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Eastland Group

Eastland Group

From siloed spreadsheets to strategic insights: Eastland Group’s journey to data-driven workforce decisions with ELMO

The challenges

Single HR resource under pressure to manage over 100 employees without a reliable HR system.

Time-consuming manual inputs prone to errors.

Strategic HR work was sidelined by the need to fix spreadsheets and manually pull reports.

Making informed decisions was challenging due to inaccessible, unreliable data.

“ELMO has simplified my workstreams tenfold. It’s quick, it’s responsive, and it’s an efficient use of my time.”
Rachelle Andrews
People & Culture Manager at Eastland Group
Eastland Group specialises in regional infrastructure, including Eastland Port, Gisborne Airport and Eastland Generation, which produces electricity from hydro and geothermal plants.

With a team of professionals distributed across various sites and specialised in different parts of the business, the organisation relies heavily on accurate, accessible data to manage its workforce.

People & Culture Manager, Rachelle Andrews, describes the previous HR system as somewhat ‘dysfunctional’.

“We were managing eight different Excel spreadsheets which had to be manually updated every time someone came on board,” she says.

“It was labour-intensive, time-consuming and vulnerable to human error.”

And because Rachelle is Eastland Group’s sole HR resource, she needed a new HR system which would allow her to spend more time doing the things that mattered most.

“In my role, I do everything from the most basic tasks right through to figuring out how to solve complex problems.”

But with so many error-filled spreadsheets and incomplete data sets to rectify, there was little time for important strategic work. Rachelle recognised the need for a more sophisticated system to manage their HR processes.

The solution

Eastland Group chose ELMO Software as their HR software of choice in 2021.

As well as ELMO’s HR Core and in-built analytics, they also opted for the Learning and Course Library, Onboarding, Performance, Recruitment, and Remuneration modules.

“The fact that it was an all-in-one platform was very appealing. And when we saw how easy the rem module was, we all thought, ‘We’re onto a winner’.”

The benefits

Insights dashboard and scheduled reports make monthly reporting accurate and easy.

Time spent pulling reports reduced from three hours to just one.

Real-time tracking of days-to-recruit provides unprecedented data on hiring efficiency and bottlenecks.

Enhanced demographic insights give better visibility over the workforce and allows the team to make data-driven decisions.

I love the HR insights dashboard because I can instantly see how our demographics are changing.
Rachelle Andrews
People & Culture Manager at Eastland Group
People & Culture Manager at Eastland Group

Rachelle’s role in HR is no easy task, with the constant demand for data and regular reports to be presented to senior leadership. But with the help of ELMO, she’s been able to transform the way she works, making her job not just manageable, but more efficient and impactful.

This isn’t just about convenience—it’s also about accuracy and speed. When leadership requires crucial data, Rachelle can now produce results in a fraction of the time it once took. “I just push a button and it’s there.”

ELMO’s HR insights dashboard holds a special place in Rachelle’s toolkit.

“I love the HR insights dashboard because I can instantly see how our demographics are changing,” she says.

The days of multiple spreadsheets are long gone, saving her a significant amount of time and effort. “In our previous HR system, I had to manually input everybody’s ages every year — it used to take me so much time.”

A prime example of the transformation brought about by ELMO is the ability to track days to recruit, a data point the business has never had access to before. With ELMO, Rachelle can now identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process in real time, allowing for quicker and more effective problem-solving.

“I can now monitor how processes are tracking and who’s holding it up. Now we have that data, we can quickly take steps to address issues and get people on board sooner.”

Looking ahead, Rachelle is already preparing for the potential need for pay equity reporting in New Zealand. Although not yet a mandatory requirement, Rachelle wants to stay ahead of the curve, confident that ELMO will deliver the data she needs when the time comes.

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