All about me!

Happy new year! January is often a time both for reflection and new beginnings. I’ve decided that my first article of 2023 should be an introduction to me, my business, and the ‘solopreneur’ journey that I started last year.

So who am I, and what do I do? I’m an independent HR Consultant who supports businesses large and small with?people management. My aim is to help clients make confident, ethical, and business-savvy decisions on these matters. Sometimes that’s the ‘getting your ducks in a row’ work of setting up or reviewing HR policies and contracts. At other times it might include formal?management training?on HR subjects. And sometimes, it means offering supportive and encouraging advice to managers who are dealing with an unexpected workplace problem or drama.

HR is a big area and most professionals working within it have skillsets and areas of expertise in which they are particularly strong. Mine is employment law; connecting what are often dry legal technicalities with the living, breathing (and often unexpected), context of real workplaces. I enjoy using this knowledge to get my head around tricky problems involving conduct, performance, discrimination, data protection, TUPE, or similar. I’m a self-confessed employment law geek!

In terms of consultancy style, I believe in supporting employers to make informed choices. Where possible, I explain different options that clients can take on people issues and help them to assess the risks and benefits associated with both. I aim to understand organisations as best I can, and love learning about how different businesses work. That’s one of the most fun parts of my job!

But I haven’t really explained who I am yet, have I? Well, I’m a married mother of one and live in Edinburgh. My hobbies outside work include reading, cooking, and?bookcrossing. I first started in HR as a nervous graduate trainee in 2003 and haven’t looked back since. I worked firstly in retail, and later in the social care sector. I spent around seven years in total at senior management level, leading and developing a team of other HR professionals. This expertise has allowed me to gain Chartered Fellow status with the CIPD (the official membership body for UK HR professionals).

During the course of my career I’ve line managed employees, implemented change projects, handled conflict, worried about resources, and done most other standard things that managers do. I’ve also advised on complex employee situations, enabled restructures, updated contracts, negotiated with union reps, and above all, supported my operational colleagues to run their services successfully. This experience is backed up by strong qualifications - namely an MSc in Human Resource Management and an LLM in Employment Law. Both masters’ degrees were passed with distinction.

Last year in April 2022, after a lot of thinking, I finally set myself up as a self-employed consultant, trading under the name of?Susi O’Brien HR. Since then, life has been a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s been exhilarating and full of reward. I’m absolutely loving this new professional journey and look forward to carrying it on through 2023.

If you’re an employer looking for advice and support, or another HR consultant who fancies adding to their list of associates, please drop me an email at?[email protected]. You can also follow me on?LinkedIn?or?Facebook.

That’s it from me! Thanks for reading, and have a brilliant 2023.