SnowdropKCS HR and Payroll Solutions, over 30 years' experience in the HR and Payroll industry

Translink keeps HR on track with Sage

Translink is using recruitment, personnel, self-service and training software from the Sage software suite, SnowdropKCS, to manage the information of over 4000 workers in Northern Ireland.

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  • About Translink
  • Benefits

 

 

About Translink

Translink is the leading provider of public bus and rail transport in Northern Ireland. The organisation employees in excess of 4000 employees, spread across 40 locations and 7 divisions.

Like many large organisations, Translink must juggle a range of complexities on a daily basis. That includes managing information not only across locations and grades, but also at ‘corporate’, ‘company’ and ‘divisional’ level.

The system

In 2000, Translink decided to replace its cumbersome paper-based processes with a centralised HR system that could stand up to all the complexities of a large, multi-site organisation. The HR team decided to implement recruitment and personnel modules from Snowdrop (now delivered by Sage as part of the SnowdropKCS suite) due to the specialist nature of Snowdrop’s HR solutions.

Initially Translink implemented a customised recruitment module, to help streamline applicant administration (Translink averages around 5000 applicants and 250 appointments each year).

The recruitment system is integral to keeping Translink on top of legislative requirements from both Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole. In particular, Northern Irish legislation demands that figures relating to applications and recruits are recorded and then submitted to a central body, for which the system is key.

 

 

Reducing absence across the board

In 2004, Translink rolled out the self-service module to managers across all locations, allowing them to enter personnel information, like address details, and record absence data. As the systems are seamlessly integrated, HR can easily pick up absence information centrally and use it to report back to managers and executives in each division on how absence is stacking up.

The flexibility of SnowdropKCS reports enables Translink to anlayse absence in a number of different ways, including by company, division, job category and location. Not only has this helped Translink identify the main drivers for sickness absence in each area, but has also contributed to the reduction of absence by 2 days per employee, per year. A significant saving with the rising costs of company sick pay.

The system also assisted Translink with introducing a new absence management policy and procedure for its managers. The combination of the new system and more proactive absence management served to increase awareness of absence monitoring, discouraging people from taking ‘sickies’ that are a drain on any organisation. 

Unlike the paper-based system, the HR team knows it can rely on absence data in the personnel software to create reliable reports. As a result, the company’s Key Performance Indicators are viewed as a more reliable and valuable management tool.

In terms of good employment policy, reliable data and reports have been integral to helping Translink embrace ethnic, gender and dependants monitoring – as required by law.

Staying compliant

Translink recently implemented SnowdropKCS Training & Development to improve legislative compliance.

In a safety-critical industry, reliable competency and training records are essential to keeping Translink within the law. For example, people who work close to the railway must hold a ‘Personal Track Safety’ certificate, requiring regular renewal. With the training software, Translink can easily monitor development needs like this and support the managers and trainers who are responsible for managing them.

By helping Translink to capture all necessary training requirements and providing the tools to administer the relevant courses, the training software facilitates an integrated, co-ordinated and consistent approach to training.


Getting the job done

Alan McCully, Personnel Manager for Translink comments: “SnowdropKCS simply helps us to prove that we’ve done our job: tracking what needs to be done and taking action in time to make a difference.”

He continues: “I believe that with the features it offers, SnowdropKCS is one of the best there is.”