How Wates replaced Excel and unified compensation reviews across 5 business units

The UK's leading family-owned construction company eliminated manual Excel processes, gained complete visibility across business units, and created CEO-ready compensation reporting for their award-winning healthcare facilities.

100%
Compliance
Multi-Level
Approval Workflows
Zero
Manual Excel Errors
"Amite's thorough understanding of our processes enabled efficient management of our pay review from start to finish."
Mandy Fuller
Reward and Benefits Manager
WATES Construction
The Challenge

A cocktail that tastes like regret and spreadsheets

What do you get when you combine disjointed business units, complex approvals, and 100s of Excel files?

📊
Excel File Chaos
Excel files were produced for everyone across the organisation, making it difficult to keep track of all business activities and creating distribution nightmares.
🔄
Complicated Approval Chains
Complex approval processes were difficult to track, with no visibility into status or bottlenecks, slowing down the entire compensation review cycle.
⚠️
Error-Prone Manual Processes
Different business units worked in different ways, creating inconsistencies and manual errors that put compensation decisions at risk.
The Solution

A cleaner, faster way to run reviews

Together with Wates, we rebuilt their review process from the ground up – with structure, security and speed.

Addresses: Excel File Chaos

Centralised Business Unit Management

PAYreview replaced scattered Excel files with a unified system where each business area has dedicated administrators and configurations, while maintaining centralised oversight and consistent processes.

🏢 Separate business area configurations
👥 Dedicated area administrators
🔄 Centralized HR team oversight
💰 Different budgets per area
Addresses: Complicated Approval Chains

Multi-Level Approval Workflows

PAYreview streamlined complex approval processes with clear visibility into status and bottlenecks, allowing managers to add comments and context for decisions throughout the review chain.

🔍 Real-time approval status visibility
💬 Manager comments and context
🎯 Budget variance explanations
🔄 Smooth approval routing
Addresses: Error-Prone Manual Processes

Flexible Calculation Engine

Accommodated WATES' specific calculations and business rules while standardising processes across units, including pay gap calculations and different review types for salary and promotions.

🧮 Custom calculation capabilities
⚖️ Built-in pay gap calculations
🔀 Salary & promotion review types
📊 FTE-based calculations
"The support was invaluable. Amite were always there to ensure our pay review went smoothly."
Mandy Fuller
Reward and Benefits Manager
WATES Construction
The Results

Not just a fix, but a level up

Wates turned a high-stakes review into a clear, repeatable process that delivers real insight.

⚡
Complete
Flexilibty
with their review logic
✅
100%
Compliance
With Auto Validations
📊
CEO-Ready
Reporting
For Executive Insights

The transformation in detail

How each core challenge was completely resolved

📊

Before PAYreview

  • ✕
    Excel files scattered across the organisation, difficult to track
  • ✕
    Complicated approval chains with no visibility into status
  • ✕
    Different business units working in different ways
  • ✕
    Error-prone manual processes across all units
  • ✕
    Difficult distribution and change tracking
✨

After PAYreview

  • ✓
    Centralised system with complete data ownership across business units
  • ✓
    Multi-level approvals with full visibility and status tracking
  • ✓
    Consistent processes with flexible configurations per business area
  • ✓
    Automated validations ensuring compliance and eliminating errors
  • ✓
    Easy data export for letters and CEO-ready reporting