Latrobe City is located approximately 150kms east of Melbourne and is one of Victoria's major regional centres, home to over 77,000 people. They have traditionally been recognised as the centre of Victoria's electricity industry, which is derived from one of the largest brown coal reserves in the world. They are also at the centre of a large forestry industry which services Australian Paper's pulp and paper mill and other sawmills.
The challenge
Latrobe City Council has just over 1,050 employees, with about 65% classified as ‘in-the-field’, meaning they don’t have traditional office-based desk jobs. Of these in-the-field staff, about 20% of them don’t have regular access to a computer, which has caused a barrier in their access to digital HR content like learning and development, and internal opportunities.
Council looked at their People and Culture service as a whole and decided they needed a strategic direction - something that outlined how People and Culture would be delivered that not only supports and aligns with the Council Plan but was also consistent with the needs of employees.
The team had a review of what barriers people were experiencing when trying to connect with HR. The systems that were in place were also put under the microscope, and although each individual system was good – recruitment, onboarding, training and development, annual performance review process – they were all different and there was no consistency between them. With so many different systems, staff found them difficult to access which led to a lack of engagement and buy in.
The solution
Latrobe City Council had a vision when they went out to tender for a new system, and Pulse Software was the company that was able to meet their requirements. Council now have eRecruitment, Onboarding, Annual Performance Review, Learning, and Staff Variations (using the form builder).
The ability for the system to meet the needs of each of these functions has allowed Council to have a system that has one access point – one click through from the intranet, with automatic sign-in. There’s now no longer a need to remember multiple passwords or logins, and no need to remember different links/URL addresses. It’s created a streamlined single entry point for the HR practices at Latrobe City.
The result
After some time using Pulse Software, Latrobe City was able to see demonstrated improvements across some key indicators.
There was a reduction in their recruitment days to fill. Prior to using Pulse, they were averaging about 40 days to fill a recruitment role (from advertising the role to offering a contract). With Pulse, Latrobe City were able to shave that time down to 31 days by streamlining their approval stages.
Payroll errors have reduced, a result of having the right information come through, and having it come through in a timely manner.
Council has also seen an increase in the number of applicants they get for a role, an average of eight more per role. Latrobe City attributes this to it being an easier process to apply for a role through the Pulse system.
There’s been a 20% increase in performance review completion, bringing the completion rate at deadline up to 85%, thanks to the ease and accessibility of the new system. The use of online learning is also up 25%.
Through this process, Latrobe City Council has come away with some key learnings:
- Be willing to critique your own processes.
- Listen to the feedback you receive.
- Plan for contingency even if it seems a sure thing.
- Don’t be afraid to go for it!
About Pulse Software
Pulse is an Australian SaaS company focused on industry leading, out-of-the-box process management software solutions with module-style applications developed using the latest cloud-based technology for a wide range of organisations.