Swissport: ‘It’s not about HR and IT being two separate departments; there’s now a blend between the two’

Swissport – being the largest airport ground handling company in the world – has grown through several mergers and acquisitions over the years.

The €3.7 billion revenue company therefore uses a mix of systems to tackle day-to-day tasks – previously totting up 41 different HR and payroll systems globally. 

To streamline this, Swissport deployed the HMC platform, Dayforce, focusing on one single platform to bring all their HR, payroll, and WFM data into one environment. 

The goal was to improve simplicity, reduce complexity, minimize payroll leakage, and get better visibility into its people and workforce data.

In an exclusive conversation with Swissport’s Global Head of HR Systems, Stu Privett, and Dayforce’s Chief Customer Officer, Chris Armstong, UNLEASH explored the journey in depth, while also identifying Swissport’s key priorities moving forward.

Finding an HR system that works for your business

When describing Swissport, Privett says: “We’re a complex organization in a complex industry.”

As the business operates in 40 different countries, Swissport faces a number of complexities with one major challenge: Achieving global standardization of HR processes. 

Consequently, each business unit operated in a siloed way, which is why it was imperative for Privett to gain consistency across HR, WFM, and payroll processes is key.

Bringing in Dayforce has therefore helped the business build towards their global standards.

For Armstong, this is part of Dayforce’s goal of bringing industry-leading tech that drives best practices. But in his belief, it’s also about tackling a bigger issue.

It’s not just about the tech – it’s about how we partner with our customers to ensure adoption at all levels,” he explains. “That creates real business value, with the strongest commitment to compliance in the industry.” 

Swissport has recently implemented Dayforce in the UK and Ireland, with plans to soon go live in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. 

Since, Privett shares that the business has been able to better identify where employees are working according to schedule, and where overtime is increasing, for example – things they didn’t have visibility on before. 

He comments: “Previously, people’s rosters were on spreadsheets, written on walls, or just in someone’s head. Now, I can literally run a report today and say: ‘How much overtime was there in Ireland or the UK last month?’ or ‘What percentage of people are working when scheduled?’ 

“We now have visibility of payroll leakage and scheduling compliance.

“Scheduling is a huge part of what we do. Visibility is everything. In some locations – hypothetically – we found that teams were given their weekly rosters, but since they weren’t recorded in a system, they’d just throw them in the bin and work however they wanted.” 

Through integrating Dayforce, Swissport has now gained immediate visibility, with the ability to see who’s clocking in on time, who’s not, for example. 

Identifying and overcoming HR’s biggest challenges

As an HR leader, Privett explains that one of the main obstacles Swissport has had to overcome is retention. 

“In some places, we have over 100% attrition – we lose and replace our entire workforce,” he explains. “So getting visibility into hotspots and doing more targeted retention efforts is essential.

“Another focus is reducing payroll leakage and managing overtime.”

To tackle this, Swissport is implementing Dayforce Learning, which will help the business track who’s skilled for certain roles.

“We’ll know not only who has the skills, but who’s done the necessary training,” he adds.

“For example, if someone is scheduled to push back an Emirates aircraft, we need to confirm they’ve completed the required courses. We can be audited by IATA, so this is a compliance must-have.”

To help customers combat this, Armstrong shares that Dayforce focuses on the full cycle: Attraction, development, and retention. 

Great companies attract talent – but the world of work is changing fast, so development is critical. What someone does today will likely change tomorrow,” he adds.

“Organizations need programs and technology that support that development.

“When companies invest in their people and show them a future, those people are more likely to stay. Visionary leadership backed by best-in-class technology is where we come in.”

Swissport and Dayforce’s application of AI

As with a vast majority of companies, both Dayforce and Swissport are embracing AI to make the most of its benefits.

Armstrong explains that for Dayforce, there are two key priorities: Ensure the data is present, and that it reflects real business conditions.

“Our AI isn’t bolted on – it’s embedded,” he shares. “It’s central to our product design. Our goal is to let people do the work they’re meant to do, even as that changes over time.

“We’ve already had great validation from customers on features like Dayforce AI Intelligence and career explorer. These bring processes to the employee level and, in some cases, replace human support with AI – resulting in better outcomes for both employees and the business.”

As for Privett, he discloses that Swissport has already started using AI to do heavy lifting tasks – such as writing job descriptions. 

“I was part of the charter program for it [Dayforce] in my previous organization,” he adds. “It let employees see which skills they had based on their job descriptions, and then suggested internal opportunities. That really supported retention.”

Blending HR and IT

For Privett, there is one key aspect to remember: “There is no perfect system. The system won’t solve your problems for you.”

Instead, he wants to remind other HR leaders that although the tech will support you, businesses still need to have and invest in its people.

You need dedicated tech people,” he notes. “The best HR leaders today are the ones who understand that technology isn’t something you hand off to IT and walk away from. HR needs to embrace tech while being self-sufficient.”

For this to be achieved, he believes that it’s imperative to build and grow tech-savvy, data-literate individuals within HR organizations. 

“It shouldn’t be seen as something that sits outside HR. This is just my personal view, but I’ve always worked directly within HR as the tech person.

“People in my role act like a blend between a diplomat and a translator – we bridge the gap between HR and IT. These days, it’s not about two separate departments; there’s a real blend between them.

“Systems like Dayforce – these SaaS platforms – aren’t like the old days where you’d throw something over to IT and wait for it to come back. HR has to be hands-on and self-sufficient.”

Armstrong supports Privett’s case, highlighting that “success depends so much on people and their engagement.”

He further explains that with AI and the pace of technological advancement, HR has a huge opportunity to step forward and help define the vision and strategy of the organization – to maximize the value of people.

“We know there’s a level of uncertainty around AI,” he concludes. “Many people see the risk more than the upside – they focus on the personal implications, rather than the potential.

“This is where HR leadership can really shine. They can step in and turn that sense of risk into confidence, passion, and commitment. It’s about helping people embrace AI in a way that makes organizations better, while also creating clear, meaningful paths for individuals to grow within their companies.

“This isn’t just a technology transformation – it’s technology blended with people.”