As Belinda Simpson, Managing Director of Counselling Team
believes, the support and advice she has sought over the years for
Counselling Team has cost a fraction of what it would have been if
she had even a part-time HR assistant. She explains: “I don’t see
how we’d recruit someone who does all Mentor does. I feel I have
more than a full-time board of expert consultants working with
me.”
In 2006, Belinda signed up to Mentor’s Employment Law & HR
Service following a recommendation. One of Mentor’s strengths, she
believes, is the lack of pushiness: “The people at Mentor give a
really good service and they aren’t trying to sell products. In the
run-up to a recent tribunal I was contacted by many of Mentor’s
competitors looking for work. I was able to confidently send them
on their way.”
In 2010, an employee who was dismissed for gross misconduct
within a year attempted to take a claim for unfair dismissal to an
employment tribunal. Mentor gave Belinda the commitment and
reassurance of covering all costs, even any compensation due if the
case was lost. The pre-hearing tribunal was set for three hours,
but Belinda and her Mentor-appointed barrister were out in less
than one hour with the hearing awarded in her favour. As a Mentor
client, Belinda avoided a hefty bill just to defend herself against
a baseless claim.
Guiding her through the process was Andrew Kane from Mentor’s
Litigation team. In his experience, many small employers face
similar difficulties: “People are free to raise claims at the drop
of a hat. Even people who’ve never been employees can raise claims
if they don’t like the wording of a job advert. And it can be
expensive to defend claims if you are using a high-street lawyer
charging £150 an hour.”
Andrew believes the true benefit to Belinda is that she gets an
outsourced HR department: “We provide all the advice, the
guidelines, the policies and the documents, plus help if she needs
to calculate holiday pay and so on, for a cost that is manageable
and proportionate to her business.”
According to Belinda, Mentor has given unfailing support: “I
also think having Mentor on your side is a good way of combating
the isolation you can experience when you’re running a business.
With Mentor I always feel I have a team supporting me.”
She adds: “The phones are well manned with knowledgeable and
talented professionals who have always been able to help. The
website is stacked full of helpful material which I’m still
exploring.”
Counselling Team enjoys striving to high standards and providing
quality professional advice. Belinda is pleased to report that this
is equally matched by her experience of Mentor.
“As a business owner I don’t accept that average is good
enough,” she says. “I don’t tolerate anything other than
high-quality support. Mentor really hasn’t failed me in any
situation, and I’ve had tricky situations.”
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