Please note that Humane Resources is not taking on new claims management clients. The information below is only meant for existing clients.
Before establishing Humane Resources Ltd I was design manager in an automotive components firm. Products I'm still proud of included the first plastic clutch pedal used by Ford in Europe, a generic TV stand design penetrated 64% of the EU market, and which remained unchanged for about 12 years until the advent of flat TVs, and several automotive interior trim products including instrument panels, centre consoles and accessories assembled by various UK car manufacturers.
In the last 18 months of my dream job it turned into a nightmare. My resources and authority were gradually but very tangibly removed, while my responsibilities were increased. This all happened while I was supposed to be designing a very high value product for the company. In return for predicting the inevitable disaster on the production line, I was labeled as a whiner. A year or so after I resigned, the disaster happened as predicted, the company lost its £35m contract and had to close the factory that had been set up to build the product that my bullying manager bullying prevented me from designing. If that is not a business case for eradicating bullying, I don't know what is.
Anyway, even after I had learned that I was being bullied, I didn't give into the stress until the effects became physical and I was forced to bring it to the attention of the HR manager. The following day she arranged a meeting with the general manager, who I had said was responsible for this bullying. NB: If you're an HR Manager and someone complains of bullying, do NOT arrange a meeting between the complainant and the alleged bully: The employment tribunal later described this meeting as "a text book example of how such a meeting should not be carried out". Within a couple of days my medical condition became very much worse; I put in a grievance and was off work for six months.
Coincidentally, 18 months earlier my line manager, a passionate and dedicated engineering professional, had his authority removed by the same general manager, and after a short meeting to discuss their differences, my line manager became very ill and was off work for six months until he finally resigned. I later discovered that we were not the only ones on whom the general manager had this effect.
Just as predicted by Tim Field in his book "Bully In Sight", the HR Director who was supposed to be investigating the grievance turned his attention to any material that might serve as the basis of allegations of misconduct by me, and he variously accused me of running a record company from my employer's premises, downloading pornography and hacking into confidential personnel files. In view of this misguided approach to grievance investigation, and the outrageously unfounded nature of these allegations, I resigned and successfully claimed constructive dismissal. However, I wasn't happy with the principles that the tribunal applied to its compensation calculation, and the matter went to the Employment Appeal Tribunal and then the Court of Appeal, where the problems were resolved.
While all that was happening I continued to work as a freelance design engineer, but I kept being approached by people needing help employment problems that were similar to my own. They said they found my experience and apparent affinity for such matters helpful. In April 2007 the Claims Management Regulations came into effect, meaning that anyone advising or representing anyone in relation to employment tribunal claims had to authorize by the Ministry of Justice, or exempt. I did not fit the "exempt" criteria and was faced with the choice of ceasing this activity altogether or becoming authorized. I could not stop, so I made a commitment to concentrate on this kind of work and obtained authorization in June 2007.
Since then I have worked with several clients, mainly tribunal claimants, and have had a number of successful outcomes. Two of those were quite unusual, one being an award of £203,000 compensation, which was believed to be the highest that year for an unfair dismissal claim, and the other being an order for reinstatement, of which there were only six nationally in that year.
Humane Resources Ltd is possibly unique. There are no HR managers here, but a down to earth view of people management means employers can get no-nonsense help with contentious HR management matters. There are no psychologists or life coaches, but former clients have told me I know exactly what people need to know about work related stress and bullying. There are no solicitors, which means advice and representation on employment related legal matters is affordable. This is not a trade union, and a high proportion of individual clients bring up complaints that their union representatives daren’t touch.