Elevating businesses with expert HR support

Bespoke PEOPLE & TALENT SOLUTIONS

 

Our team is dedicated to listening to your unique needs and provide unparalleled HR support, from strategic planning to execution, whether you are looking to go on an HR improvement journey as you grow and evolve, manage a major commercial change, or simply need some objective advice.

Where you need more in-depth support and senior level HR expertise, we can embed one or more of our consultants to work alongside your existing team, part-time or full-time, supported by the full suite of BLACKLARKE’s toolkit and resources.

From 2025 we are also able to focus any of our services solely on your in-house HR team, whether on a project basis, such as a restructure or engagement audit, or more general business partnering activity and casework. This ensures your team have the same level of objective support that they offer to the rest of the business, removing any personal stake in the game.

We also work with a number of partner organisations:

  • Our operational HR partners can help you navigate the complexities of day-to-day employee administration, occupational health & safety and legislative compliance with ease, allowing you to focus on your core business objectives.
  • Our learning, development and coaching partners are always available to help embed your culture, bring your talent strategy to life and guide your teams and leaders through change, not to mention improve your people’s performance, efficiency and engagement.

Strategic people & talent support

Employer offering, mission & culture

At BLACKLARKE, we spend in-depth time with our clients, large and small, to understand their ethos and values, so we can craft compelling, unique and authentic employer offerings that resonate. Our agile and pragmatic approach means we can focus on what is important to each client, from overall ways of working and core organisational values down to more specific approaches on areas such as compensation & benefits or flexible working.

Talent, succession & performance

We implement robust talent management strategies and employee skill frameworks to identify, develop, and retain top talent. We work with clients to establish succession plans, as well as developing feedback and coaching mechanisms to enhance performance.

Building out new teams

We help clients who are looking to expand by focussing on their employer brand, talent gaps and location strategy, to help source the right talent at the right cost. We also provide guidance on team structures, roles, and responsibilities to help optimise team performance and synergy.

Inclusion

At BLACKLARKE, we believe in the value of true inclusion, where variety of thought, experience and perspective bring far more to the table than nods to tick-box diversity.  We help foster workplace cultures where every individual feels valued, respected and heard. We also run facilitated sessions and focus groups on a variety of topics around inclusion to help bring people together, understand each others' perspectives and feed back to management constructively.

From 2025 we also offer a customised training programme to help prevent sexual harassment, which is now a legal obligation for every UK employer.

Employee Relations & Policy

Our expert knowledge in employment law allows us to help clients design policies that are pragmatic, ethical and represent your organisation's values, without being overly onerous or complicated. We focus on prevention over cure and can help monitor employee issues and apply solutions to fix them in the long term, rather than needing to continually manage the same kind of situations.  When it comes to managing complex cases or the impact of change on individual employees, we are there to guide and advise.

Mergers, acquisitions & divestments

BLACKLARKE provides comprehensive HR management throughout a merger, acquisition, or divestment process.

Pre-deal support

We offer confidential advice and support prior to any M&A or divestment going ahead, to help clients make the right strategic decisions. Working alongside client's investor, finance and legal teams, our consultants do the research to understand the challenges, risks and benefits of a transaction, to ensure that any decisions made are right for the organisation in the long term.

Transaction due diligence and management

Once a deal is agreed, we conduct comprehensive due diligence assessments to identify potential HR risks and opportunities and lead change management efforts to align cultures, policies and processes. We go beyond any legal minimum to ensure that our client and the organisations they are working with have all the information they need to ensure a smooth transition. Where leadership teams are merging, we support clients to bring their senior people along the change journey and help build relationships between new colleagues.  

Transfer of employees

Where an M&A or divestment means the transfer of employees to a different organisation, we offer a full suite of employee relations and change expertise to ensure that everything is legally compliant, well communicated and managed effectively. Where trade unions are involved, we use our extensive industrial relations experience to help guide clients through the process.

Post-transaction aftercare

We develop bespoke programmes for clients to ensure the long term sustainability of a new organisation, whether through culture and performance programmes, compensation strategies or reviews of policy and offering as the organisation matures.

Organisation design

Organisation sizing

At BLACKLARKE, we tailor organisational structures to align with strategic objectives and optimise  efficiency. We determine the right size, structure and skills needed of teams and departments to support business growth, cost effectiveness and agility.

Job evaluation

We conduct thorough job evaluations to ensure roles are properly defined, graded and compensated. We evaluate job roles based on factors such as complexity, responsibility and contribution to organisational goals.

Talent mapping

BLACKLARKE identifies key talent within organisations and works with clients on key strategies for retention and development. We create talent maps to visualise succession plans and ensure the organisation has the right people in the right roles.

Change programme management

We lead initiatives to facilitate smooth transitions during periods of organisational change and can provide a full change management toolkit to ensure a progamme runs successfully, with all people impacts assessed and mitigated and internal communications managed effectively. Whether the change will impact ways of working, structures, number of employees or all of the above, we can help  manage the phasing of a programme or project to minimise disruption and ensure the change is implemented sustainably.