Helping our clients makes us feel good, but knowing the part we play in their admin gives them extra resources to serve the community is even better. It amplifies the positive impact and the benefit that great technology has on busy teams. Cornerstone Property Group are a stand-out client, based in Kent, whose team are working hard to keep people in safe and secure housing during uncertain times.
We spoke recently to George Buckland, Head of Temporary Accommodation & Property Management, about the great work that they do, and how Leave Dates has helped them to cut down on unnecessary and manual processing to free up more time and resources for the critical support they provide.
They do really, really great work at Cornerstone, and so this was a lovely conversation and a humbling reminder that the things you do at work have ripple effects that span farther and have greater impact than you might imagine when you’re checking through emails with your morning cuppa.
Table of Contents
- Who are Cornerstone?
- How does it work?
- Efficient HR management means new staff members – bigger team = bigger impact!
Who are Cornerstone?
Founded in 2015, Cornerstone are a temporary accommodation provider based in Kent. They provide supported and emergency accommodation for people experiencing a crisis, or those at risk of homelessness for a whole range of reasons, from housing insecurity to individuals and families fleeing domestic abuse. This accommodation could be anything from a short-term room in shared accomodation, to a four-bed home for a family.
To simplify what is a broad and holistic service, Cornerstone rent properties from private landlords and manage them on their behalf, subletting to various council in the Kent region who make them available to their clients. They guarantee the rents to the landlords, even if the property is empty – though as we learned, this is rarely the case.
How does it work?
It’s a relationship-based business, relying on its personable, committed and hardworking team to build and nurture strong relationships with residents, local councils and landlords alike. It’s testament to their skill in this regard that, after the initial work to persuade a landlord to let them one property, often they’ll end up with double-figure portfolios and long-term partnerships. It’s a win-win for everybody – “the landlords know they’re going to get their money; we know we’ve got a property for a client who needs it.”
While Cornerstone is a private company and not a charity, compassion and goodwill run right to the heart of everything they do, the people they employ and the way they approach their work. This is critical when dealing with people who are typically new to the area and have very often been through a trauma or are under a lot of stress.
In early 2024, Cornerstone introduced a visiting officer to their team who checks in with residents, dropping off food parcels, moving packs and connecting them with any further support services they might need or signposting relevant charities. None of this is covered by the council who pay for the service, “that’s just out of our own pockets.” They do this simply because “that extra bit of help makes a massive difference.”
They brought someone in for this role, despite still being a small team of less than ten, because “about 18 months ago, we noticed a decline in people’s mental health and decided to get someone in to help in dealing with sensitive cases. But we think it’s benefitted everyone.”
This compassionate attitude is returned in kind. George says that their tenants show a lot of respect to the properties and the staff: “We’re going round to help them out, so they give it back – they do their bit.” They’ve seen huge improvements since incorporating the visiting officer role, and expect this to increase over time. It’s meant fewer complaints and questions from clients, which has taken lots of pressure off of the office staff, enabling them to spend more time working to increase their portfolio of properties. More properties mean more people can be housed, so the impact Cornerstone can have increases.
“You have to be very reactive, but it’s enjoyable. We’re giving people who are going through a really hard time, a bit of a leg up. You feel like you’re helping people out. It feels good.”
Efficient HR management means new staff members – bigger team = bigger impact!
In the current trying economic times, it will be no surprise to learn that things are busier than ever at Cornerstone. “We’re full all the time. We’re hitting between 95-97% occupancy every month, and the only reason anything is empty is because there’s work going on.
It’s a bit of an odd one, because in some senses this isn’t a business you want to get busier.” But busy they are – and they need more properties. With more properties will be a higher demand for staff. And clearly, they’ve got much better things to be doing with their time than messing around with leave request forms and unnecessary HR admin.
Though things are busy and demand is high, this doesn’t make Cornerstone immune from increasing costs. Rental costs in particular have skyrocketed, as well as the insurances required to guarantee rents. Because of this, they’re running on a small but agile team and efficiency is a top priority.
“Leave Dates works perfectly for us. Our team can be quite spread out – we’ve got engineers out on the road and a core team in the office but we’re still popping out on emergencies and often you can’t get hold of someone or don’t know if they’re in. It’s ideal to have something that you can check so that you always know who’s where.”
It was George who first discovered and reached out to us at Leave Dates. “I joined the company in 2021 and took over the holiday calendar – all we had it on was an Excel sheet. I found Leave Dates, thought it was a really fair price, not expensive at all. It was so simple to set up and use from the start; it just makes it so easy for everyone.
You don’t have to ask 20 questions every time you want to book a day off or a holiday, you can just book it – using the mobile app if you’re out on the road – and know there’s a record. Managing an Excel spreadsheet was completely unsustainable.”
The Excel spreadsheet – or, worse, the paper diary – is a common customer origin story for us at Leave Dates. Frankly, all businesses have better things to be doing with their time, and nowhere is this clearer than at Cornerstone.
“We just want to provide a great service to our clients, make sure they’re happy and safe in a property, but also support the local authority and provide a good service to the landlords whose properties we manage.”
A noble aim, and one they are no doubt achieving – as they won ‘Best Family-Owned Business’ in the 2024 Gravesham Business Awards .
We never cease to be amazed by the wide range of incredible things our clients do, and we’re so proud to be even a small part of that. Great business relies on great tech, and this just goes to show how even a regular day in the office can be having a positive impact in entirely unknown or unexpected ways somewhere down the client line.
In the busy and reactive world of emergency housing, adaptability is essential. Simple leave management, being in many ways a low-priority task for such a business, is critical to overall efficiency and invaluable for workforce planning – which, in a volatile environment, must be seamless.
Leave Dates provides Cornerstone with real-time visibility of staff availability, enabling proper allocation of resources and unbroken coverage – essential, in emergency situations.
It’s not nice to think about, but many in our community are only a few bad months away from facing homeless, and the service Cornerstone provides is essential in keeping people – including families and children – off the streets when bad times hit.
Without piggybacking on their hard work and amazing contribution, we’re just super proud to be involved in even this small way, and we’ll be doing our admin with a spring in our step today!
Do you have a success story you would like to share? We'd love to hear it. Contact our team via LinkedIn to be part of our next customer success story.
Author
Che Thornbury
Ché manages our marketing, communications and partnerships. She helps people find Leave Dates and make sure it is right for them. Her favourite weekly task is sending thank you messages to customers who review us.
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