Background
Hôtel Universel Rivière-du-Loup is more than just a place to stay. With 302 rooms, a popular wellness centre (UniverSpa Nordik), and a gourmet restaurant, the hotel plays a key role in the local economy and hospitality scene.
With 124 employees working at the hotel and 92 more at the restaurant, managing HR was no small feat! In this fast-paced context, the hotel’s HR Director set out to improve internal processes, empower managers, and enhance the employee experience from day one.
HR Challenges Before Implementing Folks
Despite having a dedicated team, several issues were creating roadblocks for HR operations:
- Lack of structure in onboarding and offboarding processes: Without a clear roadmap, it was hard for managers to track what needed to be done, which led to delays and a lack of consistency — not ideal for first impressions.
- Poor documentation of behavioural issues: Without a central system for logging notes, managers often skipped documenting incidents, which made it tricky to handle disciplinary matters effectively.
- Reliance on disconnected Excel files: The team used spreadsheets to track interviews, workplace accidents, and disciplinary events — which increased the risk of errors and made data hard to retrieve.
These challenges impacted not only HR consistency but also the company’s ability to offer a structured and supportive employee experience from onboarding to exit.
Why Choose Folks HR?
Faced with these pain points, the HR team looked for a solution that could:
- Fully structure core HR processes;
- Enable real-time follow-ups across departments;
- Offer a simple, intuitive interface that managers would actually enjoy using;
- Support better documentation and accountability.
What sealed the deal? Folks’ user-friendliness.
“We found the system very intuitive and simple to use. It met all our needs and had a clean interface that made us confident our managers would get the hang of it quickly.”
Implementation Process — Smooth Sailing from Day One
Deploying Folks HR at Hôtel Universel went off without a hitch, thanks to well-organized onboarding support and helpful training materials.
Managers quickly got on board. Requests for time off and absences were soon flowing through the platform, and adoption across the team happened faster than expected — with no major bumps in the road!
“The implementation went really well. Folks' support and training videos were incredibly helpful.”
Tangible Results and HR Wins
Since rolling out Folks, the hotel has seen positive outcomes across several key areas:
More fluid, structured processes
The biggest HR win? Increased rigor in process tracking.
Managers now follow a clear path through each step of onboarding and offboarding. This structure reduces oversights and improves coordination — which ultimately enhances the employee experience from day one.
Better documentation of disciplinary actions
The ability to add notes directly to employee records has transformed how the team handles behavioural issues.
According to Hôtel Universel: “The note-taking tool made it much easier for our managers to document events and issues. It helped build the right habits when it comes to managing disciplinary cases.”
With consistent documentation, the HR team can now take action based on facts, which reinforces transparency and fairness in how disciplinary matters are handled.
Empowered managers
Thanks to Folks, managers are now more autonomous in their HR duties. They no longer need to go through HR for every task — they have the tools and visibility they need to act proactively.
Centralized and accessible data
No more digging through old spreadsheets! All employee data is now stored in one place, always up-to-date and easy to access for authorized users.
Favourite Features — The Everyday Game Changers!
Here are the features Hôtel Universel found most valuable in their day-to-day operations:
- Structured onboarding and offboarding workflows: ensuring nothing falls through the cracks during key transitions.
- Employee notes feature: for better documentation and a clear historical record.
- Vacation and absence management: intuitive and accessible directly by employees.
- Built-in training videos: helped managers get up to speed fast and independently.
Ready to streamline your HR processes and give your managers the tools they need?
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