Case Studies

hr supporting business growth & change 

I started working with our client in 2011 when they had 48 staff and ambitious growth plans.  Initially i managed all their HR needs across compliance, advice and strategic people planning but as numbers rapidly increased to 180 it became clear we needed to establish an internal HR presence.

I worked with the directors to design the right team and now lead and coach two HR advisers and an HR assistant, ensuring the business has a sound foundation of contracts and HR policy, together with proactive support for line managers.  

Our initial focus was to establish a payroll function with up-to-date and accurate people data,  followed by the development of practical people processes aligned to the Company's values.  From there and in support of the Company's corporate evolution we have introduced uniform performance management and reward processes,  an encompassing recruitment approach and company wide training and development planning.  

There have been difficult decisions to carry through as in all businesses and so far these have been achieved fairly and reasonably without any litigious response.

HR became an integral part of the business and proud of its agility and responsiveness to the needs of an extremely successful and fun place for people to work.

results through people

Our client was concerned about how their people really felt, having recently moved to larger premises and introduced new systems and processes both in response to significant growth and to gain industry recognition. 

There were a lot of Chinese whispers about in response to the changes.

We discussed the idea of a staff opinion survey to obtain views on how people felt about the business and their role in it, how they were managed and the big one, communication.

We built a questionnaire around these areas and then organised meetings with staff to explain the rationale and the importance of gaining honest feedback, capturing the good, the bad and the ugly in order to do something about them going forward. 

The questionnaire was completed by 90% of staff (holidays/absence) and we collated the results, putting together a presentation of the outcomes for the Board and then for Staff.  These further meetings brought out more ideas which led to an action plan that included regular meetings at every level, the introduction of a social committee and a monthly newsletter as well as some practical team process improvements.

Ongoing regular updates of the plan mean that things don’t get forgotten,  everyone feels closer to what is happening in the business and there are always new ideas and involvement in how ‘we do things as we grow'.

hr advice when you need it

Our client, based in Singapore, was buying property in the UK which provided rented office and event space to businesses.   There were 12 employees and I was asked at short notice to run a tupe  (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment) consultation session as the client was keen to meet them and understand their roles better.

I was able to put all the employees at ease, explaining their rights of transfer and answering their questions about the way forward on behalf of the client, whilst ensuring the client understood their options in terms of measures.  

We worked closely with the outgoing employer to manage the consultation process and gather the necessary people information ensuring that a clear picture of terms and conditions was established prior to transfer.  Addressing individual's queries along the way led to a smooth transfer and as many did not have written terms of employment we put together standard contracts upon transfer ensuring their existing terms and conditions remained in tact.

We continued to provide support as their outsourced HR.