When we started, there was no dedicated HR function. The business had grown quickly on technical strength, but the people side had not developed at the same pace.
Our initial audit showed that most of the basics either did not exist or had not been reviewed in years. Contracts and the Employee Handbook were out of date, onboarding was inconsistent, there was no formal appraisal process, and no clear people strategy to support what the business was trying to achieve.
That is fairly typical of businesses growing at this pace. It does not usually cause problems straight away, but it becomes harder to manage as headcount increases and operations spread. In this case, with further growth planned and expansion into Europe already underway, the gaps were starting to matter more. There was a risk of inconsistency, avoidable employee relations issues, and a growing reliance on senior leaders to step into day to day people matters.
We started by mapping the employee lifecycle against the Company’s growth plans, looking at where the pressure points were and what would need to be put in place to support the next phase. That piece of work led into a longer partnership with the Board, focused on building something practical that would hold up as the business continued to scale.
One of the first steps was developing a two year HR strategy. That gave the business some direction and a way of planning ahead, rather than dealing with issues as they came up. It also brought HR into the same level of discussion as the rest of the business rather than sitting off to the side.
At the same time, we supported the appointment of a Head of HR and worked closely with them as they built out the wider team. The aim was always to leave the business with a strong internal function rather than something dependent on external support.
We also selected and implemented an HR system, moving the business away from manual processes and into something that could support a growing workforce across multiple locations.
From there, we put in place the core structure that had been missing. Contracts and the Employee Handbook were updated and aligned with JIB requirements. A competency framework and appraisal process were introduced so managers had a clearer way of assessing and developing people. Onboarding and induction were standardised to cope with higher volumes of recruitment, and a clear leavers process was established, including exit interviews and equipment return.
Right to Work checking was formalised so it could handle increased hiring, and training and certification tracking was tightened up, including site based requirements such as SMSTS. Job descriptions were reworked to reflect competencies, which helped bring more consistency into how roles were defined and recruited.
The move into Europe added another layer. Expanding into new countries changes the shape of HR quite quickly. Different employment requirements, documentation and checks all come into play. We built this into the design of the systems and processes from the outset so the business would not need to revisit everything once it was already operating across borders.
Alongside the structural work, we supported managers through that period of growth. As teams expand and become more dispersed, the pressure on managers tends to increase, so we delivered practical development support to help them deal with that shift.
Two years on, the business has a functioning HR department with its own team, systems and a clear sense of direction. The basics that were missing are now in place and working, and there is much more consistency in how people are managed across the organisation.
More importantly, the business is no longer reacting. It has a plan it is working to, and an internal team that can carry that forward as it continues to grow.
For a Company doubling in size and moving beyond the UK, putting that structure in place alongside the growth made a noticeable difference to how manageable it felt.