How you can use Charlie to save time on HR admin
Let our platform take care of the admin, so you can focus on high-value work
Book a demo
Learn how to cut HR admin
Get any questions answered
Zero commitment
A request lands in your inbox. An employee wants to carry over two days of leave into next year, but they’d already done the same last year — so it’s more complex than normal. You start the calculations but then remember you need to account for bank holidays, and before long you’re wondering why it feels so difficult.
Dealing with a time off request should take a few minutes and a click of a button. So why does it feel like you’re always stuck dealing with HR admin?
The answer is that you just don’t have the right system in place… yet. But you’re in the right place.
We built Charlie for small businesses like yours that want to say goodbye to time-consuming admin and free up time for more important work. Stick around to find out how you can go from admin overwhelm to a clearer inbox in no time.
The time sink of HR admin
HR is filled with admin, paperwork, and data, and all this takes time to manage. Recent research found that HR professionals spend 57% of their time dealing with admin. And this is for dedicated HR positions — when HR is only part of your role, this admin-heavy workload can feel even heavier.
Instead of working towards your biggest goals, you end up:
- Tracking holidays
- Managing time off and sick leave
- Dealing with leave of absence requests
- Handling hiring paperwork
- Sending contracts and documents
- Onboarding new hires
- Scheduling and running performance reviews
- Collecting feedback
These admin tasks can take up so much time that you might even consider hiring someone to take care of them. But that can get expensive quickly, and there’s a more affordable option to consider first — investing in the right HR software.
Want to see what HR software looks like?
Book a demo
Is wasting time on HR inevitable?
It often feels like it’s inevitable that you’ll spend hours dealing with admin — especially if there’s nobody you can delegate it to.
Before signing up for Charlie, our users told us they stuck with their old systems because:
- It seems easier to do it yourself
- It feels like it should be a simple task
- It’s cheaper
- The system (mostly) works okay, so why change it?
- They were overwhelmed by the idea of switching
What worked in the past might be slowing you down now, and a change in the way you handle HR admin can free up a huge amount of time — not just for you, but for the rest of your team too.
What you could be spending your time on instead
Nobody wants to spend hours manually calculating holiday leave, or playing email ping-pong to schedule a performance review. Let’s take a look at some simple swaps you can make with Charlie to reclaim your time.
HR managers
HR admin takes up more than half of your workload, allowing you little time to work on impactful projects like HR policy reviews, introducing benefits, and supporting culture initiatives. But could the right software give you some time back?
Answering endless questions about policies
Direct employees to your policies and FAQ docs, located within Charlie
Sending individual emails to ask for feedback
Create and send surveys and polls with Charlie automatically
Ops managers
HR isn’t your main role, but it’s a major part of your role as operations manager. Not only are you dealing with HR admin, you’re also taking care of resource planning, supply chain management, and travel arrangements. It’s a lot. How can HR software help lighten your load?
Trying to make sure there are enough employees in the office on any given day
Identify potential leave clashes automatically with Charlie before they’re approved
Chasing other departments (e.g. finance and IT) for access for your new hire
Use Charlie’s checklists and automatic notifications to get progress updates
Founder
Your focus is on leading the company towards success, but you’re often stuck dealing with time off requests and other admin tasks because you don’t have a dedicated HR role. What would HR software be able to do for you?
Replying to time off requests
Use Charlie to manage time off requests in one click
Manually scheduling performance review meetings
Simplify and automate performance reviews with Charlie
How to save time and do more with Charlie
Leave the HR admin overwhelm in your past. There’s a better way to deal with all the requests and paperwork.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways you can save time on HR admin with Charlie.
1. Simplify your time-off management
Leave the HR admin overwhelm in your past. There’s a better way to deal with all the requests and paperwork.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways you can save time on HR admin with Charlie.
- Use the calendar to immediately see who is or isn’t working
- Automatically calculate allowances
- Customise your holiday year and carry-over policy
- Automatically add bank holidays to match your location
- Submit, review, and approve leave requests all in one place
2. Empower employees to take action
If you’re tired of emailing employees to ask them to update their details or dealing with repeated questions about policies, this is for you. Charlie’s employee self-service portal gives your team members easy access and control:
- Log in and update personal details
- Submit time off requests
- View policies and other shared documents
3. Streamline your onboarding journey
A good onboarding experience leaves a lasting impression. Give your new hires a warm welcome and make sure every journey is as good as the last:
- Create and customise your onboarding workflow
- Introduce key team members and information
- Send and sign digital documents
- Use checklists to avoid delays and mistakes
4. Take care of compliance
UK employment law can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not an HR expert. Spend less time worrying about
HR compliance, knowing you’re in good hands with Charlie.
- Calculations, workflows, and software designed for UK employment law compliance
- Invest in extra support from our HR advice team if you need it
- Access trusted partners through Charlie Marketplace
Charlie is also GDPR compliant, ISO2007:2013 certified, and Cyber Essentials certified. Find out more about our security measures.
5. Check off tasks and receive updates
UK employment law can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not an HR expert. Spend less time worrying about
HR compliance, knowing you’re in good hands with Charlie.
- Calculations, workflows, and software designed for UK employment law compliance
- Invest in extra support from our HR advice team if you need it
- Access trusted partners through Charlie Marketplace
6. Create the right environment for happy, motivated employees
People thrive when they feel like they’re being supported to be their best. Use Charlie’s performance management tools to nurture growth and happiness:
- Set up and run a smoother performance review process
- Invite feedback from coworkers with 360-degree feedback
- Create your own questions or use templates
- Ask for and review feedback via surveys and polls
- Roll out access to our built-in employee perks platform
- Get more time back to invest in planning meaningful employee events and initiatives
7. Store and find all your HR data in one place
Tired of switching between spreadsheets and apps to find all your data? Move all your HR operations to Charlie and enjoy access to everything in one location:
- Store all employee details
- Create an employee directory
- Build your own employee handbook
- Upload documents for easy access
- Manage time-off and performance reviews
Before and after Charlie
Want to see how other small businesses have made it work? Explore these case studies to see how UK businesses have used Charlie to cut down on HR admin.
Daye
As Daye grew, CEO & Founder Valentina Milanova realised that spreadsheets weren’t a viable option. Daye needed a platform that could grow with them, and they found that in Charlie.
Using spreadsheets to deal with HR admin
Everything in one purpose-build platform
Company policies saved in different places
All HR policies available within Charlie
Spending hours on time-consuming admin
Saved 50 hours on HR admin every month
Valentina Milanova, CEO & Founder @Daye
“We use all of Charlie’s functions – and we find them very valuable for our business. We can save a lot of valuable time from admin tasks. Our HR team is very happy, and our employees enjoy receiving and providing regular feedback through the platform.”
Read case study
Fiit
Fiit has an exciting vision to make exercise a habit for everyone, and a goal that big requires a business with a strong foundation. Ben Wharfe, Chief People Officer at Fiit, decided to invest in Charlie’s HR advice service to set up the right policies and framework for success.
Researching employment law compliance
Expert advice to make sure policies and frameworks are legally sound
Drafting own policies and processes
Clear, effective HR policies and processes
Navigating difficult situations alone
Able to call on trusted HR advisors for advice, support, and reassurance
Ben Wharfe, Chief People Officer @ Fiit
“With HR Advice, it’s like having an extra member on your team. You have that kind of expertise you can lean on and tap into whenever you need it, without needing to hire someone in the business.”
Read case study
Koru Kids
Many businesses come to us because they want to simplify HR management, but Koru Kids had a specific request — they needed to be able to complete a visa sponsorship for their incoming COO. Koru Kids’ Founder & CEO, Rachel Carrell, chose Charlie for their HR software.
No employee handbook
Employee handbook stored within Charlie
Nowhere to store employee data and documents
All necessary documents saved securely within Charlie
Manual HR admin and processes
Simplified, streamlined HR workflows
Rachel Carrell, Founder & CEO @ Koru Kids
“I don’t know if many people know this, but to do a visa sponsorship, everything needs to be buttoned-down. Without Charlie, it would have taken us 10 times the time and effort to do it, without a guarantee for 100% compliance.”
Read case study
It’s quick and easy to get started
Saving time doesn’t have to cost a lot or take you forever to set up. With Charlie you can be up and running in minutes.
Book a demo with our sales team and they can give you a quick run-through of how the platform works and what it can do. They can also answer any questions you might have. After the demo, enjoy a no-commitment free trial. When you’re ready to make the move, you can get started straight away and start adding your team members.
Ready to save time on your HR admin?
Book a demo
Written by:
Jenny Tattum
Jenny is a Senior Product Manager at CharlieHR. She has years of experience with product planning and development, and user research too – she put together this guide by collecting data and information on competitors so we could improve our product and tailor it to small business owners.
Book your free demo now
FAQs about saving time with Charlie
Everything about Charlie is designed to save you time and effort — from the way the platform handles time off management to how easy it is to get started in the first place. Explore some of our most frequently asked questions from users below:
Every business is different, and some have much more admin-intense workloads than others. One of our customers, Daye, calculated that they save around 50 hours every month on HR admin alone.
Charlie can support you to save even more time as you grow. Whether you’re onboarding a new team member, rolling out a new employee engagement survey, or introducing a new HR policy, our platform uses workflows and automation to cut down on the admin and free up your time.
Charlie comes with everything you need to start saving time in core HR areas like time off management, onboarding, performance management, and employee engagement. You can also streamline your recruitment process with Charlie Recruit — available as an optional add-on.
CharlieHR
Product Charlie Concierge Charlie Advice Charlie Recruit Pricing Charlie for CEOs, founders and MDsMarketplace
