HR Services
HR Services – A Practical Approach
Our small team of consultants are all experienced in the full range of HR services. We’ve been HR Directors, Managers and Heads of, but now love our roles as Consultants where we can help clients of different sizes and industries achieve their own people goals.
First and foremost we’re flexible in our approach. Our experience, from having worked with SME clients over the last 15 years, demonstrates how much our flexibility is valuable to them. We really do understand that the right support at an affordable budget is critical. Whether it’s providing consultancy across the entire HR spectrum or working with you on just one focused project (e.g. a redundancy programme), we always offer practical support in a professional but relaxed way to help our clients achieve the best possible results.
We believe in encouraging our clients to establish the right people practices early on so that they can focus on growing and developing their businesses rather than spending unproductive time resolving problems later. We are known for being pragmatic, clear, direct, knowledgeable but most of all approachable.
To see some case studies where we have provided excellent HR services, click here
Unlike an off-the-shelf HR service we will take the time to develop an understanding of your people requirements, your key aims and goals. Through this consultation process we will be able to tailor a retained service that is appropriate for your business.
Our retained services enable you to access a team of specialist HR consultants who will be fully conversant with your support needs, as well as providing you with some document ‘essentials’, on-hand advice and guidance for all your HR queries, plus access to a range of specialist performance, learning and development expertise – should you need it.
We begin with an HR audit of your organisation and people practices so we can gain an understanding of your key priorities. We will then scope out the right level of service (remote vs. face-to face) which best meets your needs according to the complexity of the projects we undertake for you.
As part of our retained HR service, we publish monthly newsletters that provide you with practical information and keep you informed of recent policy and employment law developments. We also provide policy updates to ensure that, at all times, your policies and practices meet the standards of current employment law legislation. The other advantage of a retained service is that any separate project work commissioned is at a reduced rate.
Our specialist HR services stretch across the full range of people management activities. This is because we believe that all aspects of people management (including strategy, employment law, recruitment, management development and training, performance management, employee relations, employee communications) are related and that it is important that organisations look at the whole people management picture. This can lead to significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.
In addition, we are experts in supporting the development of Managers and Leaders within growing businesses, recent courses include Managing Performance, Coaching Skills for Managers, Leadership Essentials, Career and Personal Development and Managing through Change.
In addition to the core PB team, we also have a wide network of independent specialists who help us to deliver a vast spectrum of top quality services.
Growth
So your business is growing…now what?
Growth can be an exciting and challenging time for business, as the opportunities come thick and fast, so do the demands for your time as a leader and manager. It can feel as though you are being pulled in all directions, keeping your head above water trying to make the best decisions to direct the business, whilst maximizing the opportunities you are facing.
Our consultants are ready to jump in and help you wade through a surge of change. We’ve done this many times before.
We find that small companies can cope quite well without a dedicated HR resource until they reach their tipping point – the point where you realise you’re doing more paperwork than actual work. When the excel spreadsheet you have been using for employee data is overflowing, and you have only one hiring manager who is experienced enough to interview (worse if that person is also you).
There comes a point when you recognise that the way you have always done things in the past (HR practices included!) is no longer fit for purpose and is definitely not suitable for a larger workforce with greater demands.
Or perhaps you are well ahead of the game and are confidently recruiting, onboarding and developing your succession plans. Maybe you only need some targeted support from an expert on one specific project, such as creating a graduate scheme. Why not tap into the experience of a consultant, who have put these initiatives in place already?
How we can help you
When everything else is under control and you just need someone to issue the letters on time, and deal with the unexpected (…such things always pop up just when you’ve just gotten on top of everything else).
Sourcing new talent can be tricky, trickier still if you’re doing it all yourself. Our consultants can help with sifting CV’s, interviewing candidates, whatever is needed. To go one step further, we can train your managers in recruitment and interviewing skills so that they can run the whole process in-house.
Now would be a good time to start up-skilling your people. New opportunities bring increased demands for their skills, abilities and experience than before. Offering up some skills-building support would probably be well received!
So who is promotion-ready? Are they really promotion-ready or are they just the most longstanding employee in the room?
Up-skilling your managers is an investment in the success of your business, especially when it comes to new managers. We can help them to discover their strengths as a manager and consider how the business needs them to perform in order to make a success of their promotion.
As your organisation increases and becomes more complex, so too does the complexity of the HR issues you will face. If one of your managers is in charge of HR and they could do with a refresher (or a complete overhaul), we have a flexible HR development programme that can help them improve their HR expertise at their own pace.
Strategic Support
So your business is changing…are you prepared?
A good business strategy is informed by people factors. Most companies today recognise that people are what drive value. Employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities are assets which a company should invest in and tap into to create sustainable value for the company and its various stakeholders.
Strategic HR is about focusing on longer-term resourcing issues within the context of a company’s goals and the evolving nature of work. It may involve reorganising this resource to prepare for a future merger or acquisition, transferring employees, or restructuring to reflect a new type of work and/or a demand for different skills and abilities for a ‘new order’ of business; or it could be about addressing employee engagement, ensuring there is a ‘fit for the future’ workforce who are committed to the company and performing at their best.
Our consultants can help you wherever you are on your people journey whether it’s Restructure & Redundancy Management, Mergers and Acquisition (including TUPE), improving Employee Engagement. We even have a tool – the Client Journey Tool – to help you to identify where you are on that journey.
How we can help you
No matter how large or small your business, there may be times when you need to look at how it is structured and whether it supports you in achieving your goals and business strategy. We can help you objectively look at your current structure and guide you through the process of restructuring to fit what is required today and in the future. Our experience, and especially our understanding of employment law, means we can also make you aware of some of the risks involved and what to do to mitigate them as part of the process. We help you to:
- Plan the restructure of your business.
- Identify areas for growth or reduction.
- Manage the TUPE process.
- Recruit new employees at all levels.
- Manage the redundancy process.
- Negotiate settlement agreements.
If your business is going, or about to go, through a merger or acquisition, we can assist you throughout the process. We have been involved in a number of large and small scale mergers and acquisitions so understand, not just the legal requirements, but also how to ensure you effectively manage the ‘people’ aspect, which may include the transfer of employees (and their employment rights on transfer) covered under TUPE. Our consultants have years of experience of managing the TUPE process for a wide range of SMEs. We will work with you to make the transition for your employees, whether incoming or outgoing, legally compliant and as smooth as possible and will be on hand to advise and support you during the equally important post-transfer integration period.To ensure your TUPE process runs smoothly, we will:
- Help you to identify who will transfer.
- Plan and manage consultations with staff including any potential redundancies.
- Provide the required documents for the incoming employer.
- Construct a TUPE process plan.
Employers want engaged employees because, as well as being happier, healthier and more fulfilled, they deliver improved business performance. Positive relationships, between employers and employees, and how employees are managed, are evidenced with improvements in performance leading to profit, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, productivity, innovation and staff retention. Conversely, having a disengaged workforce can bring about productivity losses; companies may lose their best people and face huge difficulties when introducing organisational change if employees aren’t on board.
Ensuring your employees are engaged and motivated is key to your business’ success. We can work with you to measure how engaged they are and then advise you on what is working well, what needs to be worked on, and how any gaps can be addressed – whether this is through a programme of management development workshops, team development, promoting wellbeing, staff voice forums or other soft skills training.