How to Save Time, Money, and Mental Labor With BerniePortal

Dr. Dierdra Oretade-Branch is an entrepreneur and small-business owner running a thriving virtual mental health practice, Introspection Counseling Center. Since she started her practice in 2021, it has grown from just herself to 10 employees serving four states.

But she needed help. 

As owner, clinician, hiring manager, and HR pro at her organization, Dierdra didn’t have time to pore over 10 employees’ tax forms to figure out withholdings for four different states. She couldn’t afford to cancel counseling sessions with her own patients to spend an hour on job boards hunting down applications for her open position. And her priority list definitely didn’t include Googling the details of U.S. labor law all day to make sure she stayed compliant.

She needed time to focus on the strategic moves at the core of her business: creating an inclusive environment, providing world-class mental health services, and making Introspection a great place for her team to work.

That’s where BerniePortal came in.

BerniePortal Puts All Dierdra’s Paperwork in One Place

Dierdra is a doctor, so doing her research came naturally. She looked into plenty of HR software options. But accounting systems for small businesses didn’t offer much more than payroll, and payroll-first systems were more concerned with compliance than with automating HR to free up her time. 

   But Deirdra didn't give up on her search.

   She needed a truly all-in-one HRIS that could house the     entire employee life cycle—from applicant tracking to         onboarding to performance management.

   BerniePortal offered Dierdra a unified system in a central     location to keep all her personnel files updated. Within         the portal, she created a custom onboarding checklist,         set up her team’s six-month reviews, and easily gathered     e-signatures on her employee handbook updates. All in       one place, with one login and one password.

   But her favorite part of the all-in-one model? Applicant         tracking. BerniePortal’s integration with Indeed means         when Dierdra was ready to add a new counselor to her         team, she didn’t have to worry about paying for listings or chasing down applications on half a dozen job boards:

“I love the integration with Indeed so I don’t have to navigate any of that. I just create the job description, link it, and leave it. When people are applying, I get a notification. So once I create the listing, it’s done. I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

Dierdra’s listings automatically post to Indeed, and applicants there automatically come through BerniePortal. That makes her applicant pool bigger, her search easier, and her entire recruitment process way more efficient—so she can find the right candidate faster and get back to providing quality care for her clients.

Dierdra’s Team Can Easily Access (and Use) BerniePortal

Of course, once that new hire accepted her offer, Dierdra needed them to be able to use the system. There are plenty of cloud-based file storage options on the market, and Dierdra tried them out, but found they fell short:

“Yes, I could create an electronic personnel file and store information [on these platforms], but I need more than that.”

Dierdra needed a user interface—for both herself and her employees—that allowed actual interaction. She needed to be able to store information, yes, but also gather it from employees, solicit signatures, automatically email team members with missing documents, and track whether her team was compliant. That’s where BerniePortal’s user experience really delivered:

“It’s the interface to me that really makes [BerniePortal] stand out. Employees can see their own files, and I can send compliance notifications out easily.”

This ease of use means Dierdra doesn’t have to field questions from her team about how to access their personnel files. Hiring documents, licensing and certification info, tax forms, and benefits elections all live together, so everyone knows where to find this essential information. There’s no “where’s my so-and-so form?” emails to tackle—the answer is always “It’s in BerniePortal.”

Dierdra Has All the Support and Resources She Needs

The final push that drew Dierdra to BerniePortal was her need for expertise. Like many entrepreneurs, Dierdra’s background is in her industry, not in business, so she’s always learning more about how to run her organization effectively. 

But that learning curve meant hours of Googling for every HR-related question that came her way—another distraction from her passion for improving access to mental health services through virtual counseling. As a small-business owner, she didn’t just need a product—she needed a partner:

“I'm a newbie at having a business and doing HR, so I’m looking for systems with experts I can rely on for information. BerniePortal has a lot of useful information that was helpful and clearly presented. I was looking for a system that can support me, answer my questions along the way, and provide knowledge as needed.”

When other HRIS and payroll services were unresponsive, BerniePortal always answered the phone. And its active user community and huge catalog of reliable HR resources meant she knew exactly where to get her questions answered fast—and accurately. 

Dierdra may be an independent business owner, but with BerniePortal, she’s not alone. 

Additional HR Resources

Wondering where Dierdra found all her HR intel? Look no further than BerniePortal’s comprehensive resources:

• BernieU—free online HR courses, approved for SHRM and HRCI recertification credits
• Resource Library—tools, templates, and checklists on an extensive list of HR topics
• BerniePortal Blog—a one-stop shop for HR industry news
• HR Glossary—featuring the most common HR terms, acronyms, and compliance
• HR Party of One—our popular YouTube series and podcast, covering emerging HR trends and enduring HR topics