Success Stories

The Masonic Home of New Jersey is one of the largest and most well-regarded long-term care facilities in the state. For more than 100 years, the Masonic Home has served the community with residential heathcare programs, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing services.
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Duplication Of Effort
The organization purchased the Sage Abra Payroll and HR modules nearly a decade ago to replace a lackluster industry-specific software application. "It claimed to have HR functionality, but all that meant was that there were fields for the employee name and address," recalls Deldra Eaton, director of HR for Masonic Home. The application included payroll functionality, although it didn't integrate with HR, which meant each employee had to be entered and maintained in two locations.

"We were maintaining no fewer than five separate spreadsheets with employee and HR data," recalls Eaton. "There was the new hire list, the appraisal due list, and the life insurance list. Every time someone was hired or terminated, we had to manually update each list." Eaton worried about the opportunity for error such a system was subject to. "As HR Director, my credibility is at stake. People have to be able to count on the accuracy of the information this department provides."

Love At First Sight
Eaton and the organization's comptroller, Rick Manall, began the search for a full-featured, integrated payroll and HR solution and were quickly attracted to Sage Abra HRMS. "It was love at first sight," says Eaton. "Sage Abra HRMS has exactly what we need."

Eaton has only praise for the organization's Abra business partner, HRMG Solutions. "We are very service oriented here. My employees are my customers and when they come to me with a question or a request I give them my undivided attention," she explains. "HRMG shares our service-oriented philosophy. They are very responsive and respectful of my time — and that's important to me."

Maintaining Compliance
As a healthcare organization, Masonic Home's employees are subject to various regulations, and Abra helps the company remain in compliance. Mandated training is tracked through the Abra Train module, with automated alerts sent to department heads when training requirements have not been met.

Avoiding Sticker Shock
"Demonstrating our commitment to our staff in the form of benefits is a valuable employee retention tool," says Eaton. An early initiative of Eaton's was to supply each employee with a benefits statement, detailing company-paid benefits that often go unnoticed by employees. "I call it the Hidden Paycheck," she says.

Eaton approached a prominent HR firm for assistance in producing the statements but was shocked by the price quote. "They wanted $40,000 to produce the statements initially, and $40,000 every year thereafter," she says. Working with HRMG Solutions, she and Manall designed a custom report within Sage Abra to serve as an employee benefit statement. "It's attractive to look at, shows precisely the information we want to share, we can produce it on demand, and best of all — it costs us nothing!"

Reporting Power
Eaton recalls the days before Sage Abra when assembling the data for even the simplest report took hours. Now, Eaton is able to deliver any report requested of her department. From a listing of appraisals due for department heads, to a report detailing employee names and parking permit numbers to the organization's security agency, report are quick and easy to prepare, and fast to generate.

Save With In-House Payroll
Masonic Home's employees clock in and out using a biometric time clock system. Prior to each payroll, Manall downloads an electronic file containing the employees' summarized time and imports that file into the Abra Payroll module. Deductions are processed automatically as are shift differentials. "I like the control and the flexibility of performing our payroll in house," says Manall. "Most of the work involved is in the time collection, which would continue with an outsourced provider." "We enjoy working with HRMG Solutions," Manall concludes. "They're a good group of people."