Well, I haven’t been able to sit down and focus on a particular subject that may interest the vitual world! So I will tell you a bit about the past few months as an HR consultant to small businesses. As you might know I have clients who run businesses which appear to be the backbone of the UK commerical world - around 20 to 100 employees, focused hard in their sector, they know all their employees, they are mostly going through some tough times but they are all pulling together.

I was particularly impressed at the progress of one client who bought a business as a retirement project. It is an industrial laundry and at the time I thought, wow - big project for retirement! I visited after a gap of 18 months, only keeping in touch via the phone during that time, only to see great changes had taken place! They have weathered the storm of the recession in the leisure industry (hotels and B&B’s are a big source of clients), the site is much brighter and well organised, the employees were busy being productive and the owner was talking about the investment he was going to make in labour saving equipment - increasing his productivity and additionally reducing costs. His view was long term stability and steady growth, supplying the local market with a quality service.

The world of the industrial laundry was not something I had come across in my previous roles in Corporate HR departments for Big Business and I was impressed at the enthusiasm and drive of the owner to make the best of the business, it was a real passion, probably due to the personal investment, emotionally and financially! Sometimes that is seriously lacking in the “cogs in the wheel” of the corporate world. I used to look up to how Corporations ran, thinking they had it right, but there is a lot they can learn about people management from the small entrepreneur of Yorkshire!