Employee Relations
The everyday matters that become expensive if they're handled badly.
Senior HR capability, for exactly as long as you need it
There's an awkward middle ground that a lot of WA employers sit in. Too big to have no HR support at all, not big enough to justify a full-time senior HR manager. Or fully staffed, until someone goes on parental leave in the middle of a bargaining round.
Recruiting for a gap you'll have for four months doesn't work. Neither does distributing the work across people who already have full-time jobs, though that's usually what happens.
We provide experienced HR capability on a short-term or interim basis, full-time, part-time, or a day a week, scoped to what you actually need.
You might be dealing with
- An HR manager on parental, long service or extended sick leave
- A vacancy you're recruiting for, with a gap to bridge
- A period of unusual demand: a ramp-up, an acquisition, a bargaining round
- A growing business that needs HR foundations built but not yet a permanent hire
- An HR team that's capable but needs senior support on a specific complex matter
- A backlog: policies out of date, files a mess, processes undocumented
- A site or project needing dedicated HR support for its duration
What's included
- Day-to-day HR advice Being the person your leaders call. Award and agreement interpretation, entitlements, process questions, and the judgement calls that come up weekly in any workforce.
- Recruitment and onboarding Position descriptions, selection process, contracts and offers, induction. Getting the start right prevents a large share of problems later.
- Exits and offboarding Resignations, terminations, final entitlements, exit conversations and handover. Done properly, so departures stay clean and you learn something from them.
- Performance and conduct matters Handling the live issues as they arise, with the process discipline they require.
- Policy and documentation Contracts, policies, procedures and templates: reviewed, updated or built from scratch. Written to be usable by supervisors rather than filed and forgotten.
- Compliance Award and agreement coverage, classification, entitlements, record keeping. The unglamorous work that becomes very expensive when it's wrong.
- HR systems and process Setting up or tidying the practical infrastructure: files, records, reporting, workflows.
- Capability handover Where we're building foundations, we build them to be run by your people after we leave. The goal is not to make ourselves necessary.
How we work
- 01 Scoping conversation What's needed, for how long, at what intensity.
- 02 Proposal Scope, days per week, duration, rate. Agreed before we start.
- 03 Onboarding We get across your business, people and systems quickly.
- 04 Delivery On site, remote or a mix, as suits.
- 05 Handover Documented, so nothing is left dependent on us.
Engagements range from a day a week for a few months to full-time cover for a defined period.
Tell us what's going on, and we'll scope it to what you actually need. Book a call
Experience behind this service
Kelly has repeatedly stepped into organisations needing capability built quickly, establishing HR functions where none existed, moving personnel teams to business partnering models, and building frameworks for a newly listed company inside six months.
Whether the need is cover, capacity or foundations, the work is scoped to leave something behind that your team can run without us.
Why interim support works
- You get seniority you couldn't otherwise justify. Twenty-five years of experience for two days a week costs a fraction of a permanent senior hire, and you get it for the period you need it.
- No recruitment lag. Hiring a permanent HR manager takes months. Interim support can start within two weeks.
- No long-term commitment. When the need ends, the engagement ends. No redundancy, no notice period, no difficult conversation.
- Fresh eyes. Someone from outside sees the things that have become invisible internally: the process everyone works around, the policy nobody follows, the problem that's been tolerated for years.
Common questions
How quickly can you start?
Usually within two weeks, depending on current commitments. For urgent matters we can often provide immediate advice while a fuller arrangement is scoped.
Do you work on site or remotely?
Both. For most engagements a mix works best, on site regularly enough to be visible and known, remote for the work that doesn't need presence. For site-based operations we'll plan around rosters.
What's the minimum engagement?
We're flexible. Some clients use us for a single day; others for months. We'd rather match the arrangement to the need than impose a minimum.
How do you charge?
Day rate for interim work, agreed in advance. Defined projects are quoted as a fixed fee.
We've never had HR support. Where do we start?
With a conversation about what's causing you the most difficulty right now. Usually there's an immediate issue and a set of underlying gaps, and it's worth handling the first while beginning to close the second.
Can you support our existing HR team rather than replace them?
Frequently what's needed. Capable HR teams sometimes hit a matter outside their experience: a serious investigation, a bargaining round, a major restructure. We work alongside them on that piece and leave them more capable for the next one.