How a UK Cultural Organisation Collected Social Mobility Data Faster with an Online Employee Questionnaire (People Inc. ESS)

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CASESTUDY

From paper forms to Employee Self Service:

How a UK cultural organisation replaced manual social mobility questionnaires with a quick, standardised online form using People Inc. and Employee Self Service (ESS).

Delivered by PeopleFirstHR — UK HR software implementation specialists

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Results at a glance

Replaced paper-based questionnaires with a simple online form employees could complete in minutes

Improved data quality using fixed picklists and tick-box responses (no free-text variation)

Reduced admin time by eliminating printing, chasing and spreadsheet consolidation

Enabled faster reporting with a custom results summary report (totals per response)

Added management reports to track completion and view results by employee

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BACKGROUND

Client snapshot

Organisation: UK cultural organisation (Royal Opera House)

Use case: Social mobility data collection (employee questionnaire)

Platform: People Inc. HR

Channel: Employee Self Service (ESS)

Primary goal: Collect consistent survey data without manual handling

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THE CHALLENGE

Social mobility reporting was time-consuming and hard to standardise

The HR team needed to collect social mobility questionnaire responses from employees and produce summary statistics.

The existing process created predictable friction:

• Paper forms had to be distributed, completed and returned
• HR then had to manually consolidate responses (typically into spreadsheets)
• Free-text responses can reduce data quality and make reporting unreliable
• Producing totals and meaningful stats took longer than it should

They needed a faster, more consistent way to gather responses—without increasing workload for HR or employees.

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THE SOLUTION

Build a simple online questionnaire screen in People Inc. (using Screen Designer)

Because People Inc. is highly configurable, PeopleFirstHR used the Screen Designer module (included as standard) to create a new Social Mobility questionnaire screen based on the client’s paper version.

To ensure the form was quick to complete and produced reliable results, we designed responses as:

• Fixed picklists (pre-defined options)
• Tick boxes where appropriate

This approach made the questionnaire:

• Faster for employees to complete
• Easier for HR to analyse
• More consistent for reporting (clean, structured data)

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IMPLEMENTATION

Make the questionnaire available via Employee Self Service (ESS)

Once the screen was built, it was published through Employee Self Service (ESS)—so employees could complete the questionnaire online.

How it worked in practice

• Employees logged into ESS
• Completed the social mobility questionnaire directly in People Inc.
• HR then ran reports at the end of the exercise—without manual consolidation

This removed multiple admin steps (and a lot of follow-up effort), while improving participation and speed.

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IMPACT

Faster completion, better data, and reporting HR could use immediately

Moving the questionnaire online delivered immediate operational benefits:

• Reduced admin time: no paper handling, no data re-entry, no spreadsheet consolidation
• Better data quality: consistent response options improved accuracy and reduced ambiguity
• Clearer reporting: HR could generate statistics directly from People Inc. once complete
• Improved visibility: reports showed who had completed the form and the results by employee

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REPORTING

Purpose-built reporting: from completion tracking to summary statistics

To support the project end-to-end, multiple reports were created, including:

• Tracking who had completed the questionnaire
• Viewing responses by individual employee
• Producing a summary report showing the total number of responses for each question

While People Inc. includes a powerful built-in Report Writer, the summary report required more advanced reporting logic—so it was built by PeopleFirstHR’s technical team.

This report is also accessible via the Employee Self Service Module.

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Flexibility: this approach works for far more than social mobility data

This project is one example of how People Inc. ESS can be configured to automate HR data collection and reduce manual admin.

The same online form approach can be adapted for:

• Employee surveys (e.g., suggestions, engagement pulse checks)
• Policy confirmations (e.g., tracking who has read key HR policies)
• Training course feedback forms
• Return-to-work forms
• Any structured HR data collection that benefits from clean, reportable responses

In short: if you have a paper-based HR form, there’s a strong chance it can be converted into a fast, consistent online process.

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Ready to reduce HR admin with Employee Self Service forms?

If you’re collecting HR data through paper forms, email attachments or spreadsheets, we can help you replace it with structured online forms inside People Inc.—so employees can complete them quickly and HR can report instantly.

Talk to PeopleFirstHR about building online questionnaires via Employee Self Service.

☎ 0330 223 6180	✉ enquiries@peoplefirsthr.co.uk

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FAQ’s

What is Employee Self Service (ESS) in People Inc.?

Employee Self Service (ESS) is a secure portal that allows employees to log in and update or submit information directly—reducing HR admin and improving data accuracy.

Can People Inc. be used for online HR questionnaires and surveys?

Yes. Using People Inc.’s Screen Designer module, online forms can be built for surveys, data collection and confirmations—and then made available through ESS.

How do you ensure the data is consistent for reporting?

By designing questions with fixed picklists and tick-box options, employees select standardised responses. This improves data quality and makes reporting significantly easier.

Can you report on completion and results?

Yes. Reports can be created to track completion, view results by employee, and (where needed) produce summary totals for each response—ready for HR stats and dashboards.