We aren’t very HR
HR professionals often get a hard time. They get accused of not being business-minded, and getting too caught up in the process. Unfortunately, this criticism is often very valid.
A lot of HR consultants have only ever worked in corporate HR teams. They don’t get how a business works, and they certainly can’t relate to the pressures of running a small business.
That’s where we are different. Our consultants haven’t just worked in corporate HR departments. Emily and Caroline both have experience beyond working in HR, and they both have first hand experience of running small businesses. We tend to call a spade a spade, and won’t bamboozle you with buzzwords and things you don’t need.
We are small
Being a small team, we are naturally more nimble and can be flexible to what your business needs. When you work with us, you will have direct access to your consultant with a mobile phone number and email, so you won’t have to explain your situation time and time again to a faceless call centre, or get passed from pillar to post to get your question answered.
You may only need to use our support now and again, however, we want to get to know you and your business. Every business is different, and as such our advice will be tailored to you and what you need. So getting to know you, and developing long term relationships and friendships with you is really important to us.
We are local
Want us to hop in the car and come and help you with a difficult meeting? Sure. When you work with us we will support you as much or as little as you need. Sometimes this means we can help you on the phone, by email or on a video call, however at other times only face to face will do. If you are within an hour’s drive or an easy train journey away, we are happy to come to your business and support with those tricky meetings and difficult discussions.
We love working with a variety of businesses and business owners – from start-ups, small to medium sized established businesses, charities and growing businesses with ambitious goals. Those who need expert, professional HR support without the expense of recruiting a full-time HR manager.
Whichever category you fit into, our clients have one thing in common: you are a busy business owner, CEO or manager who wants their HR taken care of by a safe pair of hands. You want someone who is down to earth, speaks plain English and won’t bamboozle you with ‘HR’ talk.
Emily founded South Coast HR in 2012. Her aim was to provide companies without their own internal HR expertise with no nonsense, business focused, expert HR advice in a truly flexible manner. For most smaller businesses to employ a full time HR Manager or Director would be a complete luxury, and historically the only feasible option for businesses would be to engage with an solicitor or get tied into a contract with a call centre style advice line.
Emily felt that these businesses were missing out on having the value of an HR professional in their business, to not only advise on the ‘nitty gritty’ HR such as disciplinaries and redundancies - but to be there as a listening ear to those sometimes tricky staffing situations.
Emily holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management from the University of Portsmouth, and is a fully qualified Chartered Member of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development). She has worked in a variety of different businesses from a rapidly expanding start-up in which she was the founding member of the HR Department, to a HR Business partner at an international publishing corporation.
Prior to setting up South Coast HR, Emily was a consultant providing HR support to small and medium sized businesses in London, and has also spent time as a recruitment consultant.
Emily comes from a family of entrepreneurs and is passionate about helping business owners, knowing first-hand the difficulties that employing staff can encounter, but also how amazing business can be when the people part is right.
Emily says "I set up South Coast HR as I felt businesses were missing out on the value that HR can bring. I have seen first-hand what can happen when the people part of a business goes wrong - this doesn‘t mean just a messy tribunal claim, but when the wrong people are employed, or when the structure of a business isn’t right - things start to fall apart. We are currently a small, but perfectly formed team of HR professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds. We all share in the belief that HR shouldn’t be bureaucratic, tick box function that restricts business growth. HR should be at the heart of every business, proactively working alongside business owners to make things happen."
Caroline joined South Coast HR following a number of years working in a variety of different businesses. She has recently returned to work after a year’s maternity leave, she maintains that looking after 2 children has been her most challenging role yet!
Caroline began her HR career working in the Human Resources Department for one of the leaders in the global fitness industry, in this role she was quickly promoted to manager where she was required to manage a small team and respond to the wide ranging issues that HR teams are often faced with. Caroline’s most recent role was working in a HR Business Partner role for a global publishing organisation where she worked for 8 years supporting around 400 employees. In addition to this Caroline has also worked for a number of smaller, more local businesses and understands the challenges faced not only by large corporate but also small organisations.
Caroline has a degree in Business and is member of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, her strengths lie in her direct, yet friendly approach and her focus on getting a job done. She recognises that people lie at the heart of any successful business and believes her role as a HR Consultant is to support businesses in being proactive in their people management to enable them to get the most from their staff and therefore driving efficiency and profitability.
