How Sunnyfield gained more time and budget to care for clients
The challenges we face are often product supply related, which Woolworths at Work have helped almost eliminate with the priority orders and deliveries. From a backend perspective, the platform is easy to use, saving staff time and money.
Meet Sunnyfield
Sunnyfield is an Australian organisation supporting people with disability. They provide a range of services, including accommodation, employment, and community participation, all to empower individuals to live their best lives.
Sunnyfield was established in 1952 by Manly locals Hazel and Fred Whiddon and a group of other like-minded parents. At the time, children with disability had almost no opportunities to participate in any form of education or social activities. Since the beginning, Sunnyfield’s goal has been to create a supportive community for people with disability and enable them to live independent, fulfilling lives.
Sunnyfield’s success has always been defined by the quality of life of the people they serve; underpinned by the generosity of parents, guardians, businesses, community members and local public figures who have worked valiantly over the years, and today continue to show their dedication.
Overcoming the challenges of the pandemic
As part of their service, Sunnyfield operates over 50 supported independent living homes across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. With a team of more than 1,500 staff, Sunnyfield delivers nearly 2,000 support services every day for people with disability, including children, teenagers, adults and seniors. Their day-to-day operations involve purchasing groceries and everyday items for residents, along with office essentials, to help keep the business running smoothly.
Before the pandemic, staff would often take clients into the supermarket to conduct their weekly shopping. However, the COVID-19 outbreak put an end to these activities as it presented a higher risk to many of Sunnyfield’s clients. This left the team searching for a new way to procure food and everyday essentials for clients, and something to replace the weekly activity that they looked forward to.
“Having access to fresh food and everyday essentials is crucial to the successful delivery of support we provide. Clients and families rely on Sunnyfield to provide this basic service.,” says Shane Heywood-Rochford – Sunnyfield Shared Living Service Coordinator.
A smart solution for Sunnyfield’s grocery procurement problem
Looking for a streamlined way to secure groceries and everyday essentials for clients, Sunnyfield turned to Woolworths at Work – a B2B solution that would allow their team to purchase from a centralised platform and have orders delivered to each of their locations in a simple, cost-effective way. With Woolworths at Work, Sunnyfield was able to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and still secure weekly essentials.
“Staff and clients are now able to hop online in the comfort and safety of their homes, select items they need and have them delivered straight to their door at a time of their choosing.,” says Andrew Walker – Sunnyfield Chief Financial Officer.
Andrew continues; ““The challenges we face are often product supply related, which Woolworths at Work have helped almost eliminate with the priority orders and deliveries. From a backend perspective, the platform is easy to use, saving staff time and money.”
The switch also put an end to paper invoicing
Joining Woolworths at Work also brought additional benefits to Sunnyfield. The organisation moved away from paper processing, which had been a significant challenge for staff and the accounts payable team.
Previously, staff would purchase groceries using credit cards, staple the receipts together and send them to the head office for reconciliation. This was a time-consuming and error-prone process.
Now, all transactions are recorded automatically, providing greater transparency and accountability. As a result of this change, Sunnyfield has achieved substantial monetary savings and staff across the organisations time.
“The invoice process has been simplified allowing staff to get on with caring for our clients,” adds Simone Weidenbach – Sunnyfield Accounts Supervisor.
More visibility, more control
Before moving to a centralised system, Sunnyfield had to manually track spending and manage budgets due to a lack of visibility in its procurement process.
With Woolworths at Work, Sunnyfield can map each individual login to a cost centre, providing purchasing insights across the entire organisation.
“We are able to track spending on a weekly basis, which assists in control of business unit budgets, important for any organisation,” adds Simone Weidenbach – Sunnyfield Accounts Supervisor.
The organisation also has an active line of credit which they use for all purchases, removing the need for credit cards. This provides access to detailed on-demand reporting, along with more in-depth analysis from their account manager every quarter.
Giving back to our customers
Another way Woolworths at Work was able to support Sunnyfield was through our inaugural Give Back Day. A team of volunteers from Woolworths at Work spent the day at Sunnyfield in Sydney helping supported employees complete their daily tasks such as packing items, labelling boxes and getting products ready for shipment.
The Woolworths at Work team also raised $2500 for the Sunnyfield Wishing Well, the largest contribution in the history of the program. This was an incredibly rewarding initiative that formed friendships, developed a sense of belonging, and gave back to the community.
Sunnyfield’s favourite features
- Seamless online ordering – a huge time-saver for busy teams
- Digital invoicing – no more paper receipts and manual reconciliation
- Category control – an easy way to ensure purchasing is compliant with organisational policies
- Dietary filters – makes catering to individual needs so much easier
- Free delivery over $99 – a great way to keep costs down.
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