Funlab expands Dayforce rollout across three countries

Funlab has expanded its use of Dayforce to support its workforce in the United States, bringing more than 2,500 employees across Australia, New Zealand and the US onto the platform.

The Melbourne-headquartered entertainment and hospitality group has consolidated human resources, pay, time, talent and analytics into one system for its global workforce. It first introduced Dayforce in Australia and New Zealand before extending it to the US as its operations there grew.

Funlab operates social entertainment and hospitality venues, and the broader rollout reflects the staffing complexity of operating across multiple countries. The change is intended to give the business a clearer view of its workforce and reduce reliance on separate systems in different markets.

Before the initial implementation, Funlab used four different systems for payroll, workforce management and talent across Australia and New Zealand. These were replaced with a single platform, cutting the time needed to onboard new employees by as much as five days.

The expansion also gives Funlab a single set of workforce data across all three countries. For hospitality and venue-based entertainment businesses, where staff numbers can be large and spread across many sites, consolidated data can influence payroll administration, compliance and reporting.

Chelsea Mannix, Chief People Officer at Funlab, outlined the operational issues the company faced before the consolidation.

"We were operating across multiple geographies and disparate systems and didn't have a clear, complete view of our people. At times, it felt like we were flying blind when it came to global reporting and understanding engagement across countries," said Chelsea Mannix, Chief People Officer, Funlab.

She said the single-system approach changed how the company managed workforce information across regions.

"Dayforce changed that. Bringing our people data into a single system has given us consistent visibility across regions, reduced manual work for our team, and strengthened accountability and compliance across our global footprint. Most importantly, it's given us greater confidence in how we make decisions as we scale," said Mannix.

System shift

The rollout reflects a broader trend among multi-site employers seeking to reduce the number of software systems used to manage staff. Fragmented tools can make it harder to maintain consistent payroll processes, track staffing trends across countries and produce reliable reporting for management.

For Funlab, the issue appears to have become more pressing as it expanded beyond its home market. Businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions must manage local employment rules while maintaining central oversight of labour costs, hiring and workforce performance.

Dayforce, which sells human capital management software, said Funlab chose the platform to simplify those cross-border demands. It positions the software as a single system that combines workforce functions often sourced from different vendors.

Rob Husband, Head of Revenue for APJ at Dayforce, said the challenge intensifies quickly when companies enter new markets.

"When you're expanding across borders, complexity multiplies fast. Without real-time visibility, compliance risk and operational friction follow," said Rob Husband, Head of Revenue for APJ, Dayforce.

He said bringing workforce data together in one place was central to the project.

"Funlab chose Dayforce to simplify that complexity. By bringing their global people data together on a single platform, they've built the operational backbone to scale globally - with compliance, agility, and employee experience working together," said Husband.

Growth demands

For Australian companies expanding into the US, people management can become one of the more difficult parts of growth. Different employment frameworks, payroll practices and reporting requirements can add administrative work just as a business is opening venues, hiring staff and maintaining service levels.

In that context, Funlab's decision to expand its use of an existing workforce system rather than add another local tool suggests it wanted continuity between its established operations in Australia and New Zealand and its newer presence in the US. The result is a single source of workforce data across all three countries.

The group also highlighted employee onboarding as an area where the original implementation had already produced measurable gains, reducing onboarding time for new starters by up to five days.