Member Article

Greyhound Racing Association modernises its HR functions with workforce management system

An established company responsible for managing the much-loved Hall Green greyhound racing stadium in Birmingham has undertaken an overhaul of its HR processes by implementing a new workforce management system.

The system supplied by timeware, one of the UK’s leading providers of workforce management solutions, has improved overall efficiency in the Greyhound Racing Association’s (GRA) HR department and increased staff productivity by accurately monitoring staff attendance and absenteeism.

The GRA owns and runs four race courses in the UK including Hall Green race ground, which was first opened in August 1927 and was the very first greyhound track to be built in the city of Birmingham. It also operates Wimbledon stadium in London and Belle Vue stadium in Manchester. To help successfully run all four stadiums, the GRA employs just over 500 members of staff.

The GRA’s HR department, which oversees staff at all four sites, was struggling to monitor staff attendance with its existing system, and it was a lengthy process for management when they wanted to access staff files. As a result, the GRA sought a new way to speed up and modernise its existing HR system.

Angela Russell, GRA’s HR group manager who is responsible for managing the HR for all four stadiums, said: ’With 510 staff located across the UK it is not always easy to keep track of where each individual is at any given time.

“Before we were put in touch with timeware, it was a time-consuming process for management to gain employee information because they would have to contact me first. Previously I was the only person in the company with full access to these files and other managers has limited access and so understandably it sometimes took quite a while to locate them.

“We decided to look for a helping hand and were introduced to timeware. We were really impressed with its workforce management solutions that would help us to speed up our processes and modernise our systems. The new system has enabled us to add more relevant information onto the system which has given managers much greater access to information that was not previously recorded.”

The GRA adopted two modules from the variety of solutions available from the timeware Professional 2015 Package, which covers areas such as personnel, absence management, attendance, access control, cost centre analysis, reports and ESS (employee self-service).

timeware’s employee attendance module was implemented to manage employee’s working hours, as well as to ensure GRA’s staff were in the right place at the right time. The module works by providing the tools needed to schedule where a workforce should be and how long they should be working for.

Alongside this, the GRA also installed the absence management module to better record employee’s days off, track holiday entitlement and manage holiday schedules.

As a result of installing these new systems, the GRA has seen a vast improvement in productivity within its workforce. Absenteeism has improved across the board as well as the overall attendance records as the systems in place have allowed for both to be monitored more thoroughly.

Angela continued: “Thanks to timeware, our HR processes are a lot more efficient. Nowadays, all of the information regarding employee attendance and absenteeism records is accurately recorded, stored on our computer system and available for all our management to see via the timeware software. This saves so much time than our system before. What’s more, the absence management module has helped us to track employer’s holiday entitlement and ensure holiday schedules don’t overlap and cause problems.’’

Simon Birchall, managing director at timeware, said: ’‘Before GRA enlisted our help it was taking a long time for information regarding employer’s attendance and absenteeism to be shared as Angela was the only person with access to it. However now the pressure is off for her as the management team can access the data using timeware’s secure and reliable technology.

“Our solutions have enabled Angela and her colleagues to be more efficient with everyday tasks so that they can concentrate on other areas of the business. We’re delighted that the GRA has benefitted so much from using our management systems.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ursula Hutchinson .