Releaf, the UK’s largest medicinal cannabis clinic, needed a system that could handle both hiring and the employee lifecycle that follows it, without stitching together separate tools. HR Manager Amy Jones found that combination in Workable, cutting time to hire nearly in half and replacing a fully manual onboarding process along the way.

Who is Releaf?

Releaf is the United Kingdom’s largest medicinal cannabis clinic, prescribing and dispensing cannabis-based medicines through a doctor-led, technology-driven platform. Since launching, the company has grown quickly, today employing roughly 160 people across employees and contractors, including a growing team based in Germany. Releaf‘s clinical network includes dozens of specialist prescribers, and the organization was recently recognized as the first medical cannabis clinic to receive B Corp certification, reflecting its broader commitment to how it treats employees, patients, and communities.

Amy Jones, HR Manager at Releaf, oversees hiring and people operations for the organization, working alongside hiring managers across recruiting, marketing, patient support, and clinical roles.

What Hiring and HR Looked Like Before Workable

Before Workable, Releaf posted roles directly to job boards, primarily LinkedIn and Indeed, and reviewed applications manually. That process typically took about a week just to get a slate of CVs in front of a hiring manager, and depending on the manager and the role, hiring could stretch to a month from posting to offer.

Onboarding was handled entirely by hand. New hire paperwork moved through email attachments, with the friction of collecting signatures and managing documents outside of any central system.

Why Releaf Chose Workable

As Amy evaluated recruiting and HR platforms, one requirement stood out above the rest: she wanted a single system that combined a true applicant tracking system with a human resources information system, rather than maintaining separate tools for hiring and for managing employees afterward.

That combination is central to how Releaf now operates. A small HR team, supported by hiring managers when specific roles open, runs the entire employee journey, from first application to onboarding to ongoing performance management, inside one platform.

We looked at a lot of HR platforms, and having the ATS and the HRIS together was huge for us.

Faster Hiring, End to End

With Workable, Releaf‘s time to hire has moved from as long as a month down to roughly two weeks, when the role attracts a strong applicant pool. Hiring managers now have direct visibility into candidates as they move through the process, rather than waiting on manual updates.

Templated responses, bulk communication, and automatic application acknowledgments have replaced what used to be manual, one-by-one outreach, giving candidates a faster and more consistent experience from the moment they apply.

For high-volume, entry-level roles in patient support, Releaf uses Workable’s video interviews to help hiring managers get an earlier read on candidates before scheduling live conversations.

Allowing our people managers to quickly access applicants, with a shared view of the job post, has transformed the recruitment process for us.

Onboarding, Modernized

Onboarding is where Amy has seen some of the most visible change. What used to be a fully manual process of emailing attachments back and forth is now templated and electronic from start to finish, with offer letters, documents, and communications all living inside Workable.

Compliance is built into that same workflow. Every new hire in the UK completes a standard Disclosure and Barring Service check, and Releaf also onboards its freelance clinicians through Workable, running the specialized checks their roles require, including indemnity cover and General Medical Council registration, through Workable‘s integration with Zync.

From a candidate’s perspective, it’s changed hugely. We’ve templated everything, and it all stays in Workable.

Performance Reviews and the Employee Lifecycle

Releaf now conducts performance reviews every quarter directly in Workable, using a preset set of questions and a one-to-five self-scoring scale. The process replaced a manual, document-based review cycle.

Time off and attendance run through the same system. Every employee has access to request and view time off, and a group of Releaf‘s zero-hours staff use Workable to clock hours, feeding that information directly into payroll processing.

It’s made the process easier and cleaner.

The Result

By bringing recruiting and HR onto one platform, Releaf has built a hiring and people operations function that can keep pace with a fast-growing, highly regulated business, without adding headcount to manage it. Amy sees that foundation as core to Releaf‘s ability to keep scaling.

100 percent, I would recommend Workable. We’re really pleased.