Joy Arkley - HR Professional in West Wales

Testimonials Page

"I am a small business owner and I contacted The HR Dept West Wales regarding sickness absence and maternity leave. Joy has provided me with invaluable help and support with her prompt, helpful and practical advice.

Joy has helped to draft correspondence and has visited me on site to suit my business hours. She also ensured that I am legally compliant and has provided my business with contracts and job descriptions. I feel much more confident about employing staff knowing that I can contact Joy for advice and support."

Katie Jones

Siriol Health & Beauty

February 2012

"Many thanks for your help with our internal investigation. We found that using an independent HR company gave us the balance and focus we required to move the problem forward and attain the correct decision. We will certainly be using you again in the future for our HR needs."

Simon Hopkin - Chairman of Finance

Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club

December 2011

"Joy Arkely of The HR Dept has handled all matters relating to Human Resources at both of our hotels for a period of two years. With a workforce of around 100 employees the issues we encounter are varied as well as numerous. I can say quite confidently that since working with Joy we have always managed to get a good resolution to all of these issues without the need for either tribunal or other outside arbitration appearances. Joy brings a calm, balanced and cost effective answer to our companies without the need to employ a full time HR Manager.
I would have no hesitation in recommending her to any company."

Paul Jaycock - Cliff and Ivy Bush Hotel

December 2011

"This is just to thank you very much for the seminar I attended last week in Swansea covering HR issues.
I found the whole day extremely helpful, and also very easy to understand, which is essential to me as English is not my birth language! All the questions asked by myself and from the other various attendees were answered fully.
It gave me a great deal of confidence, as I come from a large multi-national company background, with a huge HR Department, and when I ventured into business myself I was concerned about implementing procedures for staff as well as keeping up-to-date with legislation.
I am also finding your newsletters very interesting."

Tony G

August 2011

"We had a member of staff whereby the Disciplinary Procedure was invoked. We wanted to ensure we proceeded correctly and with fairness, so to assist us we called in Joy Arkley from the HR Dept. Joy studied our procedures and protocol and gave sound advice as how to proceed. With Joy's help we presented a robust case and the action was completed satisfactorily. Joy went on to complete a comprehensive HR Audit to ensure we were working in line with our procedures and to the benefit of the employees and organisation. Joy is exceedingly knowledgeable in HR procedures and we will be retaining her services. We would not hesitate in recommending her to other employers."

CWA Trustees

July 2011

"I recently attended an HR Administration session given by Joy.

Being very much a novice in this area I approached it with some trepidation, however, I needn’t have worried.

This was cleverly designed to cover all aspects of basic HR and delivered in a clear, erudite way.

No question was too trivial and all were answered in a considered fashion in “plain English” with anecdotes to help explain the finer points and handouts for reference.

In short – quite brilliant! Joy has a thorough, working knowledge of HR which she imparts with great flair and I would be more than happy to recommend The HR Dept to anyone."

G.A.B. Building Contractors Ltd

May 2011

"I am full of praise of your work that was carried out systematically and with efficiency in a short time scale. I can vouch that it is beneficial to have an outside opinion to view a business structure and to look at aspects of one’s unning of a business that I am reluctant to change for sentimental reasons. In today’s economic climate it is imperative to be as efficient as possible as well as embrace change for the good of one’s future business, and The HR Dept does this.

The costs and ideas for development of the society are proving to be very beneficial to strengthen our financial position for the future.

I am very willing to recommend your work and will look forward to having the name of our society added to your long list of companies that you have worked on their behalf."

Robert D Jones - Chair of Council

Welsh Black Cattle Society

“I recently attended an HR seminar that Joy ran, and really enjoyed and appreciated it. So often this subject can be a minefield, and I know from experience how costly it can prove without the correct knowledge when dealing with staff issues. However, Joy gave us information clearly and concisely, and I was grateful that she was able to answer all our individual questions, as we were from varied business backgrounds with differing needs.
This was very helpful to look at situations from our different perspectives, some just starting to employ staff, others already in control of large work forces, some private businesses, others Public sector and social enterprises.
Joy managed to keep us all engaged throughout, we congratulate her!
We are looking forward to booking on to courses with Joy in the near future, and are happy to recommend them.”
Julie Wiliamson

“I recently attended a seminar ran by Joy covering HR issues. I found the whole day extremely helpful, and also very easy to understand, which is essential to me as English is not my birth language. All the questions asked by myself and from the other various attendees were answered fully.
It gave me a great deal of confidence, as I come from a large multi-national company background, with a huge HR Department, and when I ventured into business myself I was concerned about implementing procedures for staff as well as keeping up to date with legislation.
The monthly newsletter we receive is also very interesting!”
Tony Georg, First Call Coffee

"I firstly met Joy Arkley when she gave a presentation at one of our chamber meetings. Her presentation was very concise and easy to understand and it was then that I decided to ask for her professional expertise for our business.
Upon contacting her the following week , Joy came to see us and advised on how we should proceed with tailoring employment contracts , health and safety policies and grievance procedures that would be suitable to our pub / restaurant business.
In a very short time Joy e-mailed draft of the documentation for us to approve or edit as required. The amount of editing that we had to do was minimal as Joy had clearly been very aware of what we really needed.
Shortly after this we received the revised documents.
We now felt that our business was fully up to date in respect of the three subjects that we had been so concerned about.
We also felt that we had received excellent value for money. We will certainly contact Joy again when necessary and we have already recommended her to other businesses.
Ian Gunn, The New Inn, Pentregat.

July 2011

"I recently attended an HR Administration session given by Joy.
Being very much a novice in this area I approached it with some trepidation, however, I needn't have worried. This was cleverly designed to cover all aspects of basic HR and delivered in a clear, erudite way.
No question was too trivial and all were answered in a considered fashion in plain English with anecdotes to help explain the finer points and handouts for reference.
In short – quite brilliant! Joy has a thorough, working knowledge of HR which she imparts with great flair and I would be more than happy to recommend The HR Dept to anyone."
G.A.B Building Contractors Ltd

"As a small employer, I had a staff issue which could potentially have caused a lot of problems. After an initial appointment with Joy we decided to use her services, which have saved a large amount of time, stress and money. We are now monthly subscribers to Joy’s service. If you are a small business with any number of employers or considering employing you should definitely speak with Joy."
"I recently called Joy for her assistance with a HR issue and was extremly pleased with the excellent service and knowledge Joy provided. Her assistance was invaluable and I strongly recommend Joy to anyone who needs help and support with a HR situation."
"Our foray into the world of being employers was made so much less daunting with the help and expertise of Joy. Thank You very much."
Chris Elwell, Director at Dial-a-Dog-Wash

"Joy has provided me with clear, concise advice and is such a nice person to do business with. I'd recommend her to everyone. In fact, I think I have."
Steve Edwards, Director at John Lewes Agencies Ltd.
www.johnlewesagencies.com

"Initially I was concerned about using an HR advisor as I had experienced rather negative results in the past by outsourcing staff issues, when I felt that although legally my company was compliant, it was not being nearly as well represented as it might have been - advice seemed very general, and at times quite unhelpful to the business.

Joy Arkley, however, proved to have a totally different approach. From the outset I felt as if Joy spent a great deal of time investigating the whole business, to be able to appreciate our own specific needs, which she believes is essential. Each of her clients is treated on an individual basis, whilst she ensures that they are protected from the minefield of current legislation. Indeed her knowledge was extensive. It was reassuring to feel that someone was looking after our interests at very reasonable rates, something all SME's need in today's climate!

At no point during any of the interviews or during exchange of correspondence did any of the staff feel at all intimidated by Joy or her manner. In fact she was always most agreeable, with a good sense of humour, necessary when dealing with people of all ages, with varying abilities and from different backgrounds.

What I found particularly useful was Joy's initial audit, which gave a good insight as to where we might have experienced future problems, so we knew from the start what was needed and the appropriate cost. She is well organised, answered our queries by email and telephone promptly, and was prepared to meet during unsociable hours. I also found that she was able to ''think out of the box' and gave unexpected but very helpful advice.

Her way of dealing with putting everything in order meant that we are now able to continue with Joy having a very minimal involvement in the business, although we have the confidence in knowing that she would be able to respond immediately should any unforeseen staff matter occur.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Joy Arkley to any business employing staff, and would be more than happy to speak personally to anyone to answer any questions."

FirstCallCoffee

"We recently had a sensitive issue to resolve involving a senior member of staff, where lack of performance was having an impact on company reputation and overall performance.

Solution from Joy Arkley
Joy Arkley was given a verbal brief of the situation, and after reviewing all the relevant paper work relating to the member of staff, she quickly provided advice that was practical and ensured that the situation could be resolved quickly, legally and with the least amount of negative impact on reputation.

Key factors
Service delivery:
The advice was practical, thorough, professional and considered all relevant legislation. The advice was tailored to the situation after considering the needs and impacts on both parties.

Delivery of advice was speedy, and during the period when the advice was given, Joy was available at all times (including outside normal office hours) to discuss the issue

Tailored advice
We particularly liked the fact that Joy sought to understand the needs of the business and the individual in advising on the approach to take. This is in contrast to another service that we have used, where different people can get involved in the same issue, and hence the service is less tailored, less personal and more formulaic. Joy Arkley’s advice was focused on supporting the specific needs of the business."

Arwyn Davies, Managing Director, StrataMatrix Situation

We employ 22 members of staff and Joy has supported the HR side of our business for over a year and quickly became a valued member of our support team. Without Joy’s guidance and knowledge I’m sure we could have landed ourselves in `hot water`. Joy fully understands the difficulties small businesses encounter and her services are a must if you are an employer."

Paul Groom Property Services