GO FORTH STIRLING BID LAUNCHES HR SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES

Stirling’s city centre BID businesses are being offered specialist HR support under a new initiative from the Go Forth team.

Levy-paying companies will be able to access free professional help and guidance on HR matters including discipline, absence management, performance related issues, recruitment and redundancies.

The project has been developed by Go Forth Stirling’s Project Director Danielle McRorie-Smith and Community Engagement and Business Improvement Officer Fiona McMillan in partnership with business support organisation STEP.

It will mean businesses can contact Vicky Murphy, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at STEP, and her team with any queries they have regarding employment legislation, employee relations, legal issues and much more.

The BID (Business Improvement District) introduced the initiative, which starts on July 1, to expand on the professional and specialist services city centre businesses can benefit from.

Ms McMillan said: “We’ve set up an offer for BID members which allows them to take advantage of the professional support services offered by STEP.

“They’ll have free access to HR support which is ideal for smaller businesses who don’t have a HR department or consultant on hand, but also for bigger businesses who want a sense check with an expert if an issue comes along which they’ve not encountered before.

“Vicky and her team will be on hand to help and this is all about expanding professional services benefits for our businesses and third sector organisations.

“It’s a great partnership with STEP and an initiative I’m really excited about. Every levy-paying business can benefit from having a trusted, critical friend on hand to talk to in confidence and without facing a large bill at the end of the conversation. I hope this project will be something which makes life a bit easier for our business community.”

Vicky Murphy and the STEP HR team will help businesses with various tasks such as creating or reviewing HR related policies and procedures; ensuring they are compliant with new legislation and support around staff recruitment.

She says: “The majority of enquiries we deal with from small to medium sized businesses are around whether they have all the right policies in place when it comes to employment legislation and particularly relating to new legislation which has come out in recent years.

“We also support them with guidance around difficult conversations they may need to have with employees around absence, performance, disciplinary issues and so on.

“We can also help with job descriptions and interviews when employers are looking to recruit new staff.”

Ms Murphy adds: “The business owners we work with are exceptionally good at running their own day to day businesses, whatever they might be, but they are not experts in HR and find it beneficial to outsource that area to us.

“We’re at the end of the phone and can provide security and advice so they know they are getting everything right and can concentrate on their day job.”

The partnership could also see the STEP team deliver interactive webinars on specific HR topics which will be useful to BID members.

Any BID businesses who would like to use the HR support service should contact the Go Forth team via admin@goforthstirling.co.uk

Last year, STEP and Go Forth joined forces to launch business advice clinics in the city centre.

The collaboration gives current business owners – or people looking to start a business – the chance to ask questions and get help and tailored support at clinics held once a month at the Codebase headquarters in Corn Exchange Road.

Go Forth Stirling is the city’s Business Improvement District (BID) which represents more than 600 business owners with a key objective of increasing visitors to the city and devising initiatives to help make it a more welcoming destination for businesses and shoppers.

For more information, visit www.goforthstirling.co.uk

STEP is a business support organisation which has been working with companies in the Forth Valley area for more than 40 years combining commercial services with funded programmes, property, venue hire and in-house facilities.

For more information go to www.stepscotland.co.uk

Written by

Rachel Blackburn

Based in Stirling, Rachel specialises in working with small and medium-sized companies across Central Scotland to raise their profile through targeted media relations. She finds the newsworthy stories every business has to tell and delivers them to the right audience in a straightforward and cost-effective manner. Rachel worked as a newspaper reporter and in various roles, including feature writer, Los Angeles correspondent and Scottish News Editor, for wire service The Press Association before founding Blackburn Communications in 2012. She works on a one-to-one basis with clients getting to know their business and finding the best outlets to share their news with current and potential customers, staff and stakeholders. It is very much a personal and flexible service tailored to their needs and budget. Rachel, a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce, also offers bespoke writing services for firms including help with business awards application forms and copywriting for Blogs.