Given its rapid growth, Hippo soon realized a need for human resources (HR) support in the areas of recruitment, employment contracts, documentation, performance reviews, benefits, payroll, and tracking vacation time. However, given the company’s small, lean and agile composition, having an in-house HR department did not seem warranted. Hippo was looking for an alternative cost-effective HR solution that would provide the ability to access, track and communicate employee information on payroll, hiring, benefits, and time-off.

After considerable research, Hippo CMMS chose Humi as a vehicle to meet its HR needs. Humi offers a solution to HR management by utilizing a cloud-based platform; exactly what Hippo was searching for. Humi is well-suited to managers and employees of small and medium-sized companies by offering 24/7 real-time access to employee information. Hippo finds Humi to be an excellent HR option because it replicates many of the duties carried out by an in-house HR staffer.

Some of the most appealing qualities that Hippo enjoys about Humi include:

• Employment contracts that can be signed electronically, securely documented and easily accessible – This feature is not only an efficient time saver but also gives both management and employees confidence that the hiring process is completed as it should be.
• Documentation of employment contracts and amendments – They’re all stored online so there is no need to search for them at a time when you need it most.
• Clear communication and documentation of time-off and vacation days – Using Humi, it is possible for employees to request time off as well as access information regarding their days off. With these features, there are no disputes and there is less room for error. The often-frustrating task of juggling vacation time for employees is made easy and clear. The guesswork is completely removed.
• Humi provides employees access to company benefits program as well as to their contract as needed – Managers don’t have to spend time retrieving program details and explaining them. At the same time, employees can review pertinent information as and when they wish.
• Performance reviews and other employee-related documents are securely stored and easily accessible on Humi. – accessible to the people you give permission to access, anywhere and anytime.
• All staff has permission-based access to relevant HR information on Humi – In this way, sensitive documents are kept secure and available to designated staff, while other employees have access only to what they need. This approach prevents compromising important data.
• While Humi provides recruiting tools, Hippo has yet to take advantage of them–This is one feature that the company plans to make use of shortly.

When discussing why Humi was so appealing to the company, Daniel Golub, Hippo's GM stated: “Hippo CMMS is a small company that thinks lean. The people here wear a lot of different hats and with that mindset, we didn’t see the need for an HR manager. We definitely felt some growing pains with expanding our departments so we decided to move forward with Humi. Being a strong believer in leveraging great software to gain efficiencies, Humi was the right choice to reduce redundancies and improve communication among employees when it came to HR at Hippo.“

‍About our guest writer: Reena Sommer originally hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba and currently resides in the Houston, Texas area. In 1994, she graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Ph.D. in Psychology, Sociology and Family Studies. Over the years, she's had diverse careers as a researcher in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, a mental health consultant to First Nations communities and as a self employed trial consultant. Now retired, Dr. Sommer spends her time traveling, visiting her Winnipeg family and providing content writing for Hippo CMMS.