Making It Work: Pandemic a ‘catalyst’ for growth of HRLocker’s cloud-based service

The pandemic has caused problems for many businesses, but for HRLocker – a cloud-based human resources platform based in Lahinch, Co Clare – the past 18 months have been a major “catalyst for growth”.

The company, which offers HR software to SMEs around the world, has been operating in different guises for almost 20 years, but with the rise of hybrid working it has won a slew of new clients.

Adam Coleman, HRLocker’s chief executive, is quietly confident about the future amid plans for accelerated growth in the British market.

“The pandemic, for us, has been a catalyst for our growth,” he said. “Before, a lot of our time was spent educating people about hybrid working and remote working.”

Now, with companies attempting to figure out the future of work, HRLocker is offering a suite of cloud-based products which can enable them to implement successful hybrid working policies.

The Enterprise Ireland-backed company has doubled its workforce since last January and now employs 32 people, most of whom are hybrid workers.

But while HRLocker is satisfied with its growth during the pandemic, the company is conscious that many of its clients – numbering more than 600 across Ireland, Britain and several other countries – have had significant challenges.

“During Covid-19, we added a new principle to the company, which was resilience and empathy,” Coleman said. “We’re in a good situation because people are still buying from us, so we have to be very empathetic towards our clients who are struggling.”

When the pandemic took hold, HRLocker automatically upgraded essential customers to its professional package for free for the year.

“Then, in the 12 weeks prior to their renewal, we said to them: ‘You’re on professional – how did you find it? If you don’t want it you can just split it back down, but if you do want it, that costs a little bit more’,” Coleman said.

While the company had planned a US expansion, it is now focusing primarily on attracting new clients in Britain – a market that’s “really flying” at present.

“Up until last November, we weren’t actively selling into Britain. But now, since we really started to concentrate on doing so, we’re doing really well over there,” Coleman said.

If he is optimistic, though, he’s also realistic about the type of company he wants HRLocker to be. The firm focuses mostly on companies with fewer than 500 staff, which are less lucrative but easier to deal with when they’re beginning to use the products.

And, unusually, it also issues warnings to clients about some of the products it offers, such as its voice-activated tool for clocking in and out.

“If there’s a business case for their use, we say: ‘Fair enough’,” Coleman said.

“But if there’s not a business case for the company to introduce these products, we’ll say: ‘You do realise if you make clocking in and out a part of your business, it’s going to change the behaviour of everybody in your business.’ You don’t get people to buy into your organisation that way.”