There are about 5.7 million SME’s in the UK (source - Parliamentary Briefing Paper December 2018). These businesses employ over 16 million people and represent 99% of all business in this country.

Over 7 million of these people are employed in businesses that employ from 10 – 250 people. These businesses are the heartbeat of Cream HR, they are our lifeblood and we love them to bits.

The challenges faced by SME’s are huge and continue to increase. From our vast experience, the most time consuming and most important challenge by far, is people. Owner managers can spend as much as 40% of their time on people management activities and this can have serious repercussions elsewhere in the business.

We have huge experience of working with SME’s so we understand the type of challenges faced, and not just the obvious stuff. People really are the fabric of an SME, there’s nowhere to hide and the competitive nature of the business means that many SME’s have to perform beyond their capabilities. This can create considerable pressure and stress within the workforce. How they handle this pressure will have a considerable impact on the success of the business. An SME that manages and supports its employees well and positively is far more likely to succeed.

SME’s work in many different ways. From a people point of view we’re used to working with those that have HR departments, and with those that don’t.

If you have an HR team it is likely they are familiar with the idea that they need to be “experts in everything”. In any business, HR can often be used as a bit of a dumping ground for things that don’t quite fit anywhere else. This is often exaggerated in an SME and as a result the HR teams can find themselves under great pressure in all sorts of different ways, frequently being pulled from pillar to post.

Having access to expert, external support can prove invaluable to these teams. Whether that's to support on legal matters, employee relations, recruitment, on-boarding, talent retention, performance management, employee engagement or creating high performance teams, we can make a positive difference and remove some of that relentless pressure.  

Our key priority is to add value through the delivery of effective and practical solutions – whatever the problem. Being external means we’re objective and impartial and that can be a real asset. We see things differently because we’re not as close to the issues.

But most importantly we care. We’re obsessive about getting the right results for our clients, you can ask any one of them to confirm that.

For those SME’s without a dedicated HR team, we can be your salvation. In this type of environment we become your HR department, and we mean department! We can help you in all areas of managing your people from reducing your risk and exposure to complicated legal challenges, to devising and helping you to implement a high performance people strategy. Whatever you need regarding your people, we'll deliver.

In all areas of our work we draft each piece of documentation and paperwork for you. We don’t use templates and we don’t expect you to either. Our services are tailored and designed around each one of our clients and their specific needs. We take away the pain and risk enabling you to focus on your other priorities.