First Light Fusion

One HR person, 85 employees, 14 nationalities

Astrid Stanley is the sole HR person at First Light Fusion, with over 20 years of HR experience, she supports 85 employees. Many hold PhDs and some come straight from academia, and there are (at the last count) 14 different nationalities working across the company. While the science pushes boundaries, most of the team have no prior workplace experience.

As Astrid describes it: "There are elements of First Light  which are cutting edge but in terms of people practices, we are still relatively inexperienced and just starting out on that journey of discovery."

Onboarding academics new to industry. Navigating strict compliance for sensitive work. Creating processes which can scale. Astrid needed a platform which could keep up with them.

A different kind of conversation

A cold email from Hailey arrived just as Astrid, Head of HR at First Light Fusion, was evaluating options for a new HR platform. What followed was something entirely different from her previous vendor conversations. What stood out immediately was the human approach.

"It was a real person I was talking to, rather than a chatbot. Nothing was too much trouble. I came back with about a billion questions and every one was answered quickly and easily. The account executive from Hailey was honest about the things which couldn't be done as well, which I really appreciated."

Three things sealed the decision: an accessible interface which felt easy to navigate, transparent pricing with no hidden modules, and the flexibility to customise to their specific needs.

Flexibility which makes updates and reporting easier

First Light Fusion needed a platform which was flexible enough to be adapted mid-process. Locking an ongoing workflow into an old version felt neither modern nor efficient. Astrid explains the difference: "When I change a workflow, Hailey picks up the new version in ongoing processes, which makes it easy to make improvements so everyone's looped in at once."

Getting hold of basic data previously meant manually pulling information from multiple places and stitching it together. She's particularly pleased about being able to share reports with others and extract any data point to create custom reports:

"I love the reporting functionality. It's so rare to be able to get basic data out so easily. Normally I'd have to take a bit of data from here and a bit from there and put it together. It's so painful. Having that flexibility has saved me hours of work."

A platform that guides you

Six months after going live with Hailey, the change is clear. More efficient processes which save considerable time, largely thanks to the user-friendliness.

Astrid appreciates the intuitive design: "It's always really easy to find what you're looking for in the platform. What you're after might be in one or two places, you might go to the wrong place first, but then you know where to go. It doesn't take forever like in many other systems."

Working through processes independently has never been easier either. Changes which used to take ages now take five minutes. She highlights one resource in particular:

"The knowledge-base is brilliant. When I first set up holidays, I looked at the knowledge base and sorted it. Now at year-end I started doing it again and thought I can't remember how, but went into the knowledge base, refreshed my memory and done."

Built in Sweden, trusted in the UK

Following Brexit, the UK maintains GDPR-equivalent regulations through UK GDPR, keeping data protection standards aligned with the EU. Astrid values the built-in compliance features: "I love that you can set up different terms for different documents in Hailey with different retention periods. Being able to upload your own version of a contract in Hailey also gives us the flexibility we need, which is really positive."

Data security is also a significant factor, and Astrid describes a recurring problem she's seen in almost every company she's previously worked for.

"In companies I've worked with in the UK, you often want senior managers to have different access than first-line managers. Not all systems can do this, everyone's just dumped in the same bucket with the same access. In Hailey I've created a separate group on top for senior managers with extended access."

Time for what matters

The impact is tangible. Processes run smoothly. Data is accessible. Managers and employees can help themselves, and Astrid has got time back. For a solo HR professional, this makes all the difference.

"When you’re busy you need a system which simply works for you. With Hailey, I can set things up once and trust they'll run properly. It has given me time to actually think strategically about what we need as we grow."

Even simple tools make a difference. The organisation chart helps new starters navigate the company, and the face quiz has become an engaging part of onboarding.

Astrid laughs when she mentions it: "It's so good for new starters, and fun! If you get every single one wrong it doesn't matter, you just start again. And nobody needs to see you got it wrong."