Solving Skechers Ireland payroll problems

When Skechers Ireland began re-opening stores after 2020’s lockdowns, they realised their rapid growth in staff came with an increasingly complex payroll. They turned to us for advice on how they could solve their issues.

Growing pains – Skechers and post-pandemic payroll issues

“You can imagine what it’s like inside a business with so many stores and staff,” says Paul O’Donovan. “You have a new Bank Holidays kicking in, you’re bringing on new staff and trying to get everyone paid and ensure holiday pay is calculated correctly, and that you’re keeping up with the sick pay and employment law. It’s quite intense.”

Skechers originally joined our firm during the Covid restrictions in 2020 when they had a skeleton staff. When the shops re-opened fully they quickly grew to a staff of approximately 170, and this has since grown to approximately 250.

They decided to change payroll provider and outsourced payroll management to our team at Paul O’Donovan & Associates, led by our payroll manager Caroline Codd.

Payroll service for growing businesses

We began working with them to provide them with consistent access to payroll expertise, employment law and HR services. We calculated their wages, bank holiday payments, annual leave calculations, redundancies, statutory leave, benefit in kind, pensions and commissions. We also began uploading the payment files to their banks for all their 19 shops. 

In order to facilitate their staff growth we found our team had to grow too. We re-evaluated the technology we used, our own staffing and our existing inhouse processes, to make sure they were receiving the best possible service.  

We found that the software we predominantly use did not suit all of our clients and their essential reporting requirements  – Skechers Ireland was one such client where we had to research and source a new payroll software package for use just by them. Our staff then received training and support to ensure this transition was a success.

The results were well worth it. “All that pressure has been taken away from them,” said Paul. “This is literally taking the hassle out of payroll – you are just pushing the button to release the money and pay the staff.”

We were delighted to receive this glowing testimonial from them:
“Caroline and the team cannot be highly recommended enough, their service and professionalism is top class. They provide a high-quality service backed up with specialist expertise in all areas of payroll, business advisory services and accounting and finance matters. We would have no hesitation in recommending their services.”