Case Studies

Case Study One

A successful company importing specialised products into the UK relied heavily upon the personality of the founder.

The company was relaxed and informal and had few procedures and no contracts of employment.

The company asked Tenon HR to bring these up to date and a new contract of employment and staff handbook were provided.

To ensure that there was no negative reaction from the employees, managers were invited to a training session to explain why this was happening and to clarify their responsibilities under the law.

The new contracts were well received and accepted by all concerned. Shortly after this, the founder decided to take life a little easier and recruited an MD to replace him. The new MD had a more formal style and some of the employees challenged his approach. Some of these challenges had the potential to embarrass and confound intended progress. With guidance from Tenon HR and using the policies that had been put in place, all the difficulties were successfully overcome.

Most importantly, the spirit of the company was not damaged and the authority of the management team was not compromised.

Result – The Company renewed their subscription to the Tenon HR hotline support service

Case Study Two

A company with 250 employees wished to change their management style and culture.

The company was not performing to its potential and the management felt that part of the reason was that the management team did not have the skills to manage performance correctly.

Tenon HR designed a bespoke performance management process for them. This included a new performance appraisal scheme and the transition between one scheme and the other. The Managers were trained in a new scheme and a coaching style. Tenon HR also designed and introduced a new poor performance procedure, which enabled the company to identify and deal more effectively with poor performers.

Result – Tenon HR designed some processes to help them develop a meritocratic culture where the high performers were identified, motivated and managed accordingly.

Case Study Three

A company experienced a dramatic downturn in business after the World Trade Centre disaster and were forced to make redundancies.

The management team had no previous experience of managing redundancies and asked for help. Tenon HR provided guidance and advice on the procedures to be followed. This included assistance with the consultation process, development of the criteria for selection, handling individual meetings with staff and recommendations on compensation and outplacement. The aim was to act swiftly, fairly and sensitively.

Result – A successful exercise with no adverse feedback. The management team accepted that this was in large part due to careful planning and the thoroughness of the procedures.