Posted on Friday 2nd February 2024
Sandra Berns
Small business could become more profitable without taking on any new staff with expert support from a county council scheme.
Get Started and Grow includes fully funded human resources guidance with Sandra Berns, owner of Centric HR.
Sandra is helping businesses to keep growing without taking on more permanent staff.
Small businesses have until February 15 to apply for support from this year’s funding.
Sandra said:
We’ve all been there. As you grow there’s more work but many more tasks that come out of the woodwork, too. Eventually as a business owner you’d get overwhelmed, and something needs to change.
We can help to keep businesses growing without getting to that stage, whether you’ve got 200 people or just don’t feel ready to take on anyone permanently. There’s always a solution."
Sandra added:
One of things that we’ve recently helped an SME to do is to work out how to manage all of those admin processes, extra work streams and systems within their manufacturing business that was starting to hold them back, now that they were 40 people strong.
They were drowning in paper and Excel spreadsheets.
What were able to do was provide workforce planning which highlighted duplications in terms of processes and the actual product management itself. They were able to work more efficiently and take on more work – because they had more capacity to do so.
We also helped to set them up with everything they needed to help them manage workloads as they ramped up orders/production/income, but manage workforce costs through:
• Ad hoc worker contracts - seasonal or peaks and troughs of business
• Fixed-term contracts for specific projects/periods of time
• Associate contracts where you sub-contract out to specialist highly skilled people for short periods.
• Substantive contracts that are compliant with the Good Work Plan for new employees when they are ready to take on more people
We very much enjoy seeing them scale and grow safely, and then thrive as a result. Remember; happy people, healthy business!"
Any business trading for less than five years and based in Staffordshire is eligible for fully funded HR, marketing, accountancy, legal and web-development support.
Apply now.
Philip White, Deputy Leader of Staffordshire County Council and cabinet member for economy and skills, said:
With the county council’s Get Started and Grow scheme, businesses will not get an ‘off-the-shelf' product. They will receive tailored support from local professionals with years of industry experience under their belts.
We have helped over 200 Staffordshire businesses grow with this initiative so far and we are determined to continue supporting entrepreneurialism across the county.
If you’re a business owner who wants to expand their knowledge and skillset in a particular area, you have just a few weeks to apply for this year’s remaining funds.”