Member Article

Pandemic pivot boosts revenue at Northern Powerhouse Consulting in record-breaking 5th year

HR Consultancy Northern Powerhouse Consulting is celebrating a successful first 5 years in business, after being founded by Sharon Pegg in 2015.

Sharon may have left school with just two O-levels and a judgement from teachers that she ‘wouldn’t amount to much’, but she didn’t let that hold her back. She spent 18 years at Bradford & Bingley, rising up through Retail Banking and HR to become Equality and Diversity lead for the business. She continued her focus on Diversity with Diversity Lead roles at Humberside Fire & Rescue Service and Co-op Ltd.

In 2015, Sharon was keen to develop something for herself and took the plunge to start her specialist HR consultancy. This allowed her to focus even more on her passion for Inclusion, workplace wellbeing and mental health. Since then, Sharon and the team at Northern Powerhouse Consulting have trained over 1,000 people in specific mental health skills and delivered over 50 webinars on employee wellbeing. Whilst COVID-19 has had a devasting impact for many organisations, the business has seen 95% revenue growth and pivoted to launch over 20 online ‘rapid learn’ programmes to support Inclusion and wellbeing and a range of other e-learning programmes. Global language translation options such as Spanish have opened up new international markets for the Huddersfield-based business.

Sharon Pegg said: “Did I think that at 16 when I left school I would be doing what I do now? Not a chance. I am sure that most of my teachers would be shocked too. But I have learned that if you’re determined enough, you can do anything you want to. The past 5 years have been filled with many highlights. Product-wise, my most memorable achievement was developing my e-learning products with a partner and then having them transferred into other languages. Initially, COVID saw the cancellation of many planned face-to-face events. But I could see that mental health and Inclusion training was going to be even more important as businesses worked through the challenges of the pandemic. The feedback on these educational programmes has been phenomenal and it will be something we will be doing more of in 2021. I am also delighted to have launched our new website, which has the very best in terms of accessibility from a disability perspective.”

The e-learning products focus on wellbeing, including self-care and spotting the signs of mental health issues in themselves and their teams. Early intervention is vital to ensure that people get the right help. Sharon herself is a qualified trainer for Mental Health First Aid, a fellow member of CIPD, Level 7 coach and qualified mediator. With her team of HR specialists and senior business coaches, they have delivered projects across Europe, Asia and America and received numerous commendations and personal awards for their holistic approach to HR consultancy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Caroline Saunders .