“In this loud litigation culture of ours it can be extremely costly to make an unintentional staffing mistake”.
It was an awareness of the fact that Longcliffe’s employee contracts were a number of years out of date that prompted Club Secretary Brian Jones to contact Carolyne and the team for advice and help. “The most recent one I did was around five years ago so the need was definitely there.” He said.
Brian was tempted by Carolyne’s offer of a special discounted deal for new clients wishing to use the services of Golf HR. He had seen her make a presentation to members of the GCMA at the time.
“When she came on board she also updated the Club Handbook which was another big job I felt safe handing over.”
Brian has been at Longcliffe Golf Club for ten years. Regarded as one of the premier courses in the East Midlands, thanks to its beautiful location on the lower slopes of the historic Charnwood Forest, Longcliffe tends to gain members for the course rather than the club house, said Brian.
Longcliffe Golf Club has around 650 members and employs nine staff.
The course, with its slightly undulating greens and narrow fairways framed by summer grass, is popular with beginners and expert golfers alike. On two occasions the club has proudly hosted the Ladies Curtis Cup team, while it also proved an excellent venue for the English Boys Championship.
Golf HR is paid a monthly retainer to look after HR matters for Longcliffe. In the past, when a serious staffing matter had arisen, Brian would have asked for advice from the Golf Club Manager’s Advisory Board and probably contracted the services of a local solicitor’s firm. How much easier the process could be when you had your own contracted HR firm was made clear to Brian six months ago when a staffing issue did arise.
“It wasn’t a nice incident,” said Brian. “Because of the seriousness of it all I wanted him to leave but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Thankfully I could pick up the phone and get an answer from the team at Golf HR right away.In the end the member of staff did leave of his own accord. I was very happy.
“There is, of course, always the potential for a staffing issue to arise at any point and which is why I like having Carolyne and the team at the other end of the line for professional HR advice. After all, in this loud litigation culture of ours it can be extremely costly to make an unintentional staffing mistake”.
Brian Jones, Club Secretary