I’m Patrick Gentry, Co-founder, and CEO of Sprout Solutions, a SaaS company that continues to transform businesses in the Philippines. We have created a people-centric HR as well as a benefits platform that’s tailor-made for the Philippine market.
Prior to Sprout, I took on different roles that brought me to different places: from being an environmental consultant in Canada to being an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley in California to meeting my wife in the Philippines where I have lived for the past 14 years.
It was in 2015 when I and my wife started Sprout Solutions as it was borne out of the HR pain points that I experienced in KMC Solutions, where I was one of the founding shareholders. Much like our name “Sprout,” our humble beginnings eventually led to not just our growth, but the businesses we have impacted as well. From just HR and payroll, we have grown into a holistic HR ecosystem that brings a 360-degree people experience.
Since then, we have leveraged technology as we continue to bring forward paradigm-changing solutions to the HR industry and empower HR professionals and their companies.
How Sprout Solutions Began
During my stay in the Philippines, I was one of the founding shareholders of KMC Solutions, the country’s leading serviced office and staff leasing provider. As we continued to grow and expand, the problems when it comes to HR and payroll became more and more evident.
We really felt the need to automate payroll and timekeeping in order to scale, and there were no solutions in the market that fit our needs; so we built a tool, which later evolved into Sprout Solutions. When our company started, we focused on two core products: HR and Payroll!
See Also: GetResponse – Brand Story by Simon Grabowski (Founder & CEO)
Sprout Becomes the First People Platform in the Philippines
Together with my wife, we had to determine what our purpose was in creating Sprout Solutions.
- Why do we want to help Filipino businesses?
- Why do we want to address such pain points?
- Why should businesses go for our solutions?
- What problems are we addressing?
- How do we address such pain points?
- How can we further help people in businesses?
Thus, our North Star was born, which is to impact the lives of every Filipino by improving business in the Philippines. From just addressing a problem of one company, there was an eventual ripple effect wherein our solutions also brought value to other companies.
When the pandemic hit, Sprout stepped in to help businesses in the Philippines cope with unprecedented changes and address their HR pain points. As a people platform, the Sprout ecosystem was able to be there for businesses when they needed it the most—from recruitment to timekeeping to the wellness of their employees. We continue to empower businesses in the Philippines by making them ready for the future of work!
Our two core products, HR and Payroll, evolved into a complete ecosystem that provides 360-degree people experience to employers and companies. The Sprout Mobile App allows employees to conveniently clock in and out of work wherever they are, check their payslips, and see their digital biologs in real-time—all at the tip of their fingers!
- Sprout Insight is a powerful business insights tool that makes use of data from the company’s HR and Payroll! Customized reports provide these companies with actionable insights to be the best they can be.
- Sprout Pulse makes use of powerful data to improve employee engagement in the workplace! This leads to strengthening the connection between employers and employees, having access to effective tools to improve employee engagement, and gathering insights to cultivate and stimulate change and innovation.
- Sprout Performance+ allows companies to have the best of both worlds! By combining both performance and learning management systems, employees get to have accurate appraisals and receive training that elevates their core competencies and performance.
- Manatal simplifies the hiring process by providing a complete applicant tracking system; thus, saving valuable time and resources for companies as they look for top talent.
- Sprout Wellness has five components that provide a holistic approach to wellness. Companies get to address their employees’ mental health concerns through one-on-one with a professional psychologist, yoga sessions, and more.
Our North Star is built upon improving the lives of people, that’s why in order to understand them, we continuously listen to their needs and motivations. Such an impact manifests through the positive changes we see in our clients and their employees.
A Digitized Future for HR
In these unprecedented times, the sudden shift in the work setup has led businesses to realize their respective HR pain points such as having to manually file and process their timekeeping and payroll. We, at Sprout, believe that digitization is imminent, and in our efforts to bring paradigm-shifting solutions to businesses in the Philippines, we want to provide them with the solutions to make the HR process easier through automation.
You May Like: Brafton – Brand Story by Tom Agnew (Founder & CEO)
Our core products, HR and Payroll, eventually became the Sprout ecosystem, which has delved into different facets that would make a great impact on the lives of people. From Sprout Wellness, which addresses the mental well-being of employees through different sessions and activities, to InstaCash, a salary advance benefits tool that has helped thousands of users by having access to emergency funds, we continue to provide tailor-made solutions to the unique needs of the market.
As we gradually enter the post-pandemic world, we see the benefits of digitized HR processes as not only a business’s competitive advantage, but their work-life integration will improve as well. If there’s anything the shift in the working setup has taught us, it’s that by placing value on employee well-being and work-life integration, we get to take care of employees no matter the distance.
