How Oxford International Education Group Modernised HR with People Inc. (HRIS + Web Recruitment)

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CASESTUDY

From in-house HR software to People Inc.:

How Oxford International Education Group replaced a legacy HR system with a flexible HR platform (People Inc.)—then reduced recruitment admin further with the Web Recruitment module.

Delivered by PeopleFirstHR — UK HR software implementation specialists

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Results at a glance

Replaced an in-house HR system with a modern HR platform built for scale

Supported a complex workforce: ~700 employees plus ~600 seasonal workers

Improved employee and manager usability with self-service-friendly HR workflows

Reduced recruitment admin time and cost by implementing People Inc. Web Recruitment

Centralised HR processes including employee records, absence, and performance management

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BACKGROUND

Client snapshot

Organisation: Oxford International Education Group (founded 1991)

Origin: Established as ISIS Education and Travel

Workforce: Approx. 700 employees + 600 seasonal workers

Sector: Education (international education group)

Previous system: In-house HR system

Primary goals: Replace legacy HR platform and reduce admin time (especially recruitment)

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THE CHALLENGE

A growing workforce was being held back by an in-house HR system

Oxford International Education Group had outgrown their previous HR system, which had been developed in-house. They wanted to start again with a brand new platform—one that was:

• Comprehensive and flexible enough to manage a large, mixed workforce
• Simple for employees and managers to use day-to-day
• Strong on core HR requirements, including:
  • Employee records and data management
  • Absence tracking
  • Performance management

They needed a modern HR system that could support the scale and pace of change across the organisation—without adding complexity for end users.

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THE SOLUTION

Implement People Inc. HR for a scalable, feature-rich HR foundation

After reviewing their options, Oxford International Education Group selected People Inc. HR—primarily due to the breadth of functionality and the value for money across implementation and ongoing ownership.

With People Inc., the HR team could move away from a “built-in-house” setup and onto a structured platform designed specifically to support HR processes at scale.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Phase 1: Establish core HR—employee data, absence, performance

The initial focus was on delivering a clean foundation for HR operations, including:

• A central employee record system
• Absence tracking workflows
• Performance management capability

This ensured the system wasn’t just a database of staff information, but a platform that supported real day-to-day HR activity for both managers and employees.

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Phase 2: Reduce recruitment admin with People Inc. Web Recruitment (within 12 months)

Within 12 months, the team wanted to reduce time and costs further—particularly around high-volume recruitment for seasonal hiring periods.

To do that, they implemented the Web Recruitment module for People Inc.

What the Web Recruitment module does

The Web Recruitment module enables HR teams to:

• Publish vacancies directly to the organisation’s website
• Allow applicants to apply online (from anywhere)
• Automatically feed application details (including CVs) into People Inc.
• Manage the recruitment process inside People Inc., including:
  • Tracking applicants per vacancy
  • Sending interview invitations
  • Issuing rejection letters
  • Creating offers

This removed the need to manually re-key applicant information—often one of the biggest time drains in recruitment administration.

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IMPACT

A dramatic reduction in recruitment admin time (and cost)

The impact on the recruitment process was immediate—especially important given the organisation’s high seasonal turnover at critical times of year.

As the Head of HR at Oxford International Education Group, shared:

“The implementation of the Web Recruitment module for People Inc. has had a dramatic impact on our recruitment processes and saved not only a significant amount of time but also reduced our costs.

We have a high turnover of our seasonal workforce at critical periods within the year so needed to be able to provide a facility where we could quickly publish our vacancies and for applicants to apply online from anywhere in the world.

All applicant information including their CV is automatically fed into the People Inc. Applicant section saving us from typing everything in manually.”

They also highlighted the benefit of tracking applicants and speeding up hiring workflows:

“Once we have captured the applicant information we can track each applicant’s progress and process them whether it be sending interview invitations, Reject Letters or Offer all using the built in tools provided within People Inc.

The system then generates an employee record for successful candidates using a wizard to save even more time.”

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Why this worked (especially for seasonal recruitment)

For organisations with seasonal recruitment spikes, the combination of:

• structured vacancy publishing,
• online applications, and
• automatic applicant data capture into the HR system

can remove a large portion of repetitive admin—freeing HR teams to focus on hiring quality and speed, rather than data entry.

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Ready to reduce HR and recruitment admin?

If your organisation is still relying on manual recruitment admin—or you’re using a legacy HR system that no longer supports the way you operate—PeopleFirstHR can help you modernise quickly and with minimal disruption.

Email: enquiries@peoplefirsthr.co.uk

Call: +44 (0) 330 223 6180