HR FAQs
Can you help us to manage our basic HR administration?
Yes, this is part of our HR Managed Services. We use online software and create a unique self-service HR file for each of your employees. The file holds personal information, job details, working time and holiday entitlement, pay and benefit information and full employment history. Employees use the software to request leave and to access their employment documents – their Contract, for example, and your Company policies.
We provide an ‘absence line’ so that your employees can report unexpected absences (sickness, dependants’ leave, etc) directly to us. We record it correctly into the system and notify you.
Can you prepare Contracts and onboarding documents?
Yes, we manage this for you, and issue the documents directly to your new starters for online completion. We also carry out reference and DBS checks.
Are you able to draft letters and other employment communications?
Of course. We’re keen to help you draft formal communications to ensure that you don’t miss anything out or get anything wrong.
We need someone to review our Handbook and policies – can you do this?
Yes, we can – either as a unique project or as the starting point for our HR Managed Services.
Do you give legal advice?
If you are experiencing a challenging people situation such as poor performance, grievance, or long term sickness, our HR Business Partners will help you to resolve things in a pragmatic and compliant way.
We emphasise that we are not lawyers – however we do give employment law advice which is focused on risk prevention. We are not shy about seeking specialist support from our lawyers in complex situations, or referring you to legal counsel if we believe this to be necessary.
Do you spend time at our premises/onsite?
Our services are delivered remotely – this helps to keep the costs down for you, as we are focused on efficiency.
We can, of course, visit you onsite (when allowable) but this will usually be for project work (e.g. a Health & Safety audit) or to facilitate a face to face formal meeting (disciplinary or grievance).
We have continued to deliver our services throughout the Coronavirus pandemic – as far as our clients and their employees are concerned, there has been absolutely no business interruption.
Are you able to assist us with a specific HR project?
We can support with project work – redundancy consultation, performance frameworks, etc. We prioritise the delivery of this work for our Managed Services clients as we believe that our pre-existing partnerships with them enables us to work really efficiently.
We already have someone in our business who does HR – do we need you too?
Maybe, maybe not! Some of our clients do have an in-house HR person, and we are happy to partner up with that person. Most of our clients don’t have a qualified in-house person, however, and they rely on us fully to maintain their HR function.
Will our employees come directly to you for HR matters?
Your ‘people’ and line managers can come directly to us. But your other employees won’t come directly to us because this creates a blurring of the lines. If an employee has a question or a query they will normally find the answer in the documentation that we have prepared for you. If they don’t find the answer there then they must go to their line manager in the first instance. And if the line manager needs our help we will be right there for them. (Generally, the only time your employees interact with us is at ‘onboarding’ and when reporting their sickness and other unexpected absences.)
How much does it all cost?
It costs a fraction of the cost of employing someone to do your HR (whether full time or part time). You have no employment costs, no downtime for holiday/sickness, and no additional expenditure for training or software. Once we know what you’re looking for it’s easy for us to give you a quote for our services.