WESTON, Fla., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultimate Software
(Nasdaq: ULTI), a leading provider of human resources, payroll, and workforce management solutions, announced today that its customer, The Container Store, the nation's leading retailer of storage and organization products, has been awarded the American Payroll Association (APA) Prism Best Practices Award in Technology. The retailer, which is frequently at the top of FORTUNE's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," was recognized for its use of UltiPro Workforce Management delivered through Ultimate Software's Intersourcing service model. The sixth annual Prism Best Practices Awards were presented yesterday at a ceremony in Chicago in conjunction with the 2006 APA Leadership Forum on Payroll Best Practices.
Given to innovative payroll departments that exhibit best practices, the Prism Awards are presented in four categories: technology, management, processes, and overall practices. Previous winners include U-Haul, Cisco Systems, U.S. Postal Service, Intel Corporation, and Delta Airlines, Inc.
The Container Store's winning application focused on the cost savings, efficiencies, and improved employee service derived from UltiPro Workforce Management's Web functionality. The application also highlighted the retailer's use of Intersourcing, Ultimate Software's hosted service model, which eliminated The Container Store's need for dedicated staff to manage UltiPro since Ultimate Software handles the hardware, software, and manpower needed for upgrades, backups, and maintenance.
"We are very proud to receive this award, and we are especially happy that we were able to impact our workforce and our business in a very positive way with UltiPro," said Claudine Tudgay, payroll director at The Container Store.
Some of UltiPro's features that The Container Store's Prism award application focused on are:
* Manager Self-Service -- Self-service for managers gives supervisors rights to details on their teams, including pay, department, job title, and status. They can run a variety of reports from the site and can easily locate guidelines for state, unemployment, contract labor, and leave of absence policy. Supervisors and executives can respond to requests quickly and easily whether they are in the office or on the road. Workflow ensures that no changes take effect without an electronic sign-off by the right people. The system also provides an audit trail so that those processes can be tracked, if necessary.
* Employee Self-Service -- Self-service provides employees with real-time access to their individual information that can be viewed and updated from anywhere at any time.
* The UltiPro Portal -- The portal is a central location where employees can find and print tax forms, benefit forms, and benefit links without calls, e-mails, or waiting on the U.S. postal service. The Container Store also posts employee photos on the portal.
* E-Payroll -- The Container Store no longer prints payroll statements since direct deposit advices are available electronically on the UltiPro portal.
* Online Benefits Enrollment -- Because The Container Store's employees can make benefits changes online with UltiPro, the benefits department no longer prints enrollment packets to send to employees, and the payroll department does not need to manually enter the modifications, dramatically reducing the amount of time spent on the process and increasing the accuracy of benefits information.
Prism Award winners are chosen by the subcommittee chairs of APA's Strategic Payroll Leadership Task Force. The task force looks for companies of any size that are leading the payroll industry with their practices and have been willing to share their experiences with others.
"The Container Store is a great example of the business benefits that can be experienced by taking full advantage of UltiPro's functionality. We commend the payroll team at The Container Store for their hard work and congratulate them on this honor," said Greg Swick, senior vice president of sales for Ultimate Software.
About The Container Store
Founded in Dallas in 1978, The Container Store currently has 37 locations across the country. The retailer will open its first store in Los Angeles (Century City) on Oct. 14, 2006. Its Customer Solutions Department
(800-786-7315) offers expert product solutions and free space planning for customers' storage and organization challenges via the phone, Web site
( http://www.containerstore.com ), fax and mail. The Container Store has been named to FORTUNE magazine's annual list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" for the past seven years. Sales for 2006 are projected at $500 million. The Container Store is privately held.
About Ultimate Software
Ultimate Software, a leading provider of human resources, payroll and workforce management solutions, markets award-winning UltiPro Workforce Management as licensed software and as a hosted service through Intersourcing. Employing approximately 550 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services, Ultimate Software was ranked third on the 2006 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America list by the Great Place to Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. Also in 2006, Ultimate Software's Customer Services team earned a first-place STAR award from the Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and a first place in the Best Customer Service Organization category from the American Business Awards. Ultimate Software customers represent diverse industries and include such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, Major League Baseball, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and SkyWest Airlines. More information on Ultimate Software's products and services can be found at http://www.ultimatesoftware.com .
UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.
For Sales Information:
Ultimate Software
Phone: (800) 432-1729
Web site: http://www.ultimatesoftware.com