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HR Consulting Associates


HR Consultants 

Introduction  Organisation  Our principles

Introduction

HRCA was originally founded in 1991 as a generalist HR management consultancy.  We have since shown consistent growth in both our client base and services.

In April 2007, to support further expansion, the goodwill of the business was transferred to a limited company - HR Consulting Associates Ltd.  This has been achieved with total continuity of both people resources and client service.

There have been many significant developments in our work and organisation, largely driven by market changes and client demand.   The last couple of years have particularly seen development of electronically delivered materials/support and "as needed" advice services to smaller organisations.
 

HR policies &

Employment law

Equal pay

Outplacement

Outsourced HR

Employee surveys

Remuneration systems

Employee handbooks

Employment law training

Employment lawyers

The overall volume of business measured in fee income has increased substantially during this period.

We are very pleased - but not complacent - that there has been excellent client retention, and new work is very often through direct recommendation.

Organisation

HRCA is part of a small group of specialist, independent, but complementary consultancies:

  • HRCA provides a full spectrum of generalist HR services.
  • Kingshill is one of the foremost UK advisors on issues concerning equality and diversity.
  • CoPeople is a specialist in design & delivery of employee surveys.

Each have their own focus, but we share values, some key staff, and where appropriate pull together integrated services/teams.

In addition to the core group members, we have an established relationship with a leading regional law firm to advise or represent clients (if needed) in situations where such expertise is a prudent step.

HRCA has 3 practice areas (example services shown below):

HR services
  • One stop advice & support
  • Outsourced HR
  • Recruitment & assessment support, including managed internet advertising
  • "Problems" - employee rights, dismissals, redundancies, compromise agreements
  • Contracts & handbooks
Employee services
  • Mentoring
  • Outplacement & job search
  • Executive coaching
  • Career management & planning
  • Counselling
HR policy
  • HR policy development
  • Pay & benefits
  • Equal pay guidance/audits
  • Benchmarking
  • Employment law training

Each practice area has an assigned associate director.  Associate directors may personally deliver client requirements, but are also very senior independent practitioners associated with HRCA (hence "HR Consulting Associates") to contribute best practice and professional standards to our business.

All consultants delivering client work for HRCA have an impressive corporate history, are graduates and are corporate members of the CIPD.  Additionally, consultants will have qualifications specific to their specialism, e.g.. British Psychological Society level 1 and 2 accreditation.

Working with HRCA - our principles

Yes of course we believe in Quality and Customer Focus. But so does everyone else. Out of interest, several of the HRCA team were at the centre of the very first UK corporate applications of Quality within Xerox in the 1980's. You will find these case studies in current books on Quality.

Our aims are that:

  • Clients should be really pleased with what we deliver, because we will listen and reflect their needs and culture in our work. No packaged solutions.
  • We respect the commercial objectives of our private sector clients, and want to save them cost or increase their revenues. 
  • We intend enjoying our work, and hopefully sharing the enthusiasm.
  • With very few exceptions such as outplacement, the role of an HR consultant is to focus on delivery through client managers. We are there to investigate and advise, not try and take over.
  • We think that technology should make life easier. Wherever appropriate we will integrate our work and processes with the software standards of the client, make maximum beneficial use of data communications, and use application software skills to achieve excellent presentation and robust but sophisticated processing tools.
  • By organising ourselves effectively, we know we can be a profitable business and yet be charging fees that discount "big names" by 25-50%. We are confident this is not a myth - all consultants in the team have either worked at these sorts of rates for other organisations, or in executive roles have paid such invoices.
  • Professional standards underpin many of these intentions. Our consultants are as a minimum members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and bound by both general rules and specific Codes of Conduct. We do not expect to make errors, but clients need to know that all consultants are covered by comprehensive professional indemnity insurance.

More important than any of these intentions - which we do deliver - is our belief that:

  • Wherever possible, solutions to a client's need should be integrated with, or replace, existing processes. Our clients do not need yet another stand-alone initiative, however professional. They want coherent, integrated, value-added personnel management solutions.

HR Policies    Employment law    Equal pay    Outsourcing HR   Mentoring & Counselling    Employee surveys   Employment law training  
Remuneration & reward   Outplacement    Recruitment   Equal opportunities   Diversity   Psychometric tests   Internet recruitment  
HR information resources

External links:  Employee surveys
 

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