The Howarths HR Maturity Wheel
Level 1: Why Compliance is Your First Step to HR Maturity
It could be easy to fall into the trap of believing compliance is a tick-box exercise – we don’t want you to be one of them. Compliance is about creating an environment where people feel safe, secure and valued enough to perform. Without the fundamentals of legally sound contracts, consistent policies, accurate payroll and protected data, you leave your business vulnerable: to legal risk, to staff dissatisfaction, and to lost momentum. When compliance is weak, staff satisfaction gets harder to achieve.
Think of compliance as Level 1 of the HR Maturity Wheel: once it’s solid, you can rise to clarity, engagement, growth, trust and nurture. When you have the basics in place, you free your HR function to move from reacting (“Do our policies cover us legally?”) to proactively shaping the future (“How are we growing our people and culture?”). A recent UK Government review of compliance behaviour found significant gaps across businesses in adopting consistent, controlled practices.
It’s also incredibly costly when you’re not compliant. According to the British Safety Council, recent fines for health & safety breaches are rising sharply, with organisations now facing fines ranging from £2.6 million to £10 million for a serious offence.
By securing compliance, you protect your business, safeguard your people and open the door to a much more mature, sustainable people strategy.
Don't Make These Costly Mistakes - Become Compliant
In 2023, UK Businesses Were Fined...
Level 2: Gaining Clarity and Understanding
Level 1 in HR Maturity starts with compliance. Once we’ve got the basics right, it’s now we can move on.
We’re happy that the basic policies, contracts, procedures, processes and handbooks are all in place, specific to your organisation, now we can begin to truly understand the business goals, the vision, the people within the organisation.
This is the next crucial step in forming a people-oriented, high-performance business – ones that will succeed in today’s world.
HR audits are a great way to begin this understanding.
Ours is a 100+ point audit giving you 20-20 visibility of the ‘state of play’ in respect of both people compliance and growth.
The HR Audits covers 10 key functions from recruitment and selection, pre-boarding and onboarding to employee well-being and safety.
Leadership and staff DISC profiling come hand-in-hand.
Leaders who understand their own communication style, strengths, and blind spots will be more agile and adaptable. DISC profiles help you understand, create a shared language and gives clarity about everyone’s preferences.
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