Partner Article

Process industry gets lesson in HR

Businesses in the North East’s vital processing sector got a lesson in the processes they must follow to comply with employment law and get ready to create jobs.

The free seminar run by Darlington-based company HR2day was aimed at the region’s industrial and chemical sector, which is supported by hundreds of small and medium sized enterprises.

Sponsored by NEPIC, the North East Process Industry Cluster, the event brought together a host of organisations that are part of the BASME business acceleration programme for SMEs in the sector.

Processing is the biggest industrial sector in the North East supporting 1,400 companies directly and in the supply chain, generating £26bn in sales, exporting £12bn and employing 190,000 people.

Nicky Jolley, founder of HR2day who has 17 years’ experience in HR including ten in the oil and gas sector, said: “Industry relies on SME suppliers but many of these businesses don’t have the resources to employ a full time HR manager. They need to be aware of their obligations to their existing workforce, but also have the tools in order to employ more people in the future and grow their businesses.

“We are delighted to be working alongside NEPIC to deliver informative events that support SMEs and to draw on our experience to offer advice and answer questions. By giving people confidence through knowledge we hope they will go on to grow their businesses successfully.”

Training manager Becky Armstrong, who along with Nicky has a masters degree in HR, covered a range of topics in the seminar, held at Teesside University Darlington campus, from employment contracts and company handbooks to the role of managers and the Equality Act.

Felix O’Hare, manager of the BASME programme, said: “We believe if the industry is to remain strong and grow it needs a strong cohort of supporting SMEs in all functions.

“As part of our Business Accelerator for SMEs, HR2day is supporting the sector through free workshops, which provide a lot of learning in a short space of time.”

Nicky established HR2day 18 months ago and now provides retained HR support to a range of businesses including hotels, a food processing company, manufacturing and care homes, as well as large industrial companies such as SSI and Palram.

She said: “When I started the business I envisaged us advising start-ups who didn’t know where to go for affordable HR advice, somewhere where they could just pick up the phone and ask a question. In fact we’ve found that businesses of all sizes need professional, up to date advice.”

For more information, tel: 01325 288299 or visit www.hr2day.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah French .