ROSELAND, NJ--(Marketwired - Feb 13, 2017) - With operations in airports and highway plazas across the United States, the vision of Areas® is to be globally recognized as a leading provider and operator of food, beverage and retail services to the travel industry. As an organization that prides itself on providing top quality services to the traveler, the company is always looking for ways to innovate and improve both internal and external processes and offerings.

As 2016 benefits enrollment approached, the company decided to streamline its benefits process and turned to ADP for help.

"Areas is thrilled to partner with ADP®, a leader in providing tools to improve the workplace," said Xavier Rabell, CEO of Areas in the United States. "As an employer of choice, we want to provide our team with the best tools and resources. A streamlined and comprehensive benefits package is a great example of that."

"Benefits is often one of the most confusing choices employees have to make each year, so we wanted to ensure we're providing them with a user-friendly system that empowers them to make the best decisions for their own situation," said Bettina Romañat, Executive Director of Human Resources at Areas. "Instead of reading through heavy paper manuals, employees can now easily review and select their benefits online, at home with their family's input. The portal lets them see the differences in plan choices as they go through the options in real time, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive."

"Prior to implementing ADP's benefits administration solution, open enrollment involved phone calls and in-person meetings with more than 2,700 Areas employees in the United States," said Nieves Alarcon, benefits and payroll manager at Areas. "My team would process over 1,000 paper enrollment forms that were often late or incomplete, which led to a lot of back and forth with employees. Then, we'd have to manually input the benefits selections and compute payroll deductions, and that left a lot of room for error."

By automating the benefits process, Alarcon said errors were reduced by about 75 percent and the administrative burden on her team has dramatically declined, giving them more time to be strategic partners with senior management.

"Without ADP's help, we would've had to hire at least two more people for benefits administration this year," added Alarcon. "We offer employees more than five medical plans and operate in a high turnover industry, which means we need to keep up with all the new hires, terminations, and changes from part- time to full-time employment. It's a high volume of work that can be very complicated and we need to consistently ensure we're in compliance with all laws and regulations across all state lines."

Gerry Leonard, president of ADP Benefit Services, said he was delighted that ADP could help Areas streamline its benefits processes and stay in compliance.

"I'm proud we've been able to help Areas automate benefits enrollment, ensure data integrity and simplify administrative tasks like roll overs and adding dependents," said Leonard. "Our goal is not only to reduce the administrative burden for HR leaders but to offer a user experience that allows employees to easily make the benefit choices that best meet their needs by surfacing what matters most to them."

When considering a new benefits process, Alarcon wanted a solution that would integrate with their ADP payroll, and time and attendance systems so that her team wouldn't have to re-enter data into disparate platforms.

"Having ADP manage all of our HR systems helps ensure we have accurate, reliable data flowing from payroll to benefits," said Alarcon. "By trusting ADP's benefits solution, we've been able to save money and provide employees with a portal where they can access everything from their 401(k) to benefits and time. That's really cut down on the phone calls coming in to HR."

Another benefit: The enrollment time window was narrowed by more than two months.

"We used to begin open enrollment August 1 and would give people two months to make their benefits selections," said Alarcon. "This year, we were able to complete enrollment in just two weeks, and it went so smoothly. Employees said the process was easy to understand and intuitive, and that's our goal -- making HR processes seamless and simple so employees can get their work done and meet their career objectives." 

Alarcon added that the implementation process couldn't have been easier.

"We were able to get the benefits system implemented in just over three months, and with very high quality which was really impressive," remarked Alarcon. "ADP has been a true partner and it really gives us peace of mind to know they're always there when we need them."

About ADP (NASDAQ: ADP)
Powerful technology plus a human touch. Companies of all types and sizes around the world rely on ADP's cloud software and expert insights to help unlock the potential of their people. HR. Talent. Benefits. Payroll. Compliance. Working together to build a better workforce. For more information, visit ADP.com.

About Areas

Areas, an international brand of Elior Group and global number 3 in travel catering, operates over 2,000 points of sale in 13 countries, throughout Europe as well as in the USA, Mexico and Chile. Areas offers a broad range of services designed to meet the specific needs and expectations of domestic and international travelers. This unique offering combines the very best in contemporary catering with comfort for travelers in airports, railway stations and motorway service plazas, as well as at choice leisure locations. For further information, visit areas.com. 

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