The business case for investing in a new HR, payroll and pensions system

A platform that covers hiring to retiring – maximises your return on investment

A streamlined HR, payroll and pensions system will save money, save time and help inform your people strategy . But how do you present the business case for a system like EduPeople to your CEO or Governing Board?

Here are the five steps to take:

1. Show why things need to change

Schools and Multi Academy Trusts are becoming increasingly business focused, and costs are ever more of a priority. At the same time, the DfE is pressing MATs to grow to a minimum of 10 academies each. That means bringing in schools with different legacy systems, so you have no centralised data and no centralised T&Cs across your workforce … which is akin to having no data at all when it comes to strategic decision making. That is not a good place to be.

2. Explain the Return on Investment

Take for example the new HR, payroll and pensions system EduPeople, which holds all your workforce data in one place for the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment right through to retirement. Having one single record for each member of staff reduces administration, avoids duplicate data entry and saves time and money. Having real-time accurate information at your fingertips at both individual and Trust-wide level provides unrivalled visibility and oversight for more informed decisions.

EduPeople removes uncertainties. Automation means less human error and maintains business continuity if staff are away. EduPeople is resilient, Cloud based, GDPR compliant and data storage is ISO accredited, so you never lose files or misplace paperwork. Reports such as Single Central Record and Gender Pay Gap Reporting can be run upon request as required.

3. Show how everyone will benefit

The CEO/COO can:

• Use better data to make better decisions which lead to better pupil outcomes, leading to greater staff satisfaction and therefore greater retention.

• Plan spending and budgets more easily because administration is run more efficiently.

• Be confident that no matter how big your MAT grows, EduPeople will keep pace.

The CFO can:

• View all payroll costs at a glance: compare school costs against each other, and teaching costs versus support staff costs, to identify potential problems.

• Free up resources to focus on priority areas and ultimately reduce headcount as many tasks move from being manually processed to automated.

• Work seamlessly, as EduPeople integrates with other finance and budgeting software, and all data is auditable.

The HRD can:

• Gain visibility of the whole workforce utilising customisable dashboards, with insights into performance management and succession planning, and the information to manage difficult conversations.

• Track absence and the cost of absence, with automated triggers warning of problems ahead.

• Dramatically reduce queries from staff who can use employee self-service instead – findings from our MAT Leader research shows HRDs are currently dealing with 20+ questions every week!

The SBM can:

• Save time and effort by avoiding duplicate data entry.

• Deploy employee self-service to get staff to update their own details and holiday requests etc.

• Replace manual tasks with automation e.g. staff onboarding. Set automatic reminders so milestones such as probation are never missed.

Teachers and support staff can:

• Be empowered by accessing their own records, tracking their key employment/payroll and pensions data.

• On-board themselves and easily submit expenses and overtime.

4. Show the logic behind your case

Strictly Education will work with your school/MAT to gather input from senior leaders and staff at all levels to make sure you get maximum value from EduPeople. You can also add functionality as needs evolve, making your new HR, payroll and pensions system future-proof.

5. Show how EduPeople is aligned to your goals and vision – no matter how ambitious

EduPeople works alongside your MAT as it grows. It is scalable, will update with statutory changes and comes with an expert team of HR and payroll education specialists who are there to help you get the best out of the system. You will have a named officer as your contact for ongoing support – and the reassurance that at Strictly Education we have been serving schools for 20 years. It’s what makes EduPeople best in class.