Wealden launches fully integrated Event Resource Management based on HR Works for management of event specific staff

Newcastle United first to go live with the Wealden steward management solution.

Wealden, a long-established supplier of Human Capital Management systems has announced the availability of its new Event Resource Management solution, HREvent. Based on the HR Works platform, HREvent is for the management of event specific staff, like stewards and marshals.

Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) is the first organisation in the  UK to employ the new software. Boyd Weddell, Deputy Safety Officer at NUFC said: “We looked at several systems for managing our match day stewards, but they were all standalone.

"Only Wealden could to provide a fully integrated solution that met all of our requirements to manage our stewards throughout their association with the club, from recruitment, while they are working with us, through to keeping in touch after they have left.”

Designed as a fully integrated solution, Wealden’s HREvent is available in a standalone format, too. It provides an interactive system which powers the central management of staff throughout an event. The system brings together elements of HR management for personnel data, time and attendance to monitor hours worked, and payroll. On match day a dynamic map interface displays data quickly and easily enabling the operations team to concentrate on running the venue, and ensuring an incident free event.

Boyd Weddell continued, “The more accurate information provided by HREvent enables us to manage our match day resources more efficiently, saving us costs, which over the course of a season are significant.”

Hitesh Patel, the MD at Wealden said, “Most organisations will state that their biggest and most expensive asset is their staff. For venues and football clubs, event staff and marshals are not the highest cost when compared to players or artists, however, they are vitally important to safety and without them the event cannot take place. They need to be managed efficiently during the day, and paid accurately and promptly for the hours worked afterwards. Wealden’s HREvent has been designed specifically with this in mind. Our experience at Newcastle United shows that costs can be saved while providing a ground that is staffed appropriately at all times ensuring the safety of the fans.”

Gary Gray, Head of IT at NUFC commented, “Match day systems are mission critical for a football club, therefore excellent support was of vital importance. We have been dealing with Wealden for a number of years and know that they are able to provide the levels of service required for such a system.”

FACTFILE:
Founded in 1983, Wealden Computing Services specialises in Human Capital Management solutions. The highly respected HRWorks suite of applications covers HR, Payroll, Time and Attendance and Self-Service functions for both managers and employees.

Modular by design, the components of HR Works may be fully integrated to provide a complete People Management software tool for commercial, governmental and educational organisations.
HRWorks is used extensively throughout the UK.

Wealden Computing Services
Tel: 020 8364 7177

Why don't firms hang on to their good staff?

Research from the Taleo Corporation, a top flight provider of on-demand talent management solutions, reveals that almost a quarter (22%) of HR decision makers expect to see an increase in voluntary churn in 2011, highlighting this as a major threat to business growth over the next 12 months.

According to Taleo’s Talent Mobility in 2011 research, which surveyed 500 HR decision makers in large UK companies, increased 'churn' was highlighted as a particular issue for business services (32%), public sector (28%) and IT/technology companies (27%).

But while HR decision makers identified this as a concern for 2011, the majority attributed retention problems to external factors, like better salaries (48%) or opportunities (45%) elsewhere, as opposed to internal factors.

“As many organisations plan for growth in 2011, and confidence in the job market returns, employees who may have chosen to sit tight over the last few years are likely to begin exploring new opportunities, seeking new roles and new challenges,” pointed out Alice Snell, Vice President, Research, Taleo.

“But introducing an effective talent mobility strategy, which allows companies to mobilise people internally in response to business needs can not only make great business sense, but can prove an excellent retention tool, offering employees internal opportunities to develop their career with their current employer.”

Overcoming the barriers to talent mobility – why ‘making do’ won’t do

The recent research highlighted talent mobility is increasingly on the HR agenda for 2011, with 71% of respondents agreeing that it is important for companies to be able to proactively and strategically move people from role to role.

However, the extent to which companies are currently moving people within their businesses effectively remains limited, with many citing a number of recurring barriers, which they believe are currently preventing them from achieving a truly mobile workforce.

The top three barriers to talent mobility were identified as:

• Lack of visibility into talent gaps and opportunities
• Lack of systems/technology to support talent mobility initiatives
• Quality and reliability of employee talent data

A low level of sophistication in terms of talent mobility technology emerged as a particular barrier for the majority of organisations, limiting the ability of HR professionals and senior management to identify where the opportunities and gaps within their organisation lie and matching these with existing, internal skill sets.

Overall, only one in ten (10%) of the companies surveyed were using dedicated talent management systems, with the use of dedicated systems proving higher in the construction/manufacturing (14%) and IT/technology (14%) sectors. The majority of companies reported they were still ‘making do’ with company intranets to facilitate internal mobility, and in 30% of cases, companies were still relying solely on email to facilitate internal mobility.

Alice Snell concluded: “The value of a talent mobility strategy is clearly recognised among the HR profession. However, it is currently being thwarted by a number of factors, most notably easily corrected system and data shortcomings. While the use of technology to support mobility is currently limited, evidence suggests that there are notable business benefits associated with a more sophisticated level of technology usage, from boosting the leadership pipeline to being better able to drive change and business growth. The companies that will be best placed to meet future challenges as we return to economic growth will be those that have the processes, systems and culture in place to support a truly holistic approach to talent mobility.”

(EDITOR: Some firms have decided to use “the recession” as an excuse as to why training is not done, why wages have not been increased in four or five years and why posts are not advertised, thus making one member of staff cover three or even more different roles. And I am aware of one company that edged out a worker with exceptional qualifications and skillsets because: “you make the other workers here look bad, by comparison.” And this was in a private company! With attitudes like this, it is no wonder that 'employee churn' is so high...)