HR Consultancy
Consultation support
Looking to make changes within your organisation? If it will have a fundamental impact on the employment relationship, you have a duty to inform and consult with your employees first.
Whether you’re embarking on large-scale redundancies, considering making changes to employees’ terms and conditions or going through a transfer of ownership, our skilled HR specialists can conduct productive consultations with those affected to help you make informed, commercial decisions.
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How we help
Meaningful consultation to help you move forward
Employers have a legal duty to inform and consult on a range of business, employment and restructuring issues – but this isn’t just a box-ticking exercise. Involving employees in decision-making can help you to identify opportunities, generate new ideas and build trust.
However, this can be a large undertaking. If you don’t have the time or expertise to manage the consultation process yourself, WorkNest can offload this pressure by assigning a dedicated HR Consultant to support you.
- Support tailored to your reorganisation needs, from redundancy and organisational consultations with affected employees, TUPE process support and full end-to-end project management
- Expert presence at announcement or at-risk meetings to answer process questions so that managers can focus on the business case
- Identify ways to avoid, reduce and mitigate the impact of redundancies by having a highly-qualified consultant lead consultations with employee reps
- Ensure employees can make their case properly by having the same named consultant conduct individual consultation meetings on your behalf
- Minimise noise with help pulling together FAQs of common questions that you can circulate to affected employees
Related resources
Popular FAQs
Common consultation queries, answered by our HR specialists.
What matters must employers consult employees on?
All employers must inform and consult their employees on selling the business or buying a new one, making 20 or more people redundant within a 90-day period, making changes to employment contract terms and health and safety issues. If you employ over 50 employees, you may also have to consult employees on changes to your pension scheme and share other business information within your workforce if they request an information and consultation agreement.
If I’ve already made a decision, do I need to consult?
Consultation should take place when proposals are still at a formative stage. If it begins after decisions have already been made, this will be too late for any meaningful discussions to be had. It is important to remember that consultation is not an end in itself and shouldn’t be treated as such. Consultation during a redundancy exercise, for example, is about more than just informing the employee of a decision you’ve already made; it should open a two-way dialogue where views and information can be exchanged, with the ultimate aim of exploring ways that redundancy might be avoided, as well as discussing any selection process with the employee. As Acas guidelines state, “Making a pretence of consulting on issues that have already been decided is unproductive and engenders suspicion and mistrust about the process amongst staff.”
Explore Our HR Consultancy Services
We do more than just consultation support...
Dispute resolution
If alternative forms of dispute resolution fail, settlement agreements may be the only viable solution. However, negotiating one can be daunting – that’s why we’re here to make the process as painless as possible, as well as help you avoid legal pitfalls along the way.
Whether you have an employee who’s consistently underperforming or who isn’t suitable for your team, causing disruption and impacting negatively on team output, we can steer you through the legal requirements and iterative processes that need to be followed to deliver the settlement so that you can sever ties and move forward positively.
HR audits
Want to ensure your organisation is compliant with HR best practice and latest employment law developments? Keen to understand your strengths and weaknesses, protect your organisation, and improve the efficiency of your HR system? Then you need a HR audit.
Policies, procedures, practices. Get a systematic health check of how you’re performing from a people management perspective and take your HR function to the next level with support from Ellis Whittam.
Investigations, hearings and appeals
There are many components to a fair disciplinary or grievance process. If you’re not comfortable conducting investigations, hearings and appeals yourself, or are simply strapped for time, our seasoned HR specialists can offer on-site support to take the pressure off.
We can conduct the meetings for you or, if you prefer, attend them with you to provide expert guidance and reassurance. This is invaluable when experienced, independent HR support is needed.
Mediation and facilitation
Resolving a workplace dispute or repairing a working relationship that has gone sour isn’t always easy. At Ellis Whittam, we can provide mediation or facilitation services to help two or more individuals or groups reach a solution that is acceptable to everyone.
We can help those involved understand each other’s perspectives, clarify potential options, and develop an appropriate action plan for the parties to follow – allowing you to move forward positively.
Organisational change
Got big plans for your organisation over the next 12 months to three years? Then you might need to rethink and right-size your organisation to make sure your structure and skillset aligns with your aims.
If you’re not sure where to start with a task of this scale, our skilled HR Consultants can support you through the reorganisation process and ensure your workforce is set up for future success.
Recruitment
Hiring the right people can measurably propel your organisation towards success. Using proven methods, we can maximise your chances of attracting, sourcing, selecting and retaining the most talented personnel.
If you’re spending too much time and money on your recruitment, or struggling to get quality candidates through the process expediently, our outsourced recruitment offerings are suitable for one-off senior-level hires or even for us managing all your annual vacancies in one place.
Staff surveys
There’s only one way to truly evaluate your workforce’s feelings towards your organisation as a place of work, and that’s by asking them. Our staff surveys provide an effective and transparent measure of employee engagement.
After identifying your objectives, we can help you design, implement and analyse your survey. Done effectively, this can enhance your relationship with your employees, address critical issues and direct organisational growth.
Training and organisation development
Equipping your staff with the right skills fortifies your organisation and maximises its success.
Our trainers will apply fresh thinking to your operational and strategic challenges and offer innovative solutions to address your training requirements. Sharing their skills and knowledge, they will facilitate productive and insightful events to enhance your business’s management and leadership capability.
Welfare and medical capability meetings
When dealing long-term absence or persistent short-term absences, care must be taken to avoid being found liable for unlawful discrimination.
If you have concerns about an employee’s ability to undertake their role effectively, our seasoned HR Consultants can take care of all formal meetings for you and help you to do the right thing by your people and your business.
99.2% Client happiness rating
97% Client retention rating
Why choose us?
Experts in HR
At WorkNest HR, we’re known for our bespoke service and the quality of our support. Not only is our expertise unmatched, but we take the time to know you so that we can function as a true extension of your team.
- 40 employed HR Consultants, most of whom are CIPD qualified, chartered and fellows
- A dedicated Organisational Development Team of specialist trainers and consultants
- Cradle-to-grave HR service for new start-ups and growing businesses – everything from managing your HR administration through to defining your HR strategy
- Specialists in managing projects such as pay and reward, recruitment, HR systems, onboarding, redundancy and restructuring
- HR Consultants based in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Chester, Horsham and London, working remotely and in your premises
Who you’ll be working with
Angela Carter
Director of Legal Services
Toyah Marshall
Head of Team
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
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Clare O’Brien
CEO, Federation of British Artists at the Mall Galleries