"We are very pleased to have formed a partnership with Breathe. We know we have a solid solution which people can use to take care of important yet everyday administration, so they can focus on their people and eventually emerge from the crisis stronger".
HR Solutions is a leading provider of HR consultancy services and supports businesses, charities and not for profit membership organisations across various sectors throughout the UK.
The company was founded in 2001 by Carol Ann Guilford who recognised that although many businesses do not require a full-time in-house HR function, it is essential that they do have access to expert support when it is needed.
CEO, Greg Guilford heads up a team of 22 people who are based at the company’s headquarters in Kettering and the company’s regional offices.
Supporting businesses throughout COVID-19
When COVID-19 arrived in the UK and the government first introduced lockdown restrictions, Greg and his team immediately began planning measures for supporting HR Solutions’ clients, enabling them to work as normally as possible and continue trading despite the drastically changed business landscape.
An immediate priority was the need to help clients manage furlough quickly, simply and accurately.
The team at HR Solutions are committed to helping organisations reduce time and effort spent on manual HR administration and using technology to make his possible.
With substantial experience of using a variety of HR management software systems, Greg and HR Operations Manager, Sue Watson, identified the need for easy-to use software which clients – particularly smaller businesses - could rapidly adopt to manage day-to-day and furlough related administration.
Furlough management made easy
Already aware of Breathe and the fact that furlough management functionality was being added to the system, they decided to join Breathe’s partner program; a network of more than 500 HR consultants.
Breathe is an award-winning provider of online people management software which is used by more than 8,000 small businesses and charities to manage over 200,000 employees. Breathe automates many HR administrative tasks enabling managers to focus their time and effort on other business areas.
“The fact that Breathe were introducing furlough management functionality and offering this alongside other tools for managing HR admin was a huge plus for us.
We wanted to help our clients reduce their workload so they could focus strategically on navigating their way through the crisis".“The beginning of lockdown and the introduction of furlough marked the start of a period of unprecedented change and we wanted to focus on helping support our clients as they began to adjust to circumstances and look after their team members, especially those in vulnerable positions.
Breathe’s furlough management functionality has proved to be very useful and the feedback we have received from clients who are using it has been great”Sue Watson, HR Operations Manager
Secure data and peace of mind
It was also important that Breathe was a cloud-based system which HR administrators, employers and employees could access from wherever they were working.
“Once lockdown had begun, it would have been very difficult for people to access manual records unless these were either sent by post or taken home by managers for storage and access.
Not only would this have been impractical, it would have posed an enormous security risk and potentially put businesses at risk of GDPR non-compliance.
We needed to offer software which enabled all data and records to be stored centrally and securely”.
Sue Watson, HR Operations Manager
Breathe is hosted securely in ISO 27001 certified datacentre facilities managed by Amazon Web Services. This means the team at HR Solutions and their clients can rest safe in the knowledge that clients’ employee records and data are secure and protected at all times.
“Business owners are – quite rightly – very concerned about security.
With Breathe having met stringent requirements to achieve ISO accreditation, we were able to assure our clients that their data would be ring-fenced by highly sophisticated security systems and fully protected”.Greg Guilford, CEO
All documents in one place
Breathe’s document management functionality enables people to upload and store all employment related records in a single, central location. Administrators can very easily grant or restrict access to sensitive information, ensuring people only have access to what they need when they need it.
“The fact that people have been able to access Breathe and key company and personnel-related documents throughout lockdown - and from wherever they are working - has been highly beneficial and contributed to our clients' efforts to continue to work as normally as possible.”
Greg Guilford, CEO
Breathe can be accessed via laptops, tablets and smartphones from wherever a user has access to the internet.
Time and cost savings
In addition to the practicalities of using Breathe to manage and support dispersed teams throughout lockdown, the team at HR Solutions have been pleased to see that use of the software has enabled clients to save time and money.
“Reduced time spent on admin has translated into cost savings. In some cases, we have seen clients reduce time by up to two thirds.
Any savings businesses can achieve during a challenging time where revenue streams are facing disruption are very helpful and ensure that Breathe provides a swift and measurable return on investment”.Sue Watson, HR Operations Manager
Breathe's training and support
Breathe provide a number of resources to help partners support their clients. These include video tutorials which provide an overview of the software key’s features and functionality.
These, says Sue, have helped the team at HR Solutions familiarise themselves with Breathe, which in turn, has enabled them to talk knowledgeably about the software and answers clients’ questions.
“We really value the resources available and these have helped clients become confident Breathe users in a short space of time.
The support we have received from Breathe's Partner Team has also been very useful and our own internal team have become active advocates of the system”.Sue Watson, HR Operations Manager
Working towards a brighter future
With uncertain and challenging times ahead, the team at HR Solutions will be doing everything it can to continue to support its clients and help them plan for the future.
“Many businesses are developing post-COVID-19 restructuring plans and these will inevitably take different shapes and forms.
We are very pleased to have formed a partnership with Breathe. We know we have a solid solution which people can use to take care of important yet everyday administration, so they can focus on their people and eventually emerge from the crisis stronger”.Greg Guilford, CEO
It's great to see the Partner Programme working so well, helping HR Solutions to support their clients throughout COVID-19. To find out more about becoming a Breathe Partner yourself, download our brochure today. Or, contact our helpful team today.
