Big Smiles and Big Savings
Dental practice automates payroll and 401(k) benefits with PrimePay, saving time and money while increasing efficiency.
“I recommend PrimePay to all of my colleagues and friends. I mention it to somebody once or twice a week. It’s one of the best services that we have for our company,” says Ruben Lopez, Director of Operations.
Caring for the community by providing dentistry for everyone
Trinity Dental operates 17 dental practices in and around Houston, Texas. The company also has a corporate office in Houston, a billing company, and an orthodontic department. The dental practices serve the oral healthcare needs of their local communities, with patients ranging from six months to 105 years old.
The staff provide general dentistry including cleanings, exams, and x-rays, and more extensive work such as implants, dentures, and root canals. Patients at Trinity Dental are treated like family and the staff call them by their first names. With such a high level of customer service and personalized care, patients are very loyal and many new customers come in through word-of-mouth.
To provide this level of care and attention, Trinity Dental has between 125 and 150 employees, and 20 associate dentists together equaling up to 170 people working at any given time. Each dental practice maintains a small, cohesive team of seven to 10 people to take care of the community’s oral health.
Since Trinity Dental prides itself on customer care and attention to detail, the company was disappointed in its previous payroll provider’s cumbersome system. Around five years ago, Trinity Dental decided it was time to find a new provider.
Trading up for stellar service and lower fees
Trinity Dental prides itself on empathically and comprehensively taking care of its patients and employees. But it was difficult to do that with a payroll system that was complex, with an equally complex fee structure, that just didn’t offer the customer service Trinity Dental needed. With so many locations, the fees for Trinity Dental added up quickly.
“They were so expensive. With the way our organization is set up, we were being nickeland-dimed left and right for every little thing,” explains Director of Operations, Ruben Lopez.
With Ruben Lopez leading the charge, Trinity Dental decided to make a change. They made the move to PrimePay, and Lopez and his staff have been thrilled with the decision.
Extending the benefits of PrimePay to Human Resources
Moving payroll to PrimePay was successful and operating smoothly. Meanwhile, the company faced another hurdle with its 401(k) plan. The employee 401(k)s were with yet another manual system. Every employee transaction, addition, change, or 401(k) loan had to be input by hand and then checked to make sure the correct amount was processed.
With over 150 people employed by Trinity Dental, 401(k) changes were a constant workstream. Because the data was stored across several systems, the team had to export and import data on a regular basis. The HR manager was spending days each month administering and updating the plans. Finally, she noted to Lopez that she felt was spending far too much time entering transactions into the system and verifying the numbers.
Lopez approached PrimePay with this problem, and PrimePay had a solution. PrimePay had recently established a partnership with 401(k) provider Human Interest, resulting in an integration between the two systems that made plan administration easier. Trinity Dental made the move to Human Interest, connecting it with PrimePay so 401(k) contributions could be automated.
With this integration, the HR Manager no longer has to enter any transactions or verify any figures. Employees make their own changes which automatically populate throughout the system. Moving 401(k) benefits to Human Interest integrated with PrimePay saved the HR Manager 15 to 20 hours per week that she can now spend on more valuable tasks.
“Before, there was always a lag in making sure stuff was entered in and put in correctly,” says Lopez. “Now with Human Interest and its integration with PrimePay, we’re able to sign people up a lot easier. We’re able to explain to them what we offer benefit-wise, and it attracts better employees. It helps us attract better talent for our company.”
Automating the benefits system has also made new employee onboarding a breeze. Whether it’s a new hire at an existing practice or staffing an entirely new location, PrimePay’s onboarding feature allows Trinity Dental to process all the new hire paperwork electronically after an offer is made to an employee. The system notifies new employees to log in and input their information, speeding up onboarding and saving HR from manual data entry.
A single login for easy payroll and benefits management
With the other payroll companies, Lopez and the HR team had to log in to several different systems to access the data they needed. Information had to be exported out of one system to view it next to the data from another system.
PrimePay made data access easier by using a single login to access all data. Lopez appreciates that he doesn’t need to manage several accounts — and remember several passwords — to see all of the information. Everything is linked together in one system, including payroll, the time clock, benefits, and 401(k). PrimePay recently upgraded the system with a new portal where all of the information is available to see in a clean, easy-to-use format, accessible with just one click.
“That’s another thing I like about PrimePay,” explains Lopez. “With our previous payroll companies, everything was in different systems and it was just such a hassle exporting everything in and out and making sure everything added up.”
Saving time and money while gaining great customer service
Much of the benefits and 401(k) data entry that fell to the HR Manager before can be input by individual employees into their own accounts. This gives the employees greater autonomy and control of their accounts while freeing up more of the HR Manager’s day to work on other initiatives.
Employees love the time clock feature integrated into PrimePay. Compared to the systems they used in the past, it’s much easier to work within. Trinity Dental set up geofencing around the IP address at every office, making it easy to clock in at the right location, while Lopez can log in and tell at a glance who’s still in the office and who clocked out for lunch.
Lopez appreciates PrimePay’s customer support, with someone always available to answer questions. He’s also impressed by how much time the company saves by automating benefits and employee onboarding.
“PrimePay lets us spend our time in the practices, coaching, training, and taking care of our patients,” Lopez notes.
A payroll partner to grow with
As Trinity Dental expands and opens more dental practices, PrimePay will be there to smooth the onboarding of new employees. Lopez has already added a new practice location with PrimePay, and it was a breeze. He simply called his account manager to tell them a new practice was opening, and the account manager handled the rest.
Overall, after switching to PrimePay, the biggest gains for Trinity Dental are the savings in time and money through automated payroll and benefits. The system is faster and more accurate, which allows the staff to accomplish more and approach their jobs more strategically.
“Everything is more efficient now when it comes to payroll, because of PrimePay. And anything that saves me from having to sit behind the computer and enter in data is a blessing.”
Is manual processing of payroll and benefits taking up too much of your time?
Contact us today for a demo and learn how PrimePay can automate your payroll and save time for your organization.