Sure, we also work with talented developers, coders, UX and UI professionals to build the best app in supply education.
But everything they do starts with you and ends for you. Your glowing responses (thanks, by the way). Your constructive criticism (tough, but fair play). Your input.
But thanks to your feedback, we realised we were falling short in how we communicate payment information.
Here’s what happened.
Our app doesn’t register last-minute cancellations, sickness pay, or other eleventh-hour adjustments that affect your actual pay. So this created differences between what the app communicated and what your payslip and bank account reflected.
And here’s how we fixed it.
The updated history view shows the days and hours you work and the actual amounts on your payslip. And it shows you the pay rate for each booking before and after the job starts.
“Our job is to make your life easier and better when using our platform,” said Humly Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Kristoffer Persson. “Nobody knows the challenges you face better than you, so the most important resource in building a better app will always be you,”
The updated history view simplifies things, ensuring what you see is always what you get you’re paid.
Keeping a high profile
Another one of our core values is efficiency. But with so many tasks, checks, and renewals you’re required to keep up-to-date as educators, it’s easy to lose sight of them all.
Until now.
The updated profile view gives you better control, ownership, and understanding of your data.
And by housing everything you need to keep track of post recruitment in one easy-to-access place, it makes it easier to keep on top of things.
Now, when a yearly task, such as Safeguarding, needs updating, you’ll know about it and what to do next within the app.
“Thanks to the data we get from talking and listening to educators, we’re able to grow and develop the Humly app so it always stays close to your needs. And it’s how we’ll always continue creating the best possible experience,” said Persson.
And all you need to do to get these new features is download our app update onto your mobile device.
So what’s next?
You tell us. What’s on your wish list? What can we do better?
Our doors are always open to make the Humly app what you need and more.
We’re thrilled to launch a new referral program that empowers our educators to introduce the Humly way of doing things to more people than ever before.
You see, every referral program ever designed encourages you to refer your friends. But just your friends.
Why is that?
You know people that aren’t your besties, right? Maybe they’re an acquaintance, colleague, or old-classmate. Or maybe they’re your mortal enemy, and you’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to get your sweet, sweet revenge.
The point is nobody has ever been crazy enough to encourage you to refer non-friends before…until now.
Introducing Refer a Friend or Foe
Like everything we do at Humly, Refer a Friend or Foe puts the power of choice in your hands.
You decide who your friends and foes are because you decide how the £100 bonus gets paid out:
Keep it all for yourself? Cheeky
50/50 split? Fair play
Or give it all to them? Best. Friend. Ever
And all the referred educator has to do is join Humly, work just one day of one booking, and we’ll pay out the bonus the following Friday.
Simple, right?
Only there’s a catch
And it’s a good one.
Your friend or foe will know what you chose. They’ll know if you gave them everything, split it 50/50, or kept it all for yourself.
How?
Because we’ll tell them, of course. It’s only fair that way – and so much more fun. So whether you plan to keep the bonus or just have a laugh with friends, the truth will come out.
But however you decide, the point is you get to decide.
With our referral program the power of choice is yours
Is Refer a Friend or Foe a bit subversive? Sure.
Will it destroy lifelong friendships across the UK? We hope not!
But that’s not what it’s really about.
Because we didn’t set out to just create a unique referral program. We set out to create one that embodies Humly’s purpose: Empowering you.
Underneath it all, Refer a Friend or Foe doubles down on our effort to give educators full-career control – that’s the Humly way. By putting you in charge of your work life, it helps make your life work.
Because when you get to do what’s best for you, you do what’s best for you.
How far would you travel for work? Five miles? Ten?
If you’re like most people in the UK, it’s no more than 23 miles – round trip.
But imagine a 27-mile drive to an airport, a 94-mile flight over the ocean, a half-mile trip to work, and then all the way back – 240 miles in total.
Sounds like a schedule of a high-powered CEO or an actor shooting on location, doesn’t it? But not this time. Not even close.
Because this is the story of a brilliant nursery educator from Portsmouth who sacrificed time at home, time with friends and family, to do one of the most important jobs in the world – educating children.
This is the story of nursery nurse Millie Smales.
One of everything
Nearly 100 miles south of the UK lies the much smaller Channel Island of Alderney, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
It’s tiny.
Its population is around 2,000. And it’s less than two miles long or wide. Alderney is one of those stunning, picturesque places where they have everything you’d ever need – but usually just one of them.
One chippy.
One pharmacy.
One post office.
Twenty-four restaurants and pubs (definitely still the UK).
One nursery responsible for helping to grow and develop the children of this stunning sea-on-every-side community. But in early January, this tiny-island nursery had a big problem. They needed a qualified nursery nurse – only none lived on Alderney.
So Humming Bees called Georgina Rogers at Humly South East in Hampshire to help find one.
Nursery Nurse Number 41
Georgina is a Humly sales consultant. She’s who schools and nurseries call when they need brilliant supply educators, and she’s responsible for making this entire story happen.
Only, it almost didn’t.
The director of Humming Bees asked Humly to find a supply nursery nurse whilst they began recruiting for a permanent replacement. “They knew it was a big ask and were prepared to pay for flights from Southampton to Alderney plus offer free accommodation at their on-site guest house. I explained we’d never supplied to the Channel Islands before but that it wouldn’t stop us from giving it a go,” said Rogers
Free flight, free accommodation, plus island living – you’d think this would be the easiest booking ever, right?
Wrong.
“I asked about 40 qualified nursery nurses who all lived close to Southampton Airport. But they all said no because of either family or other work commitments,” said Rogers.
Yet all hope wasn’t lost.
“Almost all of the nursery nurses said this was a brilliant opportunity,” said Rogers.
Georgina knew this was an amazing opportunity. She just needed the right person with the right flexibility. She needed Millie Smales, aka nursery nurse number 41.
“Millie was perfect. She’s young, lived with her parents, and had the freedom and commitment to do this. And I arranged for the Humming Bees Nursery Director to fly into Southampton to meet and escort Millie back to Alderney,” said Rogers.
Georgina went above and beyond for Humming Bees and for Millie. That’s the Humly way.
But Millie’s willingness to leave home, do the job, and ensure these children get the education they deserve sets her apart.
And it’s why we had to have a chat with her.
Meet Nursery Nurse Millie Smales
Humly
Let’s start with the question we ask all our teachers and nursery nurses: Why did you become an educator?
Millie
I’d done work experience in nurseries as part of my health and social care course back in college and really enjoyed them a lot! And after I tried a year at uni, I realised my passion was in childcare. So I started an apprenticeship.
Humly
And how did you come to work with us at Humly?
Millie
I’d been working abroad for a while, and when I returned home, I wanted to get back into nurseries and found Humly on Google last November. I like the flexibility of supply work. You get to experience multiple locations and find the right fit and role for you.
Humly
Can you explain the mechanics of this experience? How often do you fly back and forth from Alderney to home?
Millie
Initially, I was only here for a week, so I flew in on a Sunday and then flew back that Friday afternoon. I then came back to work for two weeks, which got extended for a month. I was able to fly home, see family, and stock up on the things I’d need to live and work for a longer time frame. In total, I flew back and forth about five times since January.
Humly
How hard is it to be away from home, family and friends unexpectedly like this? This wasn’t a job you set out to do. It came to you.
Millie
I would say my main personal sacrifice in all of this has been not seeing my family. We’re very close. So it’s definitely been an adjustment for us, but we do our best to keep in touch regularly.
Humly
It’s interesting that you mention sacrifice. Because a sacrifice is what you make for something bigger than yourself, the greater good. And one of the things we talk about at Humly is the global educator shortage. Where up to 69 million classrooms and nurseries won’t have an educator by 2030. You wouldn’t think of this happening in the UK, but with a small locale like Alderney, it can and did. And without you, these children wouldn’t have someone to help them grow and develop. Has this experience changed your perspective on education and its vital importance?
Millie
Definitely – being on this island where Humming Bees is the only under-two childcare provider, it’s so important that these children get the socialisation of being in a nursery with other children and getting the necessary level of care from myself and the nursery team. We constantly give them new opportunities and experiences, which are so vital to their development at this crucial age.
Humly
After going through these months of working and sacrificing your time away from home but making a real difference in the lives of Alderney’s children, what are your biggest takeaways?
Millie
The best thing about this experience has definitely been working with such lovely children. But I can’t say enough about working with the brilliant Humming Bees nursery team. They’ve been so helpful, gracious, and welcoming throughout this amazing opportunity. And, of course, experiencing and exploring Alderney has been wonderful. I’d never even heard of it before coming here, but it is such a beautiful place to call home.
Millie Smale’s less-than-two-mile commute
It didn’t take long for Humming Bees to realise how amazing Millie is as an educator. That’s why they stopped recruiting for a permanent replacement – they had already found her.
“This opportunity was only meant to be for four weeks. But it kept getting extended and extended until they offered me the full-time deputy manager role – and I took it. I’ve grown to love living in Alderney and working at Humming Bees with my amazing children and team. And I’m excited to grow professionally, as I have never been in a management position before,” said Smales.
And while Millie’s story amazes us, it doesn’t surprise us at all. Not one bit.
Because Millie’s story is the educator’s story. It’s your story.
It demonstrates how you’ll go above and beyond for your job because it’s not just a job – it’s your calling. And whether you travel 240 miles or 2.4 miles, the real distance that matters is how far you’ll go to make a difference and improve the lives of the children you educate.
And it’s why Humly’s proud to be there with you – every step of the way.
But keep reading, and you’ll see how we back up every word of it.
Our latest update allows any educator applying to Humly to now find, choose, and even book long-term jobs during your recruitment. Meaning you can book your first job before we’ve hired you.
Our Proof is the Pudding
For supply educators, you never really know what kinds of opportunities are out there for you. You pick a supply agency (or five), cross your fingers, and hope they’ll have enough consistent work for you. And you’re forced to hope because they don’t show you all the jobs you could book.
That’s not how Humly works.
The Humly way is about empowering you. Giving you complete choice, complete transparency, and complete say in your career. And with this update, that starts before we’ve even hired you.
You don’t have to hope there will be great opportunities for you. You can simply see them for yourself. Our proof isn’t in the pudding, it is the pudding.
The Details
After downloading our app, just click on the Find jobs tab to see all long-term opportunities and apply for the available jobs you want. You’ll still need to finish your recruitment to keep these bookings and also to unlock access to all of our available short-term jobs.
We think you should know what you’re signing up for before you sign-up for it. But this access also helps you get used to the Humly way of doing things, so you’re ready once you’re through recruitment.
You can use more features sooner, set up your profile and preferences right away, add your profile picture, and get familiar with the other app features.
The Bigger Picture
But what we love most about this change is that it goes against the way things work. And how they’ve always worked. Which, to us, usually means it goes towards the way things should work. The way things need to work to work best for the people who do all of the work.
You.
Why force you to wait a single second – or for an interview, or for references to clear, or background checks, or all the steps you have to take before you can start working – to see all the opportunities available to you right now?
Finding and booking Long-term jobs is now easier than ever
At Humly, we always work to improve how we empower our educators.
That’s why we’ve built six strategic hubs across the UK to grow our footprint and the network of schools and nurseries where our educators find work. And it’s why we constantly update our revolutionary app to make it easier, better, and simpler for our educators to find the best work.
That’s why Humly is the next generation of supply education. We focus on what’s next. We build what’s next. Then we make what’s next, what’s now.
Well, it’s now again.
“When we update our app, it’s to solve user problems, improve usability, and to create a smooth digital experience. The new Long-term job update does it all. It simplifies how our educators find these great opportunities,” said Humly Head of Product Kristoffer Persson.
We’ve just made it simpler and faster for our educators, or anyone who wants to join the Humly revolution, to find and book the Long-term jobs they want.
Here’s how.
How the new update works for you
Update: To access the new feature, first update the Humly app via the App Store or Google Play.
Activation: Then switch on Long-term jobs and Permanent jobs within your Work Preferences.
Navigation: Press the Find Jobs tab in the bottom menu, and you will now see the earliest available Long-term job at the top, plus a view all button underneath. Short-term jobs are listed below this.
Design details: The job details view has an updated and simplified look and feel, including job title, hours, pay rate and location, all within a sleek visual card. And the new user experience dynamic makes finding and booking Long-term jobs straightforward.
Contact info: We’ve also added a quick access Humly contact menu within the process. Simply press the email icon to get in touch.
One downside of supply education has always been the lack of guaranteed work. It’s simply the nature of supply. But with Humly’s revolutionary platform we’re making that downside more and more nonexistent.
Our educators can already find every available job that fits their preferences and schedule the moment they become available. And with this new update, we’ve made it easier to find and book long-term roles that help our educators find the guaranteed work they want.
“We believe this update makes it easier for our educators to find and book longer-term jobs. It signposts them to relevant, local opportunities. And it simplifies the steps for them to get the information they need to book them,” said Humly UX Designer Hanna White.
Being the next generation of supply education goes beyond simply creating and building the best supply company, the best technology and the best tools – though that bit is a lot of fun. It’s really about why we built it all in the first place – to help make nursery practitioners and teachers as important as the job itself.
We’re not just building the next generation of supply education. We’re building a better generation.
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