HR advice from the Professionals

Gravitate HR will be hosting our very own Pink Friday Fundraiser on 30^th October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We are looking for people to give a £1 donation to the charity, Breast Cancer Care, and will have a donation box in the office for anyone who would like to pop in. We will also be tying this in with Heather’s pink party event so will have raffle tickets for sale with some great prizes up for grabs! Winners will be informed on Monday 9^th November.

If you cannot come by our office on Friday but would still like to give a donation, please follow the link below:

http://payin.breastcancercare.org.uk/?id=10

To organize you own pink Friday, please follow the link below:

www.breastcancercare.org.uk/pinkfridays

Thank you for your support!

Gravitate HR

Welcome to the four edition of Gravitate HR’s quarterly newsletter. Each edition will detail up and coming legal changes, implications for your organisation and Gravitate HR case studies.

Download newsletter here

Having tirelessly trained for the impending 10km on Sunday just gone, I successfully achieved a time of 1 hour and 21 seconds! A great feat considering I had not managed to run a full 10km prior to the event. I would like to thank all of the team at Gravitate for their encouragement and support and wish the girls good luck with the Race for Life next month!

Becky Scott

As part of the Human Resources Management Masters course at Napier University in Edinburgh, students have to go on a three week placement with a local business.  I was offered a place at Gravitate HR and the placement has recently finished.  I was lucky enough to be part of a very friendly team of six HR professionals.  All team members, with no exception, have been very approachable and helpful in assisting me with my learning experience.

Gravitate HR is a consultancy that provides HR services to different clients.  This set up has enabled me to see how a diverse range of problems can be tackled.  Team members take part in team brainstorming discussions in the office about the different problems clients put forward.  Gravitate HR adds value to their clients by offering them solutions that are crafted from the collective experience of the team.

These discussions made Gravitate HR an excellent place to improve my knowledge on how to design and implement best HR practices.  Therefore in the short three weeks of my placement I learnt a great deal and even contributed to some of the ongoing projects, such as: assisting with the preparation of 360 Degree Feedback questionnaires and researching the legal requirements and potential implications for anyone wishing to hire someone on a self-employed basis.  A blog contribution and publication on the consultancy website were a great highlight of the whole experience.

I am looking forward to return in June to complete my Masters Dissertation’s field research on how the 360 degree feedback tool can positively contribute in the creation of effective management development plans.

Ricardo Mateus

Welcome to the second edition of Gravitate HR’s quarterly newsletter. Each edition will detail up and coming legal changes, implications for your organisation and Gravitate HR case studies.

We would like to wish you all a very happy easter and hope you get the chance for some spring sunshine.

Download it here!

Welcome to the first edition of Gravitate HR’s quarterly newsletter. Each edition will detail up and coming legal changes, implications for your organisation and Gravitate HR case studies.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay and look forward to working with you in 2009.

Download it here!

Congratulations are in order for Becky who passed her driving test today - first sitting!

You can expect to see Becky driving the Gravitate HR mini sometime over the New Year.

Congratulations from all the Gravitate HR team!

Following Sarah and Jennifer’s sunny days out with clients, we decided we should have an away day. Heather recommended Go Ape - so we made all the arrangements and headed off to Aberfoyle, on Friday 10th October. Even the rain and mist did not dampen our spirits and as the mini made it’s way north and west - the rain got heavier and the anticipation grew.

Now that we are back safely I can tell you that it was fantastic. It is very exhilarating and is a great team building event. We got very very wet as you can see from the photos!

This is Jennifer arriving on the zip wire!

The team before we got REALLY wet - arrived safely & looking forward to our adventure…………….

Becky sets off along the slippery path

Now we really are wet - but still smiling!

Sarah and Jennifer smiling in the pouring rain.

The way home is back across the zip wire over the trees, waterfall, landing on a big pile of wood chip ………

Jennifer looks happy!

Margery can’t believe she is in one piece

Sarah arrives elegantly……….

And a few action video clips!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JEGxnT11YfY

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tMQVaBAF65o

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2PYiL1g3U

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_NRFoz1p0

If you want to find out more about Go Ape visit Go Ape

Wednesday 24^th September

Sarah, Becky and I recently attended a workshop, hosted by HBJ Gateley Wareing, which centred on redundancy procedures and how to avoid unfair dismissals.

As we know in our field of work, the compliance with a formal process in this situation is essential to avoid such claims, and it is something we have helped many businesses go through in recent times. The speakers highlighted the key differences between redundancy and unfair dismissal; that of consultation (awareness of the possibility of redundancy), selection (fair and objective) and alternatives to dismissal (retaining or downgrading). A variety of questions were asked ranging from employees reactions, potential claim situations and contacting employees who are on holiday.

If you require any support on managing a redundancy process, please give us a call.

Sarah and I recently joined one of our clients, Ambergreen, for their jam-packed away day (afternoon) consisting of Clay Pigeon Shooting, Off-road driving and Quad biking at Mavis Hill Park. We were split up into teams and we each circulated around all the activities. I have to say I am not much of an outdoor’s person, but I thoroughly enjoyed these activities! After being outside for a good few hours, it was nice to gather inside a cosy barn and feast on the barbecue and wine! After feeling a little tipsy, we had a <merry> coach ride back to George Street. The day out then continued in Sygn with a few drinks, where everyone ended the evening well.

I thoroughly recommend such a day out for your company, at least once a year!