HR FROM THE OUTSET

Being in the business of workplace wellbeing, it’s no surprise that London-based BetterSpace would take its people management responsibilities seriously – even from its inception.

BetterSpace’s Director of Operations, Anna Jagric, wanted to find a platform that allowed her to manage all of the firm’s HR needs in a user-friendly way, looked aesthetically nice, and that was affordable

As Jagric began investigating the options, it was the pricing model of CakeHR by Sage that stood out among the competition. “What I love about CakeHR is that you can add on modules as you grow. A lot of the competition doesn't allow that,” she says.

The structure of CakeHR means companies only pay for the active modules and the number of active employees. Jagric said this is what helped her choose the platform. “I thought it was a fair pricing model; you shouldn't have to pay for functionality if you're not going to use it.”

LEAVE MANAGEMENT

The BetterSpace culture is centred on being mindful of people’s time wellbeing, so it relies most heavily on the Leave Management module. The company has seven different types of ‘leave’ – from the traditional annual leave, sick pay, bereavement and maternity/paternity, to the more forward-thinking mental health recovery time, wellbeing time, and working remotely.

“We use the Leave Management tool daily - possibly as heavily as someone might use their calendar. Our employees use it to signify whether they’re working remotely, whether they’re off sick, and also for things like our wellbeing time – which is where our staff track the amount of time they spend during working hours on looking after their wellbeing,” says Jagric.

If a BetterSpace employee goes to the gym after lunch, for example, they log it on the CakeHR app. It gets classed as an hour of company time that they had invested in themselves.

SLACK INTEGRATION

The other key factor for BetterSpace with the Leave Management module is the fact that it integrates with Slack, which is how the team stays connected. For example, the integration allows BetterSpace to push a morning message into the team Slack channel with everyone's status for the day.

“It's a brilliant way to start the day and reminds our staff that how they use their time is an important element to their productivity,” says Jagric. “Even though it is an HR platform, as a manager it feels like CakeHR supports me on many levels and I want more of that.”

EFFICIENT EXPENSE REPORTING

BetterSpace has also implemented the Expenses module. All staff have the CakeHR app, and when they spend anything out of their own pocket, they take a photo of it, upload it to the app, and Jagric uses the app to sign off the expenses each month.

“Before using CakeHR, our staff would have taken a picture, emailed it to me, and I’d then have to save it in a file for processing later that month, or sifted back through my emails,” she says.

Using CakeHR for expenses has helped increase efficiency and given staff peace of mind. “They can see whether their expenses have been processed by using the app to see whether I've marked it as paid, - it's clear and simple,” Jagric says.

HIGH CALIBRE TEAM

One of the things that has impressed Jagric the most about CakeHR is the people. She praises the whole CakeHR team for being highly responsive and providing the personal touch.

“BetterSpace is a fast-growing company, so I need the software that I use to have responsive people behind it. The CakeHR team immediately know where a query should be directed to or where a piece of feedback should be sent, and the response time is usually within an hour - no matter when I message.”

360 DEGREE FEEDBACK

Looking ahead, the next module Jagric would like to implement is the Performance Management module. A key element of this module – and an added reason in BetterSpace choosing CakeHR - is the 360-degree feedback. It’s a method of performance appraisal that gathers feedback from several sources, including peers, direct reports, and managers.

“This type of circular feedback is something I’m very keen for us to implement; 360 feedback is about diversity and equality because it allows individuals to review their managers and peers, and receive the same level of feedback in return,” says Jagric.

Jagric has already been recommending CakeHR to her peers. “For all the reasons we've discussed - the team is amazing; the flexibility of the software; the customizability; the scalability. It also feels like we're culturally and that it’s a company after my own heart,” she says.