At home
in your world

At home in your world

For life. For work. Our baseline proved to be fitting once again in 2022. While the world of work was still changing rapidly in the aftermath of covid, the war in Ukraine put the brakes on the economic world. Staying on course while navigating these hefty counter currents was and is a tour de force for every organisation. As such, 2022 proved to be a year with many faces.

Flexibility vs continuity

Flexibility - in terms of working time and place, but also rewards, workforce planning, and career paths, among others - has become a crucial asset for employers in the war for talent that is still raging.

Employees increasingly seek a good work-life balance, self-development, purpose and belonging within their careers. Employers need to offer all this, within the sudden context of exceptionally high inflation and energy prices, automatic wage indexations and disrupted supply chains.

In short: increasing cost efficiency in uncertain times while attracting, retaining and motivating talent in a scarce labour market was the main HR challenge for companies in 2022 and will remain so in the years to come.

A solid but agile partner

As a leading European HR player, we can and must bridge the gap. We strive to do so with an offering that is fully aligned with the needs of all employers - small, mid-sized, large, local and international - and their employees. Now and in the future, whenever and wherever they need it, and with the best expert service.

To that end, we strengthened our already solid foundation once more in 2022. With huapii, for instance, we enriched our offering in talent management. Through the acquisitions of HRPRO, Intelligo and Integrho, our international footprint now extends across the whole of Europe.

Our mysdworx gateway and platform integration technology will soon ensure a unique and uniform customer experience for our HR and payroll solutions - wherever customers operate in Europe, with or without our own payroll software. They can count on a solution that aligns with their local language and culture, and that is always stable, secure, and compliant with the local legislation.

The year of the customer

Our promise is that, for every HR-related need and question, customers can come to SD Worx. After all, if we can relieve them of all their HR and payroll matters, they can focus fully on what they do best: their core business activities.

We continue to execute our growth strategy and have put the right resources into place. In 2023, we will consolidate our fast-grown organisation and offering. Just like our customers, we as an organisation must be equally cost-efficient. In order to be the most customer-centric HR and payroll partner, we need to respond to HR needs even faster and bring the right innovations to the market. Our added value must be crystal clear and propelled by unrivalled services.

Setting the bar high

Apart from our staffing services, our 2022 annual results show an overall upward trend - in customer base, among others. SD Worx achieved a consolidated revenue of 962.1 million euro, which is an increase of 12.1% compared to 2021. The normalised EBITDA grew to 136.7 million euro (+18.3%) and the net profit climbed to 81 million euro (+73.1%). Great results, but that does not mean we can rest on our laurels. After all, the worlds of HR and business continue to evolve rapidly, so we must - and will - do the same.

One SD Worx

In turbulent times, a skilled and committed team is even more important in order to realise sustainable growth. We are fortunate to be able to build on that at SD Worx. High engagement rates and keen participation in our employee share plan demonstrate a strong belief in SD Worx, for which we sincerely thank all colleagues.

Together, we strive to achieve a single goal:
to be at home in the worlds of our customers.

No matter which obstacles inevitably show up in our path, we are confident that we will succeed in overcoming them and achieving our ambitions - as one. As our customers embark on this exciting journey with us, we are most grateful for your ongoing trust. Rest assured, we have been and will always keep pulling out all the stops to earn it - and exceed your expectations.

How? Let's find out.

The best customer experience. Wherever, whenever.

Although we have always been a customer-centric organisation, delivering the best, most consistent experience to all customers is a never-ending process. Change is the only constant - employer and employee expectations, technology, organisations, client needs and goals, etc. Needless to say, customer experience (CX) is always at the top of our agenda.

It starts from within - with a SPARK

All customers must have the same great experience when interacting with us. To this aim, we offer trainings open to everyone at SD Worx, since we all work with customers, externally and internally, according to 5 guiding CX principles: our SPARK sessions. This acronym stands for:

• 

  Sense the needs
  We really listen and put ourselves in your shoes, to truly understand your goals and help you thrive.

• 

  Promise & stick to it
  We take ownership of our work. We are dedicated to delivering results. We dare to set boundaries and stick to our promises.

• 

  Act as one
  Even when we're physically apart, we act as one. Sharing our talents and celebrating our differences. We're all part of the SD Worx family.

• 

  Remain in touch
  We always keep the dialogue going and keep looking for solutions together.

• 

  Keep ahead
  We dare to look at things from a different perspective. For us, learning and innovating are like breathing, inspiring us to always go further and keep you ahead of the game.

360° approach

Covering the entire customer journey means that several departments are involved in every interaction and need to collaborate. To facilitate this, we will set up a new governance structure and assign CX Champions per country who locally manage our CX program. These colleagues will focus on customer feedback and how to improve it. Close collaboration and regular updates will be crucial.

Also essential to really understanding our customers' needs: vast quantities of data. We will not only expand our NPS surveys from once a year to always on, but we will also combine these sentiment data with operational and financial data, such as metrics on customer churn. Linking all these data will give us a better and more complete picture, allowing us to identify the right actions needed to enhance customer engagement and CX. Obviously, we will have the right CX tools and systems in place to collect, follow up on, report and improve these data.

As an international fast-growing organisation, this CX program will help us in shaping a uniform and superb customer experience, as well as help us become one SD Worx.

Industry recognition

The success of our people solutions isn't only highlighted by our happy customers. For us, analyst recognitions are also important reputation, credibility and confidence boosters.

Here's an overview of the fine recognitions we received in 2022.

Our odyssey into Europe

To be where our customers are - with local support and best-in-class tech, services and expertise tailored to their needs. That's the overall goal of the ambitious expansion programme for which we laid the foundations in 2021. This adventurous journey into Europe has already borne fruit, thanks to an unconventional - yet highly effective - growth strategy.

Fast European growth

• 

  2022 saw expansions into Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Nordics

• 

  25 European countries (+ Mauritius) and counting

A strategic step-by-step rollout

Success doesn't come to those who wait. Instead of slowly broadening our customer base in a certain country from the outside in, we prefer fanning out from our potential customers' backyards.

While the 'normal' way of events would be to acquire a promising local vendor first and then - maybe - build a local entity around it, our expansion programme also works the other way around. That's the secret to its success. This high-level overview of the process summarises how it's done:

We still have some ground to cover, and obstacles are popping up along the way, but we're resourceful and determined to be close to all our European customers - and to become a part of their world.

Thorough country-specific expertise - through, among others, partnerships with and acquisitions of local payroll and HR providers - is how we differentiate and how new doors swing open.

Country-specific knowledge wins the race

When travelling to a new country, looking at a map in advance helps you develop an understanding of the places you want to visit, what they can offer and which routes to take or avoid. That's exactly what our local subject-matter experts bring to the table when they help our customers expand across Europe. They are our most valuable navigators of Europe's complex legislative landscape.

Enter first-class local expertise

To successfully gain access to new markets and confidently and quickly broaden our horizons inside those same markets, establishing credibility and trust is key. Of course, SD Worx has already earned its stripes internationally. But to truly be at home in our local customers' realities and ensure top-quality compliant services at all times, we need solid, nitty-gritty knowledge of country-specific payroll and HR.

That's why securing deep local expertise - through subject-matter experts and software tools - is the centrepiece of our domestic and multi-country growth strategy. It's an approach that works, as the rapid expansion of SD Worx in Spain confirms.

At home in Spain

Upon opening our sales office in Spain, Carlos Pardo González was appointed Managing Director. After establishing a highly qualified and experienced team and setting up our solutions portfolio for Spanish employers, we took on the challenge of finding a strong local payroll software provider to partner with and further expand our local services.

With Carlos' extensive local market experience as our signpost, in-depth research led us to Integrho, a Barcelona-based specialist with a knack for innovation and a robust payroll engine.

“Their software and expertise were right up our alley. So were their company culture, values and people - that's an indispensable condition when you're considering a serious partnership,” says Carlos.

After a whole year of testing Integrho's product in real life, it was clear that our two companies were a perfect match. By acquiring Integrho in 2022, SD Worx strengthened its footprint in Spain while simultaneously expanding the portfolio of local payroll and HR software.

As Integrho was founded in 1994, its team members know the needs, peculiarities and regulations of the Spanish HR and payroll market like the backs of their hands. Their specific knowledge is the icing on the cake that refines our top HR and payroll expertise, additional services and software for Spanish companies.

United under one flag, we are ready to expand further in the region.

Seize every opportunity to help your people thrive

Are your employees happy? Helping them to take ownership of their careers and develop their skills is a - often underestimated, yet highly rewarding - step toward creating a workplace that they truly love. In the ongoing war for talent, managing that talent thoroughly improves your chances of keeping the trusted employees you already have and attracting new ones.

How huapii future-proofs your organisation

Full-blown talent management support

What's in a name? Well, in the case of 'huapii' it's the words 'human' and 'happy', which puts the spotlight on their focus: making working humans happy. With the 2022 HR Excellence Award for Best Employee Engagement & Rewards Company shining in their trophy cabinet, it's clear that we've found a partner that exceeds expectations.

Founded in 2019, huapii has been helping organisations respond to changing needs by putting talent management at the forefront. As such, their platform and consulting services are perfect additions to the more classic performance management tools and ERP solutions that SD Worx had already offered.

Accelerating international growth

As huapii was ready to take the global HR market by storm, the young company was looking for a partner to speed up their ambitions. Once aboard the fast-paced SD Worx train, they didn't have to wait long for the first results.

Tim De Troch, who joined huapii in 2021 as CEO, confirms: “In 2022, we already had some high-quality leads in the UK. Without SD Worx, we probably would have never found them. The partnership has massively broadened our potential customer base overnight, but we're taking it step by step. First up are the UK and the Netherlands. We'll see where the expected snowball effect takes us next.”

In any case, SD Worx' participation was a real confidence boost. “We've been building a promising sales pipeline together, of which we hope to reap the rewards from 2023 onward. Huapii still retains its start-up energy and individuality, but with SD Worx having our back, we can go for growth more confidently and give our own employees the assurance of a stable future.”

Cross-pollination propels innovation

Integrating the huapii platform into the SD Worx world-of-work ecosystem also means that its software now has much more employee data to work with.

“Combining our data sources has already enriched the platform's reporting possibilities. If, for example, one of our customers notices an increase in dropouts of high-performing employees, they can now easily check the correlation between employees leaving and employees having received a bonus or a raise prior to that.”

But we intend to do more than that. By collaborating closely with the huapii team, our goal is to map out an end-to-end talent management experience for all our customers. Leveraging that, they'll be able to thrive as an employer of choice, even in a challenging labour market.

Adding value through extensive research

In-depth market knowledge does not come out of the blue. With curiosity rooted deeply in our company culture, we go to great lengths to understand what drives our customers and what keeps them up at night. Through extensive research, we unravel the trends, needs and opportunities that rock their worlds. With those insights, we add value and strengthen our company's competitive edge.

Let's dig deeper into two European research projects we carried out in 2022.

#1 Becoming an employer of choice

Is the war for talent really as ferocious as the media say? What can European employers do to increase their appeal and, ultimately, become employers of choice? At the beginning of 2022, we conducted a large-scale online survey to find out.

The numbers made it painfully clear: for European employers to attract, engage and retain the scarce talent on the tight labour market, they needed to step up their game. But how exactly?

Of course, we wouldn't just rub salt into the wound and leave it at that. Our research and expert insights uncovered the nine key characteristics of employers of choice. To help our customers grasp their meaning and importance and take targeted steps to embody those characteristics, we wrote and distributed the insightful e-book 'How to become an employer of choice'.

The 9 characteristics of an employer of choice

The 9 characteristics of an employer of choice
#1 Going for the full Monty in employee wellbeing
#2 Embracing the fluidity of work
#3 Prioritising financial fairness for all
#4 Fostering an inspiring corporate culture
#5 Striking a balance between high-touch and high-tech
#6 Safeguarding long-term employability
#7 Flipping the funnel in recruitment
#8 Encouraging a healthy work-life balance
#9 Hitting all 4 nails in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB)

Download it here

#2 Payroll Proficiency Index

Payroll processing is a task that should not be taken lightly, and you'll need a different approach in every European country. To understand all the fine details of country-specific payroll requirements, obstacles and evolutions, SD Worx focuses significantly on developing in-depth local expertise.

We do that by relying on trusted local subject-matter experts and proven local software tools, but also by carrying out original research on the differences between payroll processing in European countries.

For our 2023 Payroll Proficiency Index, we asked over 4,500 companies spread over 16 countries to assess the impact of 6 payroll drivers: legislation, reward, technology, capability, workforce and partner. The average scores per country show how proficient these companies perceive themselves to be in each driver:

By sharing these and many other insights from our research with our customers, we can help them make the right business decisions when expanding their businesses, and at the same time deepen our own local expertise.

Browse through the results for 16 countries on our dedicated website, including clarifications from seasoned payroll experts.

Discover the Payroll Proficiency Index

Wow! The world of work in your pocket

How easy would it be if you could access all your HR and payroll tools in one place? No more switching tabs, keeping track of a dozen passwords or copying the same information from one app to the other. What if employees could use that same platform to consult and manage their payslips, expenses and absences by themselves - or maybe even lease their own cars? Sounds like an HR dream come true.

From onboarding to talent management

The first version of the mysdworx platform was launched in Belgium in 2019. Available as a web application and a mobile app, the intuitive platform enables organisations to easily manage payslips, expenses, absences and internal communications online.

A lot has changed since then.

Harder, better, faster, stronger. No one sang it better than Daft Punk. Then again: no one worked it - and made it - better than SD Worx. As we levelled up our services, products and technology on a day-to-day basis, our platform is now ready to follow suit.

Of course, mysdworx still offers all the required tools for the tasks mentioned above - but there is so much more now!

Building an expansive ecosystem of integrated, end-to-end payroll and HR solutions, we are able to offer our customers lots of extra tools on top of those for their daily routine HR tasks: from integrated core HR systems to integrated workforce management. And the platform acts as the gateway to all that - through a consistent, unified and intuitive user experience.

But why stop there? Both employers and employees are getting access to a broader world-of-work ecosystem through mysdworx. Our partner network offers mobility, insurance, well-being services and member benefits to the ever-growing population of SD Worx customers and their employees.

SPARC, the tech that connects

SPARC was developed to connect all the different elements of the SD Worx' world-of-work ecosystem with each other and our customers worldwide.

The SD Worx Platform Architecture (SPARC) is the backbone of our integration and digital leadership. It allows for stable and secure integrations, consistent UX, cost-efficient innovations and smooth scaling across countries. But that's not all. SPARC is also the tech that makes centralised international payroll processing possible.

“Say, for example, you're a payroll professional managing an organisation's payroll in multiple European countries. To do your job efficiently and with minimal friction, you would want all employee data, payslips and payroll documents of these countries readily available in one place, right? SPARC does that for you: it enables all data from dispersed tools and countries to flow fluidly into mysdworx,” Platform & Integration Tribe Lead at SD Worx, Ruben Smolders, explains.

Accessible across Europe

Our digital innovation teams across Europe already offer a full digital experience including mobile apps and integrated HR portals. In time, all of our customers will also be able to leverage a wide range of tools related to the broad world of work, no matter where they are in Europe.

High-level security

Safety first - and that adage definitely applies to the internet. As mysdworx gives access to a treasure chest of payroll and HR tools, state-of-the art security measures have been taken to protect our customers' valuable personal and sensitive information.

The most visible are the alternative login options such as facial recognition, fingerprint access and passwordless two-factor authentication with a uniquely generated QR code. They make logging in easier and - more importantly - ensure the highest level of data security and privacy.

Unleashing the full potential of our people

People are at the heart of the success of any business. That's a belief we hold dear: it shapes our solutions, our approach to customer relations, our partnerships, and, of course, our own HR approach. Growth was always a vital part of this, but now we're embedding it deeply into our company culture. In stimulating our people to unleash their full potential, we're aiming for more sustainable careers - and the happiest people.

The People Growth Team

In September 2022, Bruce Fecheyr-Lippens was appointed Chief People Officer at SD Worx. With his long-standing track record in HR, leadership, people analytics and - as one of the founders of huapii - a burning passion for talent management, he's a first-class successor to Cathy Geerts, who successfully led our HR department for three years.

Together with the People Growth Team - of which the new name better aligns with our view that HR is more than people management - he started off by incorporating three remarkable cornerstones into our HR policy.

Employees in the driver's seat

Change comes from within. We offer our employees the freedom, flexibility and tools to take control of their careers - but it's up to them to grab the opportunity and become the superheroes they want to be.

And it's working. Our employees not only wax lyrical about the actions we're taking, but they want to participate.

Take our SPARK Leaders & JOYners Programme, for example. What was once a strategic project group only the more senior managers could join turned into an inclusive, diverse and multi-functional mix of ambitious SD Worx colleagues in 2022.

SPARK Leaders & JOYners

Collaborating closely on strategic projects

support employees in their leadership journeys and boost their careers

The best part of all that? The SPARK JOYners applied to this project group and really went all in. After pitching themselves and their ambitions to think along strategically to a jury, 30 entrepreneurial SD Worx employees were selected for the programme for the following year.

Full flexibility & the war for talent

Just like many of our customers, SD Worx was battling the war for talent in 2022. As the labour market started to accelerate in the aftermath of the pandemic, attracting and retaining talent was also high on our own priority list - and it still is. By pulling out all stops to offer full flexibility on multiple levels, we're walking the talk of striving to be an employer of choice.

Flexibility & job crafting

We all know it: finding new talent is no walk in the park these days. But more often than not, the talent you need is already part of your team.

By creating a clear overview of our people's strengths and potential, we can propel the movement of the employees we already have to positions that urgently need to be filled. At the same time, this approach enables new career and development opportunities, which, in many cases, motivates employees to stay loyal to our organisation.

That, too, is very hard - especially in a labour market where both fresh and seasoned professionals are weighing their options more consciously and are more willing to take the plunge and switch careers.

There's already tonnes of talent present in SD Worx.
We need to foster that.

Flexibility & potential

That doesn't mean we don't recruit anymore - quite the contrary. But we choose to do it differently.

Instead of waiting for a vacancy to open up before scouting for recruits, we now attract young new potentials proactively as well. As finding a plug-and-play match for many vacancies is virtually impossible, we believe this is the perfect workaround.

It's secret: changed expectations.

Don't get us wrong - we're hiring young professionals who have the innate ability, interest and motivation to work in HR and payroll, but we're willing to help them gain the specific skills and knowhow they need after they're hired.

So, the expectation that has changed is that of required experience. With intensive guidance and on-the-job trainings, we're investing in their potential, we're teaching them how to do their jobs well.

Flexibility & work-life balance

If there's one thing that really stuck with us after the pandemic, it's remote work. Many employees and candidates really want to hang on that - which we fully understand.

The flexibility to arrange your work schedule as you see fit, among other things, helps you maintain a healthier lifestyle, fit your job around your life and create an environment in which you're most efficient and productive.

Those are benefits that we can only support. That's why we're working toward a culture in which our people get the autonomy to decide where and when they work. As long as the job is done and the results are good, everyone is happy.

Our solid time & attendance software enables this. It helps us to optimise our people's time, flexibly draw up team schedules, improve efficiency and make sure everyone knows what is due when.

Building a happy workplace for all of our people

The best proof of being a great place to work is, of course, a happy workforce. Through inspiring events and training sessions on wellbeing and a dedicated focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, we're creating an environment in which everyone can work in the best possible circumstances. That's how we aim to put lasting smiles on all our people's faces.

Sparking the conversation

Mental health, diversity and inclusion - three rather heavy topics with varied perspectives, opinions and approaches, but ones that require extra attention in fast-growing companies in uncertain times.

By opening the dialogue and stimulating honest conversations with and among employees, we're paving the way for a healthy workplace culture that is embraced across all layers, divisions and locations of our organisation.

Throughout the year, we organised multiple interactive workshops, speaker sessions, cultural awareness trainings and other events on these topics. This way, we get the conversation going and help our employees deal with them on a day-to-day basis.

A sneak peek into two conversation starters from 2022:

#WeSPARKBelonging, part two

Next to the above initiatives, our People Growth Team kept last year's #WeSPARKBelonging campaign going throughout 2022 as well. With numerous new and repeated low-threshold actions for our employees to join in on or contribute to, we increased awareness of diversity and inclusion topics across our organisation.

The bottom line: we're all different, but we're one big family. We spark belonging with every step we take.

Some examples of the actions we took to highlight this fact:

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  In a podcast series, our employees showed how diverse our organisation is, talked about diversity in the workplace and got to know each other and other divisions better.

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  With greeting cards and inspirational messages on our social media on topicals such as International Women's Day, World Gratitude Day and World Solidarity Day, we stimulated our employees to join the conversation.

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  Through a Keep Moving Step Challenge, we promoted physical exercise. In 2 months, 570 participants covered an impressive distance of 175,877 kilometres together.

Engagement is soaring

Going all-in on wellbeing, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is hard work. But, as the results show, hard work pays off. Our eNPS, or Employee Net Promotor Score, showed a steep increase for the second year in a row.

This is a clear sign that our initiatives resonate with our employees, our culture is getting embedded throughout the organisation and employee engagement is improving. That's great news, because we all know what they say: happy employees also make happy customers.