Paige Erickson knows what HR chaos looks like: five payroll systems, scattered data, and endless spreadsheets. When acquisitions pushed Forbes Advisor to the brink, she led a bold shift to Rippling, transforming their HR strategy into a streamlined global system employees actually enjoy. Now, you can hear exactly how she made it happen. Join Paige Erickson, Senior Director of HR at Forbes Advisor, and Vanessa Kahkesh, HR Content Lead at Rippling, for a real-world playbook for transforming global HR from scattered systems into one seamless experience.
Paige Erickson knows what HR chaos looks like: five payroll systems, scattered data, and endless spreadsheets. When acquisitions pushed Forbes Advisor to the brink, she led a bold shift to Rippling, transforming their HR strategy into a streamlined global system employees actually enjoy.
Now, you can hear exactly how she made it happen.
Join Paige Erickson, Senior Director of HR at Forbes Advisor, and Vanessa Kahkesh, HR Content Lead at Rippling, for a real-world playbook for transforming global HR from scattered systems into one seamless experience.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
01 Why outdated HR systems cost more than just time
02 How Paige led a seamless global transformation in just eight weeks
03 The strategies she used to win over her entire C-Suite
04 Real-world automations that saved her team hours each week and elevated HR’s strategic value
Guest Quote
“If there's anything that you are feeling like you are not getting through your current HRIS system, it's definitely worth the switch because it's not worth the headache. I don't have a single headache about Rippling. I think that says a lot.”
Time Stamps
[01:23] Life Before Rippling: Five Systems, Endless Spreadsheets
[03:37] The Breaking Point and Decision to Change
[10:20] From Chaos to Control: A Seamless Implementation
[16:27] Paige’s 8-Week Implementation Playbook
[24:05] Employee & Finance Reactions to the Switch
[30:49] From Manual Onboarding to Workflow Automation
[46:09] Paige’s Advice: Why It’s Worth the Switch
Sponsor
I’m Telling HR is brought to you by Rippling, the #1 rated HR workforce management system that eliminates the friction from running a business. Visit Rippling.com to learn more.
Links
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Connect with Paige on LinkedIn
Learn more about Forbes Advisor
Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn
[00:00:00] Paige Erickson: It's crazy to think now, you know, eight months into this that that's how we were working, that we were actually processing five different payrolls on five different platforms monthly.
[00:00:21] Vanessa Kahkesh: Hi everyone. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm really excited for our special guest today. We have Paige Erickson. She is the senior director of HR at Forbes Advisor and also a Rippling customer. So super excited to dive into your journey and how you were able to transform your system with Rippling and just also your role in HR at Forbes Advisor.
So thanks so much for taking the time to meet today.
[00:00:52] Paige Erickson: Of course, Vanessa, happy to be here.
[00:00:54] Vanessa Kahkesh: I'd love to kind of set the stage by talking a little bit about the beginning of your journey. So what did your day-to-day and kinda life in HR look like before Rippling?
[00:01:09] Paige Erickson: Yeah, great question. I think like many individuals in hr, a majority of our day is spent.
Honestly in the people data, but it depends on how that's set up and organized. So for us it was a lot of spreadsheets, a lot of manual kind of maneuvering around, also utilizing multiple platforms depending on, you know, where our individuals are geographically. So we, prior to Rippling had. Five different platforms or HRIS systems that we were using across the board to manage our EOR employees, our Canadian employees, uk, and us.
And then we ultimately had one hub that we used as the HR. So. HRES system for like our reviews and things like that, or PTO requests. So there was a lot of manual updating across all those platforms. And as you can imagine, sometimes things were missed if we were updating in one and not speaking to the other.
So the day-to-day was making sure that everything was up to date across all those platforms, but then really making sure that obviously. The data was aligning across all those platforms as well. So overall, I guess you could say, just in one word, it was man, very manual. Or manual. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. No, five
[00:02:30] Vanessa Kahkesh: systems is a lot to manage.
Yes. And like I can imagine, just like everything is scattered and it's like, how do you keep track?
[00:02:37] Paige Erickson: Yeah. I mean, yeah, there were. Obviously there had to be a method to the madness, but there were definitely times that we would update or catch an update that we made in our HRES system that didn't speak to payroll.
So there was sometimes that, you know, if someone got a. Increase a one-off increase that we updated in the HRS system. It wasn't necessarily speaking to the payroll system. So we had that unfortunately happen a few times, which, you know, if you're in hr, that never feels good to miss something like that.
So there was a lot of need for a system that just spoke as a whole to all of our employees. And it wasn't just siloed for specific countries and things like that.
[00:03:24] Vanessa Kahkesh: So when you were like in that setting, what was like the moment, the breaking moment where you're like, okay, like if things don't change, like I don't know if we can keep going.
Like what was that for you?
[00:03:37] Paige Erickson: Yeah, I would say it was a couple of different variables that were coming into play. We had experienced an acquisition that involved. Individuals in the US but also the potential for contractors or potential EOR employees in a country that we did not have access to at the time.
So when we were going through the acquisition process, it was extremely manual and when, when I say like individual. Like individually, we were onboarding employees. We couldn't bulk update anything in our previous system, so that was a huge overhaul for us at the time during that acquisition that when it happened, I said to my boss, if ever we go through another acquisition process, we do not have the capability to do this seamlessly with our current system in place.
And we did have a potential acquisition coming down the pipeline as well that we were. You know, I was nervous. I was like, I don't think we are in a place to do that acquisition with the system we currently have. So that was one piece of it is that we, just in terms of if we ever were to bulk hire or have a large acquisition come through, we just weren't in the place to sustain or you know, our team would be drowning for days to do that.
But then also just in general. The systems that we were using, it was becoming for our payroll team, which is a per a team of one. The just working across all five platforms was just a, I feel like a burden, you know, that's a lot to ask someone to be managing five different payroll systems, making sure that all of that is being processed accordingly.
So that was just something from a headache perspective that we. As a team, we were just working, we were not working smarter in any capacity in that regard. So, um, but then if, you know, I'm being honest, I think. Just the system itself that we were on was not, I feel like we, it was a bit dated, so we, I feel like we weren't working in like a modern system and we being a more like startup, a co consumer marketing company, our team moves very quickly, moves very fast, and honestly, our employees are very smart.
So, you know, not. Having an HRIS system that was a bit dated and convoluted for them to even process was a little bit of an embarrassment on the HR side, you know, we really wanted to be utilizing a platform that was intuitive and our employees actually enjoyed. Jumping in there and working. I know that sounds silly, but to ask No, it makes sense to ask them to complete, you know, a quarterly review in a system that they don't even understand how it works and, and it's like slow and clunky.
Yes. And they're very smart. Was kind of like, oh gosh, what are we doing to our employees? I feel like it also made, you know, not everyone loves to do employee reviews, so I feel like it just made that process a little bit more. Challenging to get our employees to wanna complete it in the first place because it was a burden for them to complete when it was so clunky.
And that's even just like one example of what our employees didn't like about our previous provider. So like I said, a couple variables. And then last but not least, you know, just general HR needs. And from a reporting standpoint, we could not get. Reports properly out of the, out of our old system, and it was becoming to the point where like we felt we were gatekeeping data from our finance team and it just, the flow was not flowing.
So we really needed to make a change there and just make everyone's lives easier. Especially, like I said, we were a very fast moving organization and we, we didn't need people getting bogged down from the HRIS system, so
[00:07:35] Vanessa Kahkesh: totally. And like, I think it's also just giving HR in general, like a, a bad rep if it's like a clunky system where you're forcing people to do like Yeah.
Performance management reviews on, it's like we, like as in hr, it's like you didn't even choose that yourself. It's like, might as well have a system where people enjoy it, you know? So. Yeah, exactly. And
[00:07:56] Paige Erickson: I feel like. It's sad to say, but I was getting really frustrated and I'm from our team's perspec perspective, the owner of the HRIS system.
So I was pre at our previous or with our previous, and then also with Rippling. And you know, being that our employees are frustrated and I was frustrated, it just wasn't creating a good. Like workflow between any, anyone, our team or the employee population. Whereas with Rippling, I'm obsessed with it and so I We love that.
Yeah. I'm a little bit too eager about it and I feel, but I feel like that helps the employees kind of also gain. Interest in it and excitement about something that could be relatively boring to them, but that, you know, when you, as the owner of the platform feel like you have the knowledge of the platform, also enjoy working in it yourself.
I feel like it helps troubleshooting and also onboarding a new system, even that much more seamless and positive for the employee. So I, I definitely. I feel like my ownness of it and like positive experience with Rippling really pushed that through too. Which I know that was kind of a tangent, but
[00:09:09] Vanessa Kahkesh: No, no, no, no.
I love it. And we're gonna dive deeper into that because I think that's like amazing that you are obsessed with it. Like, I mean, I don't think that's like a better feeling to have also when like a tool just changes like the way that you operate Yeah. At in your role in hr. But I'd love to save that for a little bit.
Yes. Yeah. But I, I'm really interested in what you were saying about, you know, that acquisition of mm-hmm. The global teams where everything was scattered and you're like, okay, this is like an one variable for, I don't think we can do this again. And like, I think that's something really great about Rippling is like the global aspect where you have everyone aligned.
Mm-hmm. But. I guess. Okay. So like, if we were to take the next step, you were frustrated, you were stuck in this old clunky system, and then you, you, you decide to, to make the change and you, you choose Rippling. Mm-hmm. But like, how did you get your entire team aligned in like eight weeks? Like how did you get everyone set up by Jan first?
Like, walk us through that. Yeah. Well.
[00:10:08] Paige Erickson: For one thing, I think I'll take you back even further. I kind of went behind my boss's back and I don't, no one else do this. I'm not saying this, it's just what I thought I should do, and I was like, you know what? I wanna bring a solution to the table to my boss versus saying.
I hate our HRES system and complain about it. That's smart. You, you were solution oriented. Wait, that's so good. Yes. Solution oriented. We'll go with that. Solution oriented. So I had heard about Rippling years ago, back in 2019, even before I was at Forbes advisor. But at the time, in 2019, they were, or you guys were not really doing EOR or global employment, or you were just starting so.
We had bypassed Rippling at my previous organization because we needed something more global. So fast forward to 2024, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna check out Rippling again. I had heard from a another friend of mine in HR that they were using Rippling and enjoying it, and so I just dipped my toe in and then got connected to your sales team.
And that was back in March of 2024. So we had been talking to Rippling for months about. Just, you know, doing demos, understanding the platform. So we were really immersed in, you know, and getting really pumped up about the platform. And then every day that I was in my previous HRAS, I would cry, you know, so we were really getting connected and wanted really badly.
It was a, a genuine connection from the beginning. Yes, exactly. Oh my gosh, I love it. I will say that. So then by the time that we really had the sign off, we had put in our, you know, notice to our former HRIS system. And you know, with that we had to do that for all five organizations that we were working with, so.
Got it. So it was like, this was a big move then, because it's like five different. Okay. Making sure we're checking contracts, making sure we're giving notice. In a proper amount of time. I, if I had to say anything, that's the most important thing. Make sure you can get outta your contracts and you're providing that notice.
As soon as possible. And then, yeah, once we had bought buy-in and a hundred percent sign off to move forward with Rippling, it was, I think it was like just under 10 weeks, maybe even eight, with the holiday weeks that we were kind of chatting about, because we had Thanksgiving in there and then we had the Christmas and New Year holidays.
So it was a really short. Runway to get everything up and running for January one. Wow. But it was the best implementation experience that I have gone through and I've implemented this. Rippling will be the fourth HRS system that I've implemented in my HR career. And hopefully the last, or you know. Only, the only implementation I'll ever do moving forward is Rippling because it was just so seamless.
Your team on the implementation side is. So knowledgeable about the product. Also, I think the way that implementation is set up where you have your main implementation specialist, but there's different individuals they bring in, depending on what module you're implementing at that time, I think really helps streamline the process for obviously your team, but then also for us, because we just know that we have different meetings with individuals.
Everything is kind of moving in a parallel. Moment. And I think what helps is that, you know, you don't have to complete one thing to move on to the next thing. You can be implementing onboarding benefits and you know, recruitment at the same time. Which simultaneously Yeah, exactly. As well as doing EOR at the same time.
So I think that really helps. We also had a streamlined approach where. We basically talked to our implementation specialist about our priorities for January one, and then streamlined the rest of implementation from there. So I think a perfect example of that is that. Obviously US benefits mandatory to have set up as of GN one, so that was a big priority for us in those first eight weeks as well as payroll.
But then time, like time and attendance, or I guess one, a better example would be like there were views. We didn't need reviews. Stood up in Jan in January, so we made sure that payroll and benefits were implemented right away and we felt good about that going into January. And then we kicked off, you know, goal setting in the review process at the end of January.
So we had more of a, a stagger or implementation approach. We also didn't onboard all of our employees at one time, and I think that that's something unique to maybe having a global employee base. But for example, like. The calendar year for the UK is, you know, ends at the end of March. So we had them onboarded in April to help with the tax year.
So that's just an example of how we didn't do everything like all at once. And that's, I think something really unique with Rippling is that your team is really great at understanding the business needs of the specific client and working with them to make sure, at least in our experience, to make sure that, you know, everything is just staggered.
As to, you know, as it needs to for the business. And I think as the implementation specialist on the client side, that really ease, you know, the anxiety of doing it in eight weeks.
[00:15:40] Vanessa Kahkesh: Mm-hmm. Because it wasn't
[00:15:41] Paige Erickson: what was full eight week. Everything was done in eight weeks. It was like, but we got the big stuff done.
The importance,
[00:15:48] Vanessa Kahkesh: you got like the big chunks done in the eight weeks. So it's like, okay, if someone were like listening to this and they're kind of like concerned since, you know, the urine's coming, but we, but obviously like you said, it's like Jen first you gotta get your some stuff set up by then. Yeah.
So it's like, what would be their kind of like eight week playbook of like must haves based off of your experience? Yeah. Like what would you tell them? If you were to like summarize it really simply,
[00:16:13] Paige Erickson: yeah. Number one, if you have it will for the US specifically benefits if you're doing open enrollment and if you're going through that process.
That would be my number one priority of making sure that you're aligned with the work. You know, the workflow on the Ben admin side with Rippling just. Whether you are in the weeds on that, or you have a broker team, just making sure that everyone is in lockstep with the benefits. Because I think that alone from an hr, like even for me, we're on Rippling, but like O open enrollment is always a stressful period for the, you know, hr.
So I feel like making sure that, that's good. Making sure that you're all set too with payroll. Those would be my top two for the US for sure. If you have global employees, just making sure that you know your, on onboard, you know, onboarding timeframe for those employees aligns with your business needs too.
And also that Ripplings aware of that, and I think that ties into EOR. So we had a great experience working with EOR. We have employees in seven different countries now. Honestly, I lose track because we, we, it's a lot of countries. Yeah, a lot of employees. We are, but you know, that was also different. We had certain employees in Australia who were onboarded right away January 1st, but then we also, but we had employees in Italy who were onboarded in May.
So kind of a, uh, varying implementation for that too. So I would just make sure if you have EOR employees, that you're working to understand the timeline that works best for. Your company and also that that process is something that I would make sure to be in lockstep with Rippling on too. They, the EOR team is great.
They have extreme knowledge of anything you need to know, EOR related. So it made that process very streamlined as well. But it was definitely something we had to kind of sit down and like work through the different timelines. 'cause each country's offboarding and onboarding is a little bit different. So.
I know that's a lot of info, but I like to No,
[00:18:15] Vanessa Kahkesh: this is like, so helpful. Like I love it. Like, okay. Yeah, and I think people watching, like, this is what, this is what we wanna like, share just the, the kind of like walk through the breakdown. And so No, we, I, I appreciate that you're willing to like, go into the details.
Okay. Yeah. Cool. Yeah.
[00:18:30] Paige Erickson: I also don't, I think. I don't know if you wanna talk about this now, but I think also just like the communication internally is something to really keep top of mind with
[00:18:42] Vanessa Kahkesh: Within your company? Yeah, within, within Forbes advisor. Yes. I actually, yeah, like I wanted to ask you about that.
Like how did you, was there any like resistance to just getting everyone on board and like finance it and like the executive team? Like what did that kinda look like? What is the internal kind of. Yeah, like breakdown that we have to know when we're doing
[00:19:01] Paige Erickson: implementations for sure. I mean, I think figuring out who your key stakeholders are outside of your core HR team is most important when even like going through the eval process.
So for us, like ours was obviously it, but then also finance. They are involved in a lot of areas of just like reporting and I wanted to make sure if we were moving over to a system that they felt fully supported from this new system. Because our old system did not. Help them at all. It made, in my opinion, made finance's job 10 times harder than it needed to be.
And so I wanted them to feel that they had involvement in the kind
[00:19:42] Vanessa Kahkesh: In the system. In the system. Like you guys are now working together. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Got it. So it's like HR kind of. Evolved in terms of the, the structure of HR and finance and like the connection that you guys have together?
[00:19:54] Paige Erickson: Yeah, I mean, we were always in lockstep to begin with, but I think what was cool about Rippling is we have the NetSuite integration.
So payroll is completely intertwined with finance. Now the second we process payroll, it's pro, you know, moved into NetSuite. So, and that's through the in integration that you all have set up, but also w. I was, you know, a cog in the wheel for a lot of what finance needed from a reporting side of things when we were on our previous provider this way with Rippling.
And what I really wanted to showcase was that they could be owners of their own reporting. They could jump in and, you know, report on whatever they needed to, obviously, or if they had the access to, they could make, you know, reports be automatic, send to them. On a monthly basis, and I just wanted them to feel just as excited as Rippling or about Rippling as I was.
So finance was a big piece, but it was easy in the sense of our, our IT team had used Rippling pre at a previous role. So they were like, oh yeah, we know what that is. Then you know how to do it. Yeah. You know how this is cool. Let us know what you need. So it was an easy sell finding. I just wanted to really make sure that they were bought in because I also didn't want them, I didn't want them to come over to a new platform and have the same challenges.
So that was more of a personal, that was like, okay, I just, I want them to feel good about it too, because. They did not at our, with our old, which I understand. I didn't feel good about it either. So with that, once we got buy in there, you know, we had, we included them in different demos. We wanted them to see everything and ask any questions that they had.
So we really involved finance, maybe more so than other, you know, potential clients might. But we, I really just wanted them to be involved and feel the ownness as well. So that was huge for us. And then. Once we got buy-in, it was kind of like, okay, like we said, we only had eight to 10 weeks to do it. So it was like it's go time.
Yeah. So then let's do this. Exactly. So then from an internal standpoint, we just tried to communicate as soon as possible that we were transitioning. And like I said, a lot of our employees were not happy with where we were at before. So the feedback, you know. Wasn't, we didn't have necessarily feedback, but we had encouraging words from people saying that, oh, exciting.
Like can't wait to move away from X, you know? But it wasn't until we really did onboarding and started rolling it out that we were receiving responses from employees saying like, so intuitive. Completed my onboarding in 10 minutes. We had people write on the feed saying so much better than X, calling out our old HRS system.
So, you know, they were throwing shade at the old HRIS, but honestly that made me feel good. I was like, as long as they were already did it. Yeah. Already seeing the positive impact and it's easy for them. And like I said, we have very brilliant people on our team, so. If they think it's easy to use, then I'm feeling like I won the lottery.
So that was good. But we did communicate early on, Hey, we're transitioning as of January 1st. We'll be providing more details. Not to get super in the weeds on this process, but I mean, we wouldn't even ask specific to, depending on the country that they were located in, we sent out specific. Kind of like onboarding details or timelines to that individual and or country, because since we've had so many different specific countries and different timelines, we just wanted the employees to feel.
That they were, you know, getting the information that they needed. But, and also we were being as transparent as we could because I think, obviously we're dealing with people's benefits and payroll and so we just didn't want there to be any holes and any question marks on what was gonna be happening during that time for their specifically payroll.
So we were maybe a little bit over communicative, but I think in the end it really helped our employees feel like they were in the know and when they got the. Email from Rippling to onboard. There was no questions on what was going on there.
[00:24:14] Vanessa Kahkesh: Wow. That's like. You, you were the person who led like all of that.
I think you, you don't, like, you kind of changed the whole system really. For, for the whole company actually. That's awesome. And you and I, and I love actually that you were really like proactive about getting finance on board. 'cause I think it's so crucial to make sure like everyone is aligned and this is not just.
Like changing hr, it's also changing finance and IT, and all of that, so, no, that's awesome. Yeah. And the fact that they were like raving about it. Yeah. How, how did that feel like, right. Like the quick wins, like, you know, how did it feel when you started seeing the, the impact on the people?
[00:24:52] Paige Erickson: Yeah, I mean that obviously always feels good.
I think, and maybe I'll echo or maybe other HR professionals will echo this. You know, you don't always hear positivity sometimes in hr it's not, I mean, it's just the nature of the job, right? You know, you're, you're here to help employees work through challenges and things. So when you do hear something really positive, especially when it comes to like a platform where they put in their PTO or do a review cycle, it.
It feels really good. I, I also just feel like when you hear things from, you know, your finance team that they're saying, oh wow, this is really cool. Or for example, our finance team now is wanting to look into other modules within Rippling from like a spend perspective. Like we didn't sign on with spend previously 'cause we had just implemented a new expense.
Reporting system, but now they're already kind of like, wait, no, we should move this all to Rippling. So even hearing that feels really good to see that, you know, a team that previously was not having the best experience on a platform that we as HR owned to now wanting to move more of their systems over to it.
Yeah, there's nothing, there's no. Better feeling and like, that's so cheesy, but there really isn't. I just think, uh, Janeka just shows that it is making everyone's life a little bit easier and having everything in one place. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be more streamlined, I don't think. And I think that's what everyone is striving to do, especially when you're working at a company where everything is moving at a hundred miles a minute.
So, yeah, no, it feels good. Definitely. I think it's definitely, this transition to Rippling for me has been one of the most positive experiences from like my own professional how develop plans. I'd love to
[00:26:40] Vanessa Kahkesh: learn about that because like it's, it's like it changed you as a, as in your, yeah. Like how, how, like, walk us through that or just like, what, well, you're, you're really pumped in my tires.
But I do think that. I felt, no, but it's because HR deserves to like finally get the recognition like you guys are like, you know what I mean? Like Yeah,
[00:26:58] Paige Erickson: but no, no, I know. I know what you mean. I think that it was just to see the challenges we were having it. With our previous setup, and it's not even just the HRIS system we were using, but it was just our overall workflow that we were doing before.
It's crazy to think now, you know, eight months into this that that's how we were working, that we were actually processing five different payrolls on five different platforms monthly. That's crazy. That is something that I just, the time that we were. Not wasting 'cause that's just what we knew, but the time that now we've been able to reallocate elsewhere.
I think that's even just one example of the lift we've made. The other thing is that like from an onboarding perspective, we do hire a lot and so we were individually sign sending, like onboarding packets to people. I like to call them, well you guys call them packets at Rippling, but yeah. Like individually onboarding employees, that could take, depending on, you know, the day, 30 minutes per individual.
Whereas here you can bulk, bulk onboard multiple people at one time, I, I don't even know the limit of people you could bulk onboard at one time. But even that, I mean, that has changed the game for me and everything is just, so what's that
[00:28:20] Vanessa Kahkesh: one, because you said the word before was like manual before Rippling was manual.
Yeah. What's the one word after Oh man. Hmm. In terms of how you feel about like every day going to work now too.
[00:28:32] Paige Erickson: Yeah. Okay. That's not really a word, but I just feel like we're a phrase maybe, but I just feel like we're a well-oiled machine. Like it just, everything is like move, you know, moving. And I hate the, to like take your guys' tagline, but like the ripple effect, because now the way we've set things up is that when one thing happens over here, it triggers all of these other elements to happen that before.
We were manually doing. So it just, there's no thinking, I guess, involved from my side. It's like I just know I have it all set up how it needs to happen, and I don't have to even think twice about it once. Something is triggered, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I think like our onboarding flow is a perfect example of what, you know, what that entail has entailed and what has changed.
So that's like where I, where I go when I think of just like what has been lifted off my personal plate, but. I think well oiled machine, we're still, we're still working out some of the machine parts, you know? 'cause there, I think that's one thing about Rippling is that you go into it with all, you're like, this needs to change immediately.
This needs to change immediately. And you get those done. But then what's cool the longer you're on the platform, you kind of realize, oh, these other areas of our business can be brought into Rippling and. Make this a little bit easier for us too. So I think the longer you're on the Rippling platform, you start to understand the platform more.
You also start to get more creative with how you wanna use the platform. And I think that that's been, for me, a really positive experience of just like, oh, we can. We're not done yet with how it's never
[00:30:14] Vanessa Kahkesh: ends. Yeah. It's like an infinite amount of things you could actually build now. Yeah. And like you're, you're kind of like a, you're like able to vibe code almost like just automations or whatever.
And like I know that you mentioned you like we can walk through the, the one that you had. Built yourself. Actually, maybe this is a perfect time. Do you wanna talk about that one?
[00:30:32] Paige Erickson: Sure. Yeah. So I think the, kinda what I was saying with the onboarding is that previously it was extremely manual where we would get an offer letter, we would have to.
Plug it all into our HRIS system, but then I would have to manually send a couple emails here and there to get everything else squared away with different departments or their manager or just in general, get the rest of the flow configured for the individual who is being hired and in Rippling. So I do wanna caveat this.
We're not officially utilizing the recruiting platform or module We. Still had a year on our contract with our current a TS, so we were running that out and then we're gonna move over to Rippling. So I'm really excited about that because once it's from recruitment. Basically there will be like nothing for anyone to do.
Got it. Yeah. But right now what we do, and Do you want me to share my screen? Yeah, no, please share your screen. Okay. Walk us through it. Okay. So when you're in hiring, what my favorite part, this is kind of what I've been harping on a few different times during this conversation, is that you can either select individual or you can select multiple people, and this is my favorite.
Way to hire anyone because what I've now started to do using Rippling is like I'll wait till the end of the week till we have all of the offer letters signed, and then I'll do everyone at once. Because going in here and manually doing it for one person, it's easy to do, don't get me wrong. But if you're hiring in bulk, if you're a, if you're hiring multiple people a week, the hiring multiple people tool is.
The best. So in the bulk hiring, obviously you can do as employees, select the country and then you can upload an Excel or or CSV and then, or add their details yourself, whichever you prefer. But the best part is that once you're in the hiring system or hiring funnel, the way I've set it up is that we have multiple documents that get sent out.
Depending on the country, which is part of what I like about the automation, so this is part of the hiring flow that we've configured, is that I have different templates set up for onboarding that all of these letters or documents send out to the employee, depending on their location. So I've configured it specific to if they are only a US employee or if they're.
If it's something like our employee handbook that goes to every single employee, no matter their location, but the system itself automates that all once the documents are in the system, which got it, so it knows. Yeah, and you can configure things as detailed as possible where it's like this, only, for example, like this is our Canadian benefit guide, so this only goes to Canadian employees, whereas this is our Concur, which is our expense reporting.
This goes to every single country no matter what.
[00:33:32] Vanessa Kahkesh: So you can, like, you can personalize and customize all this.
[00:33:36] Paige Erickson: Yes. Yeah. Yep. And then for another example is that we actually have an India team as well that has a very unique onboarding flow because they have a, a bit more like government documents that they need to sign that our N-D-I-H-R team HA was handling manually, and we configured this as well to be in templated form.
So all of this. Is for only India and only gets sent to the India team when they're being onboarded. So it's very, you can streamline it however you want and also customize it however you want, depending on the document. In addition, you know, some of it can be a notice. Where it's just a form that's sent to them and they just can download it and use it.
Or for example, our employee handbook requires a signature. So in the system you can set it up where it will make the employee kind of like acknowledge it as well. And that would be dated in the system and saved in their employee profile. Wow. So I like how you can toggle between either it's just like a static document that they can have on file or it's something that we need acknowledged on the backend as well.
So that's everything that happens in the onboarding flow that we've automated so that this, this is what gets sent to the employee. But then there's the other piece of the puzzle, which is what I've done in Workflow Studio. And Workflow Studio is a game changer for a lot of reasons, but this is what helps the ripple effect in Rippling.
And so you can set it up where depending on a change or an update in the system. X, Y, Z will happen after that. So I think the best example is, again, with a continuation of our onboarding. Okay, so we set this up where? When an employee's updated, meaning their status is updated in the system. So this is the trigger details, and this is what you would do for any sort of workflow where you would set it up based on a change in the system.
So again, this is when an employee's updated and then you can add filters. And so we have a couple different filters. One is when the stat employee or employment status changes to accepted, meaning they've accepted the offer, but then also when it's not tied to our India entity. Again, this is because they have a completely different flow workflow, and so we've created two different workflows in the system.
The entity, so you can configure this with the filters as. You know, detailed as you want. This is just how we have this one. But then the best part is that once this is tri, the workflow is triggered. It sends all of these three emails that I've set up
[00:36:25] Vanessa Kahkesh: immediately. Automatically. So you don't even have to, this is where you're saying you don't even have to think.
Yeah, literally.
[00:36:31] Paige Erickson: I just, I just make sure that. Individuals in the system and then all of this triggers and so it sends to this, IT email sends to our IT support. It has a detailed email about their start date title, and then it pulls in all of this personal data from Rippling and sends as well to the IT support, but also to me.
So you can configure this however you want to send to a specific employee, for example. Our finance email goes to specific individuals on our team, and those are their emails. Got it Applied to Rippling, so you can have it set up that way or send to an external email. And then again, it just de pulls in the specific employee details below.
And you can configure this however you need. You can also add an attachment, which we don't do, but you can do that. And then the third one, just to cover off, is a manager email that we send to kind of confirm with the manager, like, Hey, you're new hire starting, here's what you need to do before their start date.
And so again, the second the employee is added or their status is updated to accepted all three of these emails. Configure themselves, you know, through the magic of Rippling and are sent to who they need to be sent to. And a ripple effect is there. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So that's one of my favorites in terms of how that's made my life easier.
I'm gonna publish
[00:37:57] Vanessa Kahkesh: this. Could you, like, you could not, like, could you do this before, like ever? Not, uh, no. Like not as specific as you can get in Rippling.
[00:38:06] Paige Erickson: Not at all.
[00:38:08] Vanessa Kahkesh: Yeah. And so how much time do you think this has saved for you? Oh, like, like maybe, like weekly.
[00:38:15] Paige Erickson: I think the onboarding, I think used to take me 30 minutes.
An individual. So a per person? Yeah. Wow. Per person, per,
[00:38:22] Vanessa Kahkesh: and you were,
[00:38:23] Paige Erickson: you're hiring a ton of people. Yeah. Okay. And now I would say if I'm doing just one individual person, it's a five minute process now. Wow. So. That's a lot of time when you add it up. Yeah, no, a lot of time. Yeah. Maybe we shouldn't do the math 'cause then everyone will know how free I am.
Just kidding.
[00:38:45] Vanessa Kahkesh: No, but that's like, that's like, that's. Amazing. I, I mean what, okay, so then now where do you, where do you get spend that time? Because before you were probably drowning in logging in one person 30 minutes a time. Yeah.
[00:38:57] Paige Erickson: I think what I do with the rest of the time is actually still, I think we're in the thick of like really building Rippling out.
So in a way it's, yes, I'm so glad that's freed up, but now I'm still building out other aspects of how we wanna use Rippling, for example. The next thing that I'm gonna be working with our technical account manager on is making a custom object, which will be like our new hire tracker, which right now we just use a external spreadsheet, so like bringing that into Rippling.
So again, got it. Like I was kind of talking about, once you get like your foundation set up, that's, I feel like now where the fun starts now you can really start building out more of the, you know, custom. Apps and things like that in the system. So I feel like we're still like doing that, if that makes sense.
We're still, you're still like in the journey, like in the kind of, it's, it's evolving. Yeah. One other workflow that I wanted to share that kind of ties into the buy-in for, for finance that we were talking about earlier is that part of the journey of, for our finance team monthly that they do is they do a starter and leavers report.
Previously it was a manual. Excel spreadsheet that myself and our head of recruitment would update on a manual or manually monthly, and we would forget to send it. We'd have to be reminded. I mean, it was, you know, it was chaos. Yeah. Chaos. We were able to create a custom starters and levers report. Again, this was during implementation.
We said like this was a report that we really wanted set up. That's also something to note during implementation is that there is a period of time where you can kind of select or work with a RIP link team member to create any custom reports and workflows, and that was. By far the most exciting aspect of like implementation.
So one of the reports that we wanted to make sure we were creating was the starters and levers report and then making sure that it was automatically sent so that no one had to think about it. So we made the report in reporting, it obviously updates on a monthly cadence. And myself, our head of recruitment finance, they all have access to the report, but it also set up a workflow.
In the system where the monthly, on the first day of the month, a new report will be kind of created and an email will then be sent, or this report will actually be sent in an Excel form to myself, our head of recruitment and our finance team. So even if they never wanted to go into Rippling and look at the.
Find the report. It's automatically sent to them on the first of the month, and myself and Nicole, who's our head of recruitment, we don't have to do anything. It's all Wow. In the system. That's That's based on you. You made it. Yeah. You automated it. Okay. Yeah, so that's, wow. That's one. I mean, I think that just ties into kind of the conversation we're having about.
Making sure fi we have finances buy-in, but also that we're setting up the system to like work smarter, not harder. And doing things that help everyone out. Like now Nicole and I never think about this report. It's just, it's just like easy. You don't even have to.
[00:42:14] Vanessa Kahkesh: Wow. Yeah, so, and it's like finance is also happy 'cause you guys don't have to go back and forth, I assume anymore as much.
Yeah.
[00:42:23] Paige Erickson: And also I think it's huge because the report is living and breathing in. In RIP Link. So like if they ever wanted to check it mid month, they could go in there and it would still be updating
[00:42:35] Vanessa Kahkesh: like
[00:42:35] Paige Erickson: live
[00:42:36] Vanessa Kahkesh: almost. Mm-hmm. Yep. So it's, it's not manual anymore. It's like completely pulling from the system.
'cause all the data is like in one place. Yep.
[00:42:43] Paige Erickson: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So if they ever needed to check, you know, why a number's off or why we paid SE a little bit in severance and they're like, who was that to? They just have the report.
[00:42:59] Vanessa Kahkesh: Amazing. Yeah. So I did wanna make sure to share that with you. 'cause that was No, that's, that's a great one.
I'm like, glad that you shared, I feel like I'm learning too, as you're sharing all this stuff and I, I feel like also just shows the. The like variety of automations you can build. There's not just one thing. You can really solve so many problems on Rippling because it's centralized and it's very like user friendly for the HRIS manager almost.
[00:43:27] Paige Erickson: Yeah. Yeah. And I think another one to share, which like is kind of hard to share with the screen share, but I'll just, I can talk through it, is that. We, in the UK there's a probationary period which requires, you know, us to get sign off from the manager that they've passed the probationary period. And so we created an automatic survey that goes out to the manager after the probationary period is completed that the, it says, did they pass or fail the probationary period.
And then that's automatically documented for us. And before we would have a formal process where we'd have to like have a reminder to email the manager. Get that sent out. Whereas now Rippling just does it based off the probationary period calculation and it's automated to the manager. So if there's a problem.
I'm sure Rippling has a solution is basically my point.
[00:44:22] Vanessa Kahkesh: Wow. I love it. Yeah, and I, I'm excited to see like the more things that you solve, I feel like in a month I'll probably like check in and be like, Paige, would you, would you build Yeah. You probably build some other crazy automation.
[00:44:37] Paige Erickson: I hope so. Yeah.
I'm very excited about our custom object. I think that'll be amazing. So yeah, we, we still have things to do. We're not. Bon bonds over here, that's for sure.
[00:44:49] Vanessa Kahkesh: Yeah. First off, like, wow, I can't even, like, I'm, I'm speechless because I went into this webinar like wanting to learn about your journey, but it's just like the amount of things that I'm seeing, like Rippling change for you, it's honestly very inspiring for me just to realize like how much was on your plate before that people might not even have known, and like the fact that you're able to.
I don't know, change your whole, like, operating system almost. And it's, it's, it's really cool and like, I think a lot of people watching this can relate to and hopefully they'll, they'll feel more empowered to like, make a switch, even like with the year end coming. So I guess like to those who are watching this and or.
To our audience, and some of them may be like on the fence, you know, the year's end is not too far away, but there's still time. Like what would you tell them? What would, what would you say?
[00:45:45] Paige Erickson: Do it. Just do it. You know, I don't know. Like I, I, if you're able, if you have the support internally of, you know, your, I don't know, CFO.
CEOs buy off? There's no question. I think it was the best thing we did for our team in 2025. I'll, I'll actually follow up with my boss right after this to see if she agrees, but it's a very nerve wracking jump. I get that. Especially because the burden does land on the individual in HR who's making this move and making this decision.
But I can tell you it. Changed the game for us on a daily, on a monthly basis of just our workflow, our processes. And if there's anything that you are feeling like you are not getting through your current HRAS system, it's definitely worth the switch because it just, it's not worth the headache. Like I don't have a single like headache about Rippling.
I think that says a lot. I would be. So frustrated previously on a daily or weekly basis about something that wasn't working or finicky or whatever. It's a no brainer for me. I, I think, I don't wanna, I don't want anyone to be like, this girl on this webinar told me to do it. But yeah, I would. If you have a support internally, it's worth it.
For sure. And where do you see
[00:47:13] Vanessa Kahkesh: yourself in, say, like. I don't know, five years or two to five years. With, in terms of like where you see yourself evolving in your personal career too, in hr, like what would you think is ideal for you? Because I know that you mentioned it's not easy to be in hr. Mm-hmm. So. So what would, what would that kind of vision look like for you?
[00:47:36] Paige Erickson: Oh wow. You're with the hard hitting questions at the end. I can say this, I don't envision myself in any other career, but hr. So as challenging as it is, it's extremely rewarding at the same time. And I love working with people and I love helping our employees and being supportive to them when they are going through something that's not maybe cha, you know, maybe challenging and whatnot.
So for sure we'll still be in HR somewhere. I. Have no plans in terms of what that looks like, but, and hopefully I'll still be using Rippling. So that's the one thing, wherever I end up, I'm gonna be convincing everyone that this is the only payroll system to use. So look out. But yeah, Ripplings probably not gonna get rid of me.
[00:48:24] Vanessa Kahkesh: We can't get rid of you.
[00:48:25] Paige Erickson: Yeah. So, but yeah, I. This is, I might need to think journal about this, because that's a, that's a good question, but definitely in hr, still definitely still using Rippling.
[00:48:40] Vanessa Kahkesh: Last question is like, what, what makes you like stay in hr even though it's so challenging? Like what about it like, like what about it do you feel like make it, it makes you feel or makes you realize like, this is what I was like born to do?
Like what is it about it?
[00:48:54] Paige Erickson: Well, I do love a good challenge, that's for sure in general, but. I think I'm a very people oriented person and previously before I moved into HR I was in account management. So I was in advertising and PR and, but on the account side, so client facing and you know, if our client had a problem, I was the one handling that.
And the way I look at it as I basically am doing the same thing. It's just now my clients are, are internal. Employees so you get access to all the people. Yeah. So still like, you know, you are, it is a like a client. These are our clients. Like we need to make sure that they're happy. If there's an issue, we need to work it through with them.
If there is something positive, we need to clap about it too. So I feel like it was a good, it was actually like a berry. A good transition from account management because I took a lot of my learnings from that and moved it into hr. But I think at the end of the day what it is, is I'm a very people oriented person, very solution oriented as well.
But then also. I do really enjoy like the global side of it and like the complexity that comes with employment. So I think, you know, I've learned a lot about like employment law, global employment law, so there's a lot more that comes into HR than just payroll, and I think that that's a really exciting experience too, is.
Seeing all the different facets of human resources. And then I think working for a company like Forbes Advisor that is, you know, pushing the limit from like just even consumer marketing, but also just in general how we are as an employer has been a. Huge reason why I love being in HR too. So I wanna say that like we are able to kind of carve out some really awesome policies and things that maybe I wouldn't have had that experience at another organization.
So I do have to give some props to Forbes advisor on that. So, long-winded answer, but I think that's why I like it.
[00:51:01] Vanessa Kahkesh: I, I think so too. I know, I, I love that. And I think also. It's like HR should be doing, HR is so much more than payroll. Like people will, and people do realize that, or I guess, you know, people in HR know that.
So it's, it's awesome that you've been able to find that almost freedom with Rippling. Mm-hmm. Because you're kind of able to do what you're, what you're meant to do, you know? Yeah. Like the, the hard stuff, the people stuff and the strategic stuff. So I'm, I'm excited to see. I guess where your career or where you, where your journey takes you, but in HR, obviously.
But I think you're gonna be awesome and, and yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. For, for sharing everything and I really like, learned a lot about, about how Rippling has changed the game for you, but also just. Even about Rippling too. I think you are like a master about it too.
[00:51:58] Paige Erickson: I don't know if I'm quite a master yet, but I do.
Like I said, I'm obsessed with it. So yeah, I love it. And thank you for chatting with me and if there's any. Another time you need to chat. You know, I'm here. I got, I got a lot to talk about, so. Well, we might, we might
[00:52:15] Vanessa Kahkesh: be doing another, another webinar with Paige maybe in the future. Uh, so everyone watching, stay tuned.
Subscribe to the I'm Telling HR newsletter. Okay. Thank you again. Yeah. Really appreciate it. Of course. Love spending time here and thank you for taking the time outta your day to, to do this. Sense, share your wisdom with the, with the community.