We are moving to it in September...

Hi Chelsey, We've had FACE-Ed (the recruitment software) since Sept 2022 and SAMpeople since Feb 2023. I'd previouslu used SAM absence in a different workplace so was familiar with most of the functionality.

We've found that there are lots of things (some big, some small) which we would like the system to do, and some we already thought it could do but it can't... We have fed into the product roadmap but there are a lot of items on there for the dev team to work through!

It has saved us time on things like gathering absence data and tracking attendance but it feels like it has a way to go yet. One of our biggest frustrations is that for any contract or document sent through the system to an employee which we require to be read or signed, the notification of the completed action goes to the line manager and not back to HR! For this reason we have been unable to use the contract function until they change this.

Also, like you allude to, we have found that the service has been patchy over this first year and we were delayed in switching the system on for quite a few months because of the lack of support in implementation.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with it.

Sally

Its not been great for our school - before I joined and it has been abandoned mid set up. We are looking at another replacement.

In reply to Sally:

Sally, would it be possible for my Head of HR to contact you / someone at your organisation for a chat about SAM People and the implementation/rollout/teething problems etc?

We have the SAM absence and it’s been a nightmare

We have the SAM absence and it’s been a nightmare

Hi, we have been using this for a year and I have to say I've been quite disappointed with it. As others have said, there are lots of things that I thought the system would do and does not. The performance section can only be seen by line managers and not the person being appraised which isn't helpful so we are not using that. The leave of absence portal is quite good. The absence management has some fundamental problems which I've now been told are expected functionality and has taken a very long time to get answers about. I think it's better than what we had (paper/spreadsheets) but I am actively on the lookout for another system. Happy to chat further if you'd like more details.

Hey Chelsey, we are moving to SAMPeople in January 2025. How are you finding the system now? Any words of advice?