Better HR & Payroll, Happier People: PSO Manila’s Success Story

As Sprout celebrates its 10-year milestone, we’re proud to look back on the challenges we’ve solved, the organizations we’ve grown with, and the people whose lives have changed along the way.

In the first story of our 10 Years, 10 Stories campaign, you’ve learned about Sprout’s founding crew: the soul behind the company’s humble beginnings. Now, we turn to the very heart of our mission: the people and organizations we serve. 

This is the story of PSO Manila, one of our valued clients, and how it experienced a transformative journey with Sprout by their side.

Before partnering with Sprout, PSO Manila’s HR and payroll processes were chaotic. Shakira Snowdown, PSO’s Country Head Manager, calls it “a complete nightmare.” 

Shakira shared, “We were working with another payroll company, and we were experiencing 700+ errors every single pay cycle. And you can imagine that the staff were horrified.” 

Payroll was highly manual, including attendance and timekeeping, which led to frequent inaccuracies and inefficiencies. It also created a stressful environment for the company, and it has eroded trust among employees.

People were frustrated. Shakira explained, “People who aren’t getting paid correctly are understandably unhappy. When you don’t have a reliable payroll provider, and the process is manual and time-consuming, it really disengages people.”

The company started looking for a payroll solution that could grow with them. “We wanted something automated that could help us do more with less,” Shakira recalls.

The team knew they needed a payroll system that could automate their processes. They needed a system that could cut down errors, save time, and give both HR and employees a smoother experience.

Then Sprout came in.

“From day one, when we started with Sprout, our employees were much more satisfied and we just had a much better experience,” Shakira shares. 

The transition was immediate and dramatic. 

Payroll errors that had caused frustration and stress for both staff and managers dropped to almost zero. Employees could finally trust that they would be paid correctly and on time, and HR could focus on supporting the team rather than fixing mistakes.

Shakira adds, “It really was a huge, fantastic experience for us. That’s why we love you guys.”

Over the past five years, PSO Manila has grown quickly, even doubling its staff at one point. Through it all, Sprout grew with them.

As PSO scaled, Sprout helped them stay organized and efficient. Recruitment, timekeeping, payroll, and performance management all moved into automated systems, making it easier to handle more employees without adding extra HR staff.

Shakira explains, “We were able to start using some of the more strategic functions and modules that Sprout offered.” For example, Performance+, Sprout’s advanced performance and learning management platform, replaced the company’s spreadsheets and automated their learning and upskilling programs so they could grow and scale smoothly.

Shakira emphasized that from an accuracy and compliance perspective, the different modules available in Sprout just made a world of difference for them. 

Sprout’s HR and Payroll allow the team to inaccuracies to focus on more meaningful work. “Automation has taken the stress out of day-to-day operations, and it allowed us to focus on what’s really important,” Shakira shares.

She also highlights how Manatal, Sprout’s recruitment software, eliminated the hassle of emails flying back and forth by letting staff enter their information directly. 

And she reveals how Concierge AI saves them time and enables them to focus on higher-level priorities without needing more staff. “With the introduction of Concierge AI, we were able to reduce the number of HR inquiries through the concierge module. Because the AI is integrated with our systems and policies, it has saved our HR team a lot of time on basic queries,” Shakira explains.

This automation translated into time for strategic projects: staff engagement, leadership development, and employee wellness initiatives: things that directly impact company culture and success. Shakira describes it as Sprout “making magic behind the scenes.”

When Shakira looks back at their journey with Sprout, three numbers stand out.

1. The first is 700 to 0. Before Sprout, payroll came with over 700 errors each month. Once they made the switch, those mistakes almost disappeared overnight.
2. The second is 2x growth. The company doubled in size without needing extra HR staff or new systems.
3. And the last is 50% employee engagement. As Shakira put it, when people are paid correctly and on time, they feel valued, and that simple change made all the difference.

Sprout provided PSO with powerful real-time data. Shakira mentions using overtime and attendance data to forecast workforce needs and explain trends to executives. These insights made PSO look “really smart” in leadership discussions.

The data also supports broader programs, including diversity and inclusion reporting to their global parent company, helping PSO align workforce strategy with company values.

So, what keeps PSO Manila working with Sprout? 

“We continue to work with Sprout because they empower us to focus on what really matters, and that’s our people, ‘’Shakira explains.“ 

“Our people are happy”, she concluded.

Watch out for the next story to see how Sprout HR and Payroll continue to transform workplaces and empower teams.

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Think your company could be the next success story with Sprout? Contact us to get started!