How 89 Degrees East halved onboarding time and reduced admin by one-third

Communications and HR with purpose 

89 Degrees East is a national data, strategy and delivery agency that specialises in strategic advice, policy, communications, stakeholder engagement, research, change and transformation, awareness campaigns, digital strategy and design. Over the last three years, the team has grown rapidly, from 20 to 55 employees, which made managing HR through spreadsheets, email chains and Xero increasingly unsustainable.

Ruth Swinton, Business Manager at 89 Degrees East, was at the centre of this change. “We had a system that wasn’t really a system. It was spreadsheets,Google documents,email chains, and Xero for payroll. It was quite clunky and we were finding that it just wasn’t sustainable as we grew.”

The problem with a patchwork HR system

As the team grew, so did the risks and administrative burden.

“There were a few times where small errors crept into contracts or acknowledgements – just because there were so many manual steps involved. We’d have to chase people up to sign things, and there wasn’t a central place to see who’d acknowledged what.”

Ruth knew they needed a proper system to support the business long term. “We just outgrew what we were doing.”

50% faster onboarding and fewer mistakes

Once Employment Hero was rolled out, the difference was immediate. 

“Our onboarding experience now is really smooth. I’d say it has probably cut our time in half, if not more, by having all employee files in one place. It’s saved a significant amount of time, probably a third of the emails that were coming through.”

And it wasn’t just about saving time, it was about getting things right the first time.

“Because everything is so templated and integrated with Employment Hero, there’s just way less risk of human error. We’ve really reduced the number of errors we were seeing in contracts and policy acknowledgments.”

For employees, the experience was a big step forward too. 

“They don’t have to download PDFs and fill in forms. They just go through the onboarding flow, enter their details and everything’s there. That’s a huge improvement.”

Cutting through the noise with SmartMatch and reference checks

Hiring in a fast-paced communications environment means sifting through dozens – sometimes hundreds – of applications.

“We’ve started exploring SmartMatch for recruitment. It’s a great feature to avoid going through hundreds of CVs if you were to hire with Seek or Indeed. It just saves so much time and makes the shortlist more relevant.”

Ruth also praised Employment Hero’s reference check feature. “That’s been great. It’s a smoother and faster process—we don’t have to manually follow up or send out forms separately. It just happens as part of the flow.”

Staying compliant without hiring a legal team

For a purpose-driven organisation, doing the right thing for employees is non-negotiable, but compliance can be complex.

“We’ve used the HR advisory service quite a bit, especially around moving casual staff to full time contracts. The advisory team is really responsive and the templates are great. It’s been really helpful having something that complements our legal advice.”

It’s allowed Ruth to stay ahead of legislative changes and make confident, informed decisions. “It just helps clarify things quickly without having to go digging through the Fair Work site or call the lawyer for every question.”

From admin to impact: focusing on what matters

By removing manual admin tasks, Employment Hero has created space for strategic HR projects. 

“It’s enabled me to actually do the strategic part of HR such as looking at leadership development and engagement instead of just trying to get contracts out the door.”

They’ve even formalised performance reviews – something that wasn’t happening before. “We never had regular performance reviews. That wasn’t part of our process before, but now that we’ve got the tool, we’ve set that up and it’s been great.”

If you’re spending too much time on manual tasks and not enough on strategic people initiatives, Employment Hero can help. Book a demo today and see how you can transform the way your team works.