Ranch Ehrlo Society

Ranch Ehrlo Society began with a single decision in 1966, when Dr. Geoff Pawson opened a group home in Saskatchewan for six boys who needed a chance to be understood, counselled, and supported. Nearly six decades later, that first home has grown into one of Canada's most established non-profit providers of youth and family developmental services, supporting 260 families, youth, and adults across Saskatchewan through a network of programs spanning group living, family treatment, foster care, affordable housing, counselling services, inner-city recreation, and independent education.

The organization's work is rarely straightforward. "Most people come to the Ranch with a history of complex trauma, including abuse, neglect, violence, addiction, and poverty," says Malcolm Neill, Vice President of Strategy & Organizational Development. Malcolm has been with Ranch Ehrlo since 1988, playing an instrumental role in shaping the organization into what it is today.

"People do as well as they can," he adds. "And if they can't do well, part of our treatment goal is to change the environment, work on the relationships, and get them involved in positive activities so they can succeed."

With workforce management issues affecting every level of the organization, Ranch Ehrlo approached the decision by asking a simple question: what do the people doing the work actually need?

"They wanted to be able to flip into an app, ask for time off, switch shifts, and adjust things in a much more intuitive way with their thumbs," shares Malcolm.

But the solution couldn't only serve frontline staff. Scheduling managers needed to build and edit shifts quickly, with access to live employee data on labour costs, work hours, variances, and qualifications. The platform had to work for direct care workers, residential managers, and head office teams alike.

The final and arguably most important requirement was integration. Ranch Ehrlo needed their new system to connect directly with UKG (formerly UltiPro), which they use for HR and payroll, so timesheet and employee data could flow seamlessly between systems with nothing ever out of sync.

To support people in crisis, the people doing the supporting need the right tools. Ranch Ehrlo recognized this and partnered with Tanda to strengthen its operations at every level, from executive visibility down to the direct care workers handling night shifts in residential programs.

"We're much nimbler now in making sure that if children need more support, we know how to allocate staff to help them," says Malcolm.

Since going live on Tanda, Ranch Ehrlo has continued delivering the same quality of care, now without the administrative friction that used to get in the way.