Sydney, Australia & Boston, USA – LEAP Legal Software, a leading global provider of cloud-based legal practice management solutions, has reported transformative results from its eight-year partnership with Workable, a sophisticated applicant tracking system (ATS). The company, which serves small law firms across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, has not only streamlined its global hiring processes but has also achieved a remarkable 100% internal referral rate for all U.S. hires over the past year, alongside substantial time and cost savings. This success story highlights the critical role of agile, innovative HR technology in enabling rapidly scaling organizations to optimize talent acquisition and foster a strategic approach to growth.
The Genesis of a Global Legal Tech Leader
Founded in Australia more than three decades ago, LEAP Legal Software has evolved from a regional innovator into a formidable international presence, employing approximately 900 individuals worldwide. Its core offering, a cloud-based practice management solution, empowers small law firms with tools for enhanced efficiency and client service. This impressive growth trajectory has naturally necessitated a robust and adaptable human resources infrastructure, particularly for its operations spanning key markets like Australia, the UK, and the US.
The company’s US arm, responsible for crucial support, sales, client success, and implementation roles, operates under the stewardship of Susanne Poole, who manages a comprehensive portfolio encompassing people, recruitment, and culture. Poole’s experience mirrors that of many HR leaders in burgeoning technology companies: often, she has operated as a "team of one," shouldering the immense responsibility of maintaining a high-functioning hiring engine while simultaneously managing a myriad of other HR functions. This context underscores the imperative for efficient and intuitive tools that can amplify the impact of a lean HR department. LEAP’s journey with Workable commenced in December 2018, a strategic decision that has since paralleled the company’s sustained expansion.
Navigating the Pre-Workable Recruitment Landscape
Prior to its adoption of Workable, LEAP’s recruitment efforts were managed through a module integrated within its existing Human Resources Information System (HRIS). While technically functional, this system presented significant operational hurdles, creating friction at virtually every stage of the hiring lifecycle. The interface was widely regarded as clunky and unintuitive, a common complaint for generic HRIS modules not specialized in talent acquisition. A critical flaw was its inability to automatically disseminate communications to hiring managers. This forced Susanne Poole into a constant cycle of manual follow-ups, physically tracking down individuals, and issuing repeated reminders to ensure candidate feedback was collected and processes advanced. For a solitary HR professional overseeing the recruitment for a rapidly expanding organization, such an administrative burden was unsustainable, diverting valuable time from strategic initiatives to reactive administrative tasks.
Furthermore, the system’s job board access was severely limited. It lacked the capacity to distribute job postings with the volume and breadth required by a dynamic technology company seeking diverse talent pools. This constraint was particularly acute for LEAP, an organization with multi-country operations, where reaching candidates across distinct geographic markets with varied labor dynamics was essential. The inefficiencies inherent in this system directly hampered LEAP’s ability to scale effectively and maintain a competitive edge in talent acquisition. As Poole reflected on that period, she emphasized the critical need for change: “I needed our recruitment to be much more efficient and I needed it to be able to talk to the recruiting managers around the business instantly. We struggled with our previous system in doing that.” The limitations posed by the legacy system were not merely inconveniences; they represented a significant bottleneck to LEAP’s strategic growth ambitions.
The Strategic Imperative: Why Workable Emerged as the Preferred Solution
When LEAP embarked on the search for an alternative talent acquisition platform in 2018, the company was in a vigorous startup phase, experiencing rapid scaling. Financial considerations were a genuine factor in the decision-making process, which naturally precluded some of the more expensive, larger enterprise platforms from consideration. However, the choice extended far beyond mere economics. As a technology company, LEAP sought a platform that mirrored its own identity: smart, innovative, and inherently intuitive. Susanne Poole specifically looked for a solution that would integrate seamlessly into existing workflows without demanding extensive change management or a steep learning curve for hiring managers across its diverse global footprint. The objective was to empower these managers, who already juggled demanding roles, to actively participate in the hiring process without being bogged down by complex software.
Workable distinguished itself from the outset, impressing the LEAP team during its initial demonstration. Poole recalled the immediate impression: “Workable felt like it had its finger on the pulse. It spoke to what we needed and it was just smart. And Workable has always really delivered on that.” Key functionalities that resonated with LEAP’s specific needs included Workable’s robust people search capabilities and its multi-board job distribution feature. These were particularly crucial given LEAP’s requirement to hire across different geographies, each possessing distinct talent pools and job markets. The ability to centrally manage both UK and US hiring from a single, unified platform, rather than operating disparate, parallel systems, was precisely the streamlined solution the organization required to maintain consistency and efficiency across its international operations.
A Seamless Transition: Implementation and Organizational Adoption
The rollout of Workable across LEAP’s global organization was, in Susanne Poole’s estimation, remarkably straightforward and free of significant friction. To facilitate adoption, Poole disseminated intuitive learning videos to hiring managers and conducted a limited series of targeted workshops to onboard teams. This process, devoid of the typical disruptions associated with new software implementations, was a testament to Workable’s user-centric design. At the time, LEAP comprised between 500 and 600 employees, a scale at which frictionless rollouts are far from guaranteed. The inherent intuitiveness of the Workable platform proved to be the decisive factor, enabling rapid assimilation.
Poole recounted the ease with which the system was embraced: “People weren’t confused by what we were trying to get out of it. They embraced it quickly. I don’t recall this giving us any hiccups.” This immediate and widespread adoption was not coincidental; it was the direct outcome of a platform engineered to be accessible and functional for individuals who are not professional recruiters. Workable was designed to meet hiring managers—who have their own primary responsibilities and limited patience for overly complex software—precisely where they are, providing a user experience that empowers rather than hinders their participation in the talent acquisition process.
Transformative Outcomes: Data-Driven Success and Strategic Impact
The shift to Workable yielded immediate and measurable operational benefits for LEAP. During the company’s period of rapid scaling, the previous system’s demands for constant chasing, reminding, and manual coordination of feedback had consumed an inordinate amount of Susanne Poole’s work week. With Workable automating critical functions such as communications, pipeline reminders, and candidate status updates, this administrative overhead largely vanished. Poole vividly recalled the impact: “Easily about 20 hours a week back in 2018. There was so much chasing because we didn’t have a system that spoke to everyone and kept everyone honest.” This significant reclamation of time, equivalent to half a full-time work week, allowed Poole and her lean HR team to redirect their efforts toward higher-value, strategic work. This included focusing on candidate quality, engaging in more strategic hiring conversations with department heads, and proactively building robust talent pipelines—initiatives that ultimately reduced LEAP’s reliance on external recruiters across numerous role categories.
The impact of Workable is clearly reflected in LEAP’s key performance indicators (KPIs) for talent acquisition:
- Time Savings: An approximate saving of 20 hours per week during peak hiring periods. This elimination of manual administrative tasks enabled LEAP’s lean HR team to operate at a significantly larger scale, focusing on strategic talent initiatives rather than operational minutiae. The value of 20 hours per week, when converted to a full-time equivalent, represents a substantial operational efficiency gain, allowing resources to be reallocated to business-critical functions.
- Internal Referrals: A remarkable 100% of hires for US operations over the past 12 months were sourced through internal referrals. This metric underscores a deliberate and highly effective talent strategy, leveraging the existing workforce as a primary conduit for high-quality talent, significantly powered by Workable’s integrated referral functionality. Industry data consistently shows that referred candidates tend to have higher retention rates, faster time-to-productivity, and better cultural fit, making this a profound strategic advantage.
- Time to Hire: LEAP consistently achieves an average time to hire of 4 weeks. This metric, which measures the period from initial application to job offer acceptance, indicates a highly efficient and predictable hiring cycle. In a competitive market, a swift time to hire can be a critical differentiator, enabling LEAP to secure top talent before competitors.
- Time to Fill: The average time to fill a position stands at 6 weeks. This metric, encompassing the entire candidate journey from job posting to the new employee’s start date, demonstrates LEAP’s ability to manage a comprehensive hiring pipeline within a single, integrated platform. Consistent time-to-fill across a global organization ensures operational continuity and minimizes revenue loss due to vacant positions.
- External Recruiter Spend: External recruiter spend has been entirely eliminated for operational and support roles. Workable’s effectiveness in consistently delivering qualified candidates through its various sourcing channels, particularly its referral engine, has eradicated the need for costly agency dependencies. Given that agency fees can range from 15% to 25% of an annual salary per hire, this represents a substantial and ongoing financial saving for LEAP, compounding across multiple hires and markets.
- Global Reach: Workable has been adopted across LEAP’s operations in Australia, the UK, and the US, providing a unified solution for hiring across six countries and supporting a workforce of 900 employees. This global standardization ensures consistency in hiring practices, compliance, and reporting across diverse regulatory and cultural landscapes, a critical feature for a truly international enterprise.
A Referral Strategy That Truly Works
One of the most profound impacts observed at LEAP has been the success of its internal referral program. Over the past 12 months, every single hire for LEAP’s US operations has originated from an internal referral. This achievement is not coincidental; it is the direct result of a meticulously crafted talent strategy, built on the inherent strength of the organization’s existing workforce and seamlessly supported by Workable’s dedicated referral functionality. Rather than adopting a scattergun approach of flooding job boards with postings and sifting through vast numbers of applications for operational and support roles, Susanne Poole implemented a more discerning strategy. This involved trusting the internal network, leveraging Workable to efficiently manage the referral pipeline, and prioritizing candidates recommended by individuals who already possessed a deep understanding of LEAP’s culture and operational demands.
Poole articulated this deliberate pivot: “To the point where I don’t even post the role on the job boards at the moment. We took a very deliberate approach to do the referral piece.” For crucial operational and support roles, Workable has consistently facilitated the identification and acquisition of qualified candidates, completely negating the need for external recruiter engagement. This substantial cost efficiency offers compounding benefits over time, especially for a company experiencing steady growth across multiple international markets. The strategic advantage of referrals extends beyond cost savings; referred employees typically exhibit higher engagement, lower turnover rates, and a faster time to productivity, further reinforcing LEAP’s commitment to building a high-quality, stable workforce.
Elevating the Candidate Experience Through Reliability
The implementation of Workable has also brought about a significant enhancement in the experience for candidates navigating LEAP’s hiring process. Automated messaging ensures that no applicant falls through the cracks, irrespective of the ultimate outcome of their application. Every individual receives timely, professional communication at each stage of the process, a stark contrast to the previous system where manual follow-ups were often inconsistent. This commitment to reliability is paramount in today’s highly competitive hiring landscape. The candidate experience is inextricably linked to the employer brand, and LEAP, recognizing this crucial connection, prioritizes both with utmost seriousness.
Among Workable’s features, the self-scheduling tool has become one of Susanne Poole’s most valued assets. This functionality eliminates the laborious task of manually coordinating calendars across multiple stakeholders and candidates. Instead, applicants are empowered to select interview times that align with their own availability. This not only eradicates unnecessary back-and-forth communication but also significantly accelerates the overall hiring timeline. Crucially, it conveys a profound respect for the candidate’s time and personal commitments, fostering a more positive and professional interaction. Poole enthusiastically endorsed the feature: “Self-scheduling is brilliant. It connects your calendar, you push it out to candidates, they pick a time that suits them. It stops so much unnecessary back and forth. It is a huge time saver and it always works.” This efficiency translates directly into a superior candidate journey, reflecting positively on LEAP as an employer of choice.
Championing Structural Fairness with Anonymized Candidates
A feature that Susanne Poole highlights with particular enthusiasm is Workable’s candidate anonymization capability. For LEAP, a company that strategically views diversity as a genuine competitive advantage rather than merely a compliance checkbox, the ability to remove identifying demographic information from candidate profiles before they reach hiring managers is a critical strategic choice. The reality of unconscious bias is an inherent human trait; hiring managers, despite their best intentions, can unconsciously gravitate towards candidates who share similar backgrounds or characteristics. Anonymization serves as a powerful disruptor to this pattern, ensuring that the initial evaluation by a decision-maker is based purely on a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and potential contributions, rather than their apparent identity.
Poole articulated the profound impact of this feature: “It takes out that unconscious bias thing that we all have, much as we don’t want to have it. Our diversity is definitely our superpower. By anonymizing candidates, you’re just finding the people that have what you need. It is so smart and it was so easy to set up.” This commitment to structural fairness not only aligns with LEAP’s core values but also underpins its strategic objective of building a diverse workforce. Research consistently demonstrates that diverse teams lead to enhanced innovation, improved problem-solving, and stronger financial performance. By integrating anonymization, LEAP ensures that its hiring practices actively promote meritocracy and inclusion, strengthening its organizational fabric and competitive standing.
A Partnership Forged in Continuous Innovation
Beyond the efficacy of any single feature, Susanne Poole places immense value on Workable’s consistent commitment to evolution and innovation. The platform she initially engaged with in 2018 is, in her assessment, meaningfully different and superior to the version she utilizes today. This continuous improvement underscores a dynamic partnership, essential in the fast-paced technology sector where tools must adapt to evolving market demands and best practices.
Poole attested to this ongoing development: “The innovation that has come out of Workable, I can’t keep up with it. The Workable we had in 2018 is completely different to the Workable we have now, and that is how it should be.” For a technology company like LEAP, selecting a hiring platform that consistently innovates is not merely a preference; it is an absolute requirement for sustained relevance and competitive advantage. The longevity of LEAP’s eight-year partnership with Workable, showing no signs of abatement, stands as a powerful testament to the value of a vendor that not only delivers on its initial promise but also continues to anticipate and integrate future-proof solutions. This enduring collaboration allows LEAP to remain at the forefront of talent acquisition, ensuring it can attract, engage, and retain the high-caliber professionals necessary to fuel its continued global success.
