Login
Request a Demo
    Sectors
    Construction
    Construction services, engineering, infrastructure and specialist contractors.
    Healthcare
    Private healthcare facilities, care homes, and at-home care providers.
    Hospitality
    Restaurants, hotels, bars, visitor attractions, venues and event spaces.
    Retail
    Stores, wholesalers, retail groups and distribution sites.
    Manufacturing
    Manufacturers, production facilities, processing plants, and industrial operations.
    Use Cases
    Human Resources
    HR leaders managing people, compliance, recruitment, and employee development.
    Operations
    Managers overseeing workforce planning, scheduling, attendance, and productivity.
    Finance
    Teams responsible for payroll accuracy, labour costs, budgeting, and reporting.
    IT
    Teams focused on security, integrations, governance, and system management.
    HR Duo Favicon
    Explore how HR Duo competes with your current HR software provider or tech stack.
    Compare HR Duo

    Ready to get started? Request a demo now.

    Pricing
    Contact sales

Retail Case Study

Longacres Garden Centres

+

Employees

+

Years in Business

Locations

HR Platform

See how Longacres Garden Centres uses HR Duo to manage a large, multi-site and seasonal workforce, connecting recruitment, rota planning, hardware clocking, payroll, HR compliance, and performance within one HRMS.

Longacres and HR Duo

Overview

  • CompanyLongacres Garden Centres
  • LocationUnited Kingdom
  • IndustryRetail & Horticulture

Explore this case study if:

  • You manage a large retail workforce across multiple stores or locations.
  • Your staffing requirements change significantly during seasonal trading peaks.
  • You need accurate time and attendance data across hundreds of employees.
  • You want to connect rotas, leave, payroll and HR processes within one HRMS.
  • You want recruitment, onboarding, learning and performance to remain connected throughout the employee lifecycle.

Longacres Garden Centres

Founded in 1979, Longacres is a family-run independent garden centre group with six stores across the South of England. Today, the business employs more than 800 people across a wide range of retail, horticulture, hospitality, warehouse, driving and support roles.

Its flagship Bagshot store sits alongside locations in Bourne Valley, Bybrook Barn, Chelmsford, Chobham and Shepperton, creating a geographically dispersed workforce with different staffing requirements across each site.

Retail and horticulture also bring significant seasonal variation. Workforce requirements can change around trading peaks, while managers still need accurate attendance, appropriate store coverage and consistent HR processes throughout the year.

Longacres needed an HR Platform capable of connecting these everyday workforce requirements with recruitment, payroll, compliance, employee development and performance across the wider business.

Longacres' Challenge: Managing a Large, Complex Workforce Across Multiple Locations

With more than 800 employees across six locations, Longacres needed HR software capable of supporting both everyday retail operations and significant changes in workforce demand throughout the year.

Rather than managing different stages of the employee lifecycle through disconnected systems and manual processes, Longacres wanted one source of workforce information across its stores.

The key challenges included:

  • Seasonal workforce planning. Adjusting rotas, staffing levels and store coverage around changing customer demand.
  • Accurate time and attendance. Capturing reliable working hours across hundreds of employees and multiple locations.
  • Multi-site workforce visibility. Giving HR and managers consistent employee information across all six stores.
  • Recruitment and onboarding. Managing permanent and seasonal hires efficiently as workforce requirements changed.
  • Payroll and HR compliance. Keeping working hours, employee records, policies and payroll information accurate and connected.
  • Employee engagement. Giving staff easier access to HR while supporting objectives and performance.

One HR Platform Across
Stores, Seasons and the Employee Lifecycle

HR Duo gives Longacres one connected HR Platform for managing employees from recruitment and onboarding through everyday workforce management, payroll, compliance, learning and performance.

Capture accurate attendance across every location

HR Duo clocking hardware records employee working hours across Longacres' stores, giving managers reliable time and attendance information without relying on manual timesheets.

Plan rotas around changing workforce demand

Digital rotas, shift scheduling, leave and absence management help managers plan store coverage and respond more easily as staffing requirements change throughout the year.

Recruit and onboard employees in the same HRMS

Applicant tracking and onboarding allow Longacres to manage new hires within the same platform employees will continue using after they join, reducing disconnected records and duplicate administration.

Connect working hours with payroll

Attendance, rotas and employee information feed into payroll processes, reducing manual data handling while giving Longacres greater confidence in the information used to pay employees.

Keep HR compliance consistent across six stores

Employee records, contracts, policies, forms and HR documentation are managed centrally, helping Longacres maintain more consistent HR processes across a large multi-site workforce.

Turn workforce data into useful HR intelligence

HR intelligence and custom reporting give HR and managers greater visibility of attendance, absence, working hours, labour information and wider workforce trends across the business.

Managing more than 800 employees across six stores means we need consistent information and processes wherever our people are working.

 

HR Duo brings everything from rotas and time and attendance through to recruitment, HR policies, and performance into one place. It has made it much easier for our HR team and managers to manage the workforce while giving employees better access to the information they need.

Wendy Menking

Group Human Resources Manager

How Longacres Uses HR Duo

A connected HR Platform supporting employees from recruitment and onboarding through everyday workforce management, HR compliance and performance.

Union (3)
Time-tracking hardware
Union (24)
Time & attendance
Union--5
Digital rotas
Union--4
Shift scheduling
Arrow icon
Leave & absence
Union (26)
Payroll reporting
Union (19)
HR documents
Union (7)
Employee records
Folders icon
HR compliance
Union (19)
Policies & forms
Locked and secured icon
Employee self-service
Union (1)
HR intelligence
Union (40)
Applicant tracking
Union-Incident
Onboarding
Union (11)
Performance reviews
Comments icon
One-to-ones
Union (23)
Goals & objectives
Paper icon
Custom Reports
Request a Demo

FAQs

What HR software does Longacres Garden Centres use?

Longacres uses HR Duo as its HR Management Software and workforce management platform, covering recruitment, onboarding, time and attendance, rotas, leave, payroll reporting, HR compliance, learning and performance management.

How does HR Duo support Longacres' seasonal workforce?

HR Duo connects digital rotas, shift scheduling, leave, attendance and employee information, helping managers adjust workforce coverage as staffing requirements change throughout the year.

How does Longacres track employee working hours?

Longacres uses HR Duo time-tracking hardware to capture employee clock-ins and working hours across its locations, giving managers accurate time and attendance records.

Can HR Duo manage employees across multiple retail locations?

Yes. HR Duo centralises employee records and workforce information within one HR Platform, giving HR and managers access to consistent information across different stores, departments and locations.

Does HR Duo support recruitment and onboarding for retail employees?

Yes. HR Duo includes applicant tracking and onboarding tools, allowing businesses to manage candidates, new starters and employee information within the same HRMS used throughout employment.

Can HR Duo support payroll for a large retail workforce?

Yes. HR Duo connects time, attendance, rota and employee information with payroll reporting, reducing manual data handling and helping businesses prepare payroll from more accurate workforce records.

Mask group (16)

Get Your Free Demo

Our dynamic duo of world-class HR tools and smart Workforce Management technology delivers up to 80% of your day-to-day needs, automating the tedious tasks that sap away your time.