British Red Cross has introduced a sophisticated HR and payroll system to track its disparate workforce of paid and volunteer staff.
The charity has installed Oracle PeopleSoft technology to deal with the complex deployment of its staff across 181 countries, comprising 35,000 volunteers, 3,000 paid staff and over 600 delegates.
Jo Randles, specialist adviser, HR systems at British Red Cross, said the new technology enables the charity to keep track of its many volunteers.
“Some of our volunteers don’t necessarily want to have job information on the system, and it enables us to do that far more easily. We can manage our staff, and volunteers when we send them overseas on missions.
“This allows us to have a web-enabled platform and better mobilise staff in the event of an emergency.”
Randles admitted the system was atypical for the voluntary sector. “We were the first in the country, so we expected teething problems. But there’s been great feedback, and external interest at the top level about what we’ve done,” she added.
