Etna Supply streamlines leave management for 600+ employees, eliminating Excel chaos

Leave of Absence Capabilities Now Utilized By Leading Industrial Supply Company

Empowered Employees Through Digital Self-Service

Background

Etna Supply is an industrial supply company serving customers across multiple states with over 600 employees. As an HR generalist managing all leaves and safety functions, Jennifer Fortier joined the team nine months ago and immediately identified opportunities to modernize their manual absence management processes.

Challenge

When Jennifer arrived at Etna Supply, she discovered a leave management system built entirely around Excel spreadsheets and manual paperwork. "We did all of our leave of absences on an Excel spreadsheet. There's like seven hands in the pot and you're always like, oh gosh, did that get changed? Or was that date put in correctly?" she explains.

The manual process created multiple pain points: employees had to hand-deliver documents, HR staff spent hours scanning and filing paperwork, and critical deadlines were tracked through daily spreadsheet reviews. "I'm not handling technically for the majority of it paperwork," Jennifer notes about the old system. "Going through looking day to day to be like, oh gosh, whose certificate is expiring or who didn't get documents in?"

Beyond operational inefficiency, the manual system created uncomfortable situations for employees during already difficult times. Employees who needed leave often faced awkward conversations about personal medical situations just to initiate their requests.

Solution

Through their partnership with Gallagher Bassett, Etna Supply discovered Pulpstream's leave management platform. What impressed Jennifer most was the system's comprehensive approach: "I think it's because it could house so much information, you know, that incident side, all of our doctor's notes, our follow-up appointments, everything is there at your fingertips."

The implementation process exceeded expectations. "I don't think I've ever gone through an implementation that has been this amazing," Jennifer reflects. "If something didn't flow, like the implementation team was like, hey, get your HRIS company on a call with us. They were just so willing to be like, hey, we'll look into this. How do we make this change for you guys?"

Even technical challenges were handled seamlessly. When ADP integration required additional coordination, Pulpstream's team took charge: "They're like, hey, Jen, let's get your rep from ADP on a call with us. And they took over. Everything that ADP asked, Pulpstream knew they to answer it or knew what info they needed."

Results

After going live in August following a March implementation start, Etna Supply transformed their absence management operations:

Operational Efficiency - "It's like night and day," Jennifer explains. "Employees can start the initiation of the initial leave process. They can put in intermittent time off rather than emailing me, me trying to work through an email, going to our HRIS system and then utilizing an Excel spreadsheet."

Employee Experience - The self-service portal eliminated uncomfortable conversations: "They have at their fingertips that they can do the first initial request online. Even if maybe they don't want to say anything, they don't want to have that uncomfortable conversation or feel like they need to give personal information, they can start that and it gets generated to me."

Comprehensive Case Management - All communication and documentation now flows through one system: "I can email from there, I can save documents, I can send a text for reminders, but I also have the system doing those reminders where I don't need to jump into an Excel spreadsheet."

Unique Capabilities - Pulpstream delivered functionality other systems couldn't match: "The OSHA 300 log, none of the other systems that we found could generate those OSHA documents. So that was another huge component for us."

The transformation was so impressive that Jennifer actively promotes the platform: "I had a call with a potential client on Friday to give a recommendation. Anybody that you need to talk to a potential customer, client, send them my way."

Reflecting on her experience, Jennifer concludes: "I absolutely love Pulpstream, so I cannot say enough. The system has been awesome. If any implementation team or customer support team could take on what Pulpstream does, oh my gosh, there would be no complaints across the board."

Harness the Power of Pulpstream's Leave Management Platform

See for yourself how Pulpstream is transforming leave management processes for organizations across all industries. Contact our team for a customized demo tailored to your company's specific needs.