Business Advice and Support

If you are running a small business, you will probably have learned by now that employing staff isn't as straightforward as it seems. Everything from employing the right people and keeping them motivated and productive, to managing their exit from the company requires specialist skills and knowledge which keep changing with increasingly complex legislation. If people management is not part of your core business, and you're not large enough to employ a permanent HR adviser, you may find yourself either learning an entirely new profession yourself, or paying an expensive market rate for a consultant.

All of GELS' HR Support consultants are experienced HR professionals, normally a Member or even Fellow of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), and some run HR Consultancy businesses in their own right.

They are up to date with current and impending legislation and have a wide range of professional resources to hand, which can be made available to you as part of the service.

At your request, we will come and visit you at your premises and provide a 'health check', based on a consultation with you where we ask the important questions.

There really is no obligation whatsoever to follow-up any of the suggestions from the health check. If you do, however, you will find that it won't just be a 'one-size-fits-all' solution, but a service and approach which will be carefully tailored to fit your company's needs.

We will look at contracts, employee handbooks, job descriptions and a range of policies and procedures, both statutory and best-practice. If they need updating, we will assist you, and if you don't have them, we can provide them. But if you do have them and they're fine, we'll tell you that too, so you can rest assured that things are in order.

With your basic needs covered, we can then work together to develop the good HR systems which will actually make your like easier and your business more effective. HR isn't just about covering your backside and preventing costly mistakes. When it works well, it is a valued business partner which contributes to a successful business.

We can contract with you to provide a full HR support and advice service for a fixed or flexible number of hours per month, giving you all the benefits of employing a permanent HR resource with none of the drawbacks.

So whatever your HR needs, your company could benefit from a long-term relationship with an HR team which knows your business and is on your side, and whose overriding purpose is to develop local businesses.

Sometimes, you just need advice and support where needed. If so, we can offer this at a fixed rate per hour (calculated in 15 minute increments).

We also offer a broad portfolio of services for specific needs or to develop your current capability and help you move forward. These include:

• Managing disciplinary grievances or appeal hearings
• Competency framework development
• Staff Performance Management/Appraisal development
• Recruitment management, interviewing and assessment testing
• Restructuring and organisation
• Absence management
• Redundancy handling
• Tailored 1-day training courses on a range of subjects from Fundamentals of Employing Staff to Managing Diversity
• Handling disputes/tribunal claims

Costs for these services will vary, either based on end result or hourly rate, with additional costs for materials such as assessment testing. This is, of course, just a sample list and if you need anything that is not here, just ask.

All prices are exclusive of VAT.

*small businesses are defined as those having 15 or less employees.