With a dedicated mission to promote the care and value of trees, the Arboricultural Association relies on HR People Support to ensure their HR processes remain compliant and cost-effective. As a small but passionate organisation, they benefit from ongoing support for policies, contracts, and ad-hoc challenges, allowing them to focus on their core mission with confidence. Partnering with HR People Support provides the peace of mind that all employment matters are handled professionally and in line with evolving regulations.
The Arboricultural Association was founded in 1964 as a scientific and educational organisation to promote the care and value of trees. The passion shown by the founders continues in the Board and the membership today. The Association employs around 20 people, and has a global membership base of over 3,000. It’s increasingly recognised as an international leader in arboriculture.
In common with many organisations, the Association has to meet the needs of their workforce by providing legally compliant and comprehensive HR services whilst controlling costs. Due to their size, they don’t have a dedicated HR manager, but they’re determined to ensure everything is up to date and line with current employment legislation.
Says John Parker, Chief Executive:
“We started working with HRPS over 2 years ago, and they provide us with HR expertise to ensure our people are properly looked after. They’re retained by us as HR partners, and we contract with them on a monthly basis to ensure everything is correct, up to date, and in line with HR legal requirements and guidance.”
Employment contracts, documentation, HR policies, and the employee handbook are an ongoing focus of the relationship, along with ad-hoc involvement in issues that may require deeper analysis and on-site meeting support. Continues John:
“We’re a happy ship, and being a small organisation we have a greater level of workforce empathy than may be found in larger companies. But inevitably we have the occasional challenge from time to time – and it’s great to have Helen and the team at HRPS to support us beyond the routine monthly work they do for us. They’ve helped us with on-site meeting support and investigative duties that ensured due diligence and legally compliant policies and procedures were followed at all times.”
Across all industry verticals, changes and restructuring have to be made from time to time to remain focused and relevant in the marketplace, and the Association is no exception. When changes are being considered, the leadership team involve HRPS in early discussions to ensure that from the very start of the initiative, the impact and consequences are discussed and scrutinised from a workforce perspective. Concludes John:
“Running the Association requires the assurance that all HR processes are professionally set-up and in line with current legal requirements, and of course, things change very regularly.
We can’t justify the cost of employing a dedicated HR manager, and we’re extremely happy with the support and guidance we receive from HRPS. They’re responsive to our requests, and provide us with expert impartial advice that gives me confidence that everything is legally correct and in place. I look forward to the continuation of our excellent relationship.”