Longo’s nourishes a growing workforce

Greater Toronto Area-based Longo’s grocery stores were born out of the passion and dedication of three brothers: Tommy, Joe, and Gus Longo, who opened their first fruit market in Toronto in 1956. Nearly 70 years later, while Longo’s has grown to 38 locations, it’s still a gracious family-operated and family-values-first business. Along with its support center, distribution center, and production facility, Longo’s employs over 5,500 team members.

“Longo’s started as a neighborhood fruit market and now has evolved into 38 locations. We’re actually going to be expanding in the next three years and opening up another five locations,” says Angela Biasini, HRIS Manager at Longo’s. 

The Longo’s guiding principle, established in 1956, is, “We will only serve others what we can confidently serve our own families.”

According to Longo’s Chief Human Resources Officer Liz Volk, the company continues to focus on building a nurturing culture: “I'd like to think that our employees really feel a part of the family. They feel they belong. They feel like they have the opportunity to do more than they thought they were even capable of.”
Longo’s workforce consists of a wide range of employees, including hourly and salaried team members, both full- and part-time.

Expanding the family

Longo’s has partnered with Dayforce for nearly 15 years, making the Dayforce team extended members of the Longo’s family. Prior to Dayforce, Longo’s didn’t have a single system for HR, pay, and time – all were completely separate platforms.

This caused some significant challenges for Volk and team. “When we implemented Dayforce in 2009, it was because we needed a fully integrated workforce management solution that would grow with us. We knew Dayforce was going to help us do that,” says Volk.

Longo’s was one of the first charter customers of Dayforce Workforce Management. This unique position gave the Longo’s team the opportunity to make adjustments, give feedback, and have a meaningful impact on the development of the product. 

Volk reflects on how the partnership has grown over the years: “We very much feel part of the Dayforce community because we're always being asked for our feedback on the product roadmap. I think we definitely have a great partnership.”

Simplifying with a single system

Once the Longo’s team implemented and saw success with Dayforce Workforce Management, they went on to leverage Dayforce Payroll, Benefits, HR, Compensation, and Onboarding, and most recently, Experience Hub and Dayforce Wallet. 

The benefits of Dayforce are felt across the entire Longo’s organization. This is especially true of the payroll function. Biasini reflects on the complexity of payroll prior to Dayforce: “I remember when the payroll manager would go on vacation and I'd have to cover her leave, I would panic because there were three disparate systems. But then we brought on payroll with Dayforce, and I quickly calmed down. It was an easy, smooth transition. The tool does it all for you.”

Scheduling through Dayforce has also been incredibly beneficial in helping manage labor costs and forecasting scheduling needs to align with store demand. “Dayforce has had a real positive impact on scheduling. The built-in calculations and KPIs help us to forecast, and we’re now able to schedule three weeks in advance,” says Biasini.

Consolidating pay and time in a single system with Dayforce has helped the Longo’s HR team reduce errors, improve data visibility, and save time through continuous calculation. “As soon as a team member punches in, it’s captured right away. So it actually makes our life much easier with tracking hours because the clocks feed right into Dayforce for time tracking and payroll.”

A well-balanced employee experience

Dayforce has simplified work life for Longo’s team members in many ways, having a positive impact across all phases of the employee life cycle.

“Dayforce is a big part of my every day at Longo’s. The team member experience is very important, and it all starts with onboarding and first impressions,” says Longo’s Store Manager Eddie Correa. “The fact that we’re able to centralize all the onboarding and workforce management capabilities within Dayforce is really important.” 

Correa values the streamlined onboarding experience that Dayforce provides, which not only gives new Longo’s team members a great introduction to the company, but also allows them to get started in their roles much faster.

And as team members continue their journey with Longo’s, the Dayforce mobile app provides easy and convenient access to everything they need. Team members can use Dayforce Mobile to view their schedules, paystubs, and book time off, ultimately giving them the visibility and information they need to balance their work lives. “I like that anything I need to do my job can be accessed through Dayforce,” adds Correa. 

The Dayforce Experience Hub has been another exciting, new addition for the Longo’s team. Being able to communicate and share information with all team members in one main location has been a game changer. “We love the Dayforce Experience Hub because it's a one-stop shop. We share links to benefits, payroll, and all our communications are there on the landing page at our team members’ fingertips,” says Biasini. “Team members can navigate through the Experience Hub to look at their vacation balances, request a vacation – it's all there.”

Focusing on financial wellness

In 2022, Longo’s began to offer Dayforce Wallet – an easy-to-set-up, on-demand pay solution that gives employees access to the wages they’ve earned as soon as they’ve earned them. Since then, it’s proven to be an effective tool for both recruiting and retention.

“We’ve disbursed about $4 million in on-demand pay requests to our team members. Currently, 18% of the team members that have signed up are using it daily,” says Biasini. “Another nice thing about Dayforce Wallet is that there are no hidden fees. There’s no catch. Dayforce takes care of the whole process. They manage all the disbursements. It's seamless for our company.”

According to Biasini, the team adopted Dayforce Wallet because they realized many of their team members were facing financial stress, and they wanted to give them the freedom, trust, and authority to get paid as they earned their money. “They've earned the pay, and they deserve to receive it when they choose. It reduces stress on them, which in turn helps them do a better job at work,” reflects Biasini.

Volk feels that Dayforce Wallet is a real differentiator in the competition for talent, noting that not many retail organizations in Canada offer similar benefits. “I really do believe Dayforce Wallet is the way of the future. If we think about our guests, they are looking for convenience and flexibility – and so are our team members,” she says. “People need the kind of flexibility that Dayforce Wallet provides in their lives, to have their pay at their fingertips when they want it and how they want it. I really do believe in it – Dayforce Wallet creates a great team member experience.” 

Volk also touches on a unique benefit that Dayforce Wallet has provided: “An unexpected benefit of Dayforce Wallet has been our team members punching in and out. Their accuracy is better because they know they're going to be paid instantaneously, so it helps the managers. So that's been a real benefit for us.” 

And, ultimately, Volk believes Dayforce Wallet has led to greater financial well-being for Longo’s team members. “It's difficult times with high inflation, and this really does help our team members have access to their pay when they need it, and that gives us peace of mind.”

Continuing to enjoy a fruitful partnership

Longo’s family values permeate through its entire business, and partnering with Dayforce allows these values to ripen, thrive, and be felt throughout both the team member and customer experience. 

As Longo’s has grown and expanded, Dayforce has been there every step of the way to support and improve work life for Longo’s team members, managers, and leaders. From consolidating disparate HCM systems into a single solution to empowering employees with the ability to get paid as they earn their money with Dayforce Wallet, Longo’s workforce has and will continue to benefit from the modern, intelligent, and innovative Dayforce platform. 

“I know that our journey with Dayforce isn't over. There's always something new that we're going to implement that will help our business further,” says Biasini. “There's always going to be a new feature. And Dayforce will always be there to make sure that our business grows.”


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