Case study

Lenovo is one of the largest and most well-known manufacturers of computing hardware in the world. It now operates in 190 countries and inevitably, for a global leader of this size, is subject to a wide variety of employment regulations, including the complexities and risks associated with payroll processing. For Lenovo, poor payroll management not only means disgruntled employees and non-compliance with strict regulations, but also the potential for serious reputational risk. So as the company continues to expand its global footprint, managing and mitigating these risks is an important priority.

Maxine Gardner was appointed as Lenovo’s Global Payroll Director in 2014, with the goal of ensuring the company’s global payroll model was best-in-class.

There were also concerns with payroll timeliness, which at the time, was taking between 15 and 21 days, from cut-off date to pay date.

"One of the most important things we do as a business is pay all employees accurately and on time," says Maxine. “This isn't just about fulfilling a legal obligation, it's about respecting our employees and enabling them to meet their financial commitments – to pay mortgages and rent, and to support their families. Our team's motto is 'we pay for dreams,' and we take that seriously."

But with payroll interconnected with so many other business functions, the impact had been widespread.

“Payroll data gets fed into other departments, and that means internal deadlines and responsibilities,” says Maxine. “If we send inaccurate data to the rest of the organisation, it causes problems that we have to spend time and effort to fix. It affects the efficiency of the entire business.”

A review of the situation produced some clear goals. “We wanted to create a really efficient, flexible payroll operation which would allow us to pivot when the business required it - like quickly setting up a payroll infrastructure in a new country for example,” says Maxine. “We wanted automation to help us be less reliant on human intervention and ultimately, we wanted to reach a zero defect state. This would also free up team members to focus on more strategic initiatives.”

By outsourcing critical payroll services, Lenovo has achieved the following results:

• Payroll timeliness has reduced to 12 to 15 days, saving approximately 175 days of payroll processing per year.
• Payroll accuracy now sits at 99.9%.
• TMF Group now provides payroll processing for approximately 11,300 Lenovo employees across 55 countries.

As TMF Group continues to innovate in the area of payroll, Maxine believes it will continue to improve the Lenovo employee experience. “We are an innovative payroll department, and we want to continue evolving,” says Maxine. “As TMF Group continues to improve its platform, we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do together next.”

LENOVO is a trademark of Lenovo.

Lenovo Group Limited is a multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related services. Ranked at 217 in the Fortune Global 500 (as of 2024) and headquartered in both Beijing and North Carolina, the $62 billion revenue company employs 77,000 people worldwide, focused on delivering ‘smarter technology for all’.

• Services provided by TMF Group: Payroll and HR
• Jurisdictions covered: Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Vietnam