Maximise social impact through effective workforce management

Still, many not-for-profit organisations are still shackled by administrative systems that belong in a museum, not a modern workplace. 

We see it often: passionate teams bogged down by spreadsheets, disparate systems that refuse to communicate, and payroll errors that cause unnecessary stress for staff who are already working hard for a good cause. 

This is where People First’s all-in-one Workforce Management (WFM) can help. WFM solutions are transforming the charity sector, supporting sector-specific challenges, and bridging the gap between operations and impact.

The cost of disconnected systems

Imagine a scenario where your scheduling tool doesn’t interact with your payroll software. A volunteer coordinator spends hours manually inputting shift data. A support worker clocks overtime that gets lost in a paper trail, leading to an underpayment. These administrative burdens can lead to financial leaks.

MHR’s own research found that 89% of organisations have made payroll errors in the last 12 months. For a charity operating on tight margins, losing even 1% of your wage bill to calculation errors or inefficiencies is unacceptable. Furthermore, the Charity Digital Skills Report found that 61% of organisations believe they do not invest in digital effectively, rating it as 'poor or non-existent'.

Disparate systems create data silos, and this fragmentation makes it impossible to get a clear, real-time view of your workforce costs, which is critical for accurate grant reporting and financial compliance.

Why an all-in-one solution changes the game

An all-in-one WFM solution does precisely what it promises: it unifies time and attendance, scheduling, HR, and payroll into a single ecosystem, and fundamentally changes the way your organisation operates. 

1. Eliminating the ‘admin black hole’

Charity staff are driven by mission, not administration. Yet they often find themselves overwhelmed by routine paperwork. By automating complex pay rules and entitlement calculations, you remove the need for manual data entry.

With a solution like People First Workforce Management, employees simply record their time, and the system does the heavy lifting. It applies complex pay rules, such as overtime rates for unsociable hours (which are common in care-based charities) automatically. This data flows directly into payroll in real time. The result is a dramatic reduction in administrative time that allows your team to focus on the human side of their work, rather than wrestling with spreadsheets.

2. A single source of truth

Data integrity is vital for NFPs, especially when reporting to trustees or donors. You need to know exactly where funds are being allocated. An integrated and reliable system creates a single source of truth for such requirements. 

When payroll and WFM are built from the ground up to integrate seamlessly, as they are in the People First engine, you remove the need for the tedious "import/export" process. Changes in the schedule update the payroll forecast instantly. This gives finance directors and charity leaders real-time visibility of pay costs. You no longer have to wait until month-end to determine if you have exceeded the budget; you know immediately.

3. Empowering your people

Transparency builds trust. Retaining skilled staff in the charity sector is often a challenge due to competitive salary constraints. One way to improve retention is by offering a superior employee experience.

Modern WFM solutions like People First give employees real-time visibility of their pay and schedules. They can check their shifts, book holidays, and see exactly what they will be paid - all from their mobile device. This autonomy reduces queries to HR and gives staff confidence that their hard work is being accurately recorded and rewarded.

4. Ensuring compliance and coverage

Many NFPs operate in regulated environments, such as social care or housing support. Ensuring you have the right people, with the right qualifications, in the right place is a UK compliance requirement. 

For managers, having an all-in-one view provides a cross-site perspective of schedules, attendance, and absences. You can instantly see if a shift is uncovered or if a staff member is about to breach working time regulations. This oversight ensures every shift is covered with confidence, protecting both your beneficiaries and your organisation’s reputation.

5. The financial argument: Doing more with less

Approximately 1.5 days are lost every month preparing time data for payroll, with 39% of organisations still relying paper timesheets. These inefficient, manual processes mean mistakes are slipping through the cracks and costing your organisation unnecessary costs. 

An integrated workforce management system can reduce labour costs, optimise scheduling and payroll, cut administrative overhead and improve compliance, leading to higher efficiency and profitability. 

Consider the cost of absenteeism. In the UK, absenteeism costs the economy billions annually. Better WFM tools help track absence trends, allowing you to intervene early and support staff well-being before burnout leads to long-term sickness. By managing resources more effectively, charities can stretch their funding further.

People First: Built for complexity

Not all WFM tools are created equal. Some are generic, off-the-shelf products that struggle with the nuances of the charity sector, like volunteer management, irregular shift patterns, or complex funding streams.

People First Workforce Management is different. It connects the dots between time, scheduling, HR, and payroll. And, because People First Payroll updates in real time based on WFM data, you eradicate the lag between work done and pay processed.

This level of integration supports the specific needs of NFPs. Whether you are managing relief workers, permanent staff, or volunteers, the system adapts. It ensures that the complex entitlement rules often found in the sector are applied correctly every single time, removing the risk of non-compliance.

The charity sector stands at a crossroads. The demand for services is rising, while funding remains tight. To navigate this landscape, NFPs must embrace innovation as clinging to outdated, manual processes is a false economy, draining resources and stifling impact.

An all-in-one Workforce Management solution offers a clear path forward. By integrating time, attendance, and payroll, charities can reduce errors, cut administrative costs, and provide a better experience for their workforce. It is about ensuring that every minute and every penny is directed towards what matters most: your mission.

Do not let legacy systems hold your charity back. It is time to put your people, and your purpose, first.