Educational institute success story using PurelyHR

How University of Toronto’s MD Program improved leave management with PurelyHR

We’re proud to serve clients in a wide range of industries and help businesses around the world improve their leave management processes with our industry-leading HR tools.

University of Toronto customer success story showcasing how PurelyHR simplified employee leave management and absence tracking
University of Toronto Logo

INDUSTRY
Post-secondary education

HEADQUARTERS
Toronto, ON

PurelyHR Users
100+

PurelyHR Modules Used
Staff, Time-Off

The University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a globally top-ranked public research university.

We had the privilege of chatting with The MD Program at the University of Toronto, one of our many post-secondary education clients, to discuss how they’ve improved their leave management since implementing PurelyHR in 2013.

Industry-leading HR for a world-class university

The University of Toronto is regularly recognized as one of the top universities in both Canada and the world. The MD program at U of T is no different. Their program was ranked sixth in the world for clinical, preclinical, and health programs by the Times Higher Education 2019 subject rankings.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Gina John, Director of Operations for the MD Program. With strong leadership, Gina has successfully managed a broad scope of business areas, including human resources, financial resources, operations, student services and strategic planning.

With approximately 70 staff in the MD program, at the time, it was safe to say Gina had her work cut out for her. Enter PurelyHR!

Simplified leave management

Gina describes their previous system set up as “impossible.” Using an SAP platform was standard at her organization, but with the size of the MD Program, managing time-off became a full-time position.

As you can imagine, Gina needed help with leave management and her story is one we know well. We’ve helped thousands of companies all over the world take back their time and simplify their leave management with Time-Off.

The benefits of leave management

The MD Program at U of T has now used PurelyHR since 2013 and uses it in both their administrative offices and for tutors within their clinical program at one of their academy sites. Gina has noted major benefits in four key areas.

University of Toronto Improved
Leave
Management with PurelyHR

Time saved was the first immediate positive outcome from implementing PurelyHR.

Improved transperancy

Gina tells us that since starting to use PurelyHR, transparency has really improved around their time-off policies. Employees can now quickly see a snapshot of their leave entitlement at any time by logging in to PurelyHR. This makes for fewer time-off disputes and better understanding and communication of their policies.

Rockstar reporting

Reports were a must-have for U of T. With a range of configurable reports included with Time-Off, Gina can quickly pull reports on pending requests, balances used, month-end summary reports, and more. Reporting gives her invaluable data in a flash and helps her recognize time-off patterns faster than ever before.

shared leave calendar

We were excited to hear about how much Gina and her managers love the shared leave calendar. A favourite feature of many of our clients, the calendar gives them a snapshot of any given day, week, or month with a clear picture of who’s in or out of the office. This is super helpful for Gina and her team and helps them ensure they’re properly staffed at any given time.

Improve your own leave management

Since implementing PurelyHR, Gina and the rest of the MD Program at U of T have had an easier time managing their time-off policies. No more time-off policy abuse, no more delayed request approvals, and they absolutely love the day-to-day snapshot of who’s in and out!

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Saves 8 hours a week on PTO

BRC cut the manual hours it spent tracking paid time off, and now manages PTO in a fraction of the time.

BRC customer success story showcasing how PurelyHR simplified employee leave management and absence tracking
QLP logo

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From spreadsheets to automated tracking

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QLP customer success story showcasing how PurelyHR simplified employee leave management and absence tracking
Indigenous Perspectives Society customer logo

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A nonprofit saves
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Carol Itakura uses time-off transparency, automated calculations, and responsive support to simplify leave for her nonprofit team.

IPS customer success story showcasing how PurelyHR simplified employee leave management and HR administration

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Rated 4.5+ stars across G2, Capterra, and Software Advice

PurelyHR awarded the G2 Best Relationship award for delivering exceptional customer support and small business HR software
PurelyHR recognized as a G2 High Performer in Canada for HR and workforce management software
PurelyHR recognized by G2 with the highest User Adoption award for small business HR software
PurelyHR recognized by G2 with the Most Implementable award for HR and workforce management software
PurelyHR recognized with a G2 Users Love Us milestone award for outstanding customer satisfaction and user reviews
PurelyHR recognized by G2 with the Easiest to Use award for small business HR software
PurelyHR recognized by G2 with the Best Usability award for small business HR software
PurelyHR awarded the Best Relationship award for delivering exceptional customer support and small business HR software
PurelyHR recognized as a G2 High Performer for HR software and leave management solutions
PurelyHR recognized as a Software Advice FrontRunners 2026 leader for HR and workforce management software
PurelyHR recognized on the Capterra Shortlist 2026 for HR and leave management software
PurelyHR recognized as a GetApp Category Leaders award winner for HR and workforce management software
Capterra 4.5 star rating recognizing PurelyHR for customer satisfaction, ease of use and leave management software
Software Advice 4.5 star rating recognizing PurelyHR for customer satisfaction, ease of use and HR software performance
GetApp user reviews rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars recognizing PurelyHR for customer satisfaction and Leave management software usability
G2 rating of 4.5 stars from 283 customer reviews recognizing PurelyHR for HR software, leave management and workforce management

Ready to see how you can improve
leave management at your own organization?