M9 has developed a reputation for “delivering the digital future,” and forecasted rapid growth. "Our long-standing clients come back to us because they know we provide really great staff and have strong relationships with our account managers,” said Bryn Bernstein, M9’s Human Resources Manager. 

But once it appeared that M9 would grow significantly in a year, there was doubt about whether their systems in place could sustain a larger headcount. 

“Our company’s growth rate really started to accelerate,” said Kim Krueger, M9’s Operations Specialist. “We needed a solution that could scale with us.”

Kim saw first-hand the limitations of M9’s human resource information management (HCM) at the time. She disliked how its clunky software complicated the onboarding experience and the additional manual steps required which slowed the process. A new solution would be a welcome change – not just for Bryn and Kim, but for the whole team.

In a year of incredible growth, Rippling helped M9 save time, dazzle new employees, and focus on the tough problems that matter. 

According to Bryn, Rippling has become a core part of strategic planning as M9 has grown. “Rippling was the solution that could put all our important HR systems into one place and accommodate various integrations as we grow,” Bryn said. “Simply speaking, Rippling is the solution that can scale with us.”

Rippling was the solution that could put all our important HR systems into one place and accommodate various integrations as we grow… Simply speaking, Rippling is the solution that can scale with us.

Bryn Bernstein

HR Manager at M9

“My primary focus is onboarding and offboarding our employees,” Kim said. “I’m continuously trying to make those processes easier for my team, the rest of the company, and for new hires.” 

By implementing Rippling, M9 greatly reduced the manual tasks required by both the HR and Onboarding teams.“With Rippling, the onboarding workflow can take anywhere from 60 to 120 seconds,” Kim said. “If it’s on the slower end, that’s just because of my internet speed.”

While M9’s previous benefits system was more user-friendly than some of its legacy competitors, it was insufficient for M9’s growing headcount. Kim wanted a platform that would allow more customisation for the different M9 compensation packages. 

“We templated as much as we could. Their templates weren’t that robust, though.  We could determine what paperwork a new joiner was sent, but there wasn’t any granularity beyond that. We couldn’t make edits to an offer letter beforehand, for example. We can do that in Rippling, which is huge.” 

With limited customisation, Kim had to make mental notes about which employees received specific provisions. She found herself asking things like, “Does this new joiner get an M9 email address? Which time-off policy applies to them?” Plus, she had to make all those changes manually. 

Whereas before she had to remember everything, now Rippling automates new joiners’ account provisioning through smart rules.

Before Rippling, M9 administered benefits, payroll, and dozens of other business apps through separate systems. 

By automating workflows and consolidating systems, Rippling freed Kim and her team to focus on more important business objectives instead of data entry and auditing. “Rippling allows us to redirect our focus toward other things. Now that we have benefits and payroll in the same place, we know Rippling is making updates across those areas.” 

With Rippling’s workflows, Kim’s not only saving herself time—she’s sparing her colleagues the trouble of taking on her job. For M9, implementing Rippling has streamlined many of the challenges that come with a fast-growing company. 

Accuracy, for example. Before Rippling, Kim was careful to reconcile information across M9’s many systems and records. 

“M9 is a go-go-go environment,” she says. “Sometimes the information that hiring managers put into the applicant tracking systems would not match other systems. Before Rippling I had to act as a filter, sorting out these discrepancies. Now Rippling is our company’s single source of truth.”

And by unifying once-disparate systems, Bryn gained newfound reporting capabilities. “I run reports in Rippling all the time,” she said. “I use pre-built reports as well as a few I’ve created. I probably check my Rippling reports three to five times a day.”

Before Rippling, employees had to remember several logins to access all the software relevant to their day-to-day tasks.

“That didn’t make a strong first impression,” Kim said. “Forcing people to keep track of all that information isn’t a very good employee experience.” 

By consolidating siloed systems into a single hub, Rippling has made the lives of every employee at M9 easier. They only have to remember one login to access benefits, payroll, and all the integrations that M9 uses with Rippling. 

“Our patchwork of platforms was a lot less user-friendly,” Kim said. “Now everybody knows Rippling is the place to go – for benefits, payroll, and more.”

Rippling also set itself apart from legacy HR solutions with its relentlessly helpful support. Bryn finds the Help Center robust enough to answer most questions, but she also knows she can get a quick response using Rippling’s Live Chat feature.

“With other HRIS products I’ve used, my question goes into no man’s land. I don’t hear anything back. Rippling’s customer service is heads above other systems we’ve used, in terms of documentation and response time.” 

Bryn is excited by Rippling’s own growth. She and her teammates have been impressed by how frequently Rippling releases new products. When one of them receives Rippling’s monthly updates email, they excitedly pass it around. Rippling has been a great partner who really listens to M9’s suggestions and takes actions from our feedback to improve the user and admin experience.“ As Rippling keeps evolving, we’re following their lead,” Kim said. 

“Before Rippling we were trying to keep our heads above water. Now we’re thinking outside the box. We love that Rippling is not just another static HR system.”

Before Rippling we were trying to keep our heads above water. Now we’re thinking outside the box. We love that Rippling is not just another static HR system.

Kim Krueger

Operations Specialist at M9

• Quicker onboarding: With Rippling automations, M9 can onboard new hires twice as fast.
• Consolidated systems: M9 swapped out three separate payroll and HR systems for a single, unified platform.
• Growth-minded support: By 2025, M9 is expected to have 500+ employees—with Ripping along for the journey.