Who, in the Czech Republic, wouldn’t know the travel agency Čedok. Every year, over a quarter of a million Czechs travel to more than a hundred destinations with Čedok. Travellers can choose from a wide range of offers via the website and in more than 47 branches across the country and in Slovakia. Čedok helps people explore foreign countries and cultures, provides unforgettable experiences and much-needed relax for more than a century.
The way of HR in Čedok to artificial intelligence
The company is run by almost three hundred employees. A two-person HR department, led by HR manager Kateřina Pohořálková, takes care of them. They use a payroll HR system from an external company which is used to record attendance, leaves and includes all the necessary documents for economic and payroll department. The processes such as onboarding, equipment registration, contracts and other documents were managed by HR assistants in the “pencil, paper, Excel” mode.
The moving force for the change was the recruitment of new employees which the company has been dealing with recently. It causes troubles with time of HR people. Kateřina Pohořálková decided to find a tool that would make the selection of new employees easier.
“I wanted AI to read the CVs for me, make a pre-selection and decide which candidates I should actually spend time on,” says Pohořálková. “So, I went online to look for an HR system that would use AI. And I came across Sloneek.”
Although Sloneek cannot fulfil her request for now, she found out that it can help her in other, but not less important, activities. For example, to monitor the steps in onboarding, register the equipment or digitally manage documents and salary statements. Therefore, she decided to buy the system- among other things because the company’s excellent service and friendly communication won her over.
Čedok’s meeting with Sloneek
However, to acquire Sloneek, she had to convince her colleague from HR department and then the management of the company. She presented, in several rounds, how the system works, how much it costs and how it can move the company forward. When the management said yes, she could introduce the system to employees.
“I prepared a detailed information e-mail for the employees and also welcome messages directly in Sloneek system to inform them what we’ll use Sloneek for,” states Kateřina Pohořálková.
In her opinion, some employees are reluctant to use it mainly because the added value of the system hasn’t been sufficiently communicated and explained to them so far. It’s also due to the fact that the company cannot use Sloneek to its full extent yet- the existing payroll personnel system is still used for attendance and leave because it’s better suited for it and is able to record shift work more appropriately.
On the contrary, the part of the company based in Slovakia where it’s necessary to work more digitally because of the distance, has really good experience with Sloneek. It made it easier to sign documents and contracts that would otherwise have to be sent in paper form.
According to Kateřina Pohořálková, the implementation of the system itself went without any problems. She especially appreciates the approach of the customer manager who is always on call if needed.
“We try to treat each client individually. It’s not just a hackneyed phrase for us. Support during the implementation of a new system is essential for future cooperation. We’re so pleased to hear from our clients that they’re satisfied with our approach,” says Milan Rataj, a founder of Sloneek.
Main benefit? Digital agenda
After six months of use, the HR manager notices the benefits mainly in having internal documentation in one place, fully digitized documents and salary statements, and an overview of signed documents. Sloneek also helps her generate employment contracts and saves her from transcribing information from personal questionnaires into the HR program. Then, the candidates are guided through the onboarding process.
“In the following months, we’re going to introduce the registration of uniforms, entry and payment cards, keys, laptops, phones, etc. into Sloneek. It’ll help us generate a registration sheet and make it easier to keep track of borrowed equipment. I’m going to use Sloneek for KPI as well so that we can evaluate the work of our employees in more details,” says Pohořálková.
Although Sloneek isn’t able to cover all their needs up to now, they express satisfaction with it in Čedok.
“We’re really grateful for honest feedback from our clients. Thanks to it, we can develop a tool that is tailor-made to HR professionals and we can upgrade it every month based on real customer needs. So, it isn’t armchair decision making,” concludes Milan Rataj.
