Case Studies

Halcyon was originally brought into the business to review HR practice and perform an audit; the “HR Healthcheck.” This led to a list of recommendations and an action plan that involved the development of new HR policies, a Staff Handbook and better record keeping. Halcyon was then contracted to provide an outsourced HR service and began to build a good understanding of the business and its strategic aims.

To support the business Halcyon have then gone on to deliver a salary benchmarking project to establish appropriate levels of pay and benefits within the organisation to assist in attracting and retaining high calibre staff. Halcyon have also conducted a comprehensive staff survey to assess levels of employee engagement. This has led to the implementation of an action plan to ensure that staff remain motivated, aligned to the aims of the organisation and keen to deliver a high-quality service. Halcyon continues to work with Aurora with its strategic and operational HR issues.

“Halcyon HR has helped Aurora to thoroughly review its HR practice and make simple and practical changes that have benefited the business. We know we are compliant with employment law but we also promote a positive Company culture that has been reinforced with a successful staff satisfaction survey, salary benchmarking, and good people management practice.

Halcyon HR has got to know our Company; supports us, provides a responsive and professional service, and is excellent value.”

“The Healing Foundation used Halcyon on the recruitment for two key appointments.  We are a small but busy charity and had grown weary of the staid and time-consuming recruitment agency approach that we had used previously.  Kirsty Mitchell provided bespoke attention and professionalism from the start.  In getting to know us, our needs and the roles we wanted to fulfil, Kirsty took all the pain out of the recruitment process.  Excellent candidate briefs and compelling adverts followed and the result was the best range and quality of candidates I have seen.  Halcyon were prepared to do as much as we needed and helped enormously with providing a short-list for interview on agreed criteria.  The result has been the appointment of two excellent members of staff who not only match their personal profiles but are proving an excellent fit for the organisation.

Halcyon led the process from start to finish. It could not been handled more professionally, nor run as smoothly.  The Halcyon approach saved us an enormous amount of effort, excellent candidates were produced and it actually turned out less expensive, remarkably better value, that our previous experience with recruitment agencies.  I have already begun recommending Halcyon to colleagues considering their recruitment options.”

Brendan Eley Chief Executive The Healing Foundation

http://www.thehealingfoundation.org.uk/

Halcyon HR Consulting Ltd provided this support and this then led to a discussion about staff management and performance appraisal. In response Halcyon HR was asked to design and manage a light touch staff appraisal system to appraise staff of their performance and gain feedback on levels of job satisfaction. Interviews with all staff were conducted by Halcyon HR. These focused on; staff understanding of their contribution to the goals of the business, clarity of job role, quality of management and supervision, inter departmental working, remuneration and working environment, and alignment to and engagement with the organisation. Halcyon collated the feedback and produced a report presenting the information gained to the Directors. The results were extremely positive but allowed the business to focus on specific areas of management and operations to make the small number of improvements that were needed. Staff really appreciated the opportunity to talk and provide feedback and the organisation had some firm information to allow it to develop better people management practice where it was required.

Interviews with all staff were conducted by Halcyon HR. These focused on; staff understanding of their contribution to the goals of the business, clarity of job role, quality of management and supervision, inter departmental working, remuneration and working environment, and alignment to and engagement with the organisation. Halcyon collated the feedback and produced a report presenting the information gained to the Directors. The results were extremely positive but allowed the business to focus on specific areas of management and operations to make the small number of improvements that were needed. Staff really appreciated the opportunity to talk and provide feedback and the organisation had some firm information to allow it to develop better people management practice where it was required.

Halcyon collated the feedback and produced a report presenting the information gained to the Directors. The results were extremely positive but allowed the business to focus on specific areas of management and operations to make the small number of improvements that were needed. Staff really appreciated the opportunity to talk and provide feedback and the organisation had some firm information to allow it to develop better people management practice where it was required.

“Kirsty of Halcyon HR Consulting Limited has proved to be an invaluable resource in supporting me with the day to day management of our 60 strong workforce including contracts and handbooks, appraisals, general employment law compliance and more!”

Elaine Sutcliffe – Director Plastic Head Distribution Limited

Halcyon HR Consulting Ltd has extensive experience of Diversity and its integration and management in organisations and business operations. Other clients have benefited from this expertise including the management of equal opportunity audits the development of diversity policy and the delivery of training and development programmes. Kirsty Mitchell worked as An equal opportunities specialist at West Yorkshire Police and has used this expertise in many HR roles since her time with the Force.

“the training session was delivered in an informative yet imaginative way, keeping the attention of 25 senior lawyers for several hours. Kirsty and Michelle are clearly experts in their field and are adept at focussing on what is really important to a business.”

Partner and Head of Employment Law Darby’s Solicitors

This has included; ensuring its legal compliance, aiding recruitment, building better HR policy and people management processes, gathering staff feedback and managing staffing issues.

One requirement was the improvement of staff retention and this led to Halcyon HR working with the organisation to review salary and terms and conditions. Halcyon HR conducted a full benchmarking exercise using market data and salary survey information available for the not for profit sector.

Halcyon HR worked with existing job roles and information provided by Amref Health Africa to size jobs and create a new salary structure and framework that allowed for progression and the reward of experience and skills. Halcyon HR ensured that the salary structure incorporated broad banding to allow flexibility when making decisions on pay and was constructed to attract and retain good quality staff whilst also reflecting Amref Health Africa’s desired market position on pay.