The sky is the limit for a Teesside HR software firm, after it began supporting major UK food retailer Heron to onboard up to 80 new employees a week with ease.
Stockton-based Jola HR is now hoping to roll out its bespoke employee onboarding software to hundreds more similar businesses, enabling them to welcome new staff while taking the administrative headache out of the arduous process.
Laura Buckell, the firm’s operations director and co-founder, works closely with HR and operations teams to understand their challenges and reduce the administration and paperwork associated with staff onboarding, while giving new hires a consistent, branded experience.
One of its biggest clients is Heron Foods, who onboard up to 80 new starters every week – but Jola HR’s software is beneficial for any organisation onboarding one or more members of staff per month.
Laura, who has been shortlisted for the Janice Webster Unsung Hero Award at Tees Business’ TeesTech Awards, says: “Our software is saving Heron Foods hours of admin time each week, allowing their teams to focus on higher-value work instead of paperwork.
“We are hoping to build on the success of this contract by attracting other major retailers where they are onboarding a lot of staff at a time.
“These new staff need to fill in various forms, order uniforms, go through health and safety and other forms of mandatory training and fulfil various checks and administrative processes, before they even start – and that’s where our software comes in to support this process.”
While Jola HR has its sights set on the likes of Home Bargains, B&M and Food Warehouse, the company is also keen to help smaller organisations to make their onboarding processes for staff much smoother, more efficient – and even enjoyable.
Laura says: “Our software is bespoke for each individual client and is mobile first, making it easy for any new recruit with a smartphone to complete the onboarding process.
“It solves a big problem for clients, as it automates processes from sending out offer letters to signing contracts and everything in between.
“Things like carrying out inductions and providing company handbooks can also be incorporated into the software.”
Heron Foods, a discount food retailer with over 340 stores across the UK, has over 5,000 employees and up to 80 new starters each week across retail, warehousing, transport and store support.
This means onboarding efficiency is essential to maintaining operational excellence, so the onboarding team, led by Helene Dixon, head of payroll and onboarding, employed Jola HR to develop a software service that could match the pace and scale of the business.
Heron Foods had been using paper-based onboarding for new starters, but in an effort to improve the process, it transitioned to an online onboarding system.
However, this still involved many manual steps, which proved to be extremely time-consuming for the payroll team.
Heron Foods selected Jola HR for its seamless and intuitive onboarding capabilities.
A standout feature was the ability to import all new starter data via pre-existing CSV – a simple text file used to store tabular data, like a spreadsheet or database, in a plain text format spreadsheet.
This dramatically reduced manual workload, while also ensuring accuracy.
Other key features included automated onboarding emails and task reminders for both the payroll team and new starts and a user-friendly interface for all users featuring Heron branding.
New staff also get automatic reminders if they haven’t signed their contract by a certain date, which saves administrative staff making calls or sending letters or emails chasing things up.
Ms Dixon said: “Jola HR is incredibly easy to use and navigate and the daily import function alone has saved us hours each week.
“One of its standout features is the import function, which allows a single import per day for all new starters, streamlining data entry and saving valuable time.”
“Since implementing the Jola HR onboarding system, the manual workload of the team has been dramatically reduced.”
She added the system ensures all data entered is typed directly, leading to fewer errors from new starters, significantly minimising data-related queries.
It has also increased team productivity, meaning more time can be spent on significantly improving new starters’ experiences, reinforcing a professional first impression.
“Jola’s onboarding solution is user-friendly, looks great, and gives a strong first impression of our company,” said Ms Dixon, who has been with Heron Foods for seven years but has spent 30-plus years in payroll.
“It’s helped us onboard faster, more accurately, and with far less manual effort.
“I’d definitely recommend it to any company dealing with high onboarding volumes.”
Laura adds: “Payroll teams onboarding a high volume of new starts are usually drowning in the relevant paperwork, but our software makes the process more seamless and enjoyable for everyone involved.
“It also means companies can focus more on the niceties of welcoming new staff, rather than the administrative side.”
In this way, the Stockton-based firm can save companies a lot of money, while also supporting their reputation as employers of choice.
“Employees use the software to go on a journey with their new employer – all through their mobile phones,” Laura says.
“We are excited about the opportunity to support other similar sized businesses with the employee onboarding process, to deliver the results that have been seen at Heron Foods.”
For more information, or to book a free demo, visit www.jolahr.co.uk.