Carter Faison joined Literati as Total Rewards Manager immediately before the company acquired a school book fair company in early 2022. The acquisition, a significant milestone for Literati, required Carter’s team to onboard nearly two dozen new employees in two weeks, on top of their normal HR & IT management workload.

What’s more, Literati is a venture-funded company that depends on operating lean. With a significant remote workforce and a small People Ops team, they needed an HRIS that automated manual tasks, integrated with other benefits providers, and optimized headcount.

Rippling saves Literati 30-plus hours per month on onboarding and offboarding work alone. Only 2 admins are needed to run all HR & IT for 160 employees, and the company won’t need to hire additional HR admins until it reaches 1,000 employees.

“With Rippling, it’s all about working smarter, not harder,” Carter said.

With Rippling, it’s all about working smarter, not harder.

Carter Faison,

Total Rewards Manager at Literati

“Rippling helps me stay proactive, automatically,” Carter said. “I set up Rippling’s Workflow Automator to automatically send me an email when an employee moves states. It puts me ahead of the curve—I can remedy any tax and payroll inconsistencies before they become an issue.”

“With Rippling, I seem like a mind reader to employees.”

Automation is essential for Carter’s lean team to operate with the consistency and professionalism their roles demand. For Carter, who came from a company using Workday, Rippling’s Workflow Automator was a revelation.

“You basically need a computer science degree to operate Workday, but with Rippling, you just give it a few parameters and it’s done. It does the same thing, but in a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the manpower.”

This blend of simplicity and power is not lost on Literati’s IT administrator either. As Carter points out, “We have an IT department of one. Device Management through Rippling saves us money. It saves us multiple headcount. We are able to get by as a 160-employee company with a one-person IT operation, thanks to Rippling.

“We onboarded 23 people in the first two weeks of January—with three people. Rippling made that process easy.

“And our new employees, who all came from [companies that use] ADP, were raving about how easy it was to onboard with the platform. It was the best possible introduction to our company.”

Doing more without additional employees can be the difference between success and failure in a fast-moving startup. Rippling’s automation and ease of use can help businesses operate successfully with fewer people as well as help eliminate the need to hire specialists for one-off integrations.

Carter explains, “We're planning on getting a 401(k) off the ground in 2023, and there are many plug-and-play options that integrate with Rippling. Coming from Paycom and Workday, this ease of integration was just not a thing. With those platforms, you’d have to hire an integrations specialist or write custom code. As a People Operations professional, the ease of integrations within Rippling has been a total gamechanger.” He adds, “Rippling is a breath of fresh air.”

When asked to reflect on alternatives to Rippling and their perceived ROI, Carter noted:

“I can't tell you how much we've saved though not needing to pay for every extra off-cycle run we process. Most HRIS providers nickel-and-dime you wherever they can—whether it's off-cycle payments or prior-period amendments. I was shocked when I realized how reasonably priced the prior-period amendments were—Rippling beats Paycom's pricing by thousands of dollars.”

I can't tell you how much we've saved though not needing to pay for every extra off-cycle run we process... I was shocked when I realized how reasonably priced the prior-period amendments were—Rippling beats Paycom's pricing by thousands of dollars.

Carter Faison,

Total Rewards Manager at Literati

Without Rippling, he notes, “We'd likely need an additional IT tech and an additional HR admin. I can generally handle payroll and benefits, but if we went with something like Workday, we'd need additional HRIS support, an extra IT person for device management, and an HR admin to assist with onboarding tasks.

“My CPO asked me recently when I thought I would need additional support with payroll and benefit/compensation administration and I told her, in all honesty, that until we were above 1,000 employees and/or switched HRIS providers, I didn't anticipate needing any additional support.”

• Staying lean:  Literati can run HR and IT for 160 employees with two sole admins. Rippling automations saved the company from making two full-time hires. 
• Time saved: Literati saves 30 hours a month with Rippling automations for onboarding and offboarding.