David Gilkes & Sons Ltd

David Gilkes & Sons Ltd is a family removals and storage company based in Rugby. Jill Rhadbane, Office Manager, tells us a little about the company:

“Our logo is “You’re in Safe Hands,” so our mission is simply to ensure we provide a professional removal service to all of our clients. We provide commercial and domestic services, our current ratio of domestic to commercial is around 6:4.

“We’ve been operating now for about 36 years. We currently have 14 staff and eight vehicles.

“We’re also part of the British Association of Removers (BAR), which is essentially an elite band of movers, meaning we have to adhere to a certain standard.

“It was around August / September last year,” Jill recalls, “When a situation arose where a grievance was raised against one of our directors.

“As a small business, we knew it would be difficult to deal with impartially. So we rang around a few HR consultancies for support, and ultimately settled on Croner.

“If someone rings us up for a removal service, and they know nothing about removals, they’re looking for answers. I think our managing director got that when he called up Croner for advice and support straight away. He got what he needed there and then.

“One of your consultants came out, we had a free consultation meeting, then we agreed a price that fit our needs and went ahead, and it was lucky that we did, as the service has been extremely useful.

“We’ve certainly made the most of the service since then.”

Having expert HR support during a grievance process is vital, as it allows you to move forward with the assurance you are legally in the right, and takes away the stress of dealing with it alone.

“We may have dealt with the initial grievance on our own,” states Jill, “but we wouldn’t have been able to deal with the issues that have occurred since then without Croner. Absolutely not.

“I can’t fault the service we’ve had, I’ve even recommended it to others.

“I’ve said to people struggling with HR issues, ‘don’t stress about this, ring Croner and they’ll get you sorted,’ because ultimately we do removals and storage, that’s our specialism, you guys do HR and employment law, and that’s your specialism.

“People need that support now and again.

“All of the issues that we initially sought advice on have now been resolved. We now use the online management for booking holidays and recording absences, and use the online policies and documentation available.

“I’ve also rang up about a certain policy on health & safety issues, so I’ve been supported with that. We’ve now changed our health & safety slightly following guidance from Croner after an on-site visit.

“I’d give Croner’s service top marks- whatever the top mark is. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for HR support.”