Premiership contenders Brighton & Hove Albion FC have brought independent HR software provider Cascade on side to help the club prepare for top flight football.
In a growing portfolio of Premiership football clients, Cascade is implementing its fully integrated .NET system at Brighton – a move which will overhaul and improve the club’s off-the-pitch HR function.
Brighton & Hove Albion are pushing for promotion to the Premier League from the Championship, led by manager Gus Poyet.
To date, Brighton’s HR department has largely operated manual and burdensome, paper-based processes and procedures. These are now being streamlined, made more efficient and less time-consuming with the introduction of Cascade’s solution.
Brighton & Hove Albion has a 250-strong permanent workforce, as well as some 600 hourly-paid staff who work primarily on match days. The HR function also supports 50 permanent employees and 200 hourly-paid coaches who work for the club’s ‘Albion in the Community’ charitable arm. Part of the requirement was therefore a HR system that could effectively manage a high volume of casual staff data in addition to that of permanent employees.
Brighton was also impressed with Cascade’s knowledge and experience of the HR environment within the UK football sector (Manchester City is also a client), and with the .NET system’s intelligent and easy-to-use functionality.
Rose Read, Head of HR at the club, says: “In the current business environment no organisation can stand still, not least a successful football club. We needed to invest in technology that encourages change, can support our evolution within the football league system and grow alongside us. With Cascade, it’s a huge step in helping us ensure we’re Premiership ready. As a club we need to be as savvy with our understanding of our people data as we are with our financial data”.
A five-strong Cascade squad is managing the Brighton project. Key members of the HR department are currently being trained to use the software package which will be launched within the club in May. This includes its self-service functionality which is designed to empower and engage managers and other employees.
The system will support the club’s recruitment processes, enabling the secure storage of all employee and volunteer information including important DBS checks. In addition, it will highlight any key personnel trends such as sickness rates.
Heather Vitty, client services director at Cascade, adds: “In just a few clicks, the HR team will be able to create sophisticated, point-in-time management reports.
“For example, a monthly absenteeism report will take them just two minutes to prepare rather than 40 minutes, and an average three hours can be saved when on in-depth monthly trend analyses as the automated functionality of the system will begin to identify and act upon its findings immediately.
“The system will undoubtedly support the running and management of ‘The Seagulls’ with the ambitions they have for both the club and the business this season and beyond.”
