Sabis is a well-established family-owned company based in Stockholm, founded as early as 1874. The business comprises three different areas of operation: grocery retail, hotels, and restaurants. This broad scope creates a complex organization with various collective bargaining agreements, roles, and employee groups, placing high demands on flexibility and the efficient management of HR and payroll matters.
When Sabis needed additional support for its payroll department, they chose to bring in interim consultants from Azets. We spoke with Ingalill M Szabela, HR Manager at Sabis, about the collaboration.
What services have you engaged from Azets?
At Sabis, we brought in interim support for our payroll department. Over a longer period, one consultant worked on-site, and during a shorter, more intensive period, we also engaged another consultant at a 30% capacity. This solution provided both relief during peak workloads and support for longer-term needs.
What have been the benefits of the collaboration?
Being able to quickly bring in someone who was highly knowledgeable and experienced as a consultant has been a major advantage. It is somewhat unique to come into an organization as a consultant, especially in a company like ours where we normally do not work with consultants and prefer to have our own employees.
The consultant was incredibly adaptable and flexible, and it was clear that they had experience working in different environments, which has been very positive. New perspectives and experience from various organizations, industries, and systems have also been a significant strength.
What aspects of the collaboration have provided the most value to your company?
First and foremost, it has been the day-to-day operations. However, an added benefit has been gaining insight into different systems and what they are capable of. We have been introduced to new approaches and solutions that we had not considered before.
Many people within our payroll function have worked here for a very long time, which can naturally lead to similar ways of working. That is why bringing in new perspectives has been such a valuable bonus. It has helped us better understand what could be done differently and what other systems might make possible.
Was there anything in particular during the collaboration that you would like to highlight?
Payroll and finance work are highly regulated, with clear procedures and strict security requirements. Simply put, you do not want mistakes in payroll administration, as it is an area governed by fairly strict rules.
Our consultant quickly understood how we work at Sabis and adapted accordingly. We also maintained a good dialogue about working methods, and the consultant was very flexible and attentive to the approaches that work best within our organization. That was an extremely valuable quality.
Would you recommend Azets to others?
If someone in my network were to ask, or if a similar situation arose, I would definitely recommend Azets, 100%.
It is really not just about the consultant, but also about the groundwork and the overall collaboration. The dialogue with the Azets team has been fantastic, highly customer-oriented, and focused. That was also one of the reasons we chose Azets in the first place: we experienced a strong willingness to listen and understand what would work best for us.
