How eSight saves hours onboarding with Collage
Focus on people, not paperwork
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eSight Eyewear is a mission-driven tech company that enables the legally blind to actually see. With campuses in Toronto and Ottawa, the company has doubled to 90 employees in the past year and plans to double again soon.
With so many new faces joining the team, eSight needed to change the focus from paperwork to people and culture. Hereâs how they streamlined their onboarding and HR management to save hours of paperwork per employee.
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It seems like the hottest topic in HR today is developing âpeople and cultureâ. But few businesses know what that actually means or how to do it.
There are a few reasons why. For one, developing people and culture is unique for every single organization. Also, and perhaps more importantly, it takes time.
Time that the average HR managerâoverloaded with paperwork and employee requestsâsimply doesnât have.
So how can you get on board the People and Culture train without working 80-hour weeks or going plain mad? By cutting down hours spent on tedious, time-consuming tasks. Like HR paperwork, for example.
Thatâs exactly how eSightâs Sarah Crandlemire changed her focus (and her title) from Office Manager/HR Coordinator to Manager, People and Culture within just one year of implementing Collage.
Hereâs how she did it.
Step one: Assess the situation
When Sarah first joined eSight in April 2016, the companyâs HR was plagued by a lack of structure and process.
âEmployee records were stored on Google Drive or in physical folders, and vacation was tracked via email and spreadsheets from Ottawa,â she explains. Having to go back and forth or search through emails wasnât just impractical, it was taking up hours of her time.
Realizing this, Sarah focused on establishing core HR functions early-on. âI started researching an HRIS within four months of being here,â she says. âWe signed up with Collage early and it ended up being one of the best things we implemented last year.â
âWe signed up with Collage early and it ended up being one of the best things we implemented last year.â
Step two: Overhaul onboarding
âShaping culture starts with bringing in the right people from the right backgrounds, so thatâs the first thing Iâm working on,â explains Sarah.
For interviews, eSight uses a structured interview process, which has become even more important as they grow and hire faster than ever.
âWe have specific questions that we ask every single candidate, no matter what level you are entering the organization,â she explains. âEveryone in the eSight family [how we refer to our team] is extremely empathetic, hardworking, and mission-driven. We just have to build on that as we grow and keep adding the right people with the right skill sets.â
Efficient onboarding is the crucial next step.
Roughly 20% of the eSight family use their product, meaning they are legally blind. Itâs part of the companyâs mission to level the playing field and hire diverse individuals from all walks of life. Whether legally blind or not, each new hire has a lot to learn about the companyâs core values, customer base, and specialized product.
âWith digital onboarding, we can focus the first day on training and accommodation instead of all this paperwork. Thatâs completely changed from our old process and saves me around two hours of admin work for every new employee.â
â[Digital onboarding] Â saves me around two hours of admin work for every new employee.â
âIt used to be me going through all these paper forms, signing off on group benefits, and then manually putting it all into Google Docs. Now thatâs been fully removed and taken care of by Collage even before day one,â explains Sarah.
âFrom the new hireâs point of view, if it helps make their first impression of us a good one, thatâs already a huge win.â
ââŠif it helps make their first impression of us a good one, thatâs already a huge win.â
Step Three: Tackle Time Off
eSightâs manual process for tracking time off was also chipping away at Sarahâs time.
âHalf the time I didnât know where employees were. After we got to a certain size as a company, I couldnât manage the emails. There were just too many cracks.â
Now, employees can request vacation and sick leave through their employee portals, and everything is automatically tracked and calculated.
âAnother feature we really like is that when someone takes a sick day, it appears on their calendar. Itâs helped us with transparency and reducing emails just asking âwhere is so-and-so today?ââ
Finally: Focus on People and Culture
In August, Sarah officially took on the role of Manager, People and Culture. âThis is something Iâve been moving towards, and as our company grew, there became more demand and need for it.â
By spending less time on paperwork and vacation tracking, she can focus on what really matters: âweâre adding more structure, incorporating more traditions, putting the right people in place and growing their skills.â
In short: developing people and culture.

Whatâs next for the fast-growing company?
Determining HR metrics, including metrics for company culture and performance management, are on the roadmap. eSight also plans to double again in the next year, meaning more employee records and requests than ever. Luckily, that wonât mean more time-consuming work for Sarah.
âThe feature that people have commented on the most is that you have the chat option. It takes the onus off of me to answer every HR question. It also gives them more ownership. If they want privacy, they can direct their health benefit or other HR questions directly to Collage.â
âEveryone in the eSight family is extremely empathetic, hardworking, and mission-driven. We just have to build on that as we grow.â
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Thanks to Sarah Crandlemire and the eSight team for their time and support!
To learn more about eSightâs breakthrough technology â either for yourself or a loved one â visit eSight Eyewear online. If youâre an organization who wants to help level the playing field, either by employing or pledging to employ an individual living with vision loss, contact outreach@esighteyewear.com