M:Brace HR

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M:Brace HR 🌿 M:Brace | Practical, down to earth HR and people support for local businesses | Helensburgh.

Lomond and surrounding areas | Always confidential, never judgemental

09/10/2026

“I knew I could tell you.”

That might be one of the biggest compliments anyone leading people will ever hear.

Not “You’re inspiring.”
Not “You always know what to do.”
Not even “You’re a brilliant leader.”

"I knew I could tell you."

It means someone trusted you with the truth, and felt safe telling you before everything went horribly wrong.

They trusted you with the mistake, the worry, the disagreement, the ridiculous idea that might actually work, or the quiet little feeling that something wasn’t right.

That’s what safety looks like to me:

It’s not everyone agreeing.
It’s not avoiding difficult conversations.
And it’s definitely not letting everything slide.

It’s knowing that honesty will be met with fairness, dignity and a genuine willingness to listen & truly consider what's being said.

My seven values sit quietly underneath how I lead:

⚖️Fairness as the foundation.
🌿Integrity with warmth.
💜Grace in hard moments.
✨Clarity that protects & empowers.
🌱Curiosity with purpose.
🔒Confidentiality as dignity & respect.
💫Calm as strength.

They’re not corporate wallpaper.

They’re how I want people to feel when they deal with me, especially when something is difficult.

Because when people know they can tell you, you get the truth while there’s still time to do something useful with it.

Local business owners and managers, can I pick your brains for a minute? ☕😊I’m thinking of hosting a FREE evening Q&A ab...
02/10/2026

Local business owners and managers, can I pick your brains for a minute? ☕😊

I’m thinking of hosting a FREE evening Q&A about employment law changes and what they mean for your business.

And I mean FREE! No strings, no obligation, no hard sell. Just a real opportunity to find out how the upcoming changes will effect you.

A relaxed, practical session where I’ll talk through the changes, help you understand what needs your attention and leave plenty of time for questions.

No death by PowerPoint, promise! 😂

Before I get organising, I’d love to know whether this would interest you and how you’d prefer to join:

☕ In person in Helensburgh
💻 Online
🙌 Either would suit me

Pop your preference in the comments, or click here to access my google response form: https://forms.gle/H41j3KWKBcK4C4EL6
(no email addresses collected when you complete the form, there's space to pop contact details in, but this is entirely optional)

And if you know a local business owner or someone who manages a team who might find this useful, please share it with them.

Thanks so much!
Jacquie 💜
M:Brace HR

📣 Out of hours recruitment support for businesses and care providersRecruitment can be incredibly time consuming, especi...
30/09/2026

📣 Out of hours recruitment support for businesses and care providers

Recruitment can be incredibly time consuming, especially when you're running a small business and already spending your working day serving customers, supporting staff or delivering care.

By the time you've finally got a chance to look at applications, write interview questions or contact candidates, it's often well into the evening.

That's exactly why my recruitment support is available out of hours.

I work during evenings and weekends to help with as much or as little of the recruitment process as you need, including:

• Reviewing the role and what you actually need
• Writing a clear and appealing job advert
• Helping you decide whether the salary is right
• Reviewing and shortlisting applications
• Initial screening, via telephone or video call
• Preparing fair and effective interview questions
• Supporting or conducting interviews
• Completing right to work and pre employment checks
• Making sure your offer, contract and onboarding process are ready

This also means that I can offer candidates out of hours interviews, which candidates very often find helpful, especially if they're already in a role, they don't need to juggle standard 9am to 5pm interview timings!

I can also advertise the role confidentially if you'd prefer until we've done the initial sift and we're at the stage of contacting applicants.

And because I'm an HR professional rather than a recruitment agency, I look beyond simply filling the vacancy too:

Is the role clear?
Is the salary realistic?
Are your interview questions fair and effective?
Are you choosing someone who is actually right for your business?
And have you got everything ready to employ them properly once they start?

I also have years of experience in adult social care and deeply understand the importance of safer recruitment, values based interviewing and the additional checks care providers need to consider. Not just because the regulator expects it, but because your service deserves the best we can find.

You don't need to hand over the whole process. I can simply step in where you need an extra pair of experienced hands.

If recruitment has been sitting on your list because you can't find the time to tackle it, send me a message and let’s have a chat.

M:Brace HR - A safe place to land. For you, for your business and for your people.

M:Brace HR is your friendly, warm, Helensburgh based HR & Leadership Consultancy offering out of hours support for small...
08/09/2026

M:Brace HR is your friendly, warm, Helensburgh based HR & Leadership Consultancy offering out of hours support for small businesses in Helensburgh and the surrounding areas. (We can also support a wider area remotely).

If you've been putting off getting HR support in place, need a regular sounding board to talk through challenges you're facing, or would just like a trusted partner to go through your current processes, policies and practices ahead of the employment law changes then get in touch.

All of my services are designed to help you and work alongside you my approach is helpful, warm and non judgemental.

M:Brace HR - A safe place to land. For you, for your business and for your people.

Tel: +44 (0)7466 149904
Email: [email protected]

29/06/2026

Something I've been quietly working on behind the scenes is now live. 😊

HR: Off the Record, my newsletter, now has a proper home on my website. Every edition, all in one place, ready to read whenever you need it.

If you've been reading along on LinkedIn, thank you, it means more than you know. 💜

And if you've ever missed an edition, or want to go back and read something again, or share it with someone who needs it, it's all there now at:

https://mbracehr.com/Blog/

Nine editions and counting, covering everything from why your first HR hire isn't a junior job, to psychological safety, to the real business case for getting your people foundations right.

No jargon. No corporate waffle. Just honest, practical HR thinking for founders, leaders and growing businesses who want to get it right.

Come and have a read. 😊💜
https://mbracehr.com/Blog/

I want to tell you why I've built this, because it comes from something that's been bothering me.The Employment Rights A...
21/06/2026

I want to tell you why I've built this, because it comes from something that's been bothering me.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is coming, and the more I looked at it, the more one thing struck me: the businesses most exposed to it are the ones least likely to have anyone helping them through it.

Big companies have HR teams and legal budgets. But small businesses? The ones run by people wearing every hat, with no HR person to turn to? They're carrying the same legal risks, the same tribunals, the same consequences, with none of the support. And often without even realising how exposed they are.

That didn't sit right with me. Because when it comes to your people, a small business actually carries the highest risk of all.

A grievance handled badly. A dismissal that isn't watertight. A discrimination claim you never saw coming. For a big company, those are bumps. For a small business, any one of them can be the thing that takes you down. And the new legislation only raises the stakes.

You started your business to do the thing you're brilliant at. Not to lie awake wondering whether that contract's legal, or whether you handled a situation with a staff member the right way. But that worry sits there, quietly, at the back of your mind.

So I built something for exactly this. Genuine, qualified HR support, made accessible for the small businesses who need it most but might never otherwise be able to reach it.

💜 HR Essentials.

For £250 a month, you get up to 4 hours of director-level HR expertise, focused on the things that matter most:

✔️ A starter set of core HR policy templates and a basic contract template to get you going
✔️ Your contracts and policies kept compliant and current
✔️ Plain-English heads-up on the changes coming your way, including the ERA
✔️ Someone qualified to call BEFORE a small thing becomes a big one
✔️ A friendly, experienced HR professional in your corner, not a stranger you scramble to find in a crisis

No full-time salary. No HR department to build. Just senior expertise, there when you need it, for the essentials.

Because it's a genuinely personal service, I only take on a limited number of Essentials clients at a time, so everyone gets proper attention.

A safe place to land. For you, your business, and your people. 💜

Wondering if it's right for you? Drop me a message, no pitch, just a friendly chat.

👇 Full detail, who it's for and what's included, in the comments.

There's a big change coming for small businesses, and I don't think enough people are talking about it in the right way....
17/06/2026

There's a big change coming for small businesses, and I don't think enough people are talking about it in the right way.

The Employment Rights Act is reshaping the landscape, and the headlines will tell you it's all about compliance. New rules. Day-one rights. Tighter processes. And yes, all of that matters.

But here's what I think the real story is.

The businesses that are going to struggle with this aren't the ones with slightly out-of-date paperwork. They're the ones whose people foundations were already shaky, and who've been getting away with it because the old rules let them.

The manager who handles difficult conversations badly. The probation period nobody really managed. The culture where issues get ignored until they explode. The "we'll sort it later" approach to people. Until now, you could often get away with all of that. Soon, it'll cost you, in tribunals, in turnover, in reputation, in good people walking out the door.

The ERA isn't really a paperwork problem. It's a wake-up call about how well you actually look after your people.

And here's the bit I genuinely believe: the businesses that will come through this strongest aren't the ones who scramble to tick the legal boxes. They're the ones who use this moment to get their people and culture genuinely right. Because when you treat people well, fairly, honestly, with proper processes and capable managers, you don't just stay on the right side of the law. You build somewhere people actually want to stay.

The law is the floor. It was never meant to be the ceiling. And the best employers have always known that.

This is exactly the work I do. I help small and growing businesses build strong, human people foundations, the kind that don't just survive a changing legal landscape, but genuinely thrive in it. Not cold, box-ticking compliance. A safe place to land, for the business and everyone in it. Warm, yes, but never soft, because getting this right means having the honest conversations too.

If the ERA changes have been niggling at the back of your mind, and you'd rather get ahead of it properly than scramble later, let's talk. Even just to point you in the right direction.

And if you know a business owner who could do with hearing this, please do tag them or pass it on. 💙

30/03/2026

The Fair Work Agency launches on 7 April 2026. And I think a lot of good employers are about to get a very unwelcome surprise.

Not because they've been cutting corners. But because employment law has a habit of creating risk in places nobody thought to look, and enforcement has, until now, been inconsistent enough that many issues have quietly gone unnoticed.

That changes next week.

The FWA can investigate without a complaint, walk in without warning, look back six years, and issue penalties of up to 200% of any underpayment on top of paying staff the arrears they're owed.

Some of the most common exposures I'd be looking at right now:

☑️ Staff required to be on site before their paid shift starts; for handovers, briefings, or getting changed
☑️ Deductions or salary sacrifice arrangements that tip someone below NMW in a single pay period
☑️ Unpaid breaks where staff are required to remain on site and available, a break is only a genuine rest break in law if people are free to leave their post
☑️ Travel time between sites or appointments not reflected in pay
☑️ Holiday pay calculations that don't account for overtime or variable pay

The care sector is a good example of how this happens. Providers introduced on-site changing requirements for entirely sound infection control reasons post-Covid, and may now be carrying an NMW liability they don't know exists. But they're far from alone. This kind of unintentional exposure turns up across hospitality, retail, logistics, and anywhere with shift-based, variable, or hourly paid workforces.

Here's the part that really matters though: underpayments corrected before an investigation opens are in a very different position to those discovered during one. Getting ahead of this, and being able to demonstrate you took proactive, independent steps to review your practices, makes an enormous difference.

I'm Jacquie, a senior People professional currently offering independent NMW and working time compliance audits. If you'd like an honest, external view of where your exposure might be and what, if anything, needs to change, I'd love to have that conversation.

DMs open, or call me on 07466 149904.

17/03/2026

⚠️ Small business owners — are you ready for the SSP changes coming in April?

Statutory Sick Pay is changing in just a few weeks and if you're not prepared, it could catch you out.

From April 2026, the waiting days rule is being removed, meaning SSP will be payable from day one of sickness absence. This affects every employer, no matter how small.

Not sure what it means for your business? I can help.

For a limited time I'm offering an Employment Rights Act Review at a discounted rate of just £175, in return for a short honest review of your experience.

In one hour I'll walk you through exactly what's changing (not just the SSP element), what it means specifically for your business, and what you need to do to make sure you're covered.

No jargon. No waffle. Just clear, practical advice from an experienced HR professional based right here in Helensburgh.

Slots are limited and April is closer than you think. Message me to book yours.

Or call me on: 07466149904

Address

Helensburgh

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 9pm
Tuesday 9am - 9pm
Wednesday 9am - 9pm
Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday 9am - 9pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 2pm - 4pm

Telephone

+447747039849

Website

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