The client had been struggling to recruit the right level of permanent and associate staff into their management consultancy for various reasons – the main ones being:

• They needed candidates with specific skills and experience and did not know where to find them
• They did not have the time to spend looking at best ways to attract applicants
• They did not have the time to spend trawling through CVs to find applicants that appeared to be a match
• They did not have the time to do first interviews for candidates that met initial criteria
• They did not have the time to administer the whole process

Apollo were able to:

• Research the market – where did these people look for work – be it permanent or temporary? What were their competitors doing?
• Target specific candidates through LinkedIn, Twitter and the client's own website
• Sift out applicants who did not match the required criteria
• Conduct initial telephone interviews for those applicants who appeared to match the required criteria
• Provide feedback and recommendations to the client on who to interview
• Administer the whole process from beginning to end

The client was able to:

• Recruit several candidates through one recruitment campaign at a fraction of the cost of using a recruitment agency
• Provide only one thorough briefing to Apollo who project managed the whole process
• Save a huge amount of time by only interviewing candidates who had already been thoroughly screened

The client was selling part of their business and restructuring the remainder – resulting in a transfer of staff to a new owner and some redundancies. The specific issues they had were:

• Whilst they were getting legal advice from a solicitor, they had never undergone this sort of process before and were not confident that they would get it right
• They needed someone to 'hold their hand' in meetings where the staff were told about the transfers and potential redundancies – a solicitor cannot do this
• They needed someone to ensure that the process was managed from beginning to end so nothing was missed which could potentially see them in court for breaching UK employment legislation

Apollo were able to:

• Give the managers the confidence they needed by attending meetings with them and guiding them (and the affected employees) through the process – advising on the spot
• Ensure that all the relevant paperwork was completed – including notes of meetings and ensuring that all was legally compliant
• Give managers a much needed confidante – ensuring that they had a much needed 'ear to bend' and someone who could empathise with the difficult job they had to

The client was able to:

• Complete the transfer and redundancy process confident in the knowledge that they had got it right and had minimised the risk of a claim through an Employment Tribunal
• Carry out the process in a professional manner, making sure that the affected employees were dealt with in an efficient yet sympathetic way
• Concentrate on the business related issues that resulted from the sale and restructure – they did not have to become a TUPE or Redundancy Legislation expert – they had one on hand.

The client had dismissed an employee for gross misconduct and he had appealed against the decision. The client was a small company and as the Managing Director had been involved in the dismissal, they did not have anyone else in the business who could hear the appeal. The client knew that:

• They needed to conduct an Appeal Hearing to ensure that they were compliant with best practice as recommended by ACAS
• If they did not hold the Appeal, they could automatically be found to have unfairly dismissed the employee
• They needed to ensure that the Appeal was heard by someone completely independent and who would investigate the matter properly

Apollo were able to:

• Hold the Appeal hearing, making sure that the dismissed employee had every opportunity to put his case forward
• Independently review the statements and other information from the original Disciplinary Hearing to ensure that all information had been taken into account and that a fair process had been followed
• Further investigate the allegations, re-interviewing witnesses to make sure that there was consistency in evidence
• Provide the dismissed employee with a detailed response to their appeal and let them know specifically why the employer's decision was being upheld

The client was able to:

• Hand over the Appeal to an experienced HR Consultant – someone who had conducted Appeals and Investigations on a regular basis so knew what questions to ask and what evidence to look for
• Get back to working on their own business and leave the Appeal with an expert in the field
• Have confidence that whatever the outcome of the Appeal, it had been dealt with in a professional way

The client was a medium sized business that had grown somewhat in recent years. They had always prided themselves on having a 'family' culture but were finding that this was now causing them problems as they had reached a size where more formality was needed. The specific problems they had were:

• They did not know exactly what everyone did – jobs had evolved over time with people taking on responsibilities here, there and everywhere
• There were no 'rules' or 'procedures' – managers were acting inconsistently and employees felt frustrated that some managers said one thing whilst others said another
• There were no Contracts of Employment in place, leaving the client vulnerable in many areas including breaches of confidentiality and staff taking customer information to a new employer

Apollo were able to:

• Through interviews with all staff, formulate role definitions and job descriptions which allowed the client to see what staff were doing now, where there was cross over and where there were gaps that needed filling
• Put together a tailored Employee Handbook which informed managers and employees alike of the company's expectations, rules, policies and procedures
• Provide the client with a tailored Contract of Employment that not only met the legal requirements of UK Employment Law but provided protection in key areas
• Provide guidance and training to managers on how to implement these new documents so that the employees understood their importance and why the company was doing what it was doing

The client was able to:

• Get tailored documents that reflected their business and business needs rather than a 'one size fits all'
• Concentrate on their key business objectives and not have to worry about researching best practice and what was required by law
• Reap the benefits of using a HR Consultant who has worked in many different companies in various sectors and understood the needs of their business
• Make considerable savings by using an experienced HR Consultant when they may have been tempted to use their more costly solicitors