How a bid consultancy built scalable people operation foundations from day one with Employment Hero

About the business

Ocean City Bids is a specialist bid and tender consultancy, founded in 2023 by Shaun Ford. The business supports clients through writing and management of competitive bids and everything in between, work that runs on hard deadlines and precision. What started as a one-person operation has grown into a five-person core team and an additional group of associate contractors.

Before founding Ocean City Bids, Shaun spent nearly 18 years as Head of Bids and Contracts for an international staffing organisation, work that placed him deeply within a role that required understanding of employment contracts, employment relationships, compliance and conduct regulations from a commercial angle. He’d also been a people manager since the age of 18, and for a period worked alongside an employment solicitor. By the time he started his own business, he already knew exactly what good HR practice looked like, and what happens when it’s missing.

The challenge

Shaun ran Ocean City Bids solo for its first 12 months, but he knew that once he started building a permanent team, he wanted the HR foundations in place before complexity set in, not after.

“It was important for us to have a platform that would allow us to lay a foundation before we grew and the job became more difficult. We invested early to make sure we had the support we needed in the future.”

That instinct came directly from his background. Shaun understood the risk of leaving HR to catch up later. He set out with a clear goal of implementing a system that would grow with his team, and after trialling a more basic platform that didn’t suit, Shaun quickly came across Employment Hero. This was when things fell into place.

“My career laid the basis for why I decided to get a platform in place early on, because I know the problems that can happen if you don’t.”

The solution

A key selling point for Shaun was bringing payroll into the same platform as everything else. Previously, payroll was run independently, so folding it into Employment Hero meant one login, one source of truth and no re-keying data between systems.

Payroll now takes minutes rather than hours. Shaun gets a notification five days ahead of each run, checks the numbers, approves it and the report pack is generated automatically.

“I wanted somewhere we could manage and verify everything at a glance. Employment Hero has saved me a good three or four hours a month on running payroll alone!” 

Day-to-day HR admin has followed the same pattern. What used to mean digging through spreadsheets for a start date, a probation deadline or a review date now takes seconds. For a founder running a consultancy business, every minute spent on admin is a minute not spent on clients and growth, so getting that time back counts for a lot.

“Now, the admin side of things is very light touch. I do a quick check on anything upcoming, who’s in this week, who’s out. Per day, I’m spending five or ten minutes, maximum. It’s nothing.” 

Ocean City Bids also uses Employment Hero’s background checks, powered by Zinc, to verify new starters. For Shaun, the value of knowing you’re being compliant and the speed of each check is another huge win.

“Running background checks through Employment Hero is so quick and simple. There’s no faff and the best bit is that people don’t have to physically verify documents as it’s all carried out digitally.”

Shaun also decided to opt his team into the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), an additional employee benefit that many small businesses defer. Shaun made a different call from day one. He had an EAP at his previous employer, and although he never needed to use it, knowing it was available mattered. It’s a benefit that costs little to offer and, in Shaun’s view, punches well above its price.

“As a smaller organisation, it’s easy to overlook employment benefits. We know we can’t offer as wide a range as a larger organisation, so even if it doesn’t get used, being able to opt into the EAP puts our minds at rest.”

The ROI

• ~2 hours a week of admin reclaimed. Tracking start dates, probation deadlines and review dates now only takes five to ten minutes a day.
• 3-4 hours saved every month on payroll, cut from a full manual run through the accounting system to a five-minute review and approval.
• Zero employee turnover in 12 months, which Shaun credits in part to having consistent, accessible People processes and support in place from the start.
• Peace of mind through the EAP, offered as standard from day one as a low-cost safety net for the team.
• 24/7 employee access, ensuring that staff can access all of their employment information and can update details themselves, without Shaun having to monitor or check for updates.

“We wanted to give our staff access to their employment file, their payslips, their contracts and their performance, all in one place. Employment Hero did just that.”

Why it matters

Most small businesses put off investing in HR infrastructure until the cracks start to show, and by then, the fix costs more time and money than it would have earlier. Shaun’s approach was shaped by nearly two decades of seeing how good people practices support team engagement and morale. He didn’t wait. For founders building a business from the ground up, the lesson is about timing. Getting the right foundations in early saves hours each week and buys the business more room to grow before bigger, costly decisions become unavoidable.

“If we hadn’t had Employment Hero in place at this point, we’d be looking for a platform now, which is probably going to be a lot more expensive coming at it later, rather than putting it in place twelve-plus months ago.”