About Us

Hardwick HR is able to support organisations which have limited HR knowledge and experience within their team, and require assistance with day to day and operational HR issues. We also support organisations that do have HR, but would like specialist support for unusual situations, the need for an objective investigation, or temporary additional help for HR projects & policy development.

Hardwick HR can call on the expertise of several associates and partner companies in order to supply an appropriate service and skill set to meet the needs of individual clients. There are profiles of individual associates here, but we also work closely with others who are on our Links page. We have a close working relationship with a local law firm in order to provide expertise where it is advantageous to the client to work with a lawyer in complex cases.

Carolyn Giles:

Following several years experience of HR in the public sector, Carolyn decided to branch out and direct her efforts towards providing a Human Resources and Employment Relations consultancy service to all sectors. Hardwick HR Ltd now has a broad portfolio of clients in the private, public and voluntary sectors, ranging in size from one to several hundred employees.

Carolyn has over 16 years experience in the field of Human Resources, Training, and Employment Relations. Having completed a BA (Hons) in International Business in 1994, she continued her studies and obtained her post graduate CIPD qualification in 1996. She became a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2008 and is part of the mentoring scheme to provide support to fellow CIPD members.

Carolyn has enjoyed developing her skills in the private sector and has found it both challenging and rewarding, particularly as she now works across a number of organisations in a range of sectors. Carolyn particularly specialises in supporting SMEs and healthcare organisations with ad hoc and ongoing HR issues.

For more detail about the projects that Carolyn and her team have undertaken, please take a look at the Services section.

Maggie Lewis:

Experience of administration and office management in small private sector companies and large public sector organisations, coupled with BA(Hons) in Financial and Business Economics, is the basis for the business support that Maggie provides.

Subsequent experience in publishing, copywriting and editing enables her to work on our documents, newsletters, marketing and website content. She is an associate of SfEP.

She continues to work freelance in this area when she is not in the Hardwick office.

Chris Pope:

Chris is a Human Resources professional and an experienced and ISOH qualified Health & Safety practitioner, able to give specialist advice where these two disciplines impact on each other.

He began his HR career in 1990 and after four years as HR Manager with an international multi-site manufacturing company Chris joined an Occupational Health consultancy to head up their HR and Training Division and soon added responsibility for Health & Safety too.

Backed by study of HR theory, the advice Chris gives is wholly practical and entirely relevant, based upon real life experiences. He has a straightforward and forthright approach.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Industrial Law Society and Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, as well as the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management. He also has a diploma in Salmonid Diseases (that’s trout and salmon to you and me!)

HR Specialisms:

• Sickness Absence – Policies, procedures and training
• Disciplinary, Grievance and Appeals – Advice and training in both public and private sectors
• Representation at Employment Tribunals
• Independent investigation and impartial chair for disciplinary and appeal hearings

H &S Specialisms

• Health & Safety Audits to OHSAS 18001
• Health & Safety Policies and Procedures
• Ergonomics and Display Screen Equipment Assessments.
• Risk Assessments, Safety Management Systems and Safe Systems of Work.
• Occupational Hygiene, including COSHH, Hand Arm Vibration, Air Monitoring and Legionella testing.
• Bespoke User, Train the Trainer or Assessor training in Manual Handling, Accident Investigations and Display Screen Equipment.

Val Moulton

Val is a trained HR & development consultant, qualified in the CIPD and experienced in organisational and individual psychology. Val has infectious energy and enthusiasm and channels her knowledge, skills and experience to inspire and motivate you to achieve goals. She works alongside Carolyn to bring challenging workshops to management teams and individual managers to help their personal and professional development in the people management arena.

Val has a proven track record as a practical, target driven manager with over 20 years’ experience assessing organisations, delivering strategies and programmes to meet business objectives, focusing on leadership / management and people development within a sound HR Management forum. She has delivered workshops and events at all levels, nationally and internationally, across industry and cultures. Alongside her development work she is also a director of an established sales company and a newly formed company focusing on parent engagement within the education arena.

Key Skills and Attributes

• Leadership Development: Development of agenda and strategies and deployment including 360 feedback, succession management, performance coaching, development boards, leadership programmes and talent management.
• Organisational Awareness: Identifying and understanding business needs and organisation culture by building strong business relationships with stakeholders and customers to make positive contributions to achieving business goals.
• HR Leadership: Building and leading professional HR teams and introducing best practice business and people development processes, broad-based in-depth practical knowledge.