From payroll expertise to shared foundational values: Why Lane Four sees Humi as a strategic partner

As a boutique consulting firm, the Lane Four team excels in building relationships with their clients. Their team of HubSpot and Salesforce consultants, administrators, architects, developers, project managers, and operations experts provide a customized approach to optimize and scale go-to-market operations. Their mission? Help clients grow their business and create efficiencies, so that they can be the Revenue Heroes at their company. 

We sat down with Chief People Officer, Carrie Wilks, who leads people operations at Lane Four, including ensuring their people programs align with who they are culturally. And, when it came time to find a new payroll service and HRIS solution, she knew that their partner needed to have the same curious mindset and “roll up your sleeves” attitude that defines the Lane Four culture.

The Challenge

Before finding Humi, Lane Four worked with another Canadian payroll and human capital management firm, Deluxe. Having overseen payroll herself a few times, Carrie knows that there’s a lot that goes into payroll administration – not just doing all the numbers on a regular basis, but also understanding and upholding the legal requirements. 

Often, that payroll expertise isn’t in-house, which was a big deciding factor in looking for outsourcing payroll services. They needed to partner with a team who would be responsive, efficient, and organized to take care of the whole payroll process.

Carrie also knew that they needed a complete HRIS solution, one that is user-friendly and accessible for their team to find the information and documents they need. When asked what kind of software solution they were looking for, Carrie details:

“Something that would be a non-stop portal for our team members. And certainly for my team behind the scenes, to be able to have information that’s readily accessible, user-friendly, and that spoke to one another.”

The Solution

Carrie and Joana Lourenço (Lane Four’s former Co-founder and COO) evaluated several solutions including Ceridian and ADP. After reviewing their options, it was easy for them to narrow down their decision and recommend moving over to Humi as soon as possible.

A key decision driver for Carrie was to partner with a team who would not only provide payroll expertise, but also be a collaborator. That’s the kind of relationship that she and Julie Crossan, Lane Four’s People Processes and Programs Administrator, has built with Humi’s Team Lead, Payroll Services, Hallie MacDonald.

“Hallie is an extension of the team. I see her as a collaborative partner, but I also see her truly, seamlessly, as a team member… She recognizes my role is busy, she works with Julie very collaboratively, we make decisions that are in the best interest of both firms.”

Carrie and Joana were also excited to collaborate with another Canadian-based company that complemented their culture. For Carrie, it was the customer service, the savviness of understanding smaller firms, and showcasing an entrepreneurial spirit that put Humi at the forefront.

“The team that I met with at Humi, I felt they went the extra mile… It was that personal touch, that customization, that hand holding. I’m by no means a tech specialist, so to have somebody that held our hands when going live, the deployment, all of those pieces I think really spoke to Humi versus going with a bigger organization like an ADP or Ceridian, or even considering to stay with our previous provider where there wasn’t that holistic viewpoint.”

The Result

With Humi taking care of payroll administration, the Lane Four team can now focus on other, more strategic initiatives for their people programs and policies.

“In a payroll cycle, you’re probably saving two days. I used to say this in my own business: ‘I’m going to return time to you so you can do what you do best’. The reality is, that’s what Humi’s Managed Payroll allows us to do.”

And not only does Lane Four save time on payroll tasks, they also have the peace of mind that compliance is taken care of.

“Humi is the first set of eyes. If you talk about compliance, governance, checks and balances, friendliness, responsiveness… that was a big change for us. Our previous vendor was not so responsive and didn’t feel as efficient and organized. Hallie is exceptionally responsive. She sets the tone in terms of what we need and when we need it, and then we can manage internally with our stakeholders like our CEO when things need to be in for variable pay, commissions, things of that nature.” 

Carrie knows that someone on the Humi team will be there to answer and provide guidance if they have questions or encounter a challenge. They can rest easy knowing they have that expertise, safety, and security so that their employees will be paid and that tasks such as generating and filing T4s and ROEs are done, and done accurately.

“We’re taken care of, therefore my team is taken care of. That matters to me.”

Carrie also speaks to the culture at Humi, and how her interactions with Humi team members throughout their journey make an impact on Lane Four’s client experience.

“There’s that sense of connection with folks. They’ll go above and beyond because they love what they’re doing. Clients really matter to Humi, and you feel that.”

Ultimately, it’s the combination of shared values and similar cultures, on top of time-saving payroll services, that makes the partnership between Lane Four and Humi a great fit for Carrie.

“From a leadership perspective, it gives me a sense of being able to focus on what we can do best. Now we outsource collaboratively with Humi, so that they can do what they do best. It’s a perfect marriage. From my perspective, that’s been a key difference for us.”