UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, HR service delivery, and workforce management solutions, announced today the winners of the 2021 Innovation Awards. Each year, at UKG’s “Connections” customer conference, the company recognizes customers that have demonstrated outstanding use of UKG solutions over the past year. The Innovation Award winners were announced during a special virtual ceremony recognizing their exceptional work to improve business and employee experiences with the UKG suite of HCM solutions.

“An Innovation Award is the highest honor UKG can give to our customers,” said Bill Hicks, chief relationship officer at UKG. “These customers demonstrate how our platform delivers a best-of-breed enterprise solution, and we appreciate their focus, hard work, and commitment to using HR technology to accelerate business outcomes and provide exceptional experiences for their people.”

In the HR Transformation category, this year’s winning companies Schlegel Villages and the City of Loveland were honored for using UKG Pro to overcome a significant business challenge, and, as a result, improve operations and deliver a world-class employee experience. Schlegel Villages manages 19 long-term care and retirement villages across Ontario, Canada. Early COVID-19 outbreaks created many challenges. Thanks to UKG Pro Recruiting and UKG Pro Onboarding, the company was able to rapidly change its recruiting model to fit the circumstances and facilitate entirely virtual, high-volume, high-speed processing of new hires. The City of Loveland used UKG Pro Employee Voice surveys and workflows in Pro to revolutionize the way the organization reports on and gathers data from employees exiting the organization. As a result, the city has made meaningful, data-driven decisions around benefits offerings and supervisor training.

In the ROI/Measurable Benefits category, this year’s winners 2nd.MD and Cofense demonstrated substantial and impressive quantifiable business benefits with UKG Pro. A provider of virtual medical consultations, 2nd.MD maximized the HR resources in UKG Pro People Assist to save on hiring one, budgeted FTE. In addition, through a combination of UKG Pro People Center, Onboarding, and People Assist, the company responded to a 64% increase in hiring demand in 2020, with a 52% decrease in time to identify the hired candidate, a 28% decrease in time to hire, and a savings of more than $230,000 in outsourced HR costs. Cofense, a computer-security software developer, used talent management and salary planning solutions from UKG to streamline a process from three software programs into one HCM solution. The company also achieved significant time savings by eliminating manual processes and multiple systems. In total, the company reported an ROI of approximately $500,000 with UKG.

In the Innovation Evangelist category, Avalon Healthcare and The Parking Spot were recognized for the way they leveraged the latest Pro solutions. Avalon Healthcare, an operator of long-term care and assisted-living facilities, turned to Pro’s Community Broadcast tool when the pandemic hit in March 2020. The company has reached 94% of its employee base with this tool through the UKG mobile app, sending more than 1,000 messages in a year about regulatory changes, testing, and facility-specific information. The Parking Spot, a provider of satellite airport parking at locations around the United States, launched UKG Pro Giving in January 2021 to streamline its charitable efforts and support Black History Month initiatives. The company was delighted to find the Giving app easy for employees to use and efficient for HR to administer, and the company is now building a corporate philanthropic strategy around the app.

In the UKG Product Suite category, Biltmore and Mosaic were recognized for using flagship UKG people technologies to improve the employee experience and drive cost savings. Biltmore, a 125-year-old historic estate and tourist destination, leverages Pro for its HCM and migrated from UKG Workforce Central to UKG Dimensions in November 2020. Successes from Pro and Dimensions include reduced payroll-processing time, reduced manual work by managers, and detailed reporting that improves accuracy and visibility into the company’s human capital.

“Due to the impact of the pandemic, Biltmore scaled back its workforce and operations,” said Kathryn Poslusny, HR systems administrator at Biltmore. “Because of the configurability of Pro, the company was able to follow through on employee-friendly policies such as keeping furloughed employees live in the solution in order to continue paying benefits. We were able to unschedule premium deductions while importing those payments into supplemental payrolls to show that premiums were paid.”

Mosaic, a timber-management company in western Canada, leverages both Pro and UKG Ready, which helped the company transition from a paper-based time entry and approval system to an automated platform that saves dozens of hours each month. In addition, the UKG product suite helps the company manage its complex union workforce, resulting in effortless payroll processing.

“We continue to be impressed by the quality of our customers’ Innovation Award submissions and their remarkable achievements with our solutions,” said Aron Ain, chairman and CEO of UKG. “All customers that submitted nominations have set an incredible standard for how UKG solutions power their businesses and help their people prosper. We’re so proud of our partners, and their examples inspire us all.”

About UKG

At UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), our purpose is people. Built from a merger that created one of the largest cloud companies in the world, UKG believes organizations succeed when they focus on their people. As a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, HR service delivery, and workforce management solutions, UKG delivers award-winning Pro, Dimensions, and Ready solutions to help tens of thousands of organizations across geographies and in every industry drive better business outcomes, improve HR effectiveness, streamline the payroll process, and help make work a better, more connected experience for everyone. UKG has 13,000 employees around the globe and is known for an inclusive workplace culture. The company has earned numerous awards for culture, products, and services, including consecutive years on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. To learn more, visit ukg.com.

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