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Total Veterinary Care is dedicated to the advancement of total animal wellness through cutting-edge medical practices, along with community awareness and education.
Hannah had her first taste of HR while serving as an RA in college, where she got ample experience in interpersonal skills, like conflict resolution and team building. From there, she began her career in hospitality. As she assumed more and more administrative responsibilities, she often uncovered things that needed to be cleaned up or better organized.
Her in-laws founded Total Veterinary Care in 2015, and knowing Hannah was looking for a challenge, they asked if she would be willing to help them with HR. Laughing, she recalls them describing it as “picking out uniforms and hiring people,” which she quickly learned were just two small pieces of the puzzle. “Going in somewhat blindly to the field, I’ve discovered how complex HR truly is. I’ve built our HR department, helped create our company’s structure, organized our accounting, and so much more. I’m still learning so much every single day.
When Hannah started at TVC, her greatest challenge was simply a lack of knowledge. “I had a vague understanding that there were a lot of compliance considerations surrounding HR, but I didn’t really know what they were, how to learn about them, or how to keep up as they inevitably changed over time.”
In TVC’s infancy, they were using Quickbooks for payroll and Google spreadsheets to manage their HR information. Hannah knew that as the company grew, continuing to operate HR and payroll this way would quickly get out of hand. “There was a lot of effort that went into creating these spreadsheets in order to keep everything organized. And Quickbooks got the job done, but at the bare minimum.” Hannah knew that now was the time to align everything into one all-encompassing system that could grow with TVC.
Hannah not only had to manage all employee information and HR processes, but she also needed to ensure that everything was communicated effectively to employees. Hannah wanted a system that would give employees visibility into their own information, or even better, one that enabled her to communicate with employees en masse.
As a one-person team, Hannah was looking for a solution that could increase her efficiency. Having HR, payroll, and benefits data all talking to each other in a unified system would eliminate the need to duplicate inputs and reconcile differences.
TVC only had 5 employees at the time, so they weren’t yet offering benefits. Hannah knew that, legally, TVC would need to offer benefits as the company grew.
As recruiting quickly ramped up, Hannah took to the internet to find an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) solution. She broadened her search from ATS options to more all-encompassing HR technologies and stumbled upon Namely. She immediately recognized how Namely could help her manage employees across multiple locations and keep data in one central place. What’s more, she saw how Namely could help her develop a structure for TVC’s HR team and company as a whole.
Before selecting Namely, Hannah made sure to explore a variety of solutions. She spoke to ADP, a number of benefits brokers, and some other piecemeal services. “I just wasn’t thrilled with any of those solutions. They all were all missing so much, and I knew they would still leave a lot on my plate. When Namely had everything we were looking for—HR, payroll, and even benefits brokerage—I was sold. It offered so much more than anything else.”
To get senior leadership buy-in for Namely, Hannah focused on her concerns about managing future growth. “I walked them through the realities of what I was currently trying to manage and how Namely could solve for the challenges I was already facing and those I was sure to face in the future.” She also pointed out that investing in Namely would alleviate the need for additional HR headcount for the time being.
As simple as it sounds, having all of TVC’s HR, payroll, and benefits information rolled up into one location has made the greatest impact on Hannah’s daily role. With everything she needs is all in one place, manual work and chance of error is greatly reduced. “Not only has Namely given me access to all the information I need, but it also enables employees to do the same. Plus, training employees to get what they need from one system (rather than three) has added up to a lot of saved time.”
“Because we were so small at the time, we weren’t offering employee benefits prior to using Namely. My impression of the ‘standards’ for most benefits brokers was that it’s very paper-heavy. But with Namely, it’s the total opposite. It’s really easy for employees to enroll in benefits using the new Wizard–and for that information to be captured and stored for my use. Plus, the benefits support team at Namely has always been so friendly, professional, and helpful.”
“Namely’s focus on living its mission of ‘building better workplaces’ really resonated with us and has inspired me to focus on company culture at TVC.” Empowerment and teamwork are cornerstones of the culture at TVC. “We want to create a community where everyone’s opinion matters regardless of their title. I’m big on everyone in our company cleaning toilets at some point in their tenure here!” As part of that, TVC makes a point to include everyone in conversations when they’re developing policies and procedures. “From something specific about veterinary medicine to how to improve our customer service, we ask everybody. We want people to feel heard and to know that we truly incorporate their ideas and appreciate them.”
For Hannah, the implementation of Namely meant more than just adopting a new technology, it was an opportunity to think through and set the precedent for what their HR, payroll, and benefits processes would be moving forward. “From our standpoint, as a business just starting up, it was a little overwhelming. Namely presented a lot of questions that we didn’t have answers to yet. But by the same token, it was so helpful to get that push, because it was really important that we make those decisions for the future. From the individuals who supported us, to the training offered through the Learning Center, I was so impressed. Namely thought of everything.”
To Hannah, Namely is an exemplar of innovation and excellence, not only related to the world of HR, but to business as well. “If you want your organization to be forward-thinking, go with Namely. They’re a forward-thinking company, and they’ll help guide your practices and habits in that direction. Even beyond HR specifically, just from an operations perspective, the way that Namely approaches business and their clients has seriously impressed me. I’ve ended up borrowing a lot of those ideas and methods, particularly related to training, to develop our own practices for our teams.”