Valley Grown Salads are an established family business specialising in fresh produce such as peppers, cucumbers, aubergines and tomatoes. They employ 120-130 employees, but during the peak summer months this rises to 180-190 employees.
Speaking with Francesca Russo, the Head of HR and Assistant Accountant, why Valley Grown Salads chose Tensor, Francesca tells us that they were originally with OneAdvanced and the reason they chose Tensor was because "OneAdvanced showed us their new system but they wanted to increase the price 10 fold for a small business like us, it wasn't viable. Our Operations Manager recommended Tensor to us as his family were in the same industry and they use Tensor". Francesca added "we were looking for a system that did exactly what we needed it to do and not be too much for what we required. When using the OneAdvanced system we would only use 30% of their features and it just wasn't tailored to us". She also said to our reporter that "we did contact a few other companies but we never got responses".
Valley Grown Salads opted to use Tensor for Time & Attendance, Access Control and HR, and Francesca told us that "we found from the get-go Tensor does everything we need it to do! There's a lot of features I liked from the demo, especially on the HR side of things such as the diaries and keeping track of documents; I just found it very useful and it cuts my time spent on this area of the business by 50%!"
After implementing the Tensor.NET system, Francesca said that "there are some features that we did not use at the start, but now we do! It is great to have a system that is not too overwhelming and is better suited to our industry".
Tensor supplies a range of turnstiles and the access control readers can be integrated into the turnstiles to increase perimeter security. Francesca told our reporter "we have a turnstile that we use, it was here before Tensor was installed and just changing the reader to a Tensor, integrated it with the Tensor.net system". Wanting to know more about how the turnstile has worked since the installation, Francesca said "it has worked really well; if it was up to me I would put another one in our other sites".
In terms of training Francesca told our reporter that "we had 3 days of training so far" and asking her for feedback regarding the training Francesca said "the trainer helped set up our system, our rosters, shifts, absence codes, building reports and troubleshooting" additionally saying "the trainer was really good, it's quite clear he is experienced in HR and payroll so when you speak with him he is able to add his input and expertise in our process; he helped us set it up the right way, we were really pleased with how he helped us configure the system". Valley Grown Salads have training booked 5 training days and have used 3 already, but Francesca tells us "I don't know what we will use the other 2 days for! Because we are in a good position and I don't necessarily think we need much more training; maybe for some user training but our users have got the hang of the Tensor system straight away!"
The SSM (Self-Service Module) is designed to be an extension to the Time & Attendance system to streamline the management of shifts, entitlements and absence planning without needing to be on site. Asking whether the SSM has worked well for Francesca, she tells us "yes, overall the SSM is good. We had something similar with OneAdvanced but they were nowhere near as good as Tensor. In fact, most of our managers and employees are using the Tensor SSM and they have no complaints about it".
Asking what Francesca's favourite aspect about Tensor.NET was, she tells our reporter "I like how visual it is, especially with the colours on the absence planner and SSM. It has helped our managers massively especially checking for employee whereabouts, shifts and absences". Overall she rated her experience with the Tensor.NET system as "a solid 9/10, I've been able to get my head around the system really easily and coming from a person who doesn't have much experience with these types of systems it does say something!"
As Valley Grown Salads did not opt for the biometric systems available with Tensor. They instead use key fobs. Our reporter asked about how easy the key fobs are to use and Francesca replied "the key fobs are so easy to use! It is so easy to assign employees with a fob on Tensor.NET".
Fire Roll Call is also part of the Tensor.NET system at Valley Grown Salads, although they haven't used it yet. Francesca expressed to the reporter that "from a first glance it looks great, it is very visual like the other Tensor software so it's easy to know who's in and out".
As Francesca focuses mainly on the HR side of things at Valley Grown Salads, she uses the Tensor HR system on a daily basis. Our reporter wanted to know more about her experience. Francesca tells us "I really like it! I like the document storage side of things where I can store information such as an employee's ID and probation; it is very handy". She tells us that prior to the installation of Tensor "we were using server folders before but that involved saving information on drives but I prefer having them on Tensor, its more user-friendly and Tensor makes life easier because it is much safer, and it's easy to locate things". She elaborated by telling us "for example, you can easily find when someone's review is due or exit interviews forms, I find it very helpful."
For HR personnel, Tensor.NET is also capable of generating customisable reports from the Time & Attendance system. Francesca has taken advantage of this capability and told our reporter "we have managed to set up quite a few aspects for reporting such as upcoming absences, and daily reports where managers get notified on who is on/off site and contact any absent employees to find out their whereabouts which has helped multiple departments".
Asking about her experience with the Tensor Helpdesk Francesca tells us "every time I have rang them they have been very quick! On a couple of occasions, I have received a response in the same phone call and on a couple of occasions I have had to open a ticket to have someone look into it". Francesca summed up her experience with the Tensor Helpdesk by saying "overall it is really good".
Regarding Tensor's on-site installation and maintenance services and any areas in which Tensor could improve this area, Francesca said "I don't think so. Tensor has been excellent throughout the process from sales to implementation to installation and setting up". As the Tensor.NET system is modular allowing for the seamless addition of other Tensor modules, we asked Francesca if she planned on extending the system and she tells us "at the moment we're good how we are, although once I get the HR diary set up it will be a game changer!". However, she tells us "if it were up to me I would add more access control to offices, manager's offices and specific restricted areas and from what I understand it is very easy to extend; maybe adding Tensor's CCTV too. But that could be something to look at in future".
Asking if she would recommend Tensor to other companies she tells our reporter "yes for sure! I am very happy with it. I'm a massive fan of Tensor and I prefer it over what we had previously" and she summarized the Tensor System as "user friendly and affordable"
Valley Grown Salads
Nazelow Nursey
Sedge Green Road
Roydon
Essex
CM19 5JS
01992445000