OneSchool Global expands Dayforce to unify workforce

OneSchool Global has expanded its use of Dayforce as its global human capital management system, aiming to create a more consistent employee experience across the education group's operations in 20 countries.

The Australian-headquartered organisation employs more than 2,000 people across more than 120 campuses. It has used Dayforce since 2016, but uptake varied by region, leaving some parts of the organisation on different systems and processes.

As the group grew, that patchwork became harder to manage. Different employment laws, payroll rules, compliance obligations and recruitment practices across countries made it harder for leaders to maintain visibility over the workforce and apply common processes across regions.

Information was also spread across multiple forms and systems, as well as employees' internal knowledge. That fragmentation affected recruitment, onboarding and the organisation's ability to understand vacancies across its network.

Global alignment

The organisation reviewed its approach after Dr Anat Hassner joined as Chief Operating Officer and consulted Managing Directors across its five regions. Those discussions led to a push to align regional operations around Dayforce as a single workforce system while allowing for local differences.

"Horizon, one of our global strategies, is about creating 'one' OneSchool. This means standardising systems and processes wherever we can, so our people have a consistent experience no matter where they are in the world," said Dr Anat Hassner, Chief Operating Officer, OneSchool Global.

OneSchool then worked to align all regions, moving from optional uptake to making Dayforce the single source of truth for its workforce.

Hassner said the challenge was balancing standardisation with regional requirements.

"Each region has different requirements, different legislation and compliance regulations, which has been a significant challenge," she said.

"Dayforce has given us the ability to standardise employee experience while also supporting our efforts to manage local requirements."

Hiring process

One immediate focus has been recruitment and onboarding. The group wanted staff joining in different countries to go through the same core process from the outset.

Ashley Woolnough, Global Head of People and Culture at OneSchool Global, said the final region was now moving onto Dayforce Recruitment.

"Dayforce has really been a game changer for us," said Ashley Woolnough, Global Head of People and Culture, OneSchool Global.

"We're finally transitioning our last region onto Dayforce Recruitment, and what this means is that we've been able to establish a globally consistent recruitment and onboarding process.

"Whether you start working with us in Sydney or in The Hague, you have the same experience.

"We're now able to have everybody accessing the same tool for people processes."

Woolnough said the system is expected to support the wider employee lifecycle, covering recruitment, onboarding, career development, retention and departures.

Workforce data

The broader rollout has also improved visibility over workforce data. Leaders can see vacancies more clearly and use that information in workforce planning and organisational decisions.

Hassner said this visibility was one of the most important results so far.

"It may sound simple, but actually, most organisations that I've been in don't know who their people are, especially if they're in many parts of a country or the world," she said.

"So that is a massive benefit for us already without implementing the additional modules."

Woolnough said position management had also given the organisation a more accurate view of staffing and open roles.

"Being able to see a genuine view of your workforce and understand your vacancies is really powerful to make strategic decisions rather than administrative ones," she said.

Administrative burden

The organisation is also considering broader use of the system for routine tasks, including moving mandatory training into the learning management system. It is exploring how managers could access information on areas such as leave and compliance more quickly.

Woolnough said the software had already shortened the time needed to create learning content.

"It used to take weeks to create a learning module. Now the same thing can be done in a matter of hours," she said.

For Hassner, the longer-term goal is to reduce the amount of administration handled by teaching staff.

"The greatest outcome that I'm looking forward to in having Dayforce at OSG is something we don't yet have, and that's the ability to reduce admin time for our teachers. We want them to teach, not to be administrators," she said.