CE People
Listening and learning delivers a successful fi rst year
As professionals who help clients change and develop on a daily basis, it’s no surprise that the HR experts at CE People have embraced, over the fi rst year of the business, an evolution that goes way beyond what they expected. Constant learning and fi nding new and better ways of doing things
is at the heart of any business – particularly in those vital early years. When Claire Butcher and Emma T ompson left in-house HR
roles to set up their own consultancy last June, they had a clear idea of how it would work. Over the course of the fi rst year, it became clear that the original plan needed to be revised, and that what clients wanted was support that is practical, personal and commercially minded. T ey needed HR that could help them navigate the grey areas, and from someone who understood their business pressures, and that off ered more than tick-box, policy-led HR. Claire said: “We’re HR professionals and it’s our passion and we
were excited to be starting in business, but we see now that we had so much to learn. We spend our lives helping businesses to change, to think about their strategy and embrace new ideas – and now we really do know fi rst-hand how important it is to be open minded and adaptable.
“T rough listening to clients, and realising what they are really
looking for, we’ve revised our approach. Fixed packages and retainers don’t work for everyone, because no two businesses are the same and no two businesses have the same structure or management styles. Seeing how important it is to provide bespoke services has led us down what has been quite a diff erent path.” From the beginning, CE People, pronounced SeePeople,
because the ethos of the founders is to see clearly how clients and their businesses work, was focused on helping clients build a compliant and workable HR structure. Using the expertise and guidance from experience working together in a large company and helping to guide it through growth and change, gave Claire and Emma excellent fi rst-hand knowledge of how HR processes work. Over the past 12 months, the company’s services have naturally
evolved into not just retainer packages, but also one-off projects and always being at the end of the phone when clients need advice. Starting a new business is never easy – even for HR experts – and CE
People has benefi ted almost as much from its clients over the fi rst year as the clients have gained from the company’s specialist HR advice. “Starting a business that is based on your years of knowledge
and experience is exciting,” said Emma. “But as new business owners you also have to learn all about things like marketing, sales, accountancy and networking. We’ve put the hard work in, through networking and building relationships with other businesses, and it’s been a massive learning curve.
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