Starting a business is tough and requires a lot of energy and taking risks. However, investing in having a professionally drafted contract of employment and a staff handbook with your key policies as a minimum will save you a lot of problems and cost with your employees in the long-run and they are not very expensive to draft. We see a number of employers paying a lot of money in tribunals not because they have done something wrong but because they did not follow the correct process or have a proper contract of employment in place.

Yes – In fact a number of our clients start off with a one-off project and as they grow engage with us on a retainer basis later on. It might be that you need contracts of employment, a staff handbook, HR policies or have a tricky situation with an employee. We will define the scope of the project with you and give you a price for the work. There is nothing too big or too small for us to work on.

Yes – Our smallest client has one employee and our largest has just under 100 people. Businesses with five or more employees should seriously consider getting regular HR support and advice. At Optima HR our support services are scaled to the size of our clients so we can give great advice and support cost effectively.

Our service ensures that clients are compliant with employment law, have access to experienced HR people who can advise on best practice HR processes and case management services. Included in our outsourced services package are all contracts of employment, staff handbooks, policies and employee documents which are tailored to your business. In addition to this our clients have unlimited email and phone support on any HR issue which could range from how to deal with performance issues, conduct issues, grievance, disciplinary or anything else. We pride ourselves on building a strong relationship with our clients, understanding their business and giving clear advice. Our clients have a fixed monthly payment with us and can cancel anytime with 30 day’s notice.

There can be confusion as to what is a redundancy – The scenario arises due to:

1) The employer ceasing or intending to cease to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was so employed; or

2) the employer ceasing or intends to cease to carry on the business in the place where the employee was so employed; or

3) the requirements of the business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish; or

4) the requirements of the business for the employees to carry out work of a particular kind, in the place where they were so employed, has ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish. Any proposed redundancy which does not fall into 1 of these 4 definitions will not be a lawful redundancy! A badly executed redundancy without a proper and fair process, including consultation where appropriate, is likely to be classed as an unfair dismissal.

Optima HR has extensive experience of single and collective redundancies so contact us for a free 30-minute consultation to discuss this further.

Yes – we take a different, we believe more sustainable, approach to recruitment. We start by understanding our client’s business, their culture and the type of individuals that succeed in their business. In this discovery phase we also unlock what makes the organisation a great place to work. From here we build a good job description and can advertise the role as well as short list good candidates that are a good fit with the organisation as well as the role. We have had great success in our approach. Contact us now for more information on how we can help you with your HR needs.