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What our clients say ...

Capita plc Financial, Insurance and Business Management Services  
P&Q client: Capita
Q>TAR has been in place for over twenty five years and has been used as our time recording system for monitoring staff attendance, sickness and holidays. The data captured has been instrumental in ensuring there has been sufficient oversight of the company's staff utilisation across its operation.
During this time, there have been minimal issues with the software in terms of reliability and ease of data access. The hardware, as it has aged, has shown an expected level of reliability, with any fix on fail requirements dealt with efficiently under the annual maintenance agreement.
All in all, the use of Q>TAR has continuously satisfied the needs of the company, and the service provided by P & Q International has been very satisfactory.”
(Tim Sill of Capita plc)


Case Study – Staff feedback at Terry's of York

QTAR logo

Easy staff access to
overtime and holiday balances

When confectionery manufacturer, Terry's of York needed to change its wage payments from weekly to monthly, P&Q came up with an easy-to-use card swipe and screen solution (a ‘kiosk’) that allowed staff quick access to their individual details.

The customer


P&Q client: Terry's of York

Terry's of York produced the world-famous Terry's Chocolate Orange™ and Terry's All Gold™ products and many other much-loved confectionary brands. Established in 1767, it is now part of Kraft Suchard – the second largest food and beverage company in the world. The factory in York, UK employed production personnel, as well as staff engaged in research and development, finance, IS and human resources functions. Terry's of York first started using P&Q's QTAR system in 1992.

Business problem

Terry's wished to move from paying staff weekly to a new monthly wage system and wanted to keep the faith of its workforce. The company also wanted to incorporate the recording of holiday entitlements in hours rather than half-days, as a fairer means of rewarding staff working variable shifts.

Both the company and the unions were concerned about how employees would be able to keep an accurate tally of their overtime and holidays in these new circumstances.

The P&Q solution

Staff kiosk screen-shot

“We talked to P&Q, who already supply our Time & Attendance software, and they came up with the idea of installing a screen and card-swipe in the canteen at the factory,” said Martin Buckle, Payroll manager at Terry's.

With just a simple screen enclosed in a secure box, there was no keyboard or mouse to complicate the solution. Staff members accessed their personal information with swipe cards.

When employees entered the canteen, they could swipe their identity cards and details of their overtime worked, and holidays due, were displayed on the screen for several seconds.

Successful implementation

“The idea was very well received indeed, both by the union and the workforce,” said Buckle. “At every break, there is a group of people using it to check their holidays and their overtime. It is very popular.”

The managers were also happy with it: “We used to have lots of holiday and overtime enquiries, now we have hardly any. It is one of the best investments my department has ever made,” added Buckle.

Terry's of York factory