People in Action

People in Action is a registered charity and limited company, supporting vulnerable adults with learning disabilities. The organisation began in 1985 and has grown rapidly, now supporting over 350 people in their community and employing around 50 people on-site.

The organisation has some residential services, but their focus is on offering person-centred support to enable people to live at home and in their communities.

People in Action have been Croner clients since December 2019.

HR Manager, Jade Reeson, speaks about her previous experience with external HR service providers and what brought her to Croner:

“I used to work in the HR team here, and we were using a different firm for HR and legal advice. They weren’t very good and their advice tended to be ineffective. I only recently became HR Manager, but when I did, I made the decision to leave our previous provider and seek a new one.

“I attended a Croner employment law seminar at Drayton Manor in Tamworth. Jill Coote was the presenter. She was very direct, which is really good when it comes to HR, as it makes you consider things in a way you hadn’t before.

“Seeing the level of expertise at Croner led me to have a meeting with one of your business managers, and I signed up shortly after. I didn’t regret it either. None of our previous providers were as good or as effective as Croner have been.”

Thanks to Croner’s support, Jade is now more wary of the problems that can occur from day-to-day:

“The advice I receive is invaluable—both over the phone and via email. I have three dedicated advisers on my account, but I only tend to use the one to avoid confusion. The issues I usually request guidance on are sickness absence related. In particular, the way we monitor absences. The advice is always brilliant.

“Since I joined Croner, I’ve become more wary of the things that can go wrong. I’m second guessing everything. To clarify—that’s not a bad position to be in when dealing with HR in a business. It means I ask a lot of questions to my adviser, but they’re always there to listen and give straight-forward answers when I need them.

“One of Croner’s consultants, Charles Mukusha, has also been on-site and provided us with some draft templates for our documentation. Things like our staff handbook, policies and procedures. I’m reviewing those as we speak, but everything looks good so far. A major improvement. Overall, we’re really happy with the Croner service.”