When growing a business, repeatable processes let the company scale in a planned way, whereas manual work slows progress. When hiring and onboarding new team members, having information that is easily accessible in a single place makes life easier for HR staff, managers and employees too.
ElectroRoute, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, is an energy trading and services company focused on the renewables market. The Irish-based company started small but grew rapidly as its market expanded, and now employs 140 people from its newly expanded offices in Dublin.
In its earliest stages, ElectroRoute's HR team had used manual methods and spreadsheets to manage its various departments but as the company experienced rapid growth, this approach quickly became an obstacle to progress. Human error was a common problem, says Cara McIntyre, human resource assistant at ElectroRoute.
It went to the market looking for a solution, and after making enquiries, ElectroRoute contacted Grouper, which responded quickly. "Our account manager was assigned to us, he told us about the features, and he was fantastic with the whole setup for us. He's been there for us ever since," says Cara.
The timing was ideal, because between 2021 and 2023 ElectroRoute was literally in constant recruitment mode. Before, the company's HR team was interacting with recruitment agents via email, and manually uploading CVs. Now, with the Grouper HR service in place, it could allow candidates to apply for jobs directly through its website. "The hiring feature on the service means all the CVs are up there which saves a huge amount of time," Cara confirms.
She appreciates the time saving because she is also responsible for payroll. With the HR system taking much of the administrative burden away, she is free to focus on the busy month-end.
ElectroRoute staff can use the app to upload their own photos, add their bank account details for salary payments, and apply for annual leave. "It's so user friendly and there's so much in it. We're slowly starting to use it to its full capacity," Cara says.
Using the system, the HR team can quickly and easily compile reports about their teams using the data already in place, saving countless hours of administration and poring over spreadsheets. "It's saving hours and hours for the HR team, and even the hiring managers comment on how fast the system is," Cara adds.
Grouper's support was available when ElectroRoute needed it. When the company wanted to add bonus and salary information following a team-wide increase, its account manager helped with a mass upload. The team also sought support for company-wide changes such as new health insurance plans.
"It's hugely valuable. Our account manager is a good friend at this stage. He'll happily jump on a call to show a particular feature of the system or he'll explain it in an email step by step. Literally I will send an email in the morning and he will be back in a couple of hours. It's great to have someone on a personal level you can interact with," says Cara.
With more hours in the day now freed up from time-consuming admin tasks, Cara and the HR team are free to do more work that helps the business on important projects involving company culture or diversity initiatives. "We probably wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise," she says.
