Shore HR

People-first HR support for small and growing businesses - from recruitment to retirement, helping your business run smoothly and your team thrive.

We are an independent boutique consultancy providing expertise for all of your HR needs. With 20 years’ experience in HR in a number of different sectors includingPharmaceuticals, Construction, Oil & Gas and Manufacturing we’re here to support you build, develop & retain your people driving business performance.

We offer bespoke services tailored to suit your specific needs designed to help you

unleash the power of your people. From setting up a people function with initial HR practices right through to managing your people effectively. We can help you with compliance, attraction & retention, reward, recognition & engagement, career development and Performance management. We’re here to help and support you to navigate your way through HR.

05/06/2026

The next time a member of staff keeps flagging something you'd rather not deal with, read this before you decide they're just "being difficult."

If someone raises a genuine safety concern, the law treats that as "protected." Sack them for it and it counts as automatically unfair.

It's the same story with putting someone on a performance plan with no right to appeal, or dismissing them with no reason in writing. All of it lands you on the wrong side of the rules.

When a client rings me about a "difficult" employee, my first question is always the same. "What have they been trying to tell you?"

So when someone on your team raises something, hear them out properly. Get it in writing that you did. Often, the person making a fuss is the one who can see the problem before it costs you.

P.S. If you've got a tricky situation with a staff member and you'd rather get the process right than guess at it, drop me a message. Better a quick chat now than a tribunal later.

02/06/2026

Union membership in the UK just hit 6.6 million 📈

That's up nearly 200,000 on last year, and more than 1 in 5 UK employees is now a member of a trade union.

It’s worth paying attention to, given what's coming into play for the Employment Rights Act in October…

Most business owners I speak to still haven't heard about the October changes. Even fewer know what they're supposed to do when a rep turns up at reception (or digitally!).

Fines for repeated non-compliance go up to £750,000 💰

I'm already working through this with clients - if you want to get ahead of it like they are, send me a DM 👋

28/05/2026

I've started a webinar series on the Employment Rights Act with Women of our Time Womeniverse, and the response has been pretty telling.

Most people I speak to know the law has changed. Very few know what it actually means for their business day to day.

The series covers...

👉 An overview of what's changed and why it matters

👉 Maternity and flexible working

👉 The gender pay gap reporting changes

👉 The new menopause guidance

Each session is aimed at women in business and anyone running a team who wants to understand their obligations without wading through legislation themselves.

The Womaniverse from Women of our Time is a membership designed to support women in work and life, whenever they need it - you'll find my talks available on demand here too!

Learn more here: https://www.womenofourtime.uk/women-of-our-time-community

27/05/2026

Most of the HR problems I deal with could have been sorted in week two.

They tend to reach me in month eight 🙃

It's usually not because business owners don't care or don't know something's wrong. It's because the moment they try to act on it, it starts to feel really complicated.

What if I get the process wrong?

What if they make a claim?

What if I'm being too harsh?

Those aren't silly questions - employment law is genuinely complicated and getting it wrong is expensive. But waiting doesn't protect you. It just gives the problem more time to grow.

If you've got someone in your team who isn't working out, send me a message before it gets complicated.

26/05/2026

A new mother came back from maternity leave and asked for her job back.

Her boss laughed.

She'd generated £1.3 million in sales for that company. She was on £65,000. They came back with £24,000.

Maternity discrimination rarely starts with something dramatic. It starts with assumptions.

"She'll probably want something easier now."

"We need someone full-time." "

Things have moved on while she was away."

Those assumptions are how women lose roles they earned.

If you're a woman who's been put in this situation, or you want to make sure you never put someone else in it, I'm here.

21/05/2026

A union representative knocks on your door and asks to come in 🚪

Do you know what to do?

From October, trade unions have the legal right to access your premises if you've got 21 or more employees.

Most small business owners haven't heard about this, let alone thought about what they'd actually do if it happened. Getting it wrong isn't just awkward - fines for repeated non-compliance go up to £750,000.

Before October, you need a clear process for handling access requests, staff who know what to say and what not to say, and an understanding of the digital access rules, not just the physical ones.

If you're reading this thinking you're not prepared for any of that, it's worth getting ahead of it now rather than scrambling when someone turns up.

20/05/2026

A man took his brother to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

He won £29,639.

Steve and Kevin both worked for a family drainage business. They couldn't work one weekend - they weren't contractually required to, and both had family members who were unwell.

They were dismissed three days later. The tribunal found the process "rude, aggressive and cavalier."

Working for family doesn't remove employment rights. And not being available one weekend isn't grounds for dismissal, especially when weekend working isn't even in the contract.

👉 If someone lets you down and you're tempted to act quickly, drop me a message first.

🤝 It's almost always cheaper to get the process right than to deal with a tribunal afterwards.

19/05/2026

Most of my work is dismissals, disciplinaries, and grievances.

I'm good at it and I don't mind it, but it's not all HR is for.

The work I'd genuinely love more of is the stuff that comes before all of that - helping businesses recruit properly so the wrong person doesn't get through the door, building a culture where people actually want to stay, and looking at what a business offers its employees, not just what it expects from them.

There's a version of HR that appears when something's gone wrong. And there's a version that means things are much less likely to go wrong in the first place.

If your HR feels entirely reactive right now and you'd like it to feel different, I'd love to have a conversation about what that could look like.

15/05/2026

Better book a meeting with myself...

Perks of running your own business:

You make the decisions. You set the direction. You call the shots.

You are also HR.

Which means when something goes wrong with a member of staff, you have to go to HR.

Which is you.

Good luck with that meeting 😅

If you'd rather have someone in your corner when it happens, that's what I'm here for 👋

14/05/2026

From October, trade unions have the legal right to walk into your business.

If you've got 21 or more employees, this applies to you. Most business owners I speak to haven't heard about this, and even fewer know what they're supposed to do when it happens.

There's a digital element too - unions can seek access to your IT systems to communicate with your staff without ever setting foot on your premises.

Fines for repeated non-compliance go up to £750,000.

If you're reading this thinking you've got no idea what you'd do if someone turned up and asked for access, now is the time to find out.

Send me a message and we'll make sure you're not caught off guard in October.

Address

Driffield

Website

http://www.shorehr.co.uk/

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