Impact Housing
Impact Housing is a charitable housing association providing
high quality community investment, housing and support. The
association has over 3,000 properties across Cumbria, including
student Halls of Residence in Carlisle and three elderly care
schemes in South Lakes. Impact has a strong tradition of tenant and
community support that dates back to 1975.
The challenge
For Impact Housing, the time was right to update its software.
The existing HR system
was underdeveloped, causing it to become more of an address book
than an HR system.
Everything was paper-based, from training requests and
appraisals to recruiting and holiday requests. Ensuring adequate
staff cover in teams when authoring absence and notifying staff of
their remaining holiday entitlement in a paper based system was a
struggle. Completing appraisals by the deadline of the
1st March was also a challenge for certain teams, and
managers struggled to gain adequate pre-appraisal information from
staff to prepare.
"As teams are often disbursed across the County, the appraisal
paperwork would be posted back and forth between sites to be
completed and signed off before being sent back to HR," says Claire
Mills, HR Officer for Impact. "It took a lot of time, and
occasionally, things would get lost in the post. Some managers also
habitually missed the appraisal deadline".
It was clear Impact needed software better suited for its
association.
The journey
SelectHR records and monitors a lot of the information
that previously we had to do manually. Information is there at the
touch of a button." Claire Mills, HR
Officer
After looking at different HR solutions, Impact chose SelectHR. "We thought
the Access team were helpful and were impressed with the product
and the amount of information available," says Claire.
SelectHR is fully configurable, so Impact can design its own
workflows, forms and choose how information is presented - plus set
up different user profiles.
Implementation
Impact decided to launch SelectHR in stages to help its managers
and staff adjust to the new system. Claire admits the
implementation was a bumpy ride, but that the Access account
manager resolved any issues.
The biggest learning curve Impact had was Self-service. At first
staff were anxious about using the system, but once it was
implemented and they could dispense with paper processes, staff and
managers found the information available extremely useful. And they
often suggest new development and improvement ideas themselves.
The results
In six months, Impact was seeing the benefits of its Access
solution. "SelectHR was a different approach to working for us,"
says Claire. "But it was when we started sending automatic email
reminders through the software and customising information that we
started to really appreciate the benefits."
Spends less time and money on recruiting
As Claire explains, "Our recruitment has been one of the areas
in which we've seen the biggest improvements." Because SelectHR
offers strong recruiting functionality, admin staff are no longer
required to print application packs and mail them out.
"We were spending £4.30 per pack for printing and
postage," says Claire. "Now, applicants can go to our website to
view vacancies, download application packs and fill out the
electronic application."
SelectHR also eliminates the need to re-key information or
locate files. "We have a record of the paperwork whenever we want
it," says Claire. "When new starters are successful, we already
have their information entered into our system."
Improves appraisals
Access consultants customised the appraisals process to reflect
Impact's style. Workflows were set up to ensure managers and
employees followed the process outlined by the HR department.
"Before, some managers were more informal with their appraisals,
but now everything is much more structured," says Claire.
Completing 100 per cent of its appraisals by 1st March is a key
KPI for Impact. "SelectHR helps us monitor this. We can now run a
report with this information," she says. "In the past, it was
harder to track because it would take more time to get the
paperwork back from managers and the return rate had to be
calculated manually." With the implementation of online appraisals
the return rate by the deadline went up from 75 per cent to 95 per
cent.
Spends less time scheduling training
The consultants set up workflows within SelectHR to help Impact
streamline training. Employees can now submit training requests
through Self-service; the system sends the requests to their line
manager for approval. The information is sent to HR to authorise
and book the training. SelectHR then sends an email to the
employees confirming the details.
"It used to take longer to schedule the requests because we'd
have to get the paper sent from location to another. HR would then
book the training and post the records to an Excel spreadsheet,"
says Claire. "That's all changed now; all records are stored in
SelectHR, and staff and managers can access these at any time."
More visibility over holidays
With SelectHR, Impact now has a better way to track and approve
holidays. Previously, it was up to line managers to ensure holidays
were signed off appropriately, and staff were always asking about
their entitlements. With SelectHR, Impact can be sure the process
is always followed correctly.
"This absolutely saves us time, and it helps HR, staff and
managers keep track of everyone's holidays," she says. "The
individual calendars that show you when someone is on holiday, at
training or on sick leave are really useful."
Easier to run reports
In addition to eliminating paper-based processes, SelectHR has
helped Impact improve reporting capability. For example, Impact
needed a report that monitors the insurance on company cars. The
information generated from this report helped them ensure employees
are meeting the organisation's legal requirements.
"Before, we had limited reporting, and we had to collate much
more of the information in Excel spreadsheets. It takes much less
time to run reports with SelectHR," says Claire.
Post-implementation
Since implementing SelectHR, Impact's HR department has received
additional training. Claire was then able to share that information
with others within the organisation. "Most of our employees really
like SelectHR. We've had lots of positive feedback from our staff,"
she says. "It's easy to use, and employees appreciate the amount of
information it stores."
The future
Impact has plans to integrate its HR and payroll and is
currently reviewing a payroll solution from Access. In the
meantime, the Access consultants created a custom report that will
work with the organisation's existing payroll
system.
The organisation has scheduled time with Access to make time in
lieu available, so that employees can book this through SelectHR.
"We're also working on recording one-to-one meetings in SelectHR,
and linking them to the appraisal," says Claire.
Summary
"Select HR records and monitors a lot of the information that
previously we had to do manually. Information is there at the touch
of a button," says Claire. "Many of our forms are now electronic.
We're not scratching around searching for things in personnel
files. It's all in SelectHR held against an employee's personnel
record."
Choosing a new HR & payroll system is a long-term commitment, so it pays to spend time getting it right. In this highly practical guide, we explain the principles and aims of an RFI (Request for Information) and also include a quick-start template to get the ball rolling.
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