Our Clients

What we did

Total HR completed a full renewal of ELG’s contracts, including the company handbook, ensuring all were legally compliant – a crucial step in establishing an appropriate culture for ELG.

Further to this Total HR also supported ELG on a range of people management issues from disciplinaries, sickness and absence and health and safety; providing thorough guidance and advice to support ELG’s exact business needs.

Additionally, we also worked alongside ELG to develop a number of training sessions for their emerging HR Manager to up-skill HR knowledge and to also develop self-confidence.

The Results

"Total HR have been a valued support in developing our HR function and people processes. They have provided comprehensive training and supported us in our people issues from sickness and absence to contracts and policy review. Total HR have brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our people management and we fully endorse them."

Sue Perks, HR Manager, ELG Haniel Manufacturing

The Brief

Without a dedicated in-house HR function, PCT required advice and support to assist with an impending factory closure.

What we did

Total HR conducted an organisational-wide review, of which a financial and risk analysis highlighted substantial threat associated with restructuring and closure on product supply. The review indicated what the preferable course of action would be for PCT to downsize.

The Results

The downsizing project was completed successfully without interruption to business and within budget. The factory once at risk has since become PCT's more profitable factory.

PCT continues to outsource all of its HR activities to Total HR. This support has included:

• Provision of legislation amendments
• Employee-related advice
• Review and revision of the PCT employee handbook

As a result of a growing culture of absenteeism, Total HR also successfully implemented the Bradford Factor in order to efficiently monitor and reduce sickness related absences at PCT. Total HR assisted in the adoption of the process and facilitated the identification of employees requiring occupational health referrals.

"Working with Total HR has ensured that our people management processes are working for our business. Total HR work with you in order to understand the culture of our business, our vision and aims and helps us to implement sustainable and meaningful solutions."

Judith McCoy, PCT Automotive

What we did

Total HR have supported Irwin Mitchell on a range of complex grievances, employment tribunal claims and employment issues.

The Results

"I have worked with Total HR on numerous employment matters, many of which have been complex and which have required a quick grasp of the facts and response. Total HR has consistently been knowledgeable and pro-active, and has dealt with my clients in a professional manner which has inspired the clients."

Liesel Whitfield, LLP, Irwin Mitchell, Senior Employment Law Solicitor and Partner

Brief

PSB approached Total HR to facilitate a series of performance appraisals to help support the practice in developing its staff and to also identify the key organisational challenges which could impact them in the future.

What we did

Total HR developed a brand new appraisal system which included the appraisal form and manager and employee guidelines to ensure the appraisal process complemented PSB’s vision, culture and values. Total HR ensured that the appraisal system underpinned the key elements of the Investors in People (IIP) framework.

The Results

The new performance management system was successfully adopted. It has delivered vital feedback on the overall management and performance of the practice as a whole and has also offered valuable insight into staff skills gaps.

The development of an action plan has enabled the business to progress and build a sound commercial strategy for the future.

Brief

As an effect of the economic down turn, the Law Society for England and Wales had undertaken a significant organisational restructure and were challenged with doing more with rapidly depleting resources. Consequently, the society required support around empowering managers to exercise and develop their management capability and to also drive revolutionary cultural change.

What we did

Total HR were appointed to develop a range of bespoke training programmes for the Law Society, for 400 managers across 3 nationwide sites.

The programmes needed to offer more than a training course; they needed to be the catalyst for wider cultural change. It was also imperative that the programmes were designed to highlight the Law Society’s commitment to its people and therefore the message was embedded into all aspects of the programmes; from programme communications through to employee evaluation mechanisms used at the end of the programme.

Additional aims of the programmes included...

• To develop the confidence and competence of managers so that they felt empowered to take ownership of their people management issues
• To form a two-way partnership with the Law Society - built on trust, honesty and adding real value to the organisation (i.e. aiding efficient knowledge transfer)
• To inspire and engage participants through the design and delivery of interactive and vibrant programmes
• To develop and promote behaviours and attitudes that would enable a culture of common purpose and challenge
• To encourage all stakeholders to feedback on their experiences of the training programmes and to also ensure continuous evaluation and improvement in our work and the Law Society’s learning experience

The Results

"Working with Total HR has been an extremely positive experience and has had an important impact upon the management culture in the Law Society. The People Management Skills Programme was a well-received training programme, which was recognised by the Senior Management Team and the Human Resources and Development team at the SRA and the Law Society.

The training modules that they developed were tailored to the objectives of the organisation and contained vibrant and interactive learning exercises that engaged all of our members. The feedback from Managers has been extremely encouraging, and has strengthened their confidence and knowledge."

Claire Wright, Head of Employee Relations, The Law Society

The Brief

Northern Foods were looking to relocate their laboratory without disrupting service output and production.

What we did

Total HR reviewed the proposition to relocate laboratory staff to the new facility, identifying individual people issues that could arise as a result of the relocation. As a result of this review, clearly defined contingency action was put into place.

A focused staff consultation was designed and delivered to ensure that the Northern Foods Corporate Employee Representative Group was involved throughout the whole relocation process.

In addition to this we also conducted one to one consultation meetings with staff to explore redundancy and relocation options. As the consultations drew to a close, we also supported Northern Foods in ensuring any redundancies taken were done so with sensitive and legal compliance.

The Results

Total HR provided thorough support to Northern Foods to ensure a seamless relocation and a comprehensive new site induction which resulted in minimum disruption to production and with no loss of service.

Brief

Oldham Council provides a wide range of services for the people of the Borough and manages an annual budget totalling approximately £195 million; 60% of which is accounted to staffing costs.

The authority faced a £17 million deficit and subsequently Oldham needed to make £40 million worth of cuts. Oldham Council reduced the staffing at all levels across the authority, with over 850 job cuts.

In addition, the pay freeze across the entire public sector for both 2011-12 and 2012-13 presented numerous challenges for the Council resulting in Oldham reducing the number of executive directors from six to four. Over 5,000 job posts were evaluated, alongside numerous trade union negotiations.

What we did

Total HR provided project management support to Oldham City Council’s reward team. The whole process was co-ordinated through adopting Prince2 methodology and by utilising Microsoft Project.

Oldham City Council and Total HR developed a new reward programme to ensure that all staff affected by the process had as positive an experience as possible; that included those directly affected (staff who fell within the scope of the project and whose reward package may or may not change) and those indirectly affected (staff out of scope of the project but who managed and/or worked with people who were in scope).

The project focussed on 3 main areas...

Employee experience

Total HR supported employees affected by the changes, ensuring the transition was as smooth as possible while maintaining high-levels of employee engagement and satisfaction - and to also maintain levels of service delivery.

This involved...

• Understanding mindset and attitudes to the planned changes to identify potential areas of dissatisfaction
• A plan of action to help remedy areas of dissatisfaction
• The deployment of ‘Change Agents’ groups within the affected areas to:
  • Deliver and reinforce information about the project
  • Gather views and opinions from team members on how they are feeling about the changes
  • Feedback outcomes to the project team
  • Challenge the thinking of the project team
• Ensuring the project team remained focused on the employee experience
• Supporting the project team in the delivery of support mechanisms

Team leader/manager training and support

We provided timely support to team leaders and managers involved in the consultation process.

This involved...

• Identifying the team leaders and managers to deliver the message
• The design of appropriate training and support materials
• Working with internal resource to ensure effective delivery of the training
• Advising and supporting team leaders and managers via telephone and email help lines

Communications

We also ensured that clear, relevant and timely information was delivered to employees regarding the changes and the progress made so far.

This involved...

• Working alongside the Corporate Communications team to implement and support the communications strategy, for instance...
  • Supporting the communication production process – ensuring relevancy and an appropriate choice of style
  • Implementing reviews and ‘pulse’ checks to gauge understanding and satisfaction
  • Developing and maintaining the intranet site
  • Liaising with PR and communications agencies to ensure consistency of message

The Result

The programme has proved extremely successful and as a result the Council now benefits from...

• Sustained financial benefit
• A strong rapport with trade unions
• An effective organisation model
• Increased stakeholder engagement

In addition to this, the overall project has provided, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of how the organisation is currently operating – providing staff with insight into the ‘bigger picture’ of the Council.

What we did

Total HR developed two restructuring programmes for St. Luke’s Hospice in order to streamline their clinical and non-clinical services.

In conjunction with this we also designed and delivered an outplacement programme. A major component of this programme ensured that employees at risk of redundancy were offered independent career coaching and interviewing skills.

Additionally, Total HR represented on the appeal panel for the Hospice.

The Results

The restructuring programmes successfully streamlined both clinical and non clinical services for the Hospice. As a result, the Hospice now provides an efficient, joined-up service to Sheffield’s local community.

The outplacement programme has ensured the management team are now fully equipped with a variety of people management tools and techniques to enable them to manage effectively and with confidence.

Total HR continue to work alongside the HR team at St. Luke’s Hospice to provide an array of support services. We are currently working with the Hospice to devise a recruitment and selection workshop.

The Brief

Formed in April 2008, as a key recommendation in Lord Leitch's 2006 review of skills, UKCES is a non-departmental governing body responsible for advising employers, individuals and government how improved employment and skills systems can assist the UK in becoming a world-class leader in productivity.

The Commission is jointly sponsored by seven public bodies including the Prime Minister's Office, Devolved Administrations, DWP and DIUS.

UKCES required an interim HR Director, both pre and post inception. The role involved organisation design, development of a project plan to meet stakeholder requirements (before the specific identification of job roles and skills required for the new organisation), design of a new recruitment process and support with the transition from legacy bodies- together with the safe closure of legacy organisations.

What we did

Total HR's Ruth Bourne was recruited by DWP and DIUS as Interim HR Director, to head the organisation change programme, managing the transition from SSDA/NEP to UKCES.

Total HR led the gap-analysis of the inherited legacy body’s policies, procedures and HR infrastructure (including people management capability and HR team delivery). A challenging people strategy and action plan was developed to ensure UKCES grew into a good practice, people management organisation. This strategy also crucially assisted in embedding the newly-emerged vision, mission and values across the organisation; all of which were supported without challenge by the SLT and management committee.

The Results

The impact of Total HR’s support throughout the change programme is widely acknowledged across the Commission and as a result, Total HR delivers ongoing strategic HR support to UKCES.

The Brief

The Trust required support in managing the Agenda for Change and Improving Working Lives projects. Both were classed as ‘failing’ by the Strategic Health Authority; continued failure would have led to a loss of public confidence in the Trust and therefore heighten the potential of failure in achieving Foundation status.

What we did

Total HR initiated a review, taking into account the current status of the projects, associated project risks as well as stakeholder expectations of the projects. This review provided a sound basis on which to base recommendations to enhance project performance.

Much of the success of the two projects depended on the engagement and commitment of staff across the whole organisation. Therefore, Total HR ensured confidence in the projects was enhanced via the implementation of a comprehensive communications strategy to promote trust and transparency across processes, with both internal and external stakeholders (e.g. staff, linked Paediatric Trusts, STHA, and local NHS Foundation Trusts).

Total HR worked with the Trust to develop a longer term HR strategy, incorporating outputs of the Agenda for Change and Improving Working Lives projects.

The Results

On completion, the Trust successfully achieved both the NHS People Practice standard (Improving Working Lives) and the highly coveted Investors in People award.

The award of IIP status in particular, resulted in requests for Total HR to assist numerous other organisations' (such as UKCES and PCT) efforts to achieve IIP.

What we did

Following a strategic business review, Total HR developed and led a major restructuring operation across all operational delivery areas. This was co-ordinated through a TUPE in-sourcing activity which involved employees transferring in from approximately 50 organisations. Simultaneously to this, a review of the transferee organisation’s structure revealed that redundancies within both legacy and receiving bodies were to be affected.

UFI Learn Direct also needed to realign people resource to increase the focus on delivery, responsiveness and flexibility to ensure sufficient capabilities were in place to accommodate a changing business model.

Total HR developed a change programme to incorporate both organisational and employee needs. This focussed on...

• Values – to ensure alignment and engagement with the business strategy
• Competence development – an efficient framework for development, recruitment activity and performance monitoring
• Reward – a suitable approach acknowledging market competitiveness, internal equity and a fair rate-for-job. The reward approach also met the requirements of a government-funded organisation and reduced any risk of equal value claims
• Talent management – to maximise internal resource and to assure the recruitment and retention of talent is sought from a competitive market
• Communications strategy - to support the change, which focused on both internal and external stakeholders

The Results

As a direct result of this programme, UFI Learn Direct witnessed no successful tribunal activity and also saw a reduction of over £1million in operating costs.

Additionally, in specific recognition of this project’s achievements, Total HR were asked to present at the Northern Ireland Public Sector Change Conference to share their experiences on managing and sustaining efffective organisational change.

What we did

Total HR supported SIMT to oversee complex redundancy consultations. Total HR worked closely with the Chief Executive to provide support during meetings, guidance and advice on all redundancy plan queries and also compiled all necessary reports and documentation required throughout the process.

The Results

“Total HR provided vital support and an excellent service to the Trust at a very difficult time. The Trust were facing major funding cuts, just as so many other organisations were and are, who rely on significant financial support from public sector sources. The major cost for the Trust lay in its staff and so sadly the impact had to be directed mainly in that area of operation.

Total HR provided advice and support during the planning phase of the restructuring and then ensured that the process of redundancy was managed with care and as sensitivity as possible in the circumstances. Those who left did so in an agreed manner and thus ensured the Trust’s continued existence. I found Total HR both sympathetic and empathetic as I had to undertake tasks that I had never done before and deeply regretted having to do. In the end, the Trust has emerged as a stronger and more sustainable business as it enters a period where the financial constraints on providers of public sector funding will continue for the foreseeable future.”

SIMT - John Hamshere, Chief Executive

Following this project, Total HR now provides Your HR Guru retainer support to SIMT.

Brief

Findus selected Total HR to project manage the establishment of a new group office in London; bringing together employees from both Grimsby and Scandinavia to one location.

Findus wanted to ensure that the relocation offered easy access for group companies and was as smooth a transition as possible, minimising disruption to existing group staff.

What we did

Total HR worked alongside Findus and a property company to develop the specification for the new London office, before handing it over to the in-house procurement team.

We then worked with the HR team to manage the potential employee impact of the proposed relocation. In response to this, a relocation support package was developed to ensure a thorough and supportive redundancy process was in place and that key staff were retained.