“Our people are our biggest asset. We’ve made positive changes that have led to a more productive business!” Peter Dobson, Managing Director of PMD Business Finance
PMD Business Finance provides asset finance, business loans and invoice finance facilities to SMEs and is one of the fastest growing business finance intermediaries in the UK.
Whilst PMD support other business’s to finance assets such as trucks, plant, machinery, IT and office furniture etc they recognise that their most important asset is their people and believe that investing in their employee’s personal and professional development is fundamental to the success of the company.
PMD initially instructed Howarths in 2016 to provide documentation and advice to ensure the business was compliant with employment legislation and Managing Director of PMD; Peter Dobson said “we’ve always felt Howarths employment law service and advice has been of a good standard and a worthwhile investment”.
“In 2017 as the business was expanding and was now employing more than 20 people the board made a deliberate decision to adopt a more professional approach to people development and we asked Howarths to handle this project for us. This involved reviewing the company values and organisational structure, writing new job descriptions, developing a companywide performance management (PM) structure and delivering management training”.
Peter recalls “As a prelude to the HR project, Howarths coordinated an employee engagement survey that helped us understand the honest thoughts, aspirations and needs of our people. It was during this process that I started working with Tracey Hopkins, one of Howarths directors. She impressed me with the way she positioned the PM structure so that it was interactive and of real benefit in helping us understand the people who work for us and how we could develop them in line with the business objectives. The PM structure has and continues to be of great value to both our people and the business”.
“I was that impressed with Tracey and the way she approached people development and management that I asked her to work with us through Howarths on an on-going basis, acting as our People Performance Coach. Tracey spends time in our business each month and provides coaching and mentoring to the directors and our employees. Tracey has a skillset that we don’t have on the board or anywhere else in the company and she fulfils a unique role that has proved extremely beneficial to the growth and success of PMD. As an external HR professional, Tracey is able to see things differently, understand situations clearer and makes positive changes that lead to a more productive business with a happier, engaged and more fulfilled team. I can’t recommend Tracey and the team at Howarths highly enough.”
