My colleagues and I speak to a lot of organisations inside and outside the public sector, and as you can imagine, when we talk to clients in the public sector their interests and their priorities are often very different from those in the private sector (with a little overlap when speaking to charities and other non-profit groups). But the same two systems are highly popular in both – so what makes iTrent and ResourceLink appealing to the public sector, when they were originally designed as private sector tools?
Public Sector Priorities
Public sector organisations must treat budgets very differently to a for-profit business.
Their hiring and disciplinary processes are subject to much greater scrutiny.
HR processes as a whole are extremely detailed and clear, and there is usually a requirement to record everything in scrupulous detail.
Lastly, most public sector organisations are large, boasting significant numbers of employees and often supporting a thriving contractor network in addition. These contractors have to be handled differently, but any HR questions regarding them will be handled with the same increased scrutiny.
The Need for HRIS
Just from those priorities it’s obvious that public sector organisations benefit hugely from an HRIS. I’d go as far as making the case that an HRIS is essential – an argument I will usually make once an organisation is above a certain size, and especially if it operates from multiple locations; the added complexity in public sector cases means I’d just make that a blanket rule.
Of course, that in and of itself isn’t enough to say it has to be iTrent or ResourceLink, but they’re still both market leaders in the public sector.
So why is that?
iTrent and the Public Sector
For some time now, iTrent even bills itself as making public sector pay policies easier to manage. The iTrent Salary Modelling facility allows for easy planning of national pay rates, defined career progression, parental leave allowances and early retirement, providing users with at-a-glace understanding of how changes to any of these will affect the overall pay burden.
On top of that, iTrent makes transparency easy, with many different ways to present reports in detailed or topline styles as appropriate.
ResourceLink and the Public Sector
The Government’s own digital marketplace describes ResourceLink as “the UK & Ireland’s leading payroll and HR software”. It’s fair to say that you don’t get that kind of endorsement without a lot of public sector organisations using your software extensively.
Key factors in ResourceLink’s favour are how quickly and efficiently the system can process payroll for large businesses with a wide variety of pay grades, contractor agreements, etc., and the ease of access from any device at any time, meaning that public sector organisations using ResourceLink had an easier time adjusting to remote working where applicable.
Working with the Best
Whichever system your organisation chooses to use, we can help you to source the specialists you need to make the most of it. Contact me today so we can discuss your requirement and begin compiling a shortlist.
