Fueling HR Transformation at Sterling Oil with Darwinbox

A multi-geo energy conglomerate digitizes Core HR, Recruitment, Travel, Time & Attendance, and Performance to empower 10,000 employees across Africa.

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Why Sterling Oil Needed a Unified, Digital HR Backbone

As Sterling Oil expanded from 1,500 employees in 2022 to 10,000+ in 2025, manual HR processes could no longer sustain its scale. A distributed workforce across multiple African geographies, combined with expat–national workforce complexity and multi-jurisdiction compliance, created constant delays, data gaps, and operational inefficiencies.

HR was slowed down by spreadsheets, physical document transfers, email follow-ups, manual signatures, and inconsistent workflows. Sterling Oil needed a single platform to unify data, automate processes, and give leaders real-time visibility. Darwinbox became the foundation.

Sterling Oil’s Major Wins with Darwinbox

Category Key Wins
Digitized Core HR
  • 40 site locations mapped
  • Clear org charts & 2,500+ roles structured
  • Improved data accuracy with automated approvals & self-service
Faster Recruitment & Onboarding
  • Recruitment approvals reduced from 1 month → 1 week
  • Time-to-hire reduced from 90 days → 4 weeks
  • 1,800+ candidates onboarded annually with zero manual paperwork
Travel & Expense Automation
  • 2,500+ monthly travel requests managed with 100% automation
  • 7,000+ man-hours saved per month
  • Reimbursements fully digitized across entities & currencies
Custom Workflows at Scale
  • 40+ automated workflows
  • 1,250+ salary proposals automated annually
  • 1,500+ man-hours saved every year
Digitized Time & Attendance
  • 2,000+ paper approvals & Excel sheets removed
  • 90% drop in leave-related queries
  • Accurate, compliant biometric attendance
Performance Management
  • OKRs implemented across the organization
  • 75% reduction in review timelines
  • Transparent, bias-free evaluation cycles

Key Results & Future Path for Sterling Oil

Darwinbox enabled Sterling Oil to transition from manual, multi-system operations to a fully digitized, scalable HR ecosystem. Every workflow (Core HR, hiring, onboarding, travel, reimbursements, leave, attendance, and performance) now runs end-to-end on a single intelligent platform.

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Managing HR for a workforce spread across multiple countries was a complex challenge. With Darwinbox, we’ve brought everything into a single, intelligent system—giving us complete visibility, control, and efficiency like never before

sagar_amitabh_singh_sterling_oil Sagar Amitabh Singh, Head – Human Resources, Sterling Oil

Next, Sterling Oil plans to expand automation with deeper analytics, AI-driven approvals, and real-time workforce insights across sites.

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