Frequently Asked Questions
Who are your typical clients?
Primarily small to medium-sized businesses/charities and startups that don’t have their own in-house HR team. However, this is not exclusive!
You may have a small HR team that needs some extra resource for a specific period of time, or with a specific project. Some clients have only a handful of employees, you may have 50…or more.
If you are based in Dumfries & Galloway or surrounding areas I provide on site support, for organisations further afield I will primarily provide remote support.
If you employ anyone, it is never too soon to think about laying good foundations, though once you have 5 or more employees your legal obligations do increase so that is definitely a good point to make sure you have some support in place. Investing in protecting your business by setting things up properly in the short term could save you a lot of time and money in the long term.
What kind of HR support do you offer?
I offer flexible support tailored to your needs, but if you’re not too sure what you need, let’s talk about it!
You may just need a tiny bit of advice to make sure you are on the right track, a few hours on-site help with an upcoming interview or disciplinary process, or some new policies and procedures to keep you in line with the legislation. Or maybe you’re thinking about a bigger project, like team development workshops, implementing a cloud based HR system, or help managing some change that’s going to impact your people.
No two situations are the same, so we need to start by understanding what your priorities are. For clients looking for retained support, I generally recommend starting with a “HR Health check” to see what you already have in place, and then we can develop a plan of action.
Why would we need your services?
People are your biggest asset, the key to the success of any organisation. Managing people effectively isn’t always easy and can take a lot of time sometimes. But we understand that and are here to support you. HR expertise helps you achieve your goals while reducing the risk to your business, because we guide you through how to handle things and keep you up to date with all the employment law side of things…but not every workplace is big enough or needs to employ an HR professional full time.
By working with Foster Your People, you get the reassurance of receiving high quality professional advice when you need it, without having to pay someone full time.
What is Fractional HR?
For a business owner or startup founder, one of the big challenges is often managing your people effectively. You already understand the importance of getting this right, but you just don’t have enough time in the day to do all of this yourself…and you don’t have a big enough team to justify employing an HR manager.
So what can you do? This is where working with a Fractional HR leader can provide immense value to your business. You will find someone with the HR expertise, they will integrate with your team and offer both strategic guidance and operational expertise and hands-on support, part-time.
You only pay for the fraction of their time that you need, for as long as you need it. When you reach the size that you need to employ someone full time, they will be there to help you get the right person for the job. This can be a great model for startups and businesses that need flexibility and only have budget for an entry level role, to leverage the value that can be created by a highly skilled and experienced HR professional.
What price packages are available?
I understand budget is a big factor for everyone, so to ensure that you can access expert advice when you need it I have 3 different pricing options.
I offer an hourly rate if you want pay-as-you go advice, or I can give you a quote for a specific project, or an ongoing retainer or Fractional commitment depending on the scale of your need and how many employees you have.
I can design a bespoke retainer package for HR support based on your needs, I partner with a number of different providers so I can include HR software solutions if you wish.
“Jennie took the time to get to know our business. She is supportive and easy to work with and gives simple advice tailored to our business”
Martina, Director, Esteem Training Ltd