Bendigo Bank has extended its successful implementation of the Empower-HR payroll system to 1200 employees of Adelaide Bank, with which it merged in November last year.

Since July 1, Empower-HR has replaced an outsourced CHRIS payroll system that was previously used by Adelaide Bank.  Bendigo Bank has used Empower-HR to pay its 4300 staff members since April 2006. The in-house system, which operates from the bank’s head office at Bendigo, now pays its staff of 5500 people at more than 500 retail outlets including bank branches, agencies and community banks.

Empower-HR equips Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to pay its direct employees one week and then, on alternate weeks, to pay the employees of community banks and agencies, who are independently employed on a wide range of workplace arrangements and certified agreements.

Empower Masterpay is an Australian company that specialises in providing functionally rich software solutions for Human Resource (HR), Payroll and Time & Attendance (T&A) management. Founded in 1984, Empower Masterpay offers "HR Payroll - Your Way", with a complete range of in-house and online (ASP) HR-Payroll solutions.

Empower clients include the State Government of Tasmania, Bendigo Bank, Queensland Investment Corporation, Newcrest Mining, Thiess, Just Jeans, RM Williams, Kone Elevators, Australand, Sydney Turf Club, the Australian Securities Exchange, ABN AMRO, Reuters, Penrith City Council and Startrack Express.

Bendigo Bank EMS Administrator People and Performance Geoffrey True said there was no consideration of another payroll system after the merger with Adelaide Bank. “We have been very happy with the Empower system,” he said.

“Although we have our Payroll office in Bendigo, Empower-HR’s Employee Self-Service capability means that it doesn’t really matter, physically, where the payroll office is.

“In terms of benefits, first and foremost, Empower-HR allows us to have all of our timesheets and leave details online. This is invaluable because of the branch network we have. As well as branches in major cities, we have a large number of branches in regional and remote areas, which would make a paper-based payroll and leave system both cumbersome and expensive.

“Empower brought us the online capability of timesheets and leave processing, so we could decentralise information to our managers through the service. Manager Self-Service is widely used by our managers and every employee is online, making it a widely accepted and used service.”

For more information about Empower-HR, visit www.empower.com.au .