Business

The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheet-Based HR Management for Growing UK Businesses

Published

3 weeks ago

30 May 2026

Poorly designed and inadequately maintained workplaces are draining the UK economy of more than £71 billion a year, according to new research from facilities and security services company Mitie.

For many UK growing businesses, using spreadsheets is such an integral part of running a company is like using that noisy kettle that still works.

It’s what we always did, so why change? They are trusted, inexpensive (in the short term), and simple. You can fit everything onto one doc, with employee info on one tab, sick leave on another, expenses in a third, and their hours and salary on tabs beginning after “Sheet 1” (usually only fully understandable by one super user).

For a while, it seems like a perfect system. Then the business hires 10 more employees. One employee works from another location. A boss forgets to fill in a vacation planner. Unbeknownst to everyone, the once thought-up efficient plan is slowly doubling, as well as tripling, to add to time, money, and irritation.

The issue is not the spreadsheet, per se. The problem is that the company grows so big, spreadsheets are just too small on their own to contain it.

The Productivity Drain Nobody Notices

Manual HR doesn’t really fall over. It just slowly pours away your company’s margin every day.

Managers hunting down signed documents, updating the 5 locations where they keep employee records, and checking whether the “latest” version of a spreadsheet is actually the latest. HR admins are doing the same weekly manual tasks: copying data, approving leave requests from chain emails, and calculating absence values in a spreadsheet.

On their own, these little tasks don’t seem like much. Added up, they’re a tidy sum.

A growing company might be burning through dozens of hours every month on tasks like maintaining manual processes that should long since have been automated. All that time could be spent by managers on developing their staff, operational improvements, growth, or really anything other than knowing how to track down that contract the vendor sent a while ago that is almost definitely in the Generally Important Stuff 2019_Q3 folder titled “FINAL_v2_UPDATED” on the general drive.

But, most notably, as companies scale, inefficient manual processes compound. When a team is eight, maintaining a process may work fine, but by the time a company gets to 50 employees, it’s a frustrating mess.

Human Error Becomes a Business Risk

Spreadsheets are labour-intensive and are therefore prone to human error.

An out-of-date phone number may not seem serious until you need an emergency contact. A double entry in the payroll may provide uncomfortable conversations and headaches for the accountants. An incorrect holiday day entered in a spreadsheet can damage employee trust much faster than you may think.

The biggest problem is that unconnected systems introduce inconsistencies. A spreadsheet says an employee has completed the required training. Another sheet says they haven’t. One manager updates a record while the other keeps using the file they saved to their desktop three weeks ago.

This isn’t due to carelessness. This is what happens when there’s too much room for error.

Compliance Problems Can Escalate Quickly

Problems can grow quickly from bad to worse

Storing a few contracts in a shared drive just isn’t good enough.

You also need to keep on top of your employee files, manage right-to-work checks, make sure you’re tracking absence procedures, and keep sensitive data safe. If this information is spread out over a few spreadsheets, emails, and a couple of random systems, maintaining good compliance practices is going to be confusing at best.

Where documents are missing or records aren’t being generated, businesses open themselves up to unnecessary legal and financial risks. Even the smallest oversight can expand to cause real issues during audits, claims or disputes.

It’s another reason why businesses reach a point when manual processes quickly get out of hand, and they decide to look for dedicated UK HR software to manage.

That solution allows firms to centralise their records, automate reminders, and ensure that important documents aren’t getting buried in the depths of a filing cabinet.

Employees Notice More Than Businesses Think

Old, paper-based HR systems have a bigger impact on the employee experience than many leaders believe.

They see that their leave request has taken two days to approve because the right spreadsheet was buried three tabs down. They see when others’ induction processes are ad-hoc. They see themselves waiting three days for a response from HR. They see managers asking for information they already supplied for the second time.

These may sound like minor complaints, but they reflect the way employees perceive their employers. A company that isn’t buttoned up in its operational processes will have a hard time projecting external credibility.

In markets with healthy competition for talent, the operational efficiency of an organisation plays a significant role in effective employer branding. Workers now have an expectation that things will operate smoothly in a workplace, especially as many workplaces tout themselves as forward-thinking, corporate-minded or on a very aggressive growth trajectory.

Technology Creates Room for Growth

HR software is seen as a grudge purchase that businesses can get by without for now, but it’s an outlay that pays off in terms of efficiency and future growth.

Modern platforms cut out the busywork, reduce human error, ensure compliance with automatically enforced policies and shared digital records, and remove time-consuming HR headaches when you scale.

Spreadsheets have value, but relying on them entirely for HR often leads to creeping costs that go unnoticed for far too long.

Business

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NewsAdmin

Don’t Confuse Small-Cap Benchmark With Small-Cap Strategy

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Entrusted with $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024, we understand that investing ultimately serves a greater purpose and believe investors should be compensated for the risks they take — in all market environments and any investment strategy. That’s why we combine robust capital markets research, expert portfolio construction and comprehensive risk management in an effort to craft innovative and efficient solutions that seek to deliver targeted investment outcomes.

As engaged contributors to our communities, we consider it a great privilege to serve our investors and our communities with integrity, respect and transparency.

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Manhattan Institute expert Adam Lehodey says NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s outreach to Wall Street leaders signals a recognition that New York cannot fund progressive priorities without keeping businesses and wealthy investors in the city.

Billionaire Citadel founder Ken Griffin is encouraging New York’s business leaders to take on socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, warning that the city’s future could be at risk if employers and investors stay quiet.

“They need to find their voice and fight for their city,” Griffin said Thursday at a Manhattan event, according to Bloomberg.

“My advice is to speak up. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? It will be that New York empties of talent and that’s a catastrophe. If the mayor wants to say a few words about you, your record speaks for itself: You create jobs, you create value and you pay taxes.”

MAMDANI’S WALL STREET COURTSHIP SPARKS CRITICISM OF ANTI-BILLIONAIRE AGENDA

A side by side photo of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Ken Griffin.

The Citadel founder is clashing with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over taxes targeting the ultra-wealthy and intensifying crime, reviving the same tensions that drove him to pull his business and billions out of Chicago. (Spencer Platt/Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images / Getty Images / Getty Images)

Griffin’s remarks mark the latest chapter in an ongoing clash between Wall Street’s billionaire class and Mamdani, whose proposals to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and luxury property owners have drawn fierce criticism from business leaders concerned about the city’s economic competitiveness.

The financial titan, whose net worth is estimated at $48.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, argued that New York’s corporate leaders should focus on the long-term future of the city rather than short-term political battles.

BILLIONAIRE KEN GRIFFIN SAYS CITADEL’S CHICAGO EXODUS WAS ‘NOT HARD,’ CITES CRIME, TAXES

“Everything should be viewed through the lens of, Citadel will be here far longer than he’ll be mayor,” Griffin said.

The comments come as Griffin and Mamdani appear to be cautiously opening a dialogue after months of public sparring over taxes, wealth and the city’s business climate.

The socialist mayor recently reached out to Griffin after previously criticizing the billionaire hedge fund manager over his Manhattan penthouse and personal wealth. Mamdani notably stood outside Griffin’s luxury property to promote his proposal to raise taxes on second homes in New York City worth more than $5 million.

CHICAGO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KEN GRIFFIN TURNS ON A CITY, NOW MAMDANI MAY FIND OUT

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “pied-a-terre” wealth tax on luxury properties ignites a contentious debate, drawing strong criticism from Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

The outreach comes as some business leaders warn New York risks alienating major employers and investors — a concern Griffin has raised before in another major American city.

The tensions have fueled concerns among some business leaders that New York could follow a path similar to Chicago, where Griffin spent years criticizing crime, taxes and public policy before moving Citadel’s headquarters to Miami in 2022. The relocation marked the departure of one of the financial industry’s most influential firms and underscored the economic impact that can follow when a major corporate player leaves a major city.

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Billionaire Ken Griffin listens to a question from an audience member at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin described New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich” video targeting him as a “creepy and weird” political advertisement. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Griffin has repeatedly pointed to Florida’s business climate as a model and warned that policies targeting high earners and businesses could make New York less competitive.

Griffin said he plans to talk to Mamdani “at some point in the months ahead.”

“Let’s see where he is on the state of policy at that time,” he said. “Actions speak louder than words.”