Posts Tagged: Payroll

FYI / Payroll — No Comments
14
May 12

Victoria Day: Hail to the Queen!

By Spencer Yarnell, Head of Spreading the Herd Word

Cheers to the ole gal! She’s great ain’t she?

As you know the Victoria Day long weekend is fast approaching and this member of the IBEX Herd is looking to celebrate in style. Be that a lounging barbeque, an escape to the lake or all these things with the companionship of beverages.

But why do we celebrate? Besides the fact that this is one of the first long weekends where we can celebrate outside without being swaddled in pounds of coats and sweaters, it’s also a tip of the hat to Queen Victoria herself whose birthday was May 24th. Back in good ole 1901 when Queen Victoria passed, the British Empire declared by royal decree that May 24th be Empire Day – which in Canada came to be known as Victoria Day. The actual day of the holiday wasn’t set (there were a lot of royal decrees, tiresome stuff really) until 1953 when it became the first Monday before May 25th.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria photographed by Alexander Bassano (1882)

Victoria Day is a nationwide banking holiday which means all Monday payrolls will be moved to Friday, May 18th and as a consequence we ask that all input and numbers be in by Wednesday, May 16th to prevent finger wagging. Here at IBEX, we take our Queens and our holidays quite seriously, so you should know that our office will be closed on Monday, May 21st to allow the Herd some sober ruminations on the effects and consequences of monarchy. We’ll be back on Tuesday May 22nd at 8 AM.

The IBEX Herd won’t be alone in absconding from work seeing as most stores and retail in Manitoba will be closed since Victoria Day is a general holiday. That means you can all join us in the fun!

In Manitoba, workers who do work Victoria Day are entitled to 1.5 times their regular pay in addition to 5% of their earnings in the 28 days leading up to Victoria Day, not a bad gig. Businesses who are closed on the holiday must still pay employees 5% of all their earnings in the last 28 days prior.

Since provinces are all different and can hardly agree on anything, here are some links to learn more about Victoria Day legislation across the country:

Alberta

British Columbia (pdf)

Manitoba

Ontario

P.E.I.

Quebec (they call it National Patriot’s Day)

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Newfoundland

Northwest Territories

Saskatchewan

Yukon (pdf)

Well this Herd member is getting antsy just thinking about the beach. What are you doing for Victoria Day? What does Victoria Day mean to you? Comment below and I may just bring you into another blog posting!

Herd Philosophy / IBEX Payroll — 1 Comment
3
May 12

IBEX Classic or IBEX Direct – You Decide

By IBEX Staff

For the last 2 years IBEX customers have been switching over to our new payroll platform that we call Everest.

We noticed that after the switch to the new system, some of our customers started relying on us less and less and became more and more independent.  They were basically doing their payroll in self-serve mode.  After their initial orientation and a few calls to verify procedures, they hardly called us at all.

We were curious – why were they not calling us?  Don’t they love us anymore?  Do they still need us?  We decided to call them and ask what was going on. They said things like:

  1. We’ve gotten used to this new system and like the fact that we can do our own payroll whenever it’s convenient for us – without having to rely on anyone else.
  2. After the orientation, the new system was easy use.
  3. We like that IBEX is still behind this making sure all the calculations are correct and up to date and making our remittance payments on time for us.
  4. We appreciate that IBEX is always there to help us with the system and to answer payroll questions.
  5. We like that if we have staff turnover, or when our payroll person goes on holidays or is sick, IBEX can step in and do everything for us without us having to learn the system.
  6. We like that IBEX always answers the phone without making us wait.

Some also said they would like to pay a little less since they do most of the work themselves!

Well now we had gone and opened a can of worms!

In the IBEX tradition we started working on a win-win solution to this.  How could we reduce the price for self-service clients and not shoot ourselves in the foot?  We went back to the drawing board, took out our calculators and designed a new self- serve option that recognizes that you’re doing much of the payroll processing work yourself, recognizes you for doing so, and solves a problem for IBEX.

Introducing IBEX Direct

The result is what we call IBEX Direct.  Our new self-serve payroll processing system that will save you approximately 40% compared to IBEX Classic.

Keeping the Familiar – IBEX Classic

What if you don’t want self-serve and you hate those self-check in/checkout thingies?  Well, we thought of that too.  In fact, we came up with a brilliant solution… Change nothing.

Keep everything just the way you like it.  As in, stop reading now and forgive the interruption!

You just keep on doing what you’re doing, the way you’re doing it and nothing changes.  IBEX Classic continues to be the best option out there for flexible, full service payroll.

Since IBEX Direct is new, let us tell you more about how it works.

What part of the payroll processing do you do?

  • Take Everest training (at half the cost of new customers)
  • Login to Everest to be part of each payroll
  • Create your own input sheet for every payroll
  • Enter your own hours and adjustments for every payroll
  • Preview and approve each payroll
  • Print off your own T4’s and ROE’s
  • Add your own new employees to Everest
  • Pay for your payroll by online bill payment, rather than traditional pre-authorized debt.

What does IBEX do?

  • Automatic remittances
  • Offer ongoing support for things like setting up a new deduction, setting up a tricky ROE, interpreting payroll laws
  • Jumping right in for you when your payroll staff is ill, on holidays or retiring – at no extra charge

How can IBEX afford to offer IBEX Direct at 40% of the cost of IBEX Classic?

When you do most of the payroll processing work yourself, we save staff time.  It only makes sense to pass on those savings to you.  But staff savings is only part 1 of the answer, because, after all, our staff will still be there to support you when needed.

The other reason we’re able to pass on such phenomenal savings to you has to do with reducing our credit risk and administration costs.  With IBEX Direct, customers will pre-pay us by online bill payment.  For you, this means you’ll be paying the full amount of your payroll 3 days prior to payroll day by online bill payment.  We have no more bad debts and no more overhead dealing with collection issues for IBEX Direct customers and in return we charge you less for our services.

IBEX Direct will be available to existing IBEX clients starting in October of this year, so you have plenty of time.  If you are interested, please click the link below and fill in the form to let us know, or call Alpine Crew to talk it over. If you decide to go ahead, we will schedule training for you prior to your switch to IBEX Direct, and if you are not in Everest yet, we will make sure you are converted in time to get going.

 

I’m interested in going Direct

 

 

 

 

Customer Profile / Customer Service / IBEX Payroll — 1 Comment
27
Feb 12

Customer Profile: Chocolate by Chocolatier Constance Popp!

by IBEX Staff

Constance Menzies is the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp!, a four-year-old shop that has already created a lot of buzz in a big way.  On days where the sun is pouring through the windows of the cozy shop on Portage Avenue, Constance is in nonstop motion, moving displays of chocolates in danger of a slow melt from the winter sunlight in between a steady flow of customers.

“When I first started out, my customers were mostly just my circle of  family and friends,” explains Constance. “Four years later, I can say with confidence that people know about us now.”

Chocolatier Constance Popp! is not only in business to be delicious, but there is also a strong environmental ethic that rests within the very floorboards of her shop.

“The floor your standing on? It’s made with re-claimed lumber from a landfill. Our chocolate is made with whole food ingredients, and is packaged in compostable boxes that were made in Manitoba. Every piece of chocolate or baking was made right here in this kitchen.”

With a dedication to being socially and environmentally responsible and creating chocolate from pure whole foods, it is no wonder why word-of-mouth proved to be a powerful tool when the business first started.

“When I first opened the shop in Winnipeg, I had so many people come to me and ask me to speak at conferences and other events. I guess this was because I opened during the time of the recession and I was a female business owner and all that. You would think a woman opening her own business wouldn’t be so fascinating  in this day and age, but people really wanted to talk to me about the shop, so I got out there.”

Although humble, Constance really is a wonder-woman in her own right. She runs almost every aspect of her shop down to the very last detail, from creating every piece of whole food chocolate ingredient by ingredient, to packaging her chocolate creations in attractive boxes, ordering supplies, placing displays, working the books, managing her staff, hiring new team members, and implementing the shop’s marketing initiatives all while catering to the needs of her customers.

“That’s why I love IBEX so much,” Constance explains in between breaths. “They’re so reliable, I don’t even have to think about my payroll. I just send Susan an e-mail and voila! Somehow people get paid.”

The hard work has certainly paid off. The four years that Chocolatier Constance Popp! has been in business, Constance and her team have sent their chocolate to events such as the  2010 Golden Globe Awards in L.A, the Oscars, the 2010 Olympics, and more recently, the Royal visit, just to name a few. While celebs and other big names have sampled her chocolate (Constance is able to drop names left right and centre), there is a wall in her kitchen dedicated to letters from the city and other local organizations commending her work. From Blue Bomber cookies to special chocolate bars embelished with the logo of the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights opening next year in Winnipeg, Constance explains that having her own kitchen has enabled her to make unique quality creations for a number of different clients.

“You would think that the only busy time for us would be around the holidays, but we’re really busy all year round. There’s always a conference or special event happening that we are asked to be a part of. Chocolate is such a great gift that is affordable for people to give. Here, we are able to personalize it and really work around different allergies most of the time.”

Check out this video of our Head of the Herd trying to be a chocolate maker at Chocolatier Constance Popp!

You have not had real chocolate until you’ve tried a delectable creation from Chocolatier Constance Popp!.  

Customer Service / Herd Philosophy — No Comments
12
Dec 11

How your smaller company can kick big company butt

by Lisa Tachan, Head of Spreading the Herd Word

Here at IBEX Payroll, we are striving to become one of the best places to work in Canada. Our unique work culture,  along with a passion for great customer service, are what we pride ourselves on. We were reminded just how different we are from our competitors when we had a former employee of theirs join our ranks and become a member of the Herd. Nick has been with us for just over a month now, and with his experience in the payroll world, he’s been able to give us some insight into just how different it is to work at a place like IBEX.

“It’s like night and day,” Nick explained. “I think people are set up to expect less from the big companies. When you compare what the big companies do to what the Alpine Crew does here, it’s just a whole different philosophy.”

Nick explained that in most cases, if you use a large company to do your payroll, and there comes a time when you need some assistance with the payroll system, your phone call will go to a call centre setting where it is filtered through to a customer service rep. These reps are heavily monitored. The company will keep track of how many minutes their reps are on the phone with you, how many number of rings it takes before they pick up, how long a customer is waiting on the other line, and the number of calls they take in a day.

When Nick joined the team at IBEX, he had a few other things to get used to aside from the morning Herddle and “Go IBEX!” cheer that happens daily in the IBEX Herdquarters.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything when I say this, but, sitting in on training with Kevin and Susan, there were just some things that they were doing for customers I was wondering to myself, ‘why are you doing this? Shouldn’t they [the customer] be doing it themselves?”

Nick went on to explain how he witnessed Susan error-proof a payroll for several of her customers. If something looked off to Susan, she would call the customer to double check that the information provided was correct before she sent it off to be processed. Kevin received an e-mail from a customer who wanted very little to do with the whole payroll process. This customer would just list the first name of their employees and how many hours each of them had logged for that pay period. Kevin would then enter that information into the IBEX system himself. At witnessing this type of service, Nick was amazed.

“That just doesn’t happen at the bigger companies,” Nick said. “Usually, they just run a payroll as soon as it is submitted. If there are any errors, the customer is out of luck and will probably be charged a fee to run another payroll. The type of customer service at IBEX . . . . it’s just . . . it’s the kind of service you think of when you think of great customer service. It’s like going back to the old days.”

Chalk 1 for the goats with the most, and zip for the guys in the suits.  Smaller companies can do it better by challenging the way things have always been done.

Share some of your excellent (or not so great) customer service stories with us by commenting below!

Interested in becoming an IBEX Payroll customer? Visit this link for a free trial with our system!

Herd Philosophy — 2 Comments
5
Dec 11

Becoming the best place to work in Canada: Growing the Herd, p.4

By Darryl Stewart, Head of the Herd

This is the final post in our “How to grow your herd” series.

Summary of the first three posts:

  1. In part 1 why I wore only my underwear to work, I talked about why we wanted to grow IBEX
  2. In  how to grow your herd part 2 I talked about how we found our hedgehog concept (our focus) and what it is
  3. In how to grow your herd part 3 I talked about how we confronted the brutal realities that were holding us back

In this final post, I want to give you some insight on how we want to represent ourselves to the world and how we plan to grow our company. How to grow your herd part 4 is all about spreading the herd word.

We have unique names for just about everything at IBEX. To give you a feel for this, at IBEX, marketing is called spreading the herd word, the payroll marketing team is called the Goatbuzzsters and we call our accounting department the Feed Counters.

IBEX has always been a unique place, but in the past we have kept this hidden from plain view.  The thinking was that we must appear solid, secure, and serious (some might say boring and stuffy), like the companies we compete with, in order to be perceived as trustworthy. Payroll, after all, is a serious business. It must be done on time, government remittances must be paid properly, and system data needs to be safe and secure. In the beginning, we asked ourselves, who would trust a bunch of payroll specialists who have fun at work?

As it turns out, lots of people would.

When we began our growth strategy, we looked at who our customers are.  Very few people signed up with IBEX without knowing us.  Most of our customers were referrals from other customers, companies that have people we know working there, or people that have learned about us through our community work or one of the many stories that have been done about our unique work culture.  It became apparent that the true IBEX was not something to hide, but something to tell the world about.  We concluded that we should start letting more people know the real IBEX by finding unique and interesting ways to spread our one-of-a-kind message.

Another thing that was bugging us was that nobody in the Canadian payroll world had caught up to the expectations of web based services.  People now demand open and transparent pricing, free trials, and even free versions of web based software.  We believe this is the way people want to go about choosing a web based anything for themselves or their business. Our goal was to make this a reality for Canadian online payroll – and we did just that with IBEX!

Our marketing plan is simple.

We will make it known that we are striving towards making IBEX one of the best places to work in Canada. By letting the inner workings of IBEX become transparent for all to see, we can show the world what we are doing to reach our goals by sharing both our successes and failures along the way.

We believe in being open and honest about what we do and how we do it.  By putting all our pricing right on our website and offering free trials and free versions of our system, people can experience us instantly, easily, and without the suffering of waiting for a salesperson to call.

Above all, the value of having fun at IBEX while working hard to meet system and customer expectations is what makes this company so unique compared to other payroll providers. We believe a high quality service comes from a hard working team who enjoys what they do. By maintaining an incredible work enviornment that emphasizes the element of ‘fun’ and ‘teamwork’, we believe that IBEX is on the right path to becoming one of the best places to work in Canada, as well as the top Canadian payroll provider.

We’re not afraid to set the bar high here because, well, goats can scale anything.

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