Set Up: HR support for small businesses getting the basics right
You've taken on staff and you've been figuring it out as you go. It's worked so far, but there's a nagging feeling you're probably not doing everything quite right. Set Up puts the foundations in properly and then keeps me on the end of the phone for whatever comes up next.
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From £75 a month
Documents written for you
Someone to ring
You've got staff and you're not certain you're doing it right
You've taken on your first few people, or you've had a small team for a while and it's all been fine. Nobody has caused any trouble. Nothing has blown up.
Somewhere in the back of your mind, though, there's a question you keep not asking. Are the contracts you're using actually right? Is that handbook you found online worth anything? If someone went off sick for three months tomorrow, would you know what you're supposed to do?
Most small business owners are in exactly this position, and most of them find out the answer at the worst possible moment. Set Up is for dealing with it before that happens, which is both cheaper and considerably less stressful.
What we do together
We start with the foundations. I draft your contracts of employment so they're legally compliant and built around your business, and I write your employee handbook in plain English so it actually gets read rather than filed somewhere and forgotten. We put a proper onboarding process in place, so new starters arrive to something that looks like a business that knows what it's doing.
After that I'm on hand for whatever comes up, which something always does. An absence that's turning into a pattern. A performance conversation you're not sure how to open. A situation where you mainly need someone to tell you what you are and aren't allowed to do before you do it.
We also have a monthly check-in. That's partly to keep things on track and partly so there's a regular point where we look at what's coming rather than only speaking when something has already gone wrong.
What you end up with
Contracts of employment that are legally compliant and written for your business. An employee handbook your team will actually read. Phone and email support as and when you need it, with ready-to-use documents for the situations that come up most often. And a monthly check-in that keeps things moving forward.
What that adds up to is the confidence to deal with something properly the first time, without second-guessing yourself or losing an evening to Google.
What's different once it's in place
You stop winging it. The low-level anxiety of not knowing whether you're getting it right gets replaced by having someone to ask who does know, understands how small businesses actually work, and will give you a straight answer rather than a hedge.
HR stops being the thing at the back of your mind and becomes the thing you've dealt with.
If you outgrow it, we move you.
Set Up is built for businesses where you're the one making the decisions about people. When that changes, when you've got managers of your own who need to make those calls without checking with you every time, Step Up is the one that fits. We'd talk about it well before it became a problem, and moving between packages is straightforward.
What clients say
Excellent
5.0 
Based on 8 reviews
10 years in HR. CIPD Level 5 qualified. 5 stars from every client who's reviewed.
I've been working in HR and people management since 2016. Before that, 10 years as a primary school teacher. I hold a CIPD Level 5 Associate Diploma in People Management, based near Darlington, and I've helped businesses across the North East: from first-time employers getting the basics right to organisations with management layers and complex employee relations work.
Excellent
5.0
Based on 8 reviews
Based near Darlington.
Working across the North East.
I work with businesses across the North East: Darlington, Durham, Bishop Auckland, Stockton-on-Tees, Newcastle and the surrounding areas. For the right client I'll travel further. For businesses that work remotely, I can do that too. If you're within an hour of Barnard Castle, I can be with you in person when it counts.
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