Grant Thornton is a global company with an office in Oslo. They are engaged in auditing and business consulting. Line Jakobsen is Head of HR, and she tells us that they used to have manual processes for almost everything in personnel administration. Now they use Huma, so we had a chat about what has changed.
"Grant Thornton is a fantastic company where our values play a key role," says Line. This is reflected in the good culture and the high level of employee satisfaction they have had for a number of years. But as in most other cases, there's always room for improvement. For Grant Thornton, it was getting more automated and agile processes. And so began the search for a new HR system.
It started with a need for agile processes and more efficient communication
"When I started in 2023, we had manual processes for most things like employee lists, performance appraisals, employee handbooks, newsletters and more," says Line, adding that they didn't have a common communication platform either. That was a lot of unnecessary time, and Line was hired to help with the growth phase, so it became clear that they needed an HR system. And with ambitious growth targets, it was urgent.
Line explains that they looked at several different systems before deciding. She also shares that they had some criteria that their new HR system had to meet. These were ease of use for administration and employees, flexibility, IT security, price, features and ability to support rapid growth. "In the middle of the search, I was recommended Huma by two people I know who were already using the system," she says. As it turns out, Huma met all the criteria and more, so the choice was easy.
"We're super happy with Huma!"
We ask Line what it was like to introduce a new HR system, and she says it went quite smoothly: "For us, the introduction was relatively easy." She adds that the pressing need for a good platform for internal communication meant that they worked hard to get Huma in place quickly. And it paid off. "We use News almost daily for big and small news and updates, so it motivated employees to start using Huma from the start," says Line.
Line would also like to mention support from Huma as important in this phase. "Support has been exceptionally good! We've found that there's always someone available, and that we get information and help quickly and proactively. We are super happy with Huma!"
Time saved with automated processes and information stored in one place
Grant Thornton has been using Huma since the start of 2024, and is now very familiar with the system. "I have an easy and accessible way to communicate with everyone, I have easy access to make changes to processes and the employee handbook," says Line, adding that she always has good access to HR data and insight into the company.
"...now employees don't have to make that extra trip to HR or management."
Line says that Huma has made it easier for her and the rest of the management team to make employee-related decisions. "I can go back to previous performance reviews and see how things are going, and it's easy to find out who has what skills." She adds that it feels good to be sure it's safely stored according to GDPR.
Huma hasn't streamlined the day for just HR and management either. "We have all policies, internal rules and benefits in the Employee Handbook, and the employees use it diligently to find what they're looking for, instead of asking someone and waiting for an answer." Line also says it's not the only place where HR and management have been eliminated as an unnecessary step. "We use Documents for documents that more people should have access to, so now employees don't have to make that extra trip to HR or management," she says.
Shorter path from question to answer and higher satisfaction
At Grant Thornton, both employees and management have freed up time with Huma by allowing employees to easily search for and find the information they need. "It's allowed us to move HR from admin to functioning more as a strategic partner," Line shares, and that in turn has made the growth journey go much smoother.
"Since we got Huma, our already good employee satisfaction has risen by 19 points," says Line, which is one of the nicest things we've heard! And it's about to get nicer, because before we end the conversation, Line chimes in: "Huma has delivered on everything we wanted and more." We appreciate that so much. Thank you so much for that and a great conversation, Line!
