With a nationwide team providing high-quality psychological and orthopaedic assessments, HK Associates relies on HR People Support to care for its staff in demanding roles. From recruitment and training to mental health support and leadership development, HRPS partners with HK Associates to ensure their team is well-supported and motivated, allowing the organisation to focus on compassionate, high-quality client care.
Founded in 1991 by renowned psychologist Professor Hugh Koch, HK Associates is now one of the largest and most respected medico legal operations in the UK. It’s in-house staff, independent expert psychologists, and orthopaedic surgeons provide high-quality psychological and orthopaedic assessments, to solicitors, agencies, and individuals. With 42 clinical psychologists operating from 125 clinics across England and Wales, the HKA network supports clients across the country ensuring location is no barrier, and making the road to justice as smooth as possible.
Following continual growth and success over the years, the team at HKA now manage around 1,000 client interactions and over 250 clinical review meetings each month. It’s a busy operation managing clients and dealing empathetically with sensitive subject matters, so it’s essential staff are well cared for and supported in their challenging roles.
Says Lyn Wright, HKA’s Operations Manager & Partner:
“The workplace is an ever-changing environment, and we have a duty of care to ensure staff are very well looked after. HR People Support (HRPS) operate as our internal department providing a range of core HR Services across our operation, including day to day procedures, policies, training, and recruitment.”
The team at HKA regularly deal with claimants in emotional and troubled states of mind, and the business has implemented a number of HR services to support them, from core legal requirements to more empathetic levels of care and guidance. The business promotes internal progression, and staff promotion is encouraged when new opportunities arise. But rather than simply promoting someone to a leadership position and expecting them find their own way, HKA provide new leaders with management training skills to help them handle increased workload and team responsibility.
Continues Lyn:
“We ensure our people are not overwhelmed by business demands, because productivity and job satisfaction diminish when people are under intense pressure. Our working relationship with HRPS is constantly evolving, and we take actions that make a real difference to people’s working lives. For example, we jointly meet with team members to discuss current challenges, and the additional training and support that’s needed. Furthermore, we pay as we go for the services used, and I budget each month for the support provided. It’s an excellent commercial model that enables us to focus on specific areas of need, it’s a very effective working relationship.”
HKA previously used a recruitment agency when additional staff were required. The costs were high, and candidate quality was noticeably deteriorating. They now use HRPS for all recruitment, and rather than paying the traditionally high finder’s fee, they simply pay the agreed hourly rate for all recruitment activity. HR People Support manage all job marketing activity, CV collation, and first phase interview screening – through to the final shortlist for face-to-face interviewing by HKA.
Concludes Lyn:
“The calibre of candidates identified is excellent. They know us so well and they understand our culture and the calibre of person we want to employ – it’s a real benefit. They also advised us when an exceptional person was available, and although there wasn’t a vacancy, we created one, as talent recruitment is so crucial to market-leading business services. As our relationship evolves, the effectiveness of the partnership grows and we’re currently looking at ‘out-of-hours’ support services for our workforce. It really is a business partnership, and our staff consider HRPS as their internal HR department – I couldn’t be more delighted with the service and value they provide.”