DARDEN RESTAURANTS, INC. LAUNCHES AUTHORIA HR™ EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY
One of the largest e-HR deployments in the industry, Authoria HR will provide personalized answers to questions Darden employees have about their benefits and company HR policies via restaurant kiosks, with information accessible 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Employees will also be able to make their benefits selections online during Darden's "open enrollment" period and will be able to instantly generate benefit plan comparisons before making an enrollment decision.
The e-HR initiative kicked off with a phased rollout to 65,000 employees at Darden's Olive Garden and Smokey Bones BBQ restaurants in August and added 65,000 Red Lobster and Bahama Breeze employees in October in preparation for November's benefits "open enrollment" period. Authoria HR will be deployed both as a call center solution and a Web deployed solution for employee self-service (ESS) and will work seamlessly with PeopleSoft 8 Collaborative Applications in use at Darden Restaurants.
"By implementing intelligent, personalized Web-based employee communications, Darden Restaurants will gain a real competitive advantage in their industry," said Authoria President and CEO Tod Loofbourrow. "Not only will Darden reduce time and money traditionally associated with administering paper-based open enrollment and free up HR staff to focus on more strategic functions, but they'll be able to provide much better access to the type of information their employees care about most."
About Authoria HR and Authoria Connectors for PeopleSoft
Authoria HR is a suite of Web-based applications designed for the personalized communication of benefit plan and HR policies to employees. Authoria HR provides dynamically generated, personalized answers to vital questions for employees. By enabling businesses to deliver consistent, timely and accurate benefits information online to their employees, Authoria provides the means to improve employee communication, reduce administrative costs, and increase HR's strategic contribution to the business.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. selected Authoria HR with Authoria Connectors for PeopleSoft, a collection of components and methodologies that deliver accurate, secure, personalized content from Authoria HR to PeopleSoft applications. Authoria Connectors for PeopleSoft link employees from specific PeopleSoft pages to relevant information in Authoria HR, allowing employees to obtain the information they need to be self-sufficient. This is achieved with a single sign-on, seamless transition between products, and a consistent look and feel.
About Darden Restaurants, Inc.
As the largest casual dining restaurant company in the world, Darden Restaurants, Inc., owns and operates over 1,200 Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones BBQ restaurants with annual sales of $4.4 billion. Darden is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and ranks among the top 30 employers in the United States.
About Authoria
Authoria is the world leader in personalized, Web-based human resource communication. Authoria HR is the knowledge application standard in the software industry. Over one hundred organizations worldwide rely on Authoria to dramatically improve employee communication while streamlining costs. Authoria's knowledge applications manage and communicate human resource information to millions of people at some of the world's largest companies, including Boeing, Motorola and Wells Fargo. Among Authoria's partners are industry-leaders PeopleSoft, Towers Perrin, IBM BCS and Accenture. Based in Waltham, MA, Authoria has been ranked three times by Inc. Magazine as one of America's fastest-growing private companies and has been recognized by Deloitte & Touche in the New England Fast 50 four times and the National Fast 500 twice. For more information, please visit www.authoria.com.