.”

This move was welcomed by Catherine Fontaine: “Due to the frequent changes in workload, we used to see lots of new faces, every time a new group of temporary works came in. This was already less the case when we started working with SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions and I’m certain this training initiative will help retention even more. Thanks to SD Worx’s dedication, we are able to position ourselves as an attractive employer in what’s no doubt a very hard line of work.”

At SD Worx, we put the success of organisations first by supporting them and their employees with our solutions at every possible key moment. Our goal is to cover the entire employee journey, from talent attraction, reward policy and payroll to talent development. A smooth collaboration between SD Worx People Solutions and SD Worx Staffing & Career Solutions is key to reaching that objective.

By making full use of our people solutions, both employees and organisations are guaranteed to achieve better results. We contribute to the high performance of an organisation through technology, outsourcing, extensive expertise and relevant data insights.