The Challenge
Greensleeves Care had grown through acquisitions, but each new home came with its own contracts, pay structures, and terms and conditions. Staff often worked across multiple roles, and existing systems couldn't handle the complexity, creating admin burden, inconsistent data, and payroll errors.
“It wasn't just about functionality. It was about trust and partnership. I felt confident that Sona, with its design specifically built for residential care needs, would deliver.”
The Solution
Greensleeves Care deployed Sona's Scheduling, HR, and Time to Gross Pay products across all 28 homes, configured to handle their varied contracts, pay rules, and multi-role shift structures. They took a phased rollout approach to avoid overwhelming staff, and within weeks people were picking up open shifts on their phones with overtime processed automatically in payroll. The transformation was recognised with a Care Home Award for Digital Transformation.
| Before Sona | After Sona |
|---|---|
| Manual holiday entitlements calculated with complex formulae | Automated calculations handled in Sona, hours of work eliminated |
| Multiple legacy payroll systems and contract types from acquisitions | Single unified platform managing all contract variations and pay rules |
| Managers spending 5+ hours a week on admin instead of resident care | Home managers freed up to focus on staff, residents, and families |
Sona automated the manual processes that had been eating into managers' time, from holiday entitlement calculations to shift filling and payroll, freeing home managers to focus on staff, residents, and families. The transformation was recognised with a Care Home Award for Digital Transformation.
“I used to spend hours manually calculating holiday entitlements with complex formulae. Now it's done automatically in Sona. It's amazing.”
The Results
Following rollout across all 28 homes, Greensleeves Care achieved:
- 7,000+ manager hours saved per year
- £100k+ estimated annual savings from reduced admin time alone
- Downward trend in agency spend through automated shift filling
- New homes onboarded and running their first payroll within 4 weeks
“After about three or four weeks, you could see the domino effect. Everyone had it on their phone. They saw open shifts, picked up extra hours, and overtime was automatically processed in payroll.”
