SEO London

Using education to make the world more equal

Industry: Nonprofit

About the company: Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO London) is a UK charity of 66 employees who deliver educational, training and mentoring support to young people from low socioeconomic and ethnic minority backgrounds.

SEO London Personio case study
Thalia Christopoulou, SEO London
Thalia Christopoulou

Senior HR & Operations Officer

SEO London logo

Helping talent thrive across communities

The team at SEO London have one clear and powerful vision – a society where everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve long-term professional and personal success, regardless of their background.

To make this vision a reality, they focus each day on preparing talented students from underrepresented backgrounds for career success through industry-specific education and training, mentorship, networking and access to opportunities that might otherwise be inaccessible. 

Their efforts are designed to boost students' understanding of their chosen fields, their professional skills. and their ability to secure internships and full-time positions, bridging the gap in educational and professional opportunities and promoting social mobility and equity throughout the UK. 

75%
75%
fewer admin tasks
30
30
minutes saved per employee requests
8
8
hours less needed to process payroll
0%
0%
Human error in contract changes

Personio makes administrative tasks less time-consuming, allowing us to focus more on strategic initiatives. It’s very user-friendly for all departments. It makes tasks simpler and more transparent for employees.

Life before Personio: Disconnected systems

Previous to Personio, SEO London’s HR solution wasn’t fit for purpose, says Thalia: “It wasn’t sophisticated or user-friendly. We didn’t have the reporting, performance management or automation that we needed. Our recruitment also wasn’t in the system.” 

Unfortunately, because these features were missing, it meant that these processes were completed manually and therefore demanded a lot of the HR team’s time that could be spent on more strategic work.

When the team became aware that Personio offered an all-in-one system that supported their career website, along with an easy integration process, it was a no-brainer to move HR systems.

Life with Personio: A smoother employee lifecycle

It didn’t take long for the team at SEO London to realise the benefits of their new HR solution.

Here’s a taste of some of the processes they have completely streamlined with Personio:

  • Absence management: “Tasks such as leave requests are simpler and more transparent for employees.”

  • Analytics and reporting: “Automatic report generation is really important – we have everything in one place and we don’t need to make dozens of spreadsheets to keep all the data accurate.”

  • ESignature: “The integration of eSignature reduced paperwork and administrative delays, allowing new hires to start contributing to the business sooner. This has also improved the overall candidate experience.”

  • Performance and development: “The Performance & Development tab has fostered continuous improvement and career growth. It provided a framework for performance reviews, goal-setting and feedback, leading to higher employee engagement.”

  • Preliminary payroll: “Having our recruitment built-in makes things simpler as it generates the data in our payroll, so we save time and the data is more accurate.”

  • Recruitment: “The recruiting module made our recruitment faster and more effective. It enabled us to attract, evaluate and onboard our candidates more efficiently.”

And a smart integration for smoother payroll

The team also makes use of our integration with PayFit, which means less time on admin tasks and more accuracy. Prior to using the integration, they had an external payroll provider and payroll was run by Finance, not HR.

“The main challenge was early cut off for payroll, so the provider had to have the data earlier. This led to human error and a lack of control as the data was processed manually and it wasn't integrated with our HR system” says Thalia.

The result? The team can now have a longer payroll period and make any last minute changes. They also have a better overview of employee payroll data, HRMC actions needed and can process leave more easily. 

Thalia explains: “The process now is smooth, we have better control and the finance team is less involved . We also have better reporting for the finance team. Furthermore, employees gain a better overview of their payslips and documents, in-house payroll and they can go to the questions to ask and the system is user-friendly.”

This has an especially positive impact on onboarding new employees, explains Thalia: “It is great to see new starters straight away in payroll and the reporting from this saves a lot of time.” 

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