Uptick is a SaaS platform for fire and security companies. Their software eliminates paperwork and disconnected systems, helping field service businesses seamlessly manage jobs, compliance, and billing. With a 90 percent market share in Australia and fast-growing UK and US operations, Uptick has scaled quickly. But with growth came payroll complexity: commissions, bonuses, and benefits across multiple countries. Already a Bob customer for managing their people operations, Uptick needed an end-to-end solution that would also cover payroll. They turned to Bob’s UK Payroll module to streamline payroll admin—automating calculations, removing errors, and eliminating hours of manual prep. With payroll running smoothly in the background, the Finance team gained back time and focus, unlocking new capacity for strategy and growth.
When growth outpaces payroll workflows
As Uptick grew and expanded across multiple markets, payroll became increasingly difficult to manage. What once worked for a fledgling team couldn’t keep pace with the complexity of a multi-country workforce. Spreadsheets multiplied, and Finance spent hours consolidating and checking data every month.
Even when payroll was outsourced to a specialized agency, the process was still costly, rigid, and required manual prep. Worse, mistakes slipped through, damaging confidence and eroding trust. Payroll had become time-consuming, error-prone, and a drag on the team. With further expansion on the horizon, it was time to regain control with an in-house solution.
Bob and UK Payroll, providing a single source of truth
Uptick had already been using Bob as their HR platform, so Bob’s UK Payroll was a natural fit. With the company’s people data already managed in Bob, the transition was smooth, delivering a quick transformation.
“The big a-ha moment was seeing Bob working across payroll and HR,” reflects Tom Benians, Finance Director at Uptick. “Giving us an end-to-end automated lifecycle, from hiring and contracts through onboarding and payroll.”
Now, payroll is powered by the same people data that drives HR:
- Automated workflows for joiners, leavers, bonuses, and commissions
- Automatic calculations with real-time HMRC sync for compliance updates
- Audit-ready reports and full visibility across Finance and HR
- A single source of truth replacing disconnected spreadsheets and manual data entry
Payroll on autopilot, saving hours every cycle
Before Bob, Uptick’s payroll consumed many hours each month. The Finance team was tied up consolidating spreadsheets, checking commissions and bonuses, and preparing data for outsourced providers. Despite the effort, errors and late compliance filings still slipped through, damaging trust and adding risk. Now, with Bob, payroll prep takes about an hour a month, even as headcount grows. Errors and compliance risks have disappeared, and heaps of spreadsheets have been replaced with a single, always up-to-date platform.
The benefits extend beyond efficiency. The unification of workflows has strengthened collaboration across Finance and HR, which now operate as one consolidated G&A team. They now collaborate as a unified front on benchmarking, remuneration, and growth programs.
Another key shift is Finance’s freedom from admin, enabling the team to act as true business partners to leadership. “Bob makes the admin piece of payroll invisible. Payroll just runs,” says Tom. “My team can focus on the real stuff—being business partners, driving strategy, improving decisions, and adding value.”For Uptick, HiBob is a key player in a broader strategy with an eye on the future. By unifying HR and UK Payroll using an all-in-one HCM platform, Uptick has built a foundation for a lean, scalable Finance team prepared for what’s next. “The future is going to belong to finance leaders who embrace the tech stack mentality with systems like Bob, which help with automation and AI” Tom says.
Main takeaways
- Payroll prep at Uptick now takes around one hour a month, even as headcount scales
- With UK Payroll, errors and compliance risks have been eliminated
- Using UK Payroll, Uptick’s Finance and HR teams are aligned as one unified G&A team
- With all the time saved from running payroll, Uptick’s finance team has more time to focus on strategy
