Funlab expands use of centralised workforce management platform

Funlab is making improvements to a centralised workforce management system used in Australia, while also making plans to bring the system to its US operations.

The company owns and operates venues including Strike, Holey Moley, Archie Brothers, Hijinx Hotel, B. Lucky & Sons and La Di Darts in Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Its venue workforce – such as bartenders, “attraction attendants”, party hosts, and customer service representatives – is predominantly students and other young people.

That made having a digital-first approach to human resources and shift scheduling important, according to chief people officer Chelsea Mannix.

Funlab implemented a Dayforce-powered platform in late 2023 for its roughly 2200 Australian and New Zealand employees.

Mannix said that Funlab’s younger, digital-first workforce didn’t want to have to interact with multiple systems to access information such as payroll, rostering or policies.  

“Each [worker] can access their schedule and update their schedule through a digital app,” Mannix told Digital Nation.

“That was a big win.”

The centralised system is also administratively more simple for HR and venue management.

“The biggest win for our managers is because it’s all in one system,” Mannix said.

“A manager can hire someone on the spot and that [new hire will] appear on their roster and can work that night if they want to.”

Mannix said that having an integrated view of the workforce and employee engagement is valuable in her own role.

Improvements are now being made to the Dayforce implementation covering Australia and New Zealand, including smoother in-app roster and pay information access, faster employee onboarding and enhanced visibility of workforce data from a management perspective.

There are now also plans to expand Dayforce to cover the company’s US operations as well.

“For the US, it’s about getting the system live and getting everyone up to the level where they’re done everything they need to in Dayforce,” she said.

Once implemented in the US, Mannix said she would have full transparency over Funlab’s global workforce, which would also aid reporting on workforce, training, compliance, payroll, learning, engagement and other HR metrics.

While the US operations remain on a different system, additional data manipulation is required to create that consolidated view.

Mannix said the work on the Dayforce system implementation has been “HR-led” with the team having to “adopt a mindset of learning through it and understanding” given technology is not traditionally in the HR remit.  

“A bunch of my team are now tech data specialists because of that and were just interested [in skilling up],” Mannix said.

“If you surround yourself with people who are curious, they will build knowledge in any area that they need to for the ultimate user experience, which is what our team were doing.

“Our [HR system] user is 20 [years old] and they expect technology. So that means we have to understand how to use technology,” Mannix said.  

AI adoption

Mannix was unsure if artificial intelligence would have “an immediate impact” in the area of workforce management.

She noted there are still other non-AI optimisations that could be made to Dayforce in the pursuit of greater efficiencies.

For now, Mannix said Funlab is “leaning on a lot on other users of Dayforce to get better, as opposed to using AI to work out how to use the tool better.”

Other Funlab departments have AI experimentation on their roadmaps as part of efforts to enhance offerings and improve customer engagement around its entertainment venues.