In 1998, Kerstin Hamberg-Bergholm started Frekab AB together with her husband Patrik. They manufacture cables for machines - both prototypes and series production. Over the past year, they've grown from 25 employees to 40, and are using Huma to manage the growth. We had a chat with Kerstin about what it's been like.
Kerstin is a woman of many hats, juggling roles such as finance, HR manager and many more. With so much on her plate - combined with the growth phase they were going through at the time - it's important to have systems that help you stay organized. And so the hunt for an HR system began.
"Having everything available on mobile makes it easy for employees to report absences, for example."
The choice fell quite quickly on Huma, and it happened back in 2022 so Frekab has already been using Huma for a few years now. Kerstin notices the effect of it too, both for herself and her employees. "Having everything available on the mobile makes it easy for employees to report absences, for example," says Kerstin. Now they're in a growth phase again and noticing how it helps to have everything an HR system offers available in your pocket.
Kerstin tells us that they weren't looking for an HR system at first, but a staff handbook. She downloaded Huma's free Swedish employee handbook template and quickly realized the value of an HR system's other features.
"We had all the info in ring binders and it was hard to keep track, but it was still easy to start with Huma."
They tested Huma, liked the user-friendliness and after a short test period decided to implement the system in Frekab. And the implementation itself went easily and smoothly. "We had all the information in ring binders and it was difficult to keep an overview, but it was still easy to start with Huma," says Kerstin. It was really just a matter of getting all the employee information into the system, and the rest was just a few keystrokes.
They did most of it themselves, but when they needed help, there was never a long wait for support. "We've been using Huma for almost four years and have seen a system evolving with new features, and have always gotten good help if we've wondered about the new features," Kerstin says.
Kerstin says that there are several Huma features that make her day easier, and mentions four of them in particular. "First and foremost, there's the employee handbook. After all, that's where their Huma journey started. She mentions that it took a big load off her shoulders. "I used to answer a lot of questions from employees, but now if they're wondering about something, they just check the staff handbook," she says.
"We have an incredible amount of expertise in Frekab, so having an overview of everything is incredibly valuable."
Furthermore, Kerstin mentions Onboarding. "In our growth phases, it has been incredibly useful to have an efficient onboarding system," she says, adding that hiring has become much easier.
Absence has also become much easier, and Kerstin mentions that employees used to call and she had to enter it manually. Now employees just register it in Huma and it happens automatically from there.
The last module mentioned is Competence. "We have an incredible amount of expertise in Frekab, so having an overview of everything is incredibly valuable," says Kerstin.
As our conversation draws to a close, Kerstin concludes by saying that Huma is an incredibly user-friendly system, and that they've enjoyed seeing a system in development. She also mentions that they appreciate that they can make suggestions for new things. And we appreciate the suggestions. Thanks for a nice chat, Kerstin!