How vivenu centralised global payroll and built a single source of truth for People Ops

Pain Points

• Fragmented HR and payroll stack requiring 3–4 systems (DATEV, TriNet, EORs, Kenjo, G-Drive) to run payroll.

• Spreadsheet-based HR management with no single source of truth for headcount, leavers, or compensation changes.

• German payroll outsourcing concerns due to subcontractor reliance, creating accountability, migration, and operational risks.

• Manual onboarding processes managed in Notion, unable to scale with 5–15 monthly hires across a global workforce.

Intro

When Steffen Pyka joined vivenu as VP Finance and Legal, the company had 60 employees. Today, it has more than 200, spread across Germany, Switzerland, the US, and other international markets. Along the way, Steffen's remit expanded to include HR.

The Challenge

As vivenu tripled headcount and expanded into more than 50 countries, payroll became increasingly difficult to manage across systems: DATEV through a German tax advisor, TriNet as a PEO in the US, separate Employer of Record providers for additional countries, Kenjo for vacation requests, and Google Drive for documents. Data had to be prepared in Excel and sent back and forth by email. Each tool was added to solve a problem, but over time the proliferation caused an even bigger one. For Steffen, the day-to-day impact was impossible to ignore.

The impact was twofold. Hours disappeared into manual prep work - days essentially lost to payroll every cycle. And the more data moved between spreadsheets and inboxes, the more exposure there was to error. “Every time you send an Excel file back and forth, someone could change it. Suddenly a salary changes, and you might not catch it.” German payroll introduced another concern. Some providers relied on subcontractors to deliver local services, and Steffen had seen firsthand in the past how badly things could unravel when those partnerships broke down. vivenu needed a platform that could run German and US payroll in-house, automate HR workflows end to end, and give the team a single reliable source of truth.

The Solution

vivenu chose Rippling to bring German and US payroll, HR, and IT workflows together onto one platform. In-house payroll delivery - no subcontractors - was a key requirement.

“Every connection between vendors creates friction. If a partnership ends, you’re facing a forced migration. Payroll is the one thing that has to work, people don’t forgive you if their money isn’t right or isn’t on time.”

At the time, Rippling's German payroll product had only recently launched and secured the certifications required to run local payroll, which gave vivenu pause. But after a deep dive with the Rippling team, the roadmap and long-term commitment to Germany were compelling enough to move forward. Six months later, that decision has paid off. vivenu now runs German and US payroll in one system, with its lean People team working directly with Rippling's German payroll specialists rather than third-party providers. As one of Rippling's early German customers, the team has also had an opportunity to help shape the product roadmap.

“We believed that if Rippling wants to gain ground in Germany, they have to invest in it. Six months later, that’s exactly what we’ve seen. The team is very responsive, the collaboration is strong, and the doubts we had have been resolved.”

Beyond payroll, Rippling replaced a patchwork of tools. Onboarding workflows now trigger automatically when a contract is signed - laptop requests, software licences, Slack notifications, task reminders. A direct ERP integration pushes payroll data into Finance each cycle, with no manual uploads or modification required.

“You don’t want a system where you have to call a consultant for every little thing. The ERP integration, I built that myself. It was surprisingly easy.”

A one-time setup now keeps payroll data flowing into Finance automatically every cycle.

vivenu built most of its workflows internally, including onboarding, offboarding, anniversary and probation notifications, and hours approvals for student employees. All of them run through Rippling's native Slack and email integrations.

“We feel heard. Some of our feedback has already shipped, and as an early customer in the German market, we get to help shape where the product goes next.”

By consolidating systems, automating workflows, and bringing German and US payroll in-house on a single platform, vivenu has transformed its people operations from a manual, fragmented process into a scalable, audit-ready function.

For Steffen, the value isn't just the time saved. It's that a lean People team can keep pace with a business hiring five to 15 people a month without adding operational risk.

“You need processes that are smooth, that run automatically — or at least trigger the right steps so everyone knows what to do. We didn’t have that before. We do now, and that’s what lets us grow with a very lean People team.”

With that foundation in place, vivenu's next focus is deeper automation and exploring how much more of the team's day-to-day work can be handled through Rippling AI.

The Impact

• ~2–3 hours saved per payroll cycle by eliminating manual data preparation across providers

• Replaced multiple payroll, HR, and document-management systems with a single platform (including DATEV, EOR providers, HR software, and Google Drive)

• Reduced compliance risk by replacing spreadsheet-based data transfers with controlled records, change tracking, and month-over-month visibility

• Automated onboarding and offboarding for 5–15 new hires per month, while a native ERP integration eliminated manual payroll uploads into Finance