Success story:
Huws Gray Group

Huws Gray is the UK's largest independent builders merchant, employing around 4,600 colleagues across the group. Over the last four years, the business has gone through a significant period of growth and transformation, creating exciting opportunities to modernise the way it works. 

Kieran Lewis joined Huws Gray in September 2022, initially to lead the payroll team and a large acquisition migration. His role has since evolved into Head of HR Services, with responsibility for the payroll team, HR systems and HR operations across the group. The Access Group has been central to that shift. 

"The Access Group have played a big part in that journey. We've moved from a much less digitised way of working to a position where our managers are now actively using HR systems to manage their teams, access information and make better people decisions."

Kieran Lewis, Head of HR Services 

PeopleXD stood out because it offered far more functionality and flexibility than the previous set-up. Central to that was enabling employee managers to self-serve: 

"One of the biggest advantages of PeopleXD was the introduction of Employee and Manager self-service. It's empowered our people to access and update information directly, reducing admin and creating a much better user experience across the business." 

Huws Gray wasn't looking for a like-for-like swap, but a platform that could grow into new areas over time. PeopleXD has kept doing that well beyond core HR and payroll, adding value through modules including Salary Extras, Engage and Applause, which bring colleague engagement, benefits and recognition into one integrated place. For Huws Gray, that's the difference between a replacement system and a platform built to grow alongside the business. 

One login, one platform 

The single biggest shift for colleagues has been moving from multiple disconnected logins to one unified home for HR. Rather than remembering separate logins and switching between systems, colleagues can now find everything – pay, leave, benefits, personal details – in one place. 

"Having everything in a single platform has made the colleague experience much more seamless and removed a lot of frustration that comes with juggling separate systems." 

Usage figures back this up: the platform has become part of colleagues' everyday routine, with engagement Kieran describes as reflecting real value, not just availability. 

Mobile-first for a deskless workforce 

With a large proportion of colleagues working in branches and operational roles rather than at a desk, mobile access isn't simply a useful feature, it's fundamental to the colleague experience. Around 60% of the workforce access PeopleXD and Access Evo through the mobile app, and for many colleagues without regular desktop access, it's their primary way of engaging with HR data. From booking annual leave and accessing payslips to viewing benefits information and completing day-to-day HR tasks, colleagues can manage everything quickly and conveniently from their phone.

"Mobile accessibility isn't just a nice to have for us at Huws Gray, it's essential, and Access Evo offers us this." 

Bringing it together with Evo Navigator 

Huws Gray joined Access's Early Adopter Programme for Evo Navigator, getting an early look at how the platform brings every product and dashboard into one place. For Kieran, the standout benefit is accessibility: everything sits together, making it far easier to find what's needed and get everyday tasks done from a single dashboard, rather than hopping between separate screens. 

Having everything reachable through one login was already a step forward, but Kieran sees Evo Navigator as the next layer on top of that. 

"Evo Navigator will further enhance the experience across both the desktop and mobile platforms and will bring together the different products and dashboards into one." 

AI that turns data into decisions 

For Kieran, the most exciting part of Access Evo is how AI is changing what HR reporting can do. 

"One of the most exciting things about AI within Access Evo is that it will move reporting beyond simply providing data." 

Instead of spending time exporting reports, manipulating spreadsheets and trying to work out what the information is actually telling them, Kieran's team can now ask a question in plain English and get back both the insight and a recommended course of action. That combination – insight plus a next step – is what he sees as the real shift for the business, letting leaders act on information rather than just receive it. 

"Ultimately, it's about turning data into actionable insights, helping the business make smarter, evidence-based decisions that improve outcomes for both the organisation and our people." 

The same shift is changing the shape of work inside the HR team itself. Historically, a lot of time in payroll, HR systems and HR operations has gone on keying in data, processing information and completing repetitive tasks. As AI takes on more of that admin-heavy work, the team can shift its attention to analysing information, spotting trends, and making sure the data being reported is accurate and useful – not just working faster, but doing a different kind of work altogether. 

"It allows the team to focus on higher value work, use their experience more effectively and have a greater impact across the business." 

Benefits people actually use 

Integrating employee benefits directly into the platform, rather than bolting them on separately, has driven strong take-up across the business. Salary Extras sits within Access Evo alongside payslips and everyday HR tasks, so colleagues can get to instant discounts without leaving the platform they already use for everything else. Huws Gray has also seen strong take-up of the holiday purchase scheme, delivering a meaningful employer saving alongside the wider benefits engagement. 

For Kieran, the take-up numbers matter more than the benefits simply being available – they're proof colleagues are actually using and valuing what's on offer, and Huws Gray now ranks among the very top Access clients for instant discount adoption. 

"For us, it's not about offering benefits, it's about making them easy to find and easy to use, and offering the best benefits to our team." 

Recruitment is the next key process Huws Gray aims to improve, and the business is currently embarking on the implementation of Eploy.

The next area Huws Gray is looking to develop is intelligent payslips, designed to reduce the number of routine queries landing with the HR operations and payroll team. The idea is self-service: colleagues get answers to common questions – tax code changes, pay-related queries – without needing to contact the team directly. 

For Kieran, the payoff is a lighter load on his team and a better experience for colleagues who no longer have to wait for an answer. 

"That should significantly reduce the volume of calls and emails coming into the department, allowing us as a team to provide a more efficient service." 

Recruitment is the next big process Huws Gray wants to streamline, and the business is currently finalising its adopting of Eploy. Today, moving a candidate from recruitment into employment involves manual, sometimes double or triple, keying of information between PeopleXD and the current ATS system. Eploy would let applicant data flow straight into the employee record in PeopleXD instead. Given Huws Gray hires around 1,500 people a year, Kieran sees this as a significant improvement – saving time, reducing the risk of human error, and creating a smoother experience for hiring managers and new starters alike. 

"It has the potential to be a real game changer for how we currently manage recruitment and onboarding across the Huws Gray Group."