Seamless payroll overhaul for a major government contractor

Client background

​The company is a large professional services organization and major US government contractor with 30,000+ employees headquartered in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The company chose to make a number of changes to their payroll operations, including the implementation of a new payroll system and revised pay frequency cycles.  
 
Baker Tilly was engaged to support selected risk analysis considerations as well as change management and communications support throughout project planning and implementation. Throughout the engagement, Baker Tilly worked alongside another system integrator and the company’s other service providers, including attorneys and other consultants to further identify risks, issues and new practices to provide employees with information on how the changes would impact them and add clarity on how the new payroll operations would work and function. ​

The business challenge

​​The client initially considered implementing the various payroll changes without external support. However, due to the complexity of the transformation issues, Baker Tilly was brought in to support a more comprehensive engagement. Baker Tilly supported early-stage project scoping and development of the project approach, discovery of critical business requirements and development of the business case. Baker Tilly was also engaged to design and support the software evaluation project due to the complexity of needing a new system to address the extensive requirements of operating in nearly all U.S. states and territories and supporting multiple employee classifications. 

​​Baker Tilly worked collaboratively with the client’s system integrator to better understand decisions being made, articulate questions from employees and support identification of additional risks being raised through employee feedback channels, advocacy groups, social media and shared roadshow presentations.  

Strategy and solution

​​Baker Tilly’s ability to work with and in support of the client’s system integrator provided the client with reassurance that their best interests were considered and our engagement provided client leadership with better insights.  

​ ​Through this collaborative effort, our client was able to: 

• Provide employees with robust and intentional communication in preparation for the change, all while dealing with an expedited timeline for implementation
• ​Proactively communicate, manage and mitigate issues due to the close collaboration between the implementation team and change management
• ​Experience a seamless transition with minimal disruptions to payroll operations