DRK Hamburg Soziale Dienste Eimsbüttel GmbH

Employees at DRK Eimsbüttel work across a wide range of care and social services. As a result, the requirements placed on HR are equally varied. For a long time, however, the information needed was spread across different systems and storage locations: contracts, meeting notes and supporting documents were kept in paper files, while deadlines, qualifications and other employee data were partly managed in separate Excel spreadsheets.

Due to previous mergers, some employee files were particularly extensive and structured in different ways. Finding relevant information and compiling data for strategic decisions therefore took a considerable amount of time.

Changes and special cases had to be sent to the external provider, discussed with them and then checked afterwards. As a result, a significant share of the workload was concentrated into just a few days, particularly in the run-up to payroll.

Payroll in the care sector is also complex: shift work, different allowances and collective agreement provisions all have a direct impact on salaries. At the same time, staff costs account for 80 to 90 per cent of total expenditure. For management, it was therefore essential to gain faster access to reliable data and take greater control of payroll.

With Personio Core and Personio Payroll, DRK Eimsbüttel brings HR and payroll together in a single system. For the implementation, the organisation set up an internal project group made up of representatives from administration, HR, care services, quality management and the works council. Together, the team reviewed the existing processes with the aim of not only digitising them, but also making them clearer and more efficient.

Personio Core went live in September 2025, followed by Personio Payroll in January 2026. During implementation, the project team was able to start working with real data early on and gradually adapt the system to the organisation’s requirements.

Today, DRK Eimsbüttel can manage its employee information centrally. New employees receive a digital personnel file from the outset, while recruitment, onboarding and offboarding are also increasingly managed through Personio.

This has made responsibilities between HR and administration clearer. Tasks can be assigned more easily, progress is easier to track and information can be found more quickly. Employees can also enter certain changes themselves, removing the need to transfer the same data again.

With Personio Payroll, DRK Eimsbüttel brought its previously outsourced payroll in-house. HR and payroll data now sit within the same system, allowing changes from HR processes to flow directly into payroll without having to pass through multiple internal and external interfaces.

The team built up the necessary expertise through resources including the Personio Voyager Academy, the Community and Customer Support.

Changes no longer have to be collected and submitted to an external provider by fixed deadlines. The team can update data directly in Personio and make adjustments themselves. This removes many of the previous coordination loops and waiting times.

The workload is no longer concentrated so heavily in the days immediately before payroll, but can instead be spread more evenly across the month. The time previously spent coordinating with the external provider is now used to manage payroll internally.

This has enabled DRK Eimsbüttel to bring its previously outsourced payroll entirely in-house without creating any additional roles. After taking Personio costs into account, the organisation saves between €10,000 and €15,000 per year.

The administration team can also review payroll more easily and stay more closely involved throughout the payroll process.

Roles, salaries, qualifications, apprenticeships coming to an end and upcoming retirements can all be viewed centrally.

Stefan Skibbe found the first round of financial and workforce planning with Personio significantly easier. Instead of having to compile information from different Excel spreadsheets, he can now rely on up-to-date data and customised reports.

Next, DRK Eimsbüttel plans to continue digitising its existing personnel files and set up additional workflows and reminders.

Managers will also become more involved in onboarding and offboarding processes in future, helping to clarify responsibilities and simplify processes further.

With Personio Core and Personio Payroll, DRK Eimsbüttel brings its HR and payroll data together in one system and manages payroll entirely in-house. It has achieved this without creating any additional roles, while saving the organisation between €10,000 and €15,000 per year.