Human Resource Transformation
Advaita Ltd
Heritage Hospitality & Events
Human Resources & Operations
BrightHR, DocuSign
70%
Reduction in admin onboarding
80%
Reduction in legal risk exposure
100%
Staff onboarded with digital contracts & compliant documents
Description
Chilham Castle needed to move away from fragmented, paper-heavy HR administration toward a centralised system that could hold compliance, payroll, and performance management with consistency. Continuum was engaged to cut noise, digitise records, and embed workflows that allowed leadership to manage people with confidence rather than chase paperwork.
Challenge
Compliance processes such as right-to-work checks, contract updates, and policy acknowledgements were not centrally tracked.
Payroll relied on spreadsheets, while leave and sickness records were inconsistently logged, creating risk of HMRC errors and pension gaps.
No framework existed for performance reviews or training, leaving managers without tools to track development.
These gaps consumed administrative time, created compliance exposure, and blocked proactive workforce management.
Employee records were scattered across physical files, personal inboxes, and shared folders.
Results
Centralised all employee records in BrightHR, giving managers and HR one point of access for contracts, right-to-work checks, and policies. (Artifact: BrightHR index of uploaded records)
Automated payroll and leave tracking by linking BrightHR with Xero Payroll, eliminating manual entry. (Artifact: workflow diagram + Xero audit log)
Achieved 100% compliance in right-to-work and pension enrolment checks by embedding alerts and audit trails into the system. (Artifact: compliance dashboard extract)
Introduced quarterly performance reviews through digital templates and a shared calendar. (Artifact: performance review template + calendar schedule)
Cut onboarding effort by embedding e-forms that linked to a central repository, which auto-generated DocuSign contracts and triggered emails to Payroll, HR, and Accounts. (Artifact: workflow screenshot + automated email log)
Process
Discover
We audited contracts, payroll cycles, leave records, and compliance checklists. We identified where duplication, manual re-entry, and missing logs created risk and delay.
Define
We set clear requirements: every compliance check logged digitally, payroll integrated with leave approvals, and onboarding designed as a closed loop — data entered once, used many times.
Develop
We implemented BrightHR as the system of record and integrated it with Xero Payroll.
Configured onboarding e-forms to feed a central repository.
Linked repository data to DocuSign templates for automated contract generation.
Built automated email triggers sending new-joiner information simultaneously to Payroll, HR, and Accounts.
Embedded compliance alerts for right-to-work checks, pension enrolments, and probation reviews.
Standardised performance review templates and training cycles.
Deliver
We piloted the workflows with two new hires, capturing logs of onboarding time, contract generation, and payroll notification. We refined approval flows and then rolled out estate-wide. Managers received training on digital approvals and audits were scheduled quarterly.
Conclusion
Continuum cut duplication, digitised compliance, and embedded payroll and HR workflows into a single system. Onboarding now runs as a closed-loop process: one e-form entry triggers contracts, system updates, and payroll notifications. Payroll runs without manual entry, compliance logs auto-update, and managers can review staff performance on a quarterly cycle. Leadership regained clarity, supported by digital records and consistent processes.
