How Fiorino Transformed Complex Contract Work into a Single, Streamlined Workflow with Podio Software
Challenge
Managing hundreds of complex, compliance-driven contracts annually across multiple locations created significant manual workload, making paper-based processes inefficient, difficult to scale and hard to track.
Solution
- Built a centralized contract workflow with Podio software, supporting multiple contract types with conditional logic
- Created an external portal enabling non-workspace users to generate contracts securely
- Automated approvals, calculations and document generation using ProcFu forms and workflows
- Integrated digital signatures to send, sign and sync contracts directly within the Podio platform
Result
- Reduced contract creation time to a few inputs and automated document generation, saving hours
- Improved visibility into contract status, onboarding readiness and signature tracking
- Enabled HR to manage high contract volume more efficiently without increasing headcount
Full Story
Challenge
Navigating Contract Complexity
Across twenty locations in Switzerland, Fiorino Kinderbetreuung manages a workforce that depends on precision and compliance. Every year, each employee requires a new contract—each updated with tenure-based salary changes, location-specific rules and evolving legal requirements.
In addition, new hires, interns transitioning to full-time roles and varying employee scenarios introduced additional layers of complexity. What should be a repeatable HR process became a continuous cycle of manual work. Contracts were created on paper, approvals required coordination across teams and tracking signatures depended on manual follow-ups.
The workload added up quickly.
With approximately 230 employees, and each requiring annual contract updates, the team was managing hundreds of variations—each with different rules for role-based salary components, compensation, social charges, pension fund fees and compliance.
Fiorino needed more than digitization. They needed a flexible system that could adapt to constant change while reducing the administrative burden on HR.
Solution
One Workflow Built to Handle Every Variation
Fiorino partnered with Podio Partner Orata to reimagine its entire contract workflow with Progress Podio software, designing a system that could handle variation, scale and compliance without sacrificing usability.
“It was probably one of the more difficult projects,” explained Martin Evans, Founder & CEO of Orata, reflecting on the operational complexity behind the scenes.
At the core of the solution is a centralized contract application built in the Podio platform, designed to support multiple contract types within a single workflow. Instead of managing separate processes, Fiorino now uses a unified system that dynamically adapts to input.
Conditional logic plays a key role. Using ProcFu forms, the system collects employee and compliance data, adjusting required fields depending on factors like location and employment type.
“Depending on what contract type they wanted to create, we just showed different fields,” said Evans.
Their digital signing process has been seamlessly implemented into the Podio workflow leveraging a popular Swiss-based accounting software solution.
To solve access limitations, the team built a portal around the contract workflow—allowing users outside the original workspace to create contracts while maintaining centralized data control.
The process doesn’t stop at creation. Automated workflows handle approvals and execution:
- HR reviews and validates contract details
- Line managers finalize and send contracts
- Contracts are sent for digital signature to up to 5 signees per contract
- Signed documents automatically return to Podio and update status
The platform also generates complete contract documentation—including compensation breakdowns, social charges and pension details—into clean PDFs with a single action.
The result is a centralized workflow that manages the entire contract lifecycle from creation through signature.
Result
From Contract Chasing to a Few Clicks
For Fiorino’s HR team, the transformation is most visible in time and clarity.
What once required manual coordination, repetitive data entry and constant follow-up is now reduced to a structured workflow—driven by inputs and automation. Contracts that previously demanded significant effort can now be generated in just a few steps.
“It’s saving them so many hours, because now it’s just a matter of clicking a few buttons and the whole contract gets generated,” shared Evans.
Beyond time savings, the shift has improved visibility across the entire onboarding lifecycle. HR can quickly identify which employees have signed agreements, which contracts are pending and who is ready to be onboarded—without chasing updates.
The impact is operational, but also human.
The same HR personnel still oversee the process, but now works faster, with fewer manual steps and less friction. Instead of managing paperwork, the team can focus on meeting compliance and supporting employees.
Perhaps most importantly, the system has scaled with Fiorino’s complexity. From annual contract renewals to intern conversions to changing compliance rules, the workflow continues to adapt—without requiring a complete rebuild each time conditions change.
What was once a manual, time-consuming process is now a reliable, scalable workflow, built to grow with the organization.
It’s saving them so many hours, because now it’s just a matter of clicking a few buttons, typing in the necessary things, and the whole contract gets generated.
Martin Evans
Founder & CEO at Orata
