Crews Hill Golf Club
What impressed Stephen Bryan, general manager at Crews Hill Golf Course, on first meeting Carolyne from Golf HR was the fact that he understood what she was saying from the word ‘go.’
“I’m by no means intellectually challenged but whenever I spoke to someone from the HR team in my old job with the council, I’d leave baffled and none the wiser,” he said. “The staff there would always use legal jargon – terms and phrases that your average layman like me, who hasn’t studied employment law at university, has no chance of understanding.
“So it was incredibly refreshing to meet Carolyne who didn’t speak like that at all. We had a conversation in which she explained what I wanted to know clearly and concisely. I hired her right away.”
Another reason Stephen, who moved to the century-old Crews Hill club in Middlesex from a golf club run by the Borough of Broxbourne earlier this year, was keen to have Carolyne and the team on board was because of the specialist nature Golf HR.
“That was another problem with the council HR team,” he explained. “There were hundreds of employees in the council and from a range of sectors, from social work to education. They had to be a ‘jack of all trades’ in many ways and that didn’t give me much confidence in their knowledge – or lack of it – of how the golfing world operated. With Golf HR, I know they’re dealing with similar issues like mine on a regular basis and are complete experts in their field. That’s incredibly reassuring, for me.”
Stephen initially asked Golf HR to help him with employee contracts and the staff handbook for the 450-member club after hearing Carolyne speak at a golfing event several months ago. He knew she specialised in producing handbooks and contracts for golf clubs and felt he didn’t have the legal know-how to go ahead with the job he’d been tasked to do himself. Three months down the line, he is delighted with the service he has been receiving.
“One of the team always responds to my emails very quickly or Carolyne rings me the same day,” said Stephen. “I’ve been badly let down with services that I’ve outsourced in the past but Golf HR is excellent. HR issues are important and I’m well aware that we must deal with them properly when they arise because of possible legal implications if we get them wrong. I’m always reassured after taking Carolyne’s advice that we’ve done what we needed to and in the correct way.”
Stephen pays a monthly fee to have Carolyne and the team on a retainer and believes, it is definitely money well spent.
“I’ve had two instances in the past with staff that could have gone badly wrong so I’m always aware issues could arise at any minute. I like to know Carolyne is on stand-by so that if they do, the club is covered and I can sleep at night.”
Stephen Bryan,
General Manager