Modernising Payroll & Workforce Management at Suntory – how Glisk delivered a seamless payroll transformation across ANZ

Executive Summary

Suntory Beverage & Food Oceania, part of Suntory Oceania—the newly integrated multi-beverage business in Australia and New Zealand—recognised the opportunity to modernise its payroll, time & attendance, and leave systems as part of a broader transformation. With 1,500 employees to support, the business partnered with Glisk to implement a more efficient, compliant, and scalable solution.

Glisk delivered an end-to-end solution—from vendor selection and system integration to change management and implementation—resulting in a streamlined, compliant, and future-ready payroll ecosystem. The project successfully unified payroll operations across eight sites and three pay frequencies, introduced mobile and self-service capabilities, and significantly reduced manual effort.

This transformation not only ensured accurate and timely employee payments but also empowered Suntory’s workforce and payroll team with modern digital tools, focused on improving the employee experience.

Challenge

As one of the leading beverage providers in the Australia and New Zealand region, Suntory faced challenges with their current payroll, time & attendance and leave management solutions. With 1,500 employees, Suntory was looking to modernise their payroll services to adopt leading practices for salaried and shift workers, streamline information exchange between systems, maintain compliance, and ultimately ensure employees are paid correctly on time, every time.

In addition, they were looking to create greater efficiencies within the payroll team and reduce reliance on manual processes.

Approach – Where Glisk Helped Suntory

Glisk was engaged as the strategic partner to Suntory to lead the project and deliver a solution that would meet the requirements.

Product and Vendor Selection

• Conducted a Request For Proposal (RFP) process, gathering key requirements from Suntory and putting them out to market to find suitable product partners.
• Facilitated commercial and contract negotiations between Suntory and prospective vendors, maintaining competitive pressure to ensure favourable outcomes for Suntory.

Project Implementation

• Project managed the end-to-end delivery, including establishing project governance, planning the implementation, managing day-to-day delivery, tracking and managing risks, issues, and dependencies, and transitioning to BAU.
• Provided business analysis services, including detailed requirements workshops and management, overseeing system configuration, and test planning and execution.
• Obtained a detailed understanding of varying legislation around employee awards and entitlements across Australia and New Zealand and designed complex pay rules to meet those requirements.
• Managed vendors including onboarding, scope management, contract adherence, and coordinated collaboration among all parties involved.

Change and Embedment

• Planned and executed a structured change management strategy to ensure smooth adoption and manage resistance.
• Delivered change planning, communication, employee training, and embedded the change for long-term success.

Results

• Payroll was successfully implemented across three pay frequencies:
  • Monthly for 800 employees (Australia and New Zealand)
  • Weekly for 400 employees (New Zealand)
  • Fortnightly for 100 employees (Australia)
• Payroll processes across eight sites were standardised, accounting for complex wage regulations, including enterprise agreements in New Zealand and modern awards in Australia.
• New Payroll (ADP) and Time & Attendance (UKG) systems were implemented and the existing SuccessFactors HRIS system was extended to include Leave Management. All systems were integrated for seamless data exchange.
• Time and leave management were enhanced with a mobile app including clock-in/out features for improved accessibility and efficiency.
• Implemented complex pay rules across multiple modern awards, enterprise agreements, and individual agreements ensuring compliance and accuracy.
• Reduced annual pay runs by 39% through automation and streamlined processes, easing the administrative workload.
• Achieved significant cost savings, including:
  • 35% reduction in G&A via FTE efficiencies
  • 54% drop in Opex through improved systems and vendor partnerships
• Successfully offboarded legacy Payroll and Time & Attendance vendors while ensuring a smooth transition.
• Enhanced operational efficiency by reducing manual effort and dependence on payroll personnel.
• Empowered a more digital and self-sufficient workforce through self-service capabilities for leave and payroll tasks.