Chester Racecourse
“PARiM has helped our team manage
the large staffing requirements needed across all
of our departments and has proven vital in our
recruitment process.” Jack Mitchell, Chester Race Company’s Group
Recruitment Manager
Chester Race Company Ltd is a dynamic, constantly evolving organisation with an ever expanding portfolio. Established in 1539, Chester Racecourse last year celebrated 480 years of racing on the Roodee and is now officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Oldest Racecourse in the world still in operation.
Chester is in fact a 365 days’ a year operation, attracting over 330,000 visitors annually at race day fixtures and non-race day events. Recognised as a leader in its field, Chester Racecourse consistently pushes boundaries to ensure the racecourse product delivers the optimum experience and opportunities for visiting horsemen and the general public.
The racecourse has consistently been awarded the Gold Standard Award by the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA), since the award’s inception in 2008 and was awarded the prestigious title of Large Racecourse of the Year, when the award was launched in 2015 and again in 2018 and 2019.
Comparably, Bangor-on-Dee was for the first time awarded Small Racecourse of the Year in 2018 (having first shared the accolade in 2017 with Musselburgh), in addition to Gold Standard status for the third year running.(having first shared the accolade in 2017 with Musselburgh), in addition to Gold Standard status for the third year running.
The value that PARiM brings to the table
Jack Mitchell, Chester Race Company’s Group Recruitment Manager, says: “We were previously operating using excel spreadsheets, emails and social media, so adopting and integrating PARiM into our staffing process was a crucial step forward. So far, PARiM has helped our team manage the large staffing requirements needed across all of our departments and has proven vital in our recruitment process.
When we used it to staff the 2019 Boodles May Festival, we had around 1500 staff and contractors on site each day. Having PARiM made it easier to communicate, monitor attendance and ensure an accurate clocking in and out system.
The use of PARiM in terms of payroll has made the process a lot smoother. Staff can now access their app and see how much they’re scheduled to be paid as well as the signed-off timesheets approved by supervisors. By having the ability to assign Location Supervisors and having them confirm staff hours, it saves a lot of time and paperwork for our payroll department.
The Event Module is great for our staffing coordinators. Rather than phoning staff to fill shifts, they can easily accept any applications made by the staff and communicate through PARiM’s messaging platform. Another bonus is being able to see at a glance how many positions are left to be filled by adjusting the many filters provided.
PARiM is always evolving and moving forwards – releasing new features and functionality. At present we are trialling the new Rate Matrix version and are able to give feedback. The team at PARiM are very helpful and do their best to ensure any features we ask for are fulfilled and appear on future updates.