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2012 doesn’t just represent a significant milestone for the Queen and Britain’s hosting of the Olympics – it is also the year that Cascade celebrates 20 successful years of business.

Alan Jones, Cascade HR, Managing Director reflects, “If we look back at how far we have come, how much our reputation has grown, and how our technology has continued to innovate the industry, there’s a lot to be proud of. But as much as our 20th birthday signifies how well established we are within the HR and payroll software arena, this isn’t just a time for reflection. Because if we look ahead at what we’ve got in the pipeline for the company, we can’t help but get incredibly excited about the next 20 years too.

There’s so many things planned for the next 12 months alone, we’ll be 21 before we know it! Keep in touch with the Cascade team via our website, our Twitter, by seeing us at leading industry events, or by coming to the offices to say hello. And find out for yourself just what is in store for Cascade in 2012 and what exciting things are planned for clients – after all they are at the heart of everything we do.

Long may our organic and independent growth continue, and a huge thank you to everyone who has played a part in helping us reach our 20th birthday.”

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Banishing the Monday blues

Emma Jones from the Cascade Marketing Team talks about banishing those monday blues! “The ‘most depressing day of the year’ is allegedly only a couple of weeks away. The gloomy weather, post-Christmas lull, financial worries and a struggle to get re-motivated after the festive period all apparently contribute to what is now commonly known as ‘Blue Monday’. So with more people expected to be absent from work on the 23rd of January than any other day this year, why not consider how you could improve your organisation’s approach to absence management?

The implementation of a proactive and intelligent software solution can in fact remove a lot of the headache for the HR team. Not only are processes fine-tuned and streamlined as a result of best practice workflows, but software can bring about subtle cultural changes that indirectly impact positively upon workplace absence.

When you introduce self-service functionality amongst your line management and wider workforce, employees know that information relating to absences and the ways with which these absences are handled, is much more visible. This slowly affects – even if subconsciously – organisations’ absence quotas. Cascade client Wakefield and District Housing for example experienced a decrease in sickness absence levels across the organisation following the introduction of manager self-service for sickness reporting – the absence rate average per employee fell from 10.5 to 9.75 days, a noted improvement.

As an employer, you should be aware of the cause of absences as part of your duty of care to employees, but it is also important to consider the undesirable pressures that may be placed on individuals who are in work and are struggling with an increased workload due to missing colleagues.

Of course, if you do suspect that your staff are in need of a boost, you could also have a think about what simple steps you could take to lift their spirits…

”

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Cascade HR’s dedicated hosted service reached a significant milestone last week, when the system recorded its one millionth customer log-in.

The hosted service is one of two installation options for Cascade’s award-winning HR and payroll software solution. Launched in 2007 it provides an alternative for clients that cannot or do not want to install the software on their own server.

Cascade’s infrastructure manager Simon Blezard explains: “Approximately 25% of our clients opt for a hosted service because of the many benefits that this option brings, not least the increased inbuilt resilience of all data being replicated and located at separate, secure geographical sites.

We don’t believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach to working with clients, which is why we have worked hard to create a variety of installation options that hopefully ensure we have something for everyone. Our one millionth customer log-in for the hosted system certainly shows that this tried-and-tested service is proving very successful indeed.”

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There’s no disputing that 2011 has been a fantastic year for Cascade HR, but it seems the good news just keeps coming! This week the marketing team received notification that Cascade has been shortlisted for a prestigious industry gong – ‘Software Provider of the Year’ in association with Pay and Benefits Magazine’s brand new award scheme.

Commenting upon the exciting news, Cascade’s Marketing Manager, Andy Court said: “Pay and Benefits magazine is one of our preferred trade journals, and we thought that their approach to this award scheme sounded fresh yet professional. We were especially impressed to hear they’d assembled a judging panel of eminent industry experts. So we started thinking about what makes our fully-integrated HR and payroll software product and our approach to customer service special, then we set to work on an entry.

“Now, to be shortlisted in what looks set to become one of the marketplace’s most prestigious award schemes is a great achievement. But to be the very first company to ever pick up this ‘software provider of the year’ accolade, would really cement what has been a phenomenal last few months for us.

“Our ambitious yet considered growth strategy has maintained pace despite the economic downturn, and Cascade has become increasingly recognised as a software provider of choice, despite the client size, industry or complexity.”

The Cascade team will find out whether it is the category winner at the esteemed London award ceremony on the 9th of February 2012. For now though, the challenge is deciding who will attend the exciting event…….

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Alan Jones, Cascade’s Managing Director comments on the recent debate on employee surveys, “We read an incredibly interesting debate about the relevance and value of the modern day survey on HR Magazine’s website last week. The article centred upon the poor way with which employee surveys are often utilised within business, and aired concern that in general it is becoming a useless tool.

The value of an employee survey though depends greatly upon how it is constructed, applied, managed, interpreted and subsequently communicated throughout the organisation.

No doubt some organisations conduct surveys just because they think they ought to, or because they can at least hide behind the false premise that they do in fact value employee opinions. But this is certainly not the case for everyone.

Cascade truly depends upon the commitment and hard work of its employees. Our culture is clearly defined and people are recruited not only because of the qualifications and skills that they can demonstrate, but because of their attitude and personality too.

If we’ve worked hard to appoint the right people, it makes no sense to ignore them once they have become part of the team. They should be involved in shaping the business going forward. They’re at the heart of everything we do, and we could not grow or deliver our desired level client satisfaction without them.

This is why we regularly run internal employee polls. They vary in complexity depending upon the theme, employees can be prompted and reminded to respond, feedback can be quickly collated and the results can be presented in a usable format and distributed straight away.

Our ever-increasing workforce seem to like our approach too, with new starters especially commenting upon their pleasant surprise at the level of openness, trust and engagement within the business.

When we were ‘in the thick’ of the credit crunch, research findings reported that some employees became less trusting of their managers. At the time we shared our views and commented on the importance of encouraging employee feedback and new ideas, but more importantly acting upon issues and suggestions raised. Employees need to know that it is worth making the effort to contribute.

Surveys are, of course, just one way to harness employees’ thoughts so line managers should also ensure they are accessible at all times so that face-to-face communication and engagement can also be fostered. But surveys haven’t lost their value within the workplace. It is the organisational attitudes towards them that need to change.”

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Fiona Cameron, Account Manager at Cascade comments on the recent CIPD Outlook survey, “As we digested the findings of the CIPD’s Employee Outlook survey last month, we contemplated what the results signify for the HR profession at this point in time, and considered the extent to which HR software can help improve the overall picture.

Generally job satisfaction seems to have risen this year, although few employees have praised their line manager for the level of coaching, development support or performance feedback they’ve received. Only 51% of employees claimed they feel well informed about what is happening within their organisation, and 42% said they are under excessive pressure at least once or twice a week if not every day.

It must be said that the findings weren’t all doom and gloom but I suppose what we must consider is how to overcome the challenges that continue to exist between employees and their organisations.

We all know that stress, job satisfaction, trust and feedback are inextricably linked to absences and staff retention, so if your employees are raising concerns then it is important to take action.

If you would like to discuss how HR software can improve the outlook of employees within your own organisation, or if you feel your company is already struggling with some of the trends identified, then please contact a member of the Cascade team on T: 0113 242 4362. If you are already using Cascade but feel you would like to make better use of the system, then contact your account manager who will be happy to help.

Technology for example can streamline processes and procedures, therefore hopefully helping to alleviate an element of employee pressure. If a line manager for instance receives a call from a team member who is absent due to illness, it’s easy to add the absence to the HR system and let a pre-defined workflow guide you through the procedure to follow and proactively prompt you with actions to take.

Elsewhere skills gap analysis reporting helps to ensure employees are comfortably equipped to fulfil the specification of their role, then if further learning is required, training plans can be developed and recorded accordingly. This should prevent employees from being appointed to undertake a role that they don’t have the right skill-set to handle, thus alleviating a further element of pressure and hopefully maintaining job satisfaction.

Of course HR and payroll software can support you in a multitude of ways, depending upon the nature of your organisation, your corporate culture and the objectives you are striving to achieve. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help, because that’s what we’re here for.”

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Two of Cascade HR’s most experienced payroll experts graduated with a CIPP foundation degree in payroll management last week, highlighting the level of knowledge within Cascade’s specialist team.

Payroll quality manager Joanne Knowles and product consultant Rachel Robertson donned their cap and gown to receive the prestigious qualification from newly appointed CIPP chair Ian Walters. Having enjoyed a day of well-deserved celebration in London, the two professionals have returned to Cascade’s Leeds HQ to share their knowledge with colleagues and clients alike.

Joanne Knowles explains what the degree has entailed: “Although at times it has been difficult to juggle my day-to-day workload with my studies and personal life, I naturally thrive on challenges like this, plus nothing can beat the sense of achievement when your name is called out and you go onto the stage to collect your certificate.

“As I’ve progressed through the different CIPP modules and my knowledge has grown, my outlook has certainly changed too. I now look at everyday payroll scenarios and problems from a different angle, which helps me to devise new solutions that perhaps I would never have considered before.

“I believe I now have greater empathy for the challenges that Cascade’s clients face when managing and processing payroll, and already my payroll management expertise has been put to good use.

“I don’t think my studying is going to stop here though. The concept of studying for a Masters degree in payroll management does excite me, but I think I’ll have a year out first!”

Rachel Robertson adds: “Qualifications from esteemed industry bodies such as the CIPP are becoming increasingly recognised, as they signify the detailed amount of expertise that you hold.

“Employer support is incredibly important though, not only from a funding point of view, but in terms of the opportunity to take appropriate study leave, and being able to ask colleagues for their guidance too.”

Commenting upon Joanne and Rachel’s success, Cascade’s client services director Heather Vitty said: “We are all very proud of what is an incredibly impressive achievement. I don’t always think people realise what studying for a foundation degree entails. It is a massive commitment due to the number of hours spent studying, researching, attending tutorials and writing assignments, and it takes a lot of dedication and willpower to complete.

“Not only does a CIPP (or indeed CIPD) degree benefit the individuals who have studied for the certificate though; it is of great importance to the employer too. In supporting Joanne and Rachel through their qualification we are optimising the fantastic talent that they have at Cascade, and we will utilise their expertise to enhance and improve the quality of our software and the service we provide to our valued customers.”

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Leading human resources and payroll software specialist Cascade HR has a surprise in store for visitors to the 2011 CIPD Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) in November. The company’s creative in-house developers have been busy working on some exciting new functionality – the first of its kind in the industry – which will be unveiled for the first time at this prestigious event.

Designed to bring an even more personal touch to Cascade’s innovative HR and payroll software, the unique tool – which has been named Mosaic – will provide users with a new way of looking at the data they work with on a daily basis.

Now, instead of displaying information purely in terms of words, names and numbers, Mosaic gives users the option of ‘visualising’ the information via grids and graphs made up of employees’ faces. Users can then further sort, manipulate or query the results, but findings are displayed pictorially rather than simply in data-form.

Sales director Richard Anderson explains the importance of this development: “Our system is renowned for being aesthetically attractive and incredibly easy to use. However we are continuously looking at new ways to improve the user experience.

“Human society has been evolved around our ability to recognise faces at a glance. We recognise faces before we recall names or even remember why we recognise a person. Indeed our ability to instantly recognise and place a face pre-dates language.

“Yet HR and payroll software – the very systems we use to manage people – have failed to take advantage of the oldest skill we have. Focusing more on names and data, these systems have bypassed our innate ability to see a face, recognise it and instantly recall a host of information based on that recognition until now.

“We wanted to bring more emphasis back to the human element of human resources. So we have developed Mosaic, a visualisation tool that holds individual photographs of every member of staff within the system, so that information is instantly recognisable.

“This is of particular importance to line managers who have been empowered – via their HR system – to better look after their own teams. For example not all members of staff will see their manager on a regular basis, perhaps because they’re field-based, work remotely, or they’re even located offshore. Furthermore, when assessing who is absent from work that day for instance, managers can see the actual faces of employees rather than simply viewing a proportionate pie chart or a list of names.

“Mosaic therefore aids familiarity and reminds organisations that their employees are more than a statistic.”

The Cascade team will be on hand at ACE to guide delegates through the way that the personable tool works.

Mosaic will be available from November onwards.

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Donna Larvin, Cascade HR Manager comments on the latest absence statistics,

“Research findings revealed by the CIPD this week show that stress is now the number one cause of long-term absence in organisations. Troubled by heavy workloads and worries surrounding job security for example, manual and non-manual employees are experiencing greater mental health problems than last year, which will undoubtedly be having a negative impact upon organisations throughout the country.

Productivity and quality will undoubtedly be affected if employees are unwell or absent, which could subsequently lead to increased pressures being placed upon remaining members of staff. Because the wellbeing of the workforce is any HR department’s number one priority, this potentially spiralling issue is one that needs addressing at the earliest possible opportunity.

Effective leadership surely plays a crucial role in managing employee stress levels, especially during difficult periods of uncertainty or change. For example, open and honest communication encourages a level of trust and will help to overcome fear of the unknown.

It is important to take these preventative steps, but if stress is causing a problem for your organisation, how easy is it to spot, and how can the issues be resolved?

Empowering line managers and encouraging them to take greater responsibility for their team should mean that closer working relationships are fostered. In turn, this should increase the likelihood of spotting the early signs of employees struggling to cope with work for whatever reason.

But don’t forget that software can help to identify an issue and can guide line managers through the appropriate support process. With HR providing a consultative role if required, this should help to address any problems before they have a chance to escalate.

Trigger mechanisms within the software can notify line managers as to an absence, even if only short term, which the line manager can then address by following a best-practice workflow process. This will have been created at an earlier date by the HR team, and is likely to be bespoke to the organisation concerned. Line managers can be guided through the ‘Return to Work’ interview procedure for example, and they can be prompted as to when to seek occupational health intervention if the absence is prolonged.

The HR team can also drill down into the data using Cascade’s query builder tool. If trends and patterns can be analysed, and root causes identified, action plans can be devised as a result. Cost implications can also be assessed, which may be required at board level.

Of course the cause of the stress may not be work-related, but this considered, thorough and ‘early-involvement’ approach to managing absences can at least ensure a strong level of work-based support. This should help to ensure retention of staff – truly any organisation’s most valuable asset.”

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Clients from across the UK met this month to learn how they can achieve an even greater return on investment from their use of Cascade’s award-winning .NET HR and HMRC-accredited payroll software.

Reflecting Cascade’s nationwide presence, clients were given the option to attend a ‘user group’ at either the Park Plaza hotel in Leeds, or the famous Ministry of Sound venue in London. With almost 150 HR professionals meeting over the two full-day events, it’s safe to say the events were a fantastic success.

Hosted by a team of Cascade experts, the day’s comprised a series of presentations, workshops, and one-to-one sessions with account managers, so that clients could gain a greater understanding of what’s been going on at Cascade, what the technology really can do, and what exciting innovations are coming up from the software specialists.

Designed to offer numerous knowledge-transfer opportunities, the events also included a selection of client seminars so that attendees could listen to honest ‘real life’ examples of the software in action.

Presentation topics included expenses, workflow, absence management, mobile apps, reporting, recruitment and appraisals, with the opportunity for questions and round table discussions too. Attendees were also given a privileged ‘sneak peak’ as to some of the new functionality and services that will be officially launched and revealed by Cascade over the next 12-18 months.

Product Consultant Rachel Robertson, who organised and managed the two events, explains why they are so important: “Whilst each of our clients are very different, there is still a lot to be gained from the sharing of knowledge, best practice, hints and tips.

“I suppose they are our very own version of a relaxed but incredibly educational HR and payroll conference. Feedback from our clients is that not only do they learn a lot, they have fun too. Our project manager’s quiz and the delicious food and drink that we always enjoy might have something to do with that!

“Some companies would be very wary of such an open and honest approach to doing business, but encouraging our clients to meet in this manner is just another demonstration of our commitment to ongoing customer dialogue and transparency. We believe that our product and service is the best in the industry, so we’ve nothing to hide. But also if we are to maintain our competitive edge and ensure continuous industry progression, we need to know what clients want to see from us next, and what we could perhaps be doing better.

“I must express a huge thank you to everyone who got involved.”

The original user group was held in 2005 when the brand new Cascade system was first showcased. Always well received, the bi-annual events have taken place ever since.

To gain an insight into a Cascade User Group, please have a look at the video below,

If you’re not a client , but you like the sound of our pioneering software and our dedication to optimum customer service, then why not contact us to find out more?

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