Established in 1963, The University of East Anglia (UEA) is one of the UK’s top 30 universities and a globally recognised centre of research. Its 360-acre campus is set in the heart of Norwich, which was recently named one of the Sunday Times’ best places to live in the UK. Here, almost 18,000 students are welcomed across four faculties and 26 specialised schools, where they study subjects including economics, creative writing, global development, psychology and law.

Keeping a university of this size running smoothly is no small feat. UEA’s 3,600-strong workforce is supported by the People and Culture Division, with HR Services led by Linda Cole, one of the Associate Directors within the Division. Linda has worked at UEA for more than 20 years and took on this leadership role in 2023, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stepping into the role at that time meant confronting a difficult set of circumstances. “When I took over HR Services, it faced a perfect storm of challenges,” Linda says. “There was the financial impact of the pandemic, significant change to the organisation’s people structures, and the need to modernise processes and technology to underpin our future ambitions.”

These pressures made it clear that the university needed to rethink how its HR function operated to deliver effectively in the medium-term and build the right structures for long-term success. At the same time, the new UEA People Strategy was being launched, which set out how the HR Services function needed to help deliver UEA’s vision. It meant moving away from unnecessary manual processes and being ambitious about what could be achieved through a different approach.

As was common in many large organisations at that time, there were challenges with effectively centralising people data, managing absence consistently and delivering a unified experience to employees. Individual departments had adopted their own software for processes like rostering and operational reporting, creating a patchwork infrastructure.

Recognising the need for change, one of many new appointments the People and Culture Division made was a new Head of HR Information Systems and Data, Samm Perry, to drive its digital transformation efforts. “Samm has really made a difference,” Linda says. “She’s very proactive and curious about what we can do to bring everything together.”

With HR teams united around a shared vision – to consolidate systems, reduce manual work, empower staff and create a modern, agile HR environment – the university has begun a strategic journey of transformation.

“We’ve chosen to lean further into Zellis technologies to expand our digital capabilities across HR and payroll, and improve the employee experience,” Linda says.

Early successes with MyView and Cornerstone

One of the first visible successes has been the rollout of the Zellis MyView mobile app, which gives UEA staff easy access to key HR and payroll information.

“We’ve already had lots of good feedback,” Linda says. “Employees say they appreciate the ability to manage simple tasks – like booking annual leave or checking their payslips – without having to log onto their computer.”

While it is still early days, the FAQs and self-service tools within Zellis MyView are expected to deliver additional advantages. Fewer queries from employees will save significant time for HR and payroll staff – freeing them up to carry out higher-value work.

UEA has also begun expanding its use of the performance and succession planning modules supplied in partnership with Zellis and Cornerstone. The first of a package of work linked to talent management, the modules promise a more streamlined, centralised HR ecosystem – and will help UEA to become far more proactive when it comes to supporting employees.

“The Performance Management module has already been rolled out across the university, enabling more structured performance reviews and ensuring performance and development conversations are consistent across faculties and departments,” Linda says. “In early 2027 we will be turning our attention to the Talent Marketplace module.” This will enable employees to explore career development opportunities, access relevant learning content and take a more proactive role in their professional growth.

Keeping momentum

UEA won’t stop here. It wants to build on its early wins to integrate even more of the Zellis suite.

A major focus is to resolve legacy integrations so that it can move fully to HCM AIR, creating a cloud-based environment that will allow the university to further consolidate HR processes. Once established, UEA will be better positioned to further develop automation – another of its big goals.

“We are keen to use Docstore, enabled through the Zellis API, to streamline document handling and automate processes such as probation and exit management,” Linda says. “This would cut down manual intervention, reduce errors and make processes faster and more efficient. It’s not just about saving time – it’s about improving the experience for staff and supporting a culture of clarity and accountability.”

UEA is also exploring the Zellis financial wellbeing tools, which will provide employees with access to earned wages and budgeting support.

“The idea that people can have greater flexibility and control over when they’re paid – that’s really intriguing,” Linda says. “Reduced financial stress could have a real impact on the wellbeing of our staff, further increasing engagement and productivity.”

The road to a fully connected people platform

While Linda acknowledges that there’s a lot of work still to be done, she’s optimistic about the future.

“We’re not fully where we want to be yet,” Linda says, “but I think in a year’s time we’re going to look back and see just how much transformation has happened.”

Once its systems are fully consolidated and digital tools become more integrated, UEA will be better positioned to unlock more intelligent features of the Zellis suite, including deeper analytics and AI enabled insights.

“We don’t want to be left behind – we’ve been there before where everything has moved on without us and we’re still running to catch up,” Linda concludes. “So, we’d like to be on the front foot with that as much as possible. I’m excited about what the future holds.”

Since implementing Zellis solutions, UEA has:
• Reduced several manual HR and payroll processes
• Improved employee access to key HR information via MyView
• Strengthened performance management and development consistency
• Laid the foundation for a fully integrated, cloud-based HR ecosystem