REDEFINING KELLOGG’S FINANCIAL TRANSFORMATION ROADMAP IN MALAYSIA

In 1995, when Kellogg Asia Marketing, the marketing division of the Kellogg Company set up its base in Kuala Lumpur, the company was still hiring for early roles. Like any multinational food company, Kellogg Asia Marketing was just testing waters in Southeast Asia, oceans away from its headquarters in USA. After a fair amount of R&D on prospective locations to establish its regional presence, the company chose Malaysia, never for once contemplating that this would one day turn to be one of their biggest manufacturing hubs in Asia-Pacific.

After a few years of its establishment in Kuala Lumpur, the company encountered several challenges in which its workforce payroll was being handled. Eventually switching its payroll provider, the company hired Propay Partners as its outsourcing partner to give it a more streamlined, efficient and hands-on payroll partner. 

Given the fact that the company had just started operations and onboarding employees, its human capital management system was still in its infancy when it came to handling large amount of data inflow. Propay Partners was able to turnaround this complexity by ensuring a more streamlined data mechanism that enabled easier and faster payroll reporting.

Propay Partners was able to usher in a slew of automation tools that quickly replaced the company’s existing payroll systems with digitally-backed financial reporting tools. By putting in place better technological capabilities and processes, the company was confident of addressing all payroll and human capital needs among its growing workforce. The mutual partnership hit new levels when Propay Partners was roped in to serve another new entity within Kellogg in Malaysia. 

In April 2013, Kellogg began its second massive venture in Malaysia - Kellogg Asia Products. The company opened this manufacturing facility in Negri Sembilan which is the regional snacks manufacturing hub, producing halal-certified Pringles for the Asia-Pacific region. 

As with the previous entity, Propay Partners took over the HR and payroll management of its employees starting with the induction of its very first employee in March 2014. As of 2021, the company reports having close to 500 employees working at its plant in Bandar Enstek, all of them supported by Propay Partners' robust team of payroll specialists. 

“As a global MNC greenfield operation in Malaysia, our workforce and its productivity have a direct bearing on our business. Choosing Propay Partner’s services was a decisive move to get local experts who knew the payroll and regulatory landscape in Malaysia. They proved to be highly reliable allies on many fronts – paving way for avant-garde payroll processes and quality management systems along with great customer service,” observed Kellogg Asia Products Head of HR, Brian Anthony.

“Propay Partners helped us deeply and consistently attend to our employees’ payroll and statutory compliance because it was a disruption as well as a pressing requirement to get them done parallelly with everything else. This financial transformation was a compulsion that we had to manage and Propay Partners did everything to walk that extra mile with us,” Anthony added.

The convenience of having a payroll outsourcing partner with a rich experience two decades in the industry was a much more reliable option than investing in on-premise payroll software and processes. A partnership that goes beyond traditional consulting, Propay Partners was able to support Kellogg with quantitative and qualitative financial data with minimum risk and best-in-class employee services that can be accessed from phones as well as dashboards.

At one point in time, Kellogg Asia Products had encountered serious Time & Attendance glitches from one of its global partners. Discrepancies were abound; and data was marred by inconsistency, evoking confusion, and even more errors. Propay Partners was given the additional contract of deploying Time & Attendance solution and hardware, which it did digitally in a cost-effective way. Having the resource bandwidth to cater in the same order as global outsourcing firms, Propay Partners proved a much reliable HR partner in terms of cost, outcome and localised services. 

Over the years, Propay Partners helped Kellogg bolster its foothold in Malaysia through personnel expansion, process initiation, statutory registration and HCM automation. The company also boosted Kellogg payroll and HR capabilities to meet its colossal product output. Of the overall payroll accuracy average of 99.93%, Propay Partners’ accuracy level for Kellogg stands at 99.95% to this day. Its monthly payroll processes are supported by quarterly KPI reviews and a unique ‘6-Eye’ checking principle for payroll standardisation. Kellogg is also presented with a verification checklist that helps them weed out discrepancies and errors. The brand is also provided with frequent payroll log reviews, audit trial reviews, disaster recovery, as well as business continuity plans in case of emergency.

Propay Partners slashed downtime in employee requests, payroll accessibility and statutory concerns by a huge margin given the company’s varied payroll structure. Propay Partners has been a devoted partner in the brand’s journey, from its beginnings as a startup in Malaysia to one of the country’s largest exporters of breakfast and convenience foods. 

“Kellogg has been one of our very important clients. Our solid partnership over the years has helped us understand their business really well and ensure a total turnaround in terms of payroll and employee services. Although we’ve crossed a lot of hills and valleys while streamlining their payroll, they’ve always been highly patient and understanding of us,” said Manish Mehta, Business Director and Co-founder, Propay Partners. 

Today, Kellogg is elated to have a comprehensive payroll partner that turbocharges all its HCM requirements and helps them establish better payroll governance for one of its largest facilities in Southeast Asia. “Propay Partners has really helped us scale without having to worry about payroll, statutory filings or even about receiving unforeseen penalties from regulators. As our payroll solutions partner, they have given us complete peace of mind in running our business. It’s a partnership we are looking to continue,” said Anthony.