Founded in 2000 by Sir Peter Wood (the pioneer behind Direct Line), esure was built on an idea that was radical at the time: Use the internet to streamline the process of selling car and home insurance – and then pass on the savings to customers.

It worked. Within five years, esure had onboarded a million customers and, as a result, became one of the fastest-growing insurers in the UK.

In the years that followed, esure built on that success. It launched the iconic Sheilas’ Wheels insurance brand, moved into the broker market, and began trading on the London Stock Exchange. It also scaled its workforce from 50 colleagues to over 1,000.

A business that has always moved at pace needs operations built to match. As esure grew and evolved, the gap between its ambitions and its back-office infrastructure became impossible to ignore – nowhere more so than in HR and payroll. That’s why the company has embarked on a significant digital transformation programme that has seen it adopt Zellis Managed Services. It hasn’t looked back since.

The challenge: A system unfit for the modern workplace

Before embracing Zellis Managed Services, esure operated a rudimentary HR infrastructure.

There was no front-end system for employees, so payslips were printed and posted to home addresses, while overtime and holiday requests were tracked on Excel spreadsheets. A reliance on email made tracking changes painfully slow, and the absence of a centralised source of data meant the payroll team had no clear view of what was going on.

That was just the start. Salary changes and promotions meant chasing paper forms across the business – with no way of knowing where they were in the approval chain, or whether they’d even arrived. “Once that piece of paper left your desk, you would just hope that it would get to HR at some point,” says Tracey Binnie, esure’s People Services Manager.

Reconciliations were particularly burdensome, taking all six members of the payroll team at least two days to complete.

The need for change was clear: esure required a solution that would modernise processes, reduce the manual workload, and give both employees and managers genuine visibility of key data.

Digitising payroll end-to-end with Zellis Managed Services

After weighing up its options, esure decided to outsource its payroll to Zellis Managed Services, implementing a comprehensive solution built around two core products: ResourceLink for HR and payroll backend management, and MyView for employee and manager self-service.

By choosing the Managed Services solution, esure could offload the operational burden of processing, compliance, and service delivery to Zellis, who now handles esure’s end-to-end payroll processing each month. esure simply inputs any changes and can monitor processing in real time – maintaining full oversight without carrying the burden of execution.

“Rather than a loss of control, we’ve got so much more visibility of what’s going on with payroll processing,” Tracey says.

The Zellis Managed Services team also supports esure through the multiple FCA audits required each year, and manages all HMRC year-end procedures.

“We know that they’re doing the year-end things that they need to do with HMRC. That’s definitely peace of mind – handing it over to experts and knowing that we can always speak to them if we’ve got queries,” Tracey says.

Transforming payroll processes

ResourceLink has transformed how payroll changes are managed at esure. Salary adjustments, promotions and any other changes that previously required paper forms are now managed directly within the Zellis solution.

“The forms are now in the system, so you can see it, see whether it’s been approved and who needs to approve it next,” Tracey says. “So they’ve got so much more control, and it’s been a game changer, actually.”

Items that don’t pass through the standard workflow, such as P45s and court orders received by post, can be uploaded directly into ResourceLink, maintaining a complete digital record that provides a centralised source of truth – the backbone of esure’s new-found reporting capabilities. This is bolstered by the RSS reporting suite within ResourceLink, which allows users to join tables and domains to generate custom reports tailored to esure’s needs, alongside a comprehensive pre-built starter pack for common reporting requirements.

Empowering employees with MyView

The introduction of the Zellis MyView app has given esure employees direct access to their payslips, personal details, holiday allowances and overtime – all from their own devices.

Biometric identity verification eliminated the need for frequent password resets, saving significant time for the HR team.

The MyView app also provides a suite of management widgets, enabling line managers to view reports, approve holiday requests, and handle team absences independently and on the go – tasks that previously required HR involvement.

Going further: Payslips as a communications channel

The Zellis Managed Services team has helped esure use payslips as a direct employee communications channel. For example, when esure launched its ‘Pennies from Heaven’ initiative – allowing colleagues to donate the pennies from their monthly pay to homelessness charity Shelter – the Managed Services team added a message directly to payslips to promote the scheme and explain how to sign up.

The same capability is used to address common payroll FAQs and communicate changes such as National Insurance rate adjustments, significantly reducing the volume of queries the payroll team receives.

A partnership built on expertise and trust

Central to esure’s positive experience has been the quality of the ongoing relationship with Zellis. A dedicated Customer Success Manager – with a deep understanding of both the Zellis platform and esure’s specific payroll requirements – provides a single, expert point of contact. This is complemented by weekly meetings, monthly service reviews, quarterly business reviews and an annual strategic catch-up, as well as access to the ServiceNow ticketing system for tracking and resolving any issues.

“Having someone who knows the system as well as our services and policies inside out is invaluable,” Tracey says. “They know exactly how your payroll should work and that is really comforting.”

Looking ahead: Data, dashboards and continued growth

The esure team continues to work with Zellis to refine and improve their HR and payroll processes. Tracey and her team are constantly seeking feedback from users to ensure the system meets their needs and are exploring new ways to leverage technology to enhance their operations.

As the team at esure become more familiar with the system, they are introducing additional ResourceLink modules that are available as part of their package. They have also recently started exploring the Power BI dashboard which has been shared with their HR Business Partners. Power BI dashboards mean they can now view overall data and drill down to specific details, giving group executives a better understanding of what is happening across the organisation.

Ultimately, the decision to implement Zellis Managed Services has been a win-win for esure. It’s enabled it to avoid the need for a separate in-house payroll team, while enjoying the expertise and flexibility offered by Zellis that will scale as esure continues to grow.

Since implementing Zellis Managed Services, esure has:

  • Reduced payroll reconciliation from two full days to under one day
  • Cut payroll team headcount from six to three without loss of capability
  • Eliminated paper-based HR processes in favour of digital workflows
  • Given all employees direct access to payslips, holiday and overtime via MyView
  • Freed line managers to approve requests independently, without HR involvement
  • Gained real-time visibility of payroll processing through Zellis Managed Services
  • Leveraged payslips as a proactive employee communications channel

Key features of Zellis Managed Services:

  • Reliable payroll operations: Zellis delivers highly accurate payroll with built-in resilience and continuity, so your people are paid on time, every time without compromise.
  • Stronger compliance confidence: Payroll is delivered in line with UK and Ireland regulatory requirements, reducing risk and helping protect critical operations.
  • Insight and transparency: Live, self-serve Power BI dashboards provide instant visibility of payroll data and clear reporting to support confident decision-making.
  • A better employee pay experience: Less errors, digital payslips and optional extras including flexible employee benefits and financial wellbeing features keep your workforce happy.