From spreadsheets to seamless: The Housing Finance Corporation’s 50% time savings on payroll

The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) is the UK’s leading affordable housing aggregator – managing an £8.3 billion loan book with a team of just 35. As a growing business, they needed a better way to support the people driving that impact. With compliance demands growing and back-office systems creaking, they turned to Employment Hero which helped them cut payroll processing time by 50%, streamline their recruitment and simplify HR overnight.

The Challenge

A small team. Billions in funding. Big HR opportunities.

In a high-trust, high-stakes sector, people processes matter. Built on regulation and responsibility, housing finance depends on precision across every part of the business. For THFC, that meant their HR systems needed to work as hard as their frontline team. But with decades of legacy processes behind them, their tools weren’t keeping up with their ambition. Instead, they were working with:

• HR data scattered across spreadsheets, folders and standalone tools
• The risk of double-handling, duplicating data and inconsistent reporting
• No integration between systems, slowing down compliance checks and onboarding
• Admin-heavy payroll processes that chewed through time and invited mistakes

THFC needed to escape its growing operational burden, and looked for a platform to do just that.

The Solution

From admin ambiguity to aligned activity

Employment Hero’s platform gave THFC a platform to grow with them, consolidating people data, approvals, policies, and compliance workflows into a centralised system. With everything in one place, the team gained clarity, speed and control across their HR operations. It meant no more second-guessing. Just one, reliable source of truth.

Payroll with peace of mind

Employment Hero Payroll integrates directly with Core HR to automate payroll end-to-end. The long hours of cross-checking and constant risk of errors slipping through the cracks are now over. THFC has reduced processing time by up to 50%, eliminated double-handling, and built an auditable, compliant payroll process.

“We went from relying on an outdated process to running accurate, automated payroll. Now, it’s faultless. Even our auditors say so.” — Natasha Griffin, Senior Director of People 

Smarter recruitment, faster results

Using our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and SmartMatch, THFC streamlined recruitment across all stages. SmartMatch scores candidates automatically based on skills, location and experience, cutting screening time and improving quality. As hiring needs continue to ramp up for THFC, the experience through Employment Hero has remained personal and seamless for both candidates and staff. 

“Many systems make recruitment overcomplicated, but Employment Hero keeps it simple with processes that flow better. When we upload candidates’ data into the system, there’s 100% accuracy. That reduction in human error has made a huge impact.” — Rob Fox, People & Talent Transformation Consultant 

A new culture of learning

Through our Learning Management System, THFC replaced siloed compliance courses with one scalable, trackable solution. Via Go1 integration, the team accessed thousands of online courses and automated training reminders. Now, the team can now roll out training far quicker than before, without having to keep an eye on the engagement.

“Before, we paid separately for a small set of training. Now we get everything in one place, track completions, and automate prompts. It’s faster, easier and far more scalable.” — Natasha Griffin, Senior Director of People 

Everyday HR, transformed

With Employment Hero’s mobile app, employees can view payslips, request leave, or update details in seconds. It’s self-service done right and reduces admin to empower employees to take control of their work lives. Performance management is also centralised, with reviews, goals and KPIs tracked digitally, not on paper.

“Having one-to-ones, goals, and KPIs all in the system has saved us hours of work and made conversations more meaningful.” — Natasha Griffin, Senior Director of People 

The Impact

Driving results across every people function

For a lean but high-impact team like THFC, Employment Hero has delivered measurable value, saving time, reducing risk and enabling strategic HR at scale.Since implementing Employment Hero, THFC has seen: 

• 50% reduction in payroll processing time, freeing up days of admin per month
• 100% accuracy in candidate data imports, reducing manual errors in hiring
• Thousands of pounds saved by consolidating compliance and development training into the Learning Management System
• Real-time oversight of performance and training, supporting audit readiness and employee growth
• Full integration across HR, recruitment and payroll, eliminating data silos and double-handling

Employment Hero has become the backbone of how THFC operates and how they will continue to grow in the future.

“I’ve worked with a lot of systems in 25 years. This is the best HRIS I’ve used.” — Rob Fox, People & Talent Transformation Consultant

The world’s first Employment Operating System from Employment Hero

Employment Hero’s Employment Operating System is more than just a platform–we’ve taken the traditional isolated aspects of employment and integrated them into a seamless, human and AI-powered solution that empowers employers, employees and job seekers alike. Find and hire top talent with SmartMatch, seamlessly onboard new hires, automate complex payroll, drive employee engagement and more.

See what you could do with the world’s first Employment Operating System.

One system. Everything employment.