Case study Le chaînon

How Le Chaînon reduces payroll processing time and improves accuracy with Evolia

À propos

  • 140 Employees and 561 interns and volunteers

  •  115 housing units, expanding to 140 in 2025

  • Supporting up to 165 women at a time with needed housing and support

Most of us encounter difficult circumstances in our lives. In urban areas like Montreal where the cost of living is especially high, women can be especially vulnerable, and need unconditional support without judgment. 

Le Chaînon is a non-profit running three shelter homes, a donation centre and two store locations.

Since 1932, Le Chaînon has provided shelter, comfort, and safety to women in need–be it for a night, a short-term stay, or while transitioning to a better life. Some women who receive counseling and assistance from Le Chaînon live in the community and keep in touch with shelter staff.

Caring for up to 165 women at a time takes the combined effort, empathy and understanding of many people with a combination of professional skills and life experiences. Le Chaînon is growing to support the needs of women from across Quebec. Efficient human resource management is vital to achieving their mission of welcoming women in difficulty without judgment.

The Challenges

Le Chaînon’s employees have a very diverse and evolving skillset, and they provide 24/7 care all year long. As a non-profit women’s shelter, Le Chaînon needs to be selective about the people they employ, however they have limited resources to meet the needs of many. 

Every role, from food service to counselors and management, must be filled with someone who wants to make a difference directly and possesses a certain sensitivity to work at Le Chaînon.

Le Chaînon’s Human Resources Manager, Geneviève Lavigueur and her colleagues were struggling to manually manage schedules using multiple Excel spreadsheets. Data entry of details from so many timesheets became increasingly difficult, and prone to error.

Le Chaînon needed an affordable, secure, easy-to-use solution for payroll and employee scheduling. One that could integrate with Folks HR and Nethris payroll. They needed easy-to-use software for everyone, younger care workers who are used to working with digital applications, but also the rest of the team.

“Apart from saving a lot of time, there are far fewer errors in timesheets and payroll. It allows me to concentrate on other projects, and be more efficient and productive in my work. The Reminder List is also a big advantage, considering that we used to do everything on paper or excel.”

Geneviève Lavigueur, Human Resources Manager

The Solution

Le Chaînon spoke with existing Evolia clients, and explored our Auto Scheduling, Absence Management, and Time and Attendance Features with our team. As they onboard employees during 2023 and 2024, they realized significant benefits, such as:

  • Saving Geneviève and her HR coordinator colleagues a full day of administrative work every two weeks. They reduced their payroll processing time from a full day to one hour. 
  • They can make staffing allocation plans for several months ahead, and allocate their budgets accordingly. 
  • They can track their time investments on a per-department basis to meet their subsidy reporting requirements. 
  • Vacation requests, replacements, and broadcast “Call to All” messaging processes are streamlined and enhanced. 
  • Easing the turmoil that comes with a team made up of a wide range of skills who support the well-being of an even broader set of psychosocial needs.

Geneviève is confident that the efficiency gains will provide measurable return on their investment in Evolia in the short-to-medium term. Efficiency is critical for empowering Le Chaînon’s HR team from ensuring they have the people they need to provide critical support and shelter to women struggling with difficult circumstances. Streamlining payroll administration helps them to focus on strategic responsibilities like supporting their staff as they care for women in need. 

Book a demo today and see how Evolia can help you see and ROI on efficiency gains.

Shift-Based Recruiting Automatic Scheduling Time & Attendance Task Management Absence Management Team Communications

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