Social enterprises are the superheroes of the business world, taking on the dual responsibility of supporting vulnerable people while maintaining smooth business operations. Lately, however, economic volatility and rising costs have made this already complex balancing act even more difficult.
With inflation still packing a punch, energy bills climbing, and national minimum wage increases tightening your budgets, it’s no surprise that two-thirds of social enterprises are feeling the financial strain.
Then we have the UK Autumn Budget 2024. Yes, the Budget has marked positive shifts in investments in public services. However, the increase in Employer National Contributions is making every industry feel uneasy, never mind organisations such as social enterprises that often rely on public sector projects (and we all know how tight that can be).
Meanwhile, the demand for your services keeps rising as communities continue to look to you for support during these tough times.
With rising labour costs, it can feel like you’re constantly walking a financial tightrope —striving to maintain high-quality care while staying within your budget constraints.
It raises the crucial question: How do you stay afloat financially while continuing to change lives?
1. Optimise workforce costs without losing the people-first magic
When it comes to running a social enterprise, your workforce is more than just a cost—it’s your greatest superpower. Every hour logged isn’t just a line item in the budget; it’s a life being impacted. But as much as we’d love to wave a magic wand and make labour costs disappear, we live in the real world.
That doesn’t mean you have to start making tough decisions like reducing hours or roles. Instead, it’s all about working smarter, not harder.
Turn guesswork into clarity
As a social enterprise leader, you know the challenges firsthand. One week, your team of healthcare assistants is stretched to its limits, handling patient care, addressing unexpected incidents, and filling gaps caused by last-minute absences. The next week, things slow down, leaving some team members underutilised but still on the payroll.
But what if we said that with predictive scheduling tools that integrate your HR data with operational data, you can forecast staffing needs based on historical data, upcoming events, and even external factors like weather patterns?
Rainy day? You might need more staff available for home visits, indoor support services or increased demand at drop-in centres. Sunny Saturday? Prepare for an uptick in outdoor mobility support, community outreach clinics or neighbourhood clean-up projects.
It’s all about purposeful scheduling that matches service requirements with your labour budgets.
Recycle scheduling templates
When you’ve perfected a schedule that works like a dream, why not recycle it? With elementsuite, you can store your best scheduling templates for future use, ensuring you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.
Whether it’s the perfect balance of staff during peak hours or a rotation that keeps everyone happy, these templates are your secret weapon for efficiency.
For example, if your care home has a tried-and-tested schedule for managing high-need weekends, save it. The next time similar circumstances arise, you can apply it with just a few clicks.
Not only does this save time for your managers, but it also keeps operations running smoothly and your team consistently supported. Plus, less stress equals more time to focus on what really matters: delivering outstanding care and services.
Reduce recruitment costs with internal mobility
One of the most underrated ways to reduce labour costs for your social enterprise businesses: know your workforce.
By that, we mean, before you rush to post that job ad or call an agency for an urgent health care assistant with experience working with Alzheimer’s patients, take a closer look at the team you already have. Often, the skills and qualifications you need are right under your nose—you just need the right tools to uncover them.
Start by logging your workforce’s skills, certifications, and experiences into your HR system (or get your employees to do it themselves). And when integrated with your workforce planning and scheduling tools, this data becomes a game-changer.
Instead of scrambling to find external help, your system can instantly identify and recommend available employees with the right qualifications.
Not only are you ensuring quality care—it saves you a fortune on recruitment costs. Plus, showing employees that you value and utilise their skills will do wonders for morale and engagement.
2. Automate admin tasks so you can focus on impact
Admin tasks can feel like an unwelcome guest – showing up uninvited, taking your attention, and leaving behind a mess. They drain time, money, and energy—precious resources that social enterprises simply can’t afford to waste.
But here’s the trick: automation can handle all those mind-numbing tasks for you, giving your team back precious hours to focus on making a difference. Here is how:
Payroll that’s stress free
Let’s get real—manual payroll is the worst. One tiny error or inaccurately logged timesheet in a spreadsheet, and suddenly you’ve overpaid John from accounting or shortchanged Sue in logistics. In fact, a survey conducted by Ernst & Young found that approximately 1,139 payroll errors occur per 1000 employees. That’s 1.14 errors for every member of staff.
And you know what that means? Additional administrative hours correcting payroll errors (an additional 12 hours per month for that fact). On top of that, you have the dreaded tribunal risks and strained employee trust—all of which eat into your budget.
With elementsuite, payroll becomes a breeze. From calculating complex wage structures, tracking time and attendance, to ensuring compliance with UK employment laws, the system handles it all. And because it’s automated, errors are virtually non-existent.
That’s right—no more costly corrections or frantic Friday afternoons trying to figure out who got paid too much. Every penny saved on admin is a penny that can go back into delivering your mission. Here’s how:
Time-tracking made easy
elementsuite’s digital time-tracking tools let employees clock in and out via an app with geo-tagging and fencing capabilities, ensuring staff are logging hours from approved locations.
Managers can monitor attendance in real-time and verify that work is being done where it’s needed most, adding an extra layer of accountability.
What’s more, this data seamlessly syncs with payroll, ensuring you only pay your employees for the hours they’ve actually worked. That’s not just efficient—it’s real savings that can be redirected into delivering impactful initiatives or scaling up your mission, all while keeping your operations running smoothly.
3. Communication that saves time and costs
Keeping your team informed about last-minute shift openings, compliance updates, or training opportunities is essential, but it can’t rely on tools made for desk workers like Slack or Teams. Your care assistants and support staff need something mobile-friendly and built for their on-the-go roles.
If not, you risk them missing crucial care plan adjustments, health and safety updates, or even notices for overtime or promotion opportunities—important notifications that can be costly losses. Not only to operations, but research also finds that miscommunication (or, shall we say, lack of it) can cost up to 18% of total salaries paid.
When every penny counts, that’s not a risk that should be taken.
That is why at elementsuite, we have developed a mobile-first internal communication platform that’s integrated within its HR system, ensuring everyone gets real-time notifications to eliminate confusion and keep operations running smoothly—all while saving money that can be redirected to where it’s needed most: supporting your service users.
4. Engage and retain your team
You’ve heard it before: your people are your greatest asset. And it’s true—especially for social enterprises, where passion fuels the work. But when the economy gets rocky, even the most committed employees can feel the strain.
But keeping your team engaged doesn’t have to mean throwing money at the problem. Sometimes, a little TLC (technology-loving care) is all it takes.
Flexibility that works for everyone
Social enterprises thrive on passionate people who give their all, but burnout is a real issue in the industry.
Your staff crave flexibility over their working schedule. Whether it’s allowing longer shifts over fewer days or accommodating childcare needs with adjusted start times, these changes can significantly improve work-life balance without disrupting operations.
Empower your employees to take control of their schedules by submitting availability, requesting preferred shifts, or swapping duties with ease.
Trust us; you will see fewer sick days and reduced turnover, plus a more engaged workforce that is more productive, helping your organisation deliver on its mission without overspending.
The weight off their shoulders with AI
Everyone’s using AI these days, from asking Alexa to set a reminder for bin day to finding out if it’s going to rain on the way to work. It is only a matter of time before everyone expects to use AI in the workplace. Especially your younger employees, who have grown up in a world where instant access to information and personalisation is the norm.
They deserve that same simplicity in their workday. And if you want to retain this demographic, your organisation deserves this too.
Imagine giving your employees their very own 24/7 AI HR assistant to access their HR needs instantly. No more waiting on hold or chasing emails. Everything they need to know about their world of work all revealed with a few simple prompts.
- “How much holiday do I have left?”
- “What actions do I have to do next to help me move into a managerial role?”
- “Why was my pay less than last month?”
You may be thinking now: how is this actually cutting costs?
Well, think about it. Every minute your employees save on routine admin tasks—like checking their holiday balance, swapping shifts, or updating certifications—is minutes less spent focusing on their core responsibilities.
- When employees are empowered to handle these needs instantly, they’re less likely to feel frustrated or bogged down by unnecessary delays, leading to higher productivity and engagement.
- This also lightens the load for your HR team. Instead of getting tied up with repetitive admin work, HR can turn their attention to strategic initiatives that drive your mission forward—whether that’s improving retention, planning workforce development, or finding efficiencies in your operations.
It’s a ripple effect: happy employees, streamlined HR, and significant cost savings that can be redirected into your organisation’s most impactful work.
Want to learn more about what ELLA can do for your social enterprise business? Book a demo today
5. Use data to stay ahead of the game
Now, let’s talk about data: often overlooked but incredibly valuable. When harnessed properly, workforce data transforms from numbers on a screen to actionable insights that drive smarter decisions and better outcomes for your team and mission.
And with the right dashboarding and reporting tools, you don’t have to do the number crunching.
Find your budget drains
Are you spending more on overtime than you realised? Is absenteeism higher on certain days? Go into your HR software’s dashboard and reporting tool and find out.
For instance, say you notice a pattern of healthcare assistants calling in sick after intensive care weekends. It might be time to adjust shift rotations or ensure rest days are staggered effectively. Or maybe it’s staff clocking in overtime over the weekend. This might call for additional staff to manage the workload.
It’s these little insights that can help with proactive scheduling tweaks, prevent burnout, and reduce the reliance on costly agency staff, helping you manage your budget while maintaining quality care.
Selecting the HR tech your social enterprise deserves
The right platform can take the chaos out of managing people by connecting your operational and HR data, spotting inefficiencies, and giving you more time to focus on what really matters.
However, if there is one thing to take home, it’s that choosing HR tech is all about finding a solution that speaks your language. Look for tools that juggle scheduling, workforce planning, and compliance like a pro while giving you real-time insights through dashboards that actually make sense. With less time spent on admin and fewer errors to fix, your team can get back to changing lives—because that’s where the magic happens.
Start by evaluating inefficiencies in your current processes. Are there recurring bottlenecks in scheduling? Is your team wasting time chasing basic employee data? By identifying these issues, you can pinpoint where automation will have the biggest impact.
To make this process easier, we’ve developed a FREE heat map in our HR toolkit to help you assess inefficiencies and prioritise your tech investments. Whether it’s improving compliance, reducing admin overload, or boosting employee engagement, this toolkit guides you toward smarter, more effective solutions.
Download our FREE HR tech heatmap today and take the first step towards more informed and HR technology investment.
Ready to transform your social enterprise with elementsuite?
Navigating today’s economic challenges doesn’t have to mean compromising your social enterprise’s purpose. With the right HR technology, your social enterprise can reduce operational costs, empower your employees, and focus more resources on delivering meaningful change.
From forecasting labour demand, and automating scheduling to generating real-time data insights that enhance your workforce planning, elementsuite has been designed to streamline your operations and keep your organisation thriving.
Ready to see how elementsuite can make a difference? Book a demo today and discover how we can help your social enterprise do more with less, all while continuing to transform lives and communities.
