Discover the Sona advantage

There are certain elements of your tech stack that require infrequent integration (for example, ATS to HR) but there is one which must have a 100% seamless, near real–time integration, and that is between HR and Scheduling. This is vital for operational accuracy and efficiency.

Built by the same team, Sona HR and Sona Scheduling are intrinsically linked, forming one part of the same end-to-end system.

This ensures not only a seamless connection but also minimises errors, particularly in payroll, and optimises compliance and resource allocation.

The cohesive development of both functions within Sona stands as a clear advantage, providing a smooth and reliable experience.

Large legacy systems often display challenges in integrating HR and Scheduling effectively.

While they may provide both functionalities under one name, the integration is typically less robust. This is often due to the combination of a system developed in-house with another that's been bought and rebranded, which can lead to a superficial connection between the two functions.

Such an approach can result in increased inefficiencies, a higher risk of payroll errors, and potential compliance issues, making the integration less reliable and efficient compared to end-to-end solutions like Sona.

Sona's advanced scheduling was built specifically for Social Care, prioritising flexibility and configurability due to the complex nature of Care operations.

Sona's scheduling system has multiple Care specific features that help organisations ensure safe staffing levels in their locations. These features include Care Requirements in the schedule, Skills Mix and Shift Filler.

While legacy providers may have an advanced scheduling system with simple and usable features, there might not be any features designed specifically for Social Care.

This will cause inefficiencies and make it challenging for organisations to have oversight into crucial areas such as safe staffing levels.

Sona's innovative shift marketplace allows for the creation and sharing of open shifts, ensuring fair access to overtime opportunities. Shifts can be offered to employees at the selected location or those within a specified radius who meet the eligibility requirements.

This process is designed for fairness and transparency, allowing for staged release of shifts and reducing reliance on agency workers.

Prioritising internal staff in this manner fosters a more equitable and efficient work environment, while reducing the need for agency staff.

Legacy providers' approach for requesting overtime usually has several limitations.

Unallocated shifts are automatically visible, without control over which ones are offered for overtime. Managers receive no alerts for shift requests, resulting in frequent manual checks. Without time stamps on requests, determining the order of requests becomes impossible.

Additionally, once a shift is allocated, employees aren't automatically notified, leading to a lack of awareness about updated rotas. The absence of alerts for unassigned overtime requests further complicates the process, leading to missed opportunities and errors.

All of the above can severely impact organisations and their efficiency. 

As mentioned, Sona’s Shift Filler feature ensures that staff members are given priority access to available shifts, reducing the need to outsource to agency workers.

Additionally, organisations can choose to have an escalation process of how they release their open shifts, showing to all full-time employees first, then to their bank teams, before assigning to an agency if no one has picked up the shift 24 hrs prior. 

Many legacy providers' approach to filling unallocated shifts is based on the assumption that if a manager doesn't assign it to an employee, then agency staff is required.

This may inadvertently lead to increased agency spend as customers find themselves more dependent on external workers to fill shifts because they are not made easily available to staff. 

Sona allows users to select the required and preferred skills for any individual shift. Skills and qualifications are held against employee records, and so only employees with the required skills mix can see relevant open shifts.

For example, if a shift requires the administration of specific medication, it will only be made available to employees that are qualified to administer it.

This feature not only streamlines the scheduling process but helps ensure they are matching the correct employees to help achieve their residents' goals. 

Many legacy providers offer the option to add qualifications to employee profiles, but this feature is underutilised due to the maintenance it demands.

Managers often find themselves unable to view specific skills they deem important for scheduling such as manual handling or medicine administration.

Sona simplifies managing contracted hours with its intuitive schedule view.

Each employee's contracted hours versus their scheduled hours for the selected week are clearly displayed, with colour coding indicating whether they are over or under their contracted hours.

This feature enables managers to schedule shifts more effectively while ensuring compliance.

Sona prioritises employee wellbeing.

It offers a feature where employees can leave quick post-shift feedback, a vital tool for managers to monitor team morale. This functionality helps in identifying employees who might be at risk of leaving, allowing for timely interventions and support.

Such tools are essential not only for understanding employee wellbeing but also for improving retention. By proactively addressing concerns and fostering a positive work environment, Sona aids in maintaining a satisfied and engaged workforce.

Legacy providers don't often focus on employee wellbeing.

This lack of essential tools needed for understanding employee morale can impact retention goals. Managers may struggle with gauging team satisfaction or identifying early signs of employee dissatisfaction, potentially leading to higher turnover rates.

Sona's Newsfeed allows for the distribution of targeted announcements, whether they're intended for specific teams, locations, or the entire company.

Tailoring announcements is essential for ensuring relevant information reaches the right employees, without overwhelming everyone with broad communications. 

While some legacy providers have a newsfeed, it often lacks the ability to send targeted announcements.

All communications are broadcast to the entire organisation, which can lead to information overload and reduce the impact of specific, relevant updates.

Sona's advanced scheduling was built specifically for social care, prioritising flexibility and configurability due to the complex nature of care operations.

Sona's scheduling system has multiple care specific features that help care organisations ensure safe staffing levels in their care homes. These features include care requirements in the schedule, skills mix and Shift Filler.

While industry agnostic providers may have an advanced scheduling system with simple and usable features, oftentimes no features have been designed specifically for Social Care.

This will cause inefficiencies and make it challenging for organisations to have oversight into crucial areas such as safe staffing levels because these concepts aren't common to other sectors, therefore providers aren't motivated to develop them.

Sona's innovative shift marketplace allows for the creation and sharing of open shifts, ensuring fair access to overtime opportunities. Shifts can be offered to employees at the location or those within a specified radius who meet the eligibility requirements.

This process is designed for fairness and transparency, allowing for staged release of shifts and reducing reliance on agency workers. Prioritising internal staff in this manner fosters a more equitable and efficient work environment.

Open shifts can be created and shared with employees who have the specific location assigned on their profile.

There is often no process in industry agnostic solutions for making overtime available to interested skilled employees who work at other locations.

Industry agnostic systems usually require creating multiple ‘dummy’ users per location for agency assignments which incurs additional costs.

Managers can become frustrated at this process as two of the same users cannot work two shifts at the same time in one or more locations.

Therefore, the need to create multiple dummy users per location exists, which further drives up costs.

Sona has strong role assignment capabilities for employees with multiple roles & multiple locations.

For example, employees can be assigned an admin site along with sites where they can also appear on the schedule without impacting contracted hours, pay rates or leave entitlement.

With industry agnostic providers, leave entitlements are driven by the contract assigned to the employee’s "main location."

The system usually only allows you to apply one set of contracted/agreed hours per employee which makes managing multiple contracts tricky.

Sona enables you to securely store important documents like contracts, visas, and certifications.

To ensure timely reviews and renewals, you can set up alerts for upcoming document expirations, keeping everything organised and up-to-date.

We offer the convenience of effective dating, allowing you to schedule future-dated changes for contracts or pay rates seamlessly.

Industry agnostic systems often have current settings always in play, as they doesn't support effective dating.

This means you're unable to schedule future changes for contracts or pay rates, which must be managed in real-time. This requires more manual updates for your teams to apply changes as they occur.

Sona offers a feature where employees can leave post-shift feedback, a vital tool for managers to monitor team morale. This functionality helps in identifying employees who might be at risk of leaving, allowing for timely interventions and support.

Such tools are essential not only for understanding employee wellbeing but also for improving retention. By proactively addressing concerns and fostering a positive work environment, Sona aids in maintaining a satisfied and engaged workforce.

Industry agnostic providers often lack the essential tools needed for understanding employee wellbeing and improving retention.

Managers may struggle with gauging team morale or identifying early signs of employee dissatisfaction, potentially leading to higher turnover rates.

Sona enhances internal communication with its 1-1 and group messaging features, all within the same secure app.

This is essential for maintaining privacy and confidentiality, ensuring that sensitive employee and client information remains protected.

This also improves employee engagement, allowing staff to easily connect with managers or colleagues without the need for external messaging platforms.

Industry agnostic providers don't often offer this feature.

Without an in-app messaging, organisations can experience limitations in their internal communication processes.

Without this feature, your teams are made to rely on external messaging services, potentially compromising privacy and data security. This separation can also create challenges in quickly reaching out to managers or team members, potentially impacting coordination and efficiency.

Industry agnostic providers usually requires setting pay periods within the employee's contract details, and lack the capability to manage 4-week or 5-week alterations.

Users are generally restricted to standard weekly, biweekly, 4-weekly, or monthly schedules, potentially limiting flexibility in payroll management.