How a global maritime firm supercharged growth by digitalising HR

MCTC Marine LTD is an international maritime catering management and training company. It offers a full catering service encompassing recipe planning, menu management, health, nutrition, and cost-effective supply ordering for vessel operations. MCTC offers a tailored development strategy with both onshore and offshore training programmes, supported by an expert team of culinary training consultants.

MCTC expanded its client offerings in 2018 to encompass comprehensive catering management for merchant vessels. Broadening its offerings kickstarted significant growth across MCTC’s workforce and highlighted the need to overhaul previously manual HR processes in order to keep pace. Without pre-existing HR software in place, MCTC sought a guided integration to transform its internal processes.

MCTC achieved remarkable growth in just two years, moving from 30 employees in 2020 to 94 employees in 2022. This was in conjunction with the opening of a new office in Limassol, Cyprus, to better accommodate the growing needs and numbers of MCTC’s growing personnel. However, amidst this rapid growth, MCTC had no existing recruitment or onboarding solutions in place. This meant that new hires were onboarded in a manual, case-by-case way.

To support its continued growth, MCTC knew that it was essential for formal, automated HR processes to be put in place, particularly when it came to recruitment and onboarding. The company wanted new joiners, regardless of their experience, to be integrated into the flow of work as seamlessly as possible.

As such, MCTC turned to Cornerstone. Here, the company found a comprehensive HR platform that addressed its recruitment and onboarding concerns. Unexpectedly, the platform also broadened MCTC’s mindset beyond traditional HR, extending its transformation goals to key areas like development and progression, creating a business-wide culture of learning.

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Digitalising HR processes

MCTC implemented Cornerstone in just two months, integrating the Learning, Recruitment and Performance Review modules in a phased approach. HR processes across the board have now been streamlined, with the statuses of individual recruitment candidates now viewable via an easy-to-use dashboard. Additionally, performance reviews are now carried out through the Cornerstone platform, with both employee and supervisor filling out feedback forms before meeting to discuss the results. MCTC also plans to implement Compensation and Succession, as well as to further streamline performance reviews, in the near future – furthering the digital transformation of its HR strategy.

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Becoming audit-ready

As MCTC is subject to regulatory training requirements, the company needed a platform with reporting capabilities. With Cornerstone, MCTC can now swiftly carry out reporting and analytics, such as identifying any discrepancies in forms that need to be signed, and identifying which training has been completed. This visibility has empowered MCTC to always be audit-ready.

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Creating a learning culture

MCTC also wanted to create a learning culture among its workforce. Using Cornerstone, the company provides employees with diverse courses, such as Leading Customer Services, Catering Management and Stress Management. The result has been a high degree of employee engagement, with an 89% course completion rate. To continue this momentum, the company is planning up to seven internal and external training events per year, with room to expand this further to promote continuous learning.

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Engaging a global workforce

MCTC fostered a culture of self-led learning by integrating a gamified learning system with Cornerstone. Employees earn badges and points throughout their learning, with a competitive framework in place that rewards the top point earner at the end of the year. The approach was a success in motivating employees to complete their learning goals. MCTC employees can track and compare their learning progress with team members across the entire company, transcending regional boundaries.

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