Context: temporary workforce management under pressure
Up to 1,800 temporary worker FTEs during seasonal peaks
As a major logistics provider in the cosmetics sector, Deret faces demanding seasonal peaks, particularly during the end-of-year period (Black Friday, Christmas). To respond to these significant fluctuations in activity, the use of temporary workers is both extensive and strategic. “Temporary worker numbers can reach 1,800 FTEs during the final quarter of the year“, explains Antoine Accart, HR Functional Solutions Manager.
With assignments renewed on average every three weeks, the company must adapt to these variations, generating a considerable administrative workload. “Temporary staffing is a strategic adjustment variable for us. As a logistics provider, we have commitments to our clients that require us to consistently deliver quality service.”
Visibility limited to one week, with essential responsiveness
The company operates with restricted visibility on staffing requirements, making any forward planning virtually impossible. Antoine Accart explains: “Visibility is limited to a few days: requests come in on Wednesday for the following week. It is e-commerce activity that drives this need for rapid responsiveness.”
Time-consuming manual processes
At Deret, temporary workforce management relied primarily on Excel files for tracking workers, along with email and telephone exchanges with managers and agencies, generating a massive administrative burden.
“Before, everything was centralised in one large Excel file. Onboarding 200 people on a Monday morning was almost unmanageable! We were so caught up in the day-to-day that we could not step back and take a strategic view of our temporary workforce management,” recalls Antoine Accart.
Major operational and financial challenges
This approach also exposed the company to significant legal and financial risks. “I have to manage nearly 10,000 invoices per year. An invoice can be worth €0.13 or €300,000. Previously, one person was dedicated to checking invoices line by line,” explains Antoine Accart.
Objectives: moving from manual processing to strategic value creation
Faced with these challenges, Deret Logistics set several ambitious objectives:
- Fully automate the management of contracts, requirements and invoicing
- Reduce the administrative burden to focus on strategic management and agency relationships
- Gain clear, real-time visibility of temporary staffing activity
“We wanted a tool to save time, so that teams could spend less time on administration and more on strategic management,” comments Antoine Accart.
Solution and implementation: rapid deployment of Pixid
A strategic choice following a benchmark exercise
Before committing to Pixid Enterprise, Deret conducted a thorough comparison of market solutions. “We looked at several competitors, but we were not convinced by the user experience,” says Antoine Accart. Prior familiarity with the myPixid solution, already used for contract digitalisation, facilitated the decision. “Pixid already had our complete history and database.”
Modules and integrations supporting automation
Deret deployed the full suite of Pixid Enterprise modules: Requirements, Orders, Contracts, Timesheets, Invoices and BI, creating a fully automated value chain. Integration with the Kelio time management system and the Esker fiscal dematerialisation platform was crucial. “Today, when I onboard a temporary worker, I do not need to do anything. They are automatically assigned to the right location with their work schedule already configured,” says Antoine Accart with satisfaction.
A successful deployment thanks to personalised support
The implementation was supported by rigorous project management, with a dedicated project manager on the Deret side and expert guidance from a project director at Pixid. “The support was excellent. We invested the resources internally and it paid off,” confirms Antoine Accart. Training for the 150 user managers focused on business processes rather than simply learning how to use the tool. “We explained what they needed to do and how to do it so that everything worked properly. It was straightforward.”
Results: enhanced productivity, control and strategic management
Impressive productivity gains
The digitalisation of the process has freed HR teams from time-consuming tasks, enabling a strategic reallocation of resources. Temporary workforce management, which previously required 8 people, is now handled by 2.5 FTEs. “It is truly impressive in terms of efficiency and productivity!” emphasises Antoine Accart. This optimisation has allowed resources previously dedicated to administrative management to be reassigned to higher value strategic roles.
Automation as a performance driver
The 10,000 invoices sent annually by staffing agencies are now processed automatically, eliminating tedious verification tasks. “Today, I receive BI exports every week. My accountants simply copy and paste these files directly onto our server and everything updates automatically,” explains Antoine Accart.
Strategic and responsive management
The platform enables real-time monitoring of activity and agency performance. “Now I track my agencies and it is me who provides them with activity information. I can challenge them every month,” notes Antoine Accart. This data-driven approach enables the company to regain control of supplier relationships by precisely tracking market share.
Exceptional quality indicators
The complete digitalisation of temporary workforce management has enabled the company to achieve a remarkable level of operational excellence. The figures speak for themselves: order anticipation has increased to 2.5 days before assignment start, agencies demonstrate impressive responsiveness with positions filled in just 1.97 days, and contract signature turnaround has been reduced to 1.5 days. Contract quality now approaches 100%, eliminating errors and legal risks.
“By meeting these deadlines, everything else falls into place. The more I can anticipate requirements, the more agencies can propose candidates. It has become a virtuous circle,” explains Antoine Accart. These results, made possible by implementing a digital solution, transform temporary workforce management from an administrative constraint into a genuine competitive advantage for the company.
Operational agility restored
“Today, we are no longer preoccupied with time-consuming administrative issues. We have fully regained control of our temporary workforce management,” says Antoine Accart with satisfaction. Compliance is assured, with access to data in just minutes for audits or internal requests. “If I have a request, I have the answer within 5 minutes. I know I can access exactly the data that is needed.”
This transformation positions Deret in a new dynamic: temporary workforce management, once endured as an operational constraint, has become a genuine performance driver. “Pixid has enabled us to shift from an administrative mindset to one focused on strategic management and value creation,” concludes Antoine Accart.
Future outlook: towards increasingly proactive and intelligent management
Developing collaboration through on-site representative profiles
Increased use of on-site representative profiles represents the second area for improvement, bringing agencies closer to on-site managers. “The idea is that on-site representatives can handle even more actions, such as end-of-assignment proposals or extensions,” explains Antoine Accart, “which is very easy to set up on Pixid.”
Anticipating the benefits of artificial intelligence
Finally, Deret is closely following the AI features that Pixid plans to deploy. “We are quite pleased and excited about these new developments. In the VMS world, which needs to reinvent itself, AI will help us gain productivity, visibility and personalisation,” concludes Antoine Accart, seeing in this innovation the promise of further efficiency gains.
