Case Study

About Inspire Communities 

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As one of the largest owner-operators of manufactured home communities in the U.S., Inspire Communities oversees more than 130 properties nationwide. The company’s goal is to create clean, safe, and vibrant communities by offering affordable homes and residential activities.

 

The Problem: Archaic and Chaotic Employee Assessment

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With hundreds of employees spread across the nation, Inspire Communities struggled to effectively manage annual employee performance assessments as well as bonus process. The company was juggling text documents, simple spreadsheets, and presentations to evaluate employees and determine their salary increases or bonuses. “When I came on board, it was clear that the human resources (HR) department was in need of extensive change,” says Andy Martin, Chief People Officer at Inspire Communities. “The entire employee assessment process was outdated and inefficient. Shuffling hundreds of documents was labor-intensive.”

 

Inspire Communities started looking for a solution. It reached out to The Smart PM, a woman veteran-owned business and Smartsheet Gold Partner. With help from The Smart PM, Inspire Communities started evaluating its options. “Top-tier companies typically use integrated solutions through SAP, Oracle, and other cloud platforms. However, in private equity, where the bottom line is critical, we had to be smart about our choices,” says Martin. “After just one conversation, Melissa from The Smart PM helped us understand Smartsheet’s capabilities and how it made sense for us to have it. Plus, instead of implementing an integrated module that would cost us almost half a million dollars, the yearly cost of Smartsheet licenses and development would amount USD10,000, giving us all of the same capabilities.”

 

An Intuitive, Streamlined Solution

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The Smart PM started building an annual performance assessment solution in Smartsheet. “The Smart PM managed the roll-out, the implementation, the training sessions, and the assessment process itself,” says Martin. “Melissa did all the heavy lifting while I gave her insight and direction.”

 

This is how the solution works: Data Shuttle extracts employee data from the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Meanwhile, managers enter employee assessments through Smartsheet forms. Both data sources flow into a Smartsheet master sheet, which in turn generates final employee ratings. The data from the master sheet flows back into the company’s ERP software, giving the payroll department access to complete employee performance data.

 

The Inspire Communities team found the new solution intuitive. “Filling in the forms doesn’t feel like using a separate program; you simply use a URL, click a few boxes, and submit,” says Melissa McDonald, Founder and Managing Director at The Smart PM. “Overall, the feedback from the team was overwhelmingly positive. They said this was the best experience they’ve had with Smartsheet in 24 years at the company.”

 

As a result, adoption was smooth and widespread. “Today, the company’s entire leadership team uses the solution for employee assessment and human capital analytics. Before, only two percent of our managers would complete our assessment documents, and this became a policing activity for human resources. Today, we have 100-percent compliance,” adds Martin.

 

The Benefits: Saving Time, Meeting Deadlines

 

Running the employee assessment and annual bonus review now takes less time and effort. “Instead of three people dedicating weeks of their time, one person can manage the entire process in a week,” says Martin.

 

Thanks to these time-savings and higher completion rates of assessment forms, Inspire Communities no longer has delays. “Previously, we failed to meet the IRS’s deadline for a tax write-off on the bonus pool. Now, we always meet the deadline, enabling us to save costs,” adds Martin. “We also need to consider employee morale. Many employees depend on their bonuses. Without a robust system like the one we designed and configured with Melissa, we couldn’t deliver on our timeline commitments, which negatively impacted our morale and culture.”

 

Measurable Result: Ensuring Pay Equity With More Visibility

 

Another major benefit is improved real-time visibility into employee analytics. “Previously, we had zero human capital analytics,” shares Martin. Today, employees receive a comprehensive view of their performance, enabling them to have meaningful dialogue with their leaders. Meanwhile, managers can oversee team performance, analyze trends, and easily identify areas for improvement in skills and behavioural competencies.

 

Most importantly, Inspire Communities can ensure pay equity with robust analytics. “Thanks to The Smart PM and Smartsheet, we can identify and mitigate any pay equity issues,” explains Martin. “Our dashboards provide insights into demographic distributions across pay practices. This allows our board the opportunity to ask questions regarding the analytics”

 

More security, less errors

 

By bringing employee data into Smartsheet, Inspire Communities has also safeguarded sensitive information. “It was extremely risky to have Word documents with employee performance records floating around the company,” says Martin. Today, only the executives can review employee ratings. “With Dynamic View, we can ensure that the right person has access to the relevant information, which is crucial for the sensitive data in HR and finance,” adds McDonald.

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According to Martin, the company has also eliminated human error. “Instead of collecting data in one solution, transferring it into another, and displaying reports in the third, everything is done in one system. Smartsheet also automatically flags duplicate entries and other mistakes. As a result, Inspire Communities has reduced errors by 99.99 percent,” says McDonald.

 

Sticking with the smart choice

 

The Smart PM improves the solution year by year, providing even more visibility each time. “Over time, Melissa has really understood how I operate as a leader, and we’ve even become not only business partners but good friends as well,” adds Martin. “She’s incredibly proactive, always coming up with suggestions. She drives me as a partner, nudging me to improve our platform for our teams. I have so much confidence in her and her ability to help us understand the value of Smartsheet.”

 

Martin is certain that Smartsheet will be the go-to solution for the company for the next three to five years. “I’ve been the head of HR in various companies for the last 15 years of my career, and I can confidently say that I prefer to stick with Smartsheet for its efficiency and cost effectiveness. In my world of people analytics, I can get anything I need out of Smartsheet,” he concludes. “But most importantly, once I find a good partner, I’m a lifelong user.”