Delivering heritage and new build projects
Stamford Stone is the exclusive global suppliers of Clipsham limestone, beautiful creamy gold coloured stone that is quarried in Lincolnshire. Some of the UK’s most prestigious buildings have been restored using this stone. These include Windsor Castle, the Houses of Parliament, York Minster and Kings College Chapel in Cambridge.
Laura Green and Dan Wilson are the current Directors of the business, which was started in 1997 by their Dad. They are responsible for operating environmentally friendly and sustainable quarries with a production facility on the outskirts of Peterborough.
Over a relatively short period of 5 years, the company experienced significant growth. It went from employing 11 members of staff to 48 which presented them with a huge challenge. Laura and Dan were now managing a larger company but as a small-scale operation. There was no way to easily communicate with quarry-based staff as not everyone had a company email address. Employees would go directly to Laura or Dan with a query. This was impacting on their ability to work efficiently and undermined the role of their managers.
Business growing pains
During an annual review with their bank manager, they identified the need to put in place a series of business processes. The Company was feeling the impact of having grown without all the necessary HR support on place and it was apparent they needed specialist HR input to sustain the growth. Keeping HR Simple were introduced to them through a mutual contact.
“We met with Katherine and found her easy to talk to. She understood the challenges we were facing and gave us the confidence and peace of mind that she would act as our HR Manager supporting our team.”
Katherine and her team immersed themselves in detail. Annual reviews were set-up, salary bands introduced and consistent employment contracts implemented. The operation moved from a reactive process to managing staff proactively. Most importantly, managers were back in control of their teams. This was because the delegation was at last happening, empowering managers to manage.
Whenever there was a problem, Keeping HR Simple was there with a list of options and providing information on what needed to be done so an agreement could be reached on the best solution.
Working as the HR Team
In just 2 years the business structure has been transformed. Stamford Stone is now in a great position to continue growing and sustain the momentum. Monthly meetings are held with Katherine and she is always at the end of a phone to offer advice.
Staff also feel comfortable contacting Katherine directly with any queries. Keeping HR Simple are not viewed as an external resource but as one of our internal departments. It’s a seamless process which has increased the amount of time we have to focus on other parts of the business.
“I value the fact we will always be given an objective view. The nature of HR can make issues feel like a personal attack on you particularly if you’re managing a difficult situation. The unbiased opinion and logical approach provided by Katherine ensures we can be measured and objective in our responses”.