Managing a squad can be a tough gig – as evidenced by David Moyes’ turbulent relationship with his players – but as with just about anything these days, technology can placate and assist the relationship between managers and their staff.
Enter West Ham United Football Club, who have announced their latest signing of the season - Sage People.
The first stage of the project will kick off in September, and will encompass all HR and recruitment operations for the club’s 250+ non-playing staff, with plans to extend the platform to integrate expenses and payroll processes into the cloud.
Mike Bohndiek, Head of IT at West Ham United FC, comments: “Previously, all of the club’s IT resources were on premise and had no mobile or smart device compatibility. We wanted to adopt cloud services to modernise how we support our workforce, and the club’s move from Upton Park to the London Stadium gave us the perfect opportunity to do this and move to a mobile-first strategy.”
Currently, the FC’s HR and recruitment operations are run on a manual basis, leaving manpower consumed with admin, detracting from supporting the people in the business.
Michele Gull, Head of Human Resources, West Ham United FC, adds: “Our main focus was to improve our employee experience, which had impacted on talent recruitment and retention in the past. Equally the nature of the processes in place made it challenging for the HR team to keep pace with the Premier League’s reporting requirements and the day to day running of the club. The addition of the company intranet capability, which Sage People allows, will also be critical in maintaining an engaged workforce.”
Adam Hale, EVP of Sage People, comments: “At the end of the day, if HR and recruitment processes are hard to tackle, any business will struggle to hire and retain the right squad – and it’s no different for a football club’s support team. We’re very excited to be working with West Ham and support the club as an evolving people company; we will leave it all on the pitch to deliver the very best employee experience in the Premier League.”
