ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll: HR Software for Business

About: ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll is a HR software company offering an integrated HR & payroll solution to help automate manual processes. From improving employee engagement to increasing efficiencies and reducing costs, ELMO’s single integrated cloud-based platform will cover it

Location: Australia, New Zealand

Heart & Care: ELMOnian Company Culture

Employees at ELMO (known as ELMOnians) have helped shape a culture filled with heart and care for and with each other. Translated into actions you will see this as acceptance, transparency, collaboration, agility and commitment in all facets of work, wellbeing and space at ELMO.

Operationally and in practice, you can see this through the way teams in very different departments work together to collaborate to deliver projects quickly and effectively.

In 2019 ELMO undertook a project to move towards a more agile and innovation-led culture. This initiative would see innovation and agility move beyond the R&D roles and into every area of the organisation.

Agility would become more than a stand-up meeting or post-it notes covering walls; agility would be a core component of what makes ELMO tick. The cultural shift means that teams across the company are empowered to make decisions and progress projects knowing they have the support and resources of the leadership behind them. This approach allows individuals and project teams to work quickly and to constantly develop and innovate ELMO modules.

In fact, our approach to innovation and agility allowed us to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic quickly by expediting the release of our latest product ELMO Connect which enables businesses to communicate and collaborate more effectively through a single user-platform.

Monica Watt, Chief Human Resources Officer at ELMO

Evolving ELMO’s company values

ELMO has evolved rapidly since it was founded in 2002 and will continue to evolve its values as the company moves forward. Our values are part of the journey and evolution of who we are as an organisation.

Our original five values gave us a north star when we were a small organisation. In the past twelve months, we have been consulting, collaborating and evaluating our process, practice and community to help craft a new values narrative. Much has been uncovered in this past year that we embraced agile values and behaviours and restructured some teams to support agile.

Work-life integration at ELMO

There is no such thing as work-life balance, it is not possible, as there are cause and effects where one impacts the other and vice versa. The better phrase to use is work-life integration.

A misconception of work-life integration is simply adopting some flexibility such as starting later or leaving earlier; it is far more than that. It is about recognising that there is more to someone’s life than work and supporting them in managing those different responsibilities such as family, university, fitness or even a hobby.

At ELMO we recognise that connection, fitness and wellbeing is a priority for many of our ELMOnians. To support our ELMOnians with this aspect of their lives we created community activities and wellbeing space.

Morning tea in our cafe that seats 100 plus ELMOnians brings people from all teams together. We designed and built a dedicated wellbeing space, an Iyengar yoga studio offering mindful meditation and yoga classes along with jiu-jitsu classes twice per week.

It’s important to understand that people cannot be running at 100 percent capacity for the entire day. Since COVID-19 we have adapted these to create the ELMO Virtual Community. Everything we can has been translated to remote access via Zoom.

Everyone needs space and time to recharge to be at their best. Whether that’s dedicated break out spaces or encouraging them to take 10 minutes to get some fresh air, people need to reset multiple times throughout the day if they are going to be productive and effective. The community across ELMO is growing stronger with the connection and collaboration being purposeful and effective.

Specialised collaboration: working the ELMO way

ELMO teams work quickly and with collaboration. I have been heavily involved in the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Army Cadets for much of my adult life and I find similarities between the way teams at ELMO operate and how military operations work.

Teams at ELMO are often composed of specialists who work together quickly to achieve a goal. When a challenge appears that might slow down or prevent progress the entire team works together to overcome it; there is no ‘key person’ who is relied on to be the one and only problem solver.

The model of the group working together, with each individual accountable for themselves and their teammate, means that team members are able to do their best work knowing their colleagues are there to support them.

Employee Benefits

ELMO Cafe – A free cafe with barista made coffee. During COVID-19 we have retained our barista albeit they are unable to work, we believe they bring great value are offsite to ensure continuity when we return
ELMO Kitchen – A stocked kitchen with snacks and drinks for staff
ELMO Monthly Lunch – A monthly themed lunch We are using UberEats vouchers for an end of month gathering. Teams have access to UberEats voucher every three weeks for a team lunch.
Iyengar yoga twice per week in our in-office iyengar yoga studio. This has changed to standard yoga delivered via Zoom now four times per week.
Jiu jitsu once per week. We have modified this to deliver via Zoom now twice a week.
Meditation twice per week. Still going via Zoom but now adding morning meditation each day.
Paid parental leave policy.
Employee referral policy.
Toastmasters in NSW and VIC. Now using Zoom and running lunchtime virtual Toastmasters which is accessible to all.
Run & Cycle Clubs.
Friday night drinks.
End of month and quarterly celebrations.
Options for flexible working.
Morning tea has now been replaced by care packs each fortnight
ELMO SWAG packs for new starters and new SWAG released for Winter and Summer
Professional development as individuals and teams including study leave
Gift parcels for team members with milestones such as babies, house buying, weddings, graduations
Anniversary gifts and pins
Employee of the month, peer awarded with is a cash prize
Employee of the quarter, leadership awarded with a cash and trophy prize
Flu vaccinations free
Visa and PR sponsorship
Job share and flexi time.

Career opportunities

If you’d like to showcase your unique company culture on Balance the Grind, get in touch with us today!

Every company approaches culture and work-life balance in their own unique way. Company Cultures is a project by Balance the Grind to showcase different workplaces and cultures from around the world.