success story
One Platform, 171 Sites: A Parcel Network's Workforce Turnaround
July 17, 2026
A leading express parcel delivery company operating across the UK, our customer runs a high-volume delivery operation from 171 locations nationwide.
Like every operation at this scale, it depends on a large temporary shift workforce sourced through dozens of suppliers per location, and keeping that workforce planned, present, and correctly paid is a daily operational problem.
- Industry
- Parcel Delivery & Logistics
- Client Since
- 2025
- Category
- JoinedUp by Beeline
The challenge
A parcel network of this size runs on a shift-based workforce spread across many sites and suppliers – and the old way of coordinating it didn't scale.
Scheduling and query resolution happened over email and phone, site by site. When a shift went unfilled or a query came in, the fix was a chain of calls and messages between the site, the supplier, and head office. Attendance data was patchy, so timesheets and supplier invoices didn't always agree, leaving the team to reconcile disputes by hand.
"Our time and attendance system previously had gaps and was unreliable – we were relying on email correspondence with suppliers, and phone calls to resolve queries and worker fulfilment gaps. Now everything can be done at short notice through JoinedUp, and all changes are visible and communicated instantly to us, the worker, and the supplier."
Why JoinedUp by Beeline
The company needed one system that could do three things at once: plan and schedule a shift workforce spread across many sites, keep labor costs under control, and capture attendance it could stand behind at every location. Just as important, it needed to bring their network of independent suppliers onto a single platform, so the whole workforce could be managed centrally and compliantly, with every rate calculated by one rate engine rather than reconciled site by site. JoinedUp by Beeline did all of that in one platform.
The solution
The company adopted JoinedUp by Beeline, a shift-based VMS platform, to plan, schedule, and calculate labor costs for its shift workforce.
The initial implementation went live in 12 weeks, onboarding 12 suppliers across 87 sites throughout the UK.
Rather than pause there, the company expanded the platform over the next 10 months to a further 84 sites and 75+ additional suppliers. That brought the total to 171 sites and 87+ suppliers. Scaling that far, that fast, is the strongest evidence the platform earned its place in daily operations.
Alongside scheduling, the company rolled out JoinedUp by Beeline's Time & Attendance capability, using facial recognition to confirm time capture at the point of work for 87% of shifts. Every minute on a supplier invoice is now verifiably worked, closing the gap between timesheets and billing. That reliable attendance data also transformed the back office: weekly timesheet approvals and payroll, which the team once pieced together over several days, are now processed in a single day.
"Facial recognition and shift template rules mean our site managers barely need to check worker attendance anymore, as we trust that start and stop times are accurate – they just need a quick check over every day, instead of using manual entry. Payroll oversight has changed just as much: everything's visible to our finance team on one page, so we're no longer chasing suppliers to confirm payroll's been completed. We've seen a measurable drop in the resources and manpower we need to close payroll every week."
A compliance breach caught at the point of work
The same attendance functionality quickly proved its worth as a compliance tool.
In one case, a worker continually tried to clock in using facial recognition, but the tablet kept returning a "photo not found" error. The site where this incident took place had previously used manual time-tracking systems, which would have enabled the worker to start working the shift.
Turns out, that worker was not who they said they were, and wasn't officially onboarded in JoinedUp. The worker also did not have valid Right to Work documents, and allowing them to start their shift would be a breach of UK employment law, which can result in penalties of up to £60,000 per breach and carries a modern slavery compliance risk.
This issue would never have been noticed and uncovered before we moved to JoinedUp. The facial recognition checks have absolutely proved their worth as a compliance tool.
The results
- Weekly timesheet approvals and payroll are now processed in a single day
- Facial recognition confirms time capture at the point of work for 87% of shifts, every minute on a supplier invoice verifiably worked
- Compliance breach prevented, avoiding up to £60,000 in penalty and reputational damage
- Live in 12 weeks across 87 sites and 12 suppliers
- Expanded to a further 84 sites and 75+ additional suppliers within 10 months (171 sites and 87+ suppliers in total)
The company now plans, schedules, and costs its shift workforce from a single platform, with attendance data it can trust behind every supplier invoice.