HR consultancy · Norwich, Norfolk
GLC HR Consultancy partners with small and medium businesses across Norfolk and the East of England — providing pragmatic, plain-English HR support, employee relations expertise and people strategy that actually moves the needle. No jargon, no waffle, no surprise fees.
What we do
Engage us for one specific piece of work, a defined project, or as your fractional HR partner on a monthly retainer — whatever fits your business right now.
When something difficult lands on your desk, we step in fast — handling the conversation, paperwork and process so it's done properly, fairly and defensibly.
The essential bedrock — contracts, handbooks, written policies and procedures, drafted in plain English and fully compliant with the latest UK employment law.
End-to-end recruitment support for businesses without an internal talent function — or just the bits you'd rather not do.
Most HR problems are conversations that didn't happen six months ago. We coach line managers to have the conversations they're avoiding.
Acquisitions, transfers, redundancies, restructures — we project-manage the whole thing, write the consultation scripts, and keep everyone calm.
Pulse surveys, exit interview programmes, EDI policy reviews, mental health frameworks. Practical work that makes Tuesday afternoons better.
How we work
Most HR consultancies hide behind retainers and process. We've built ours to be the opposite: transparent at every step, easy to start, easy to pause, easy to scale up when you need more support.
A free, unhurried conversation. You tell us what's on your mind — a live issue, a strategic question, or just "we don't really know what we don't know". We listen, ask questions, and tell you honestly whether we can help.
A clear written proposal. What we'd do, in what order, by when, for how much. Fixed price for fixed-scope work; transparent day rates for ongoing. No "request a demo" nonsense.
We get on with it. Weekly check-ins, shared progress notes, full visibility on what's done and what's next. You get an HR partner who replies before lunch — not a faceless retainer.
We don't create dependency. Where it makes sense, we train your managers, document the playbooks, and step back — staying available for ad-hoc questions, escalations and the next thing.
Sectors we know
Fifteen years working across Norfolk's industries means we understand the people challenges that come with each one — and we don't waste your time learning them on the clock.
Shift patterns, union relations, H&S-adjacent ER cases, skilled-trade recruitment in a tight Norfolk labour market.
Seasonal staffing, tronc agreements, immigration & sponsorship, fast-turnover ER cases handled at pace.
CQC-aligned policies, safeguarding, registered manager support, complex absence and capability casework.
Trustee HR support, sensitive funder-aware restructures, policies that fit small teams with big missions.
Partnership-track frameworks, billing-target performance management, hybrid-working policy reviews.
Multi-site rota compliance, theft-and-dishonesty investigations, store manager development programmes.
Equity-and-options literate contracts, async-first culture playbooks, fast-scale recruitment frameworks.
Tied-housing arrangements, seasonal labour, family-business succession, rural workforce challenges.
The founder
Fifteen years inside HR teams across manufacturing, hospitality, professional services and the third sector — most of it in Norfolk and the East of England. I've sat through the all-hands restructures, the late-Friday grievances, the audits and the awkward conversations no-one else wanted to have.
GLC HR exists because most small businesses don't need a full-time HR director — they need someone reliable, qualified, and on the end of an email. That's what I do, working with a handful of clients at a time so the work stays personal.
Why GLC
We write contracts, policies and emails the way real humans speak. If a manager can't understand it, it isn't going to work.
Norwich-based, Norfolk-focused. Site visits, in-person mediations, tribunal hearings at Bury St Edmunds — we're there in person when it matters.
Start with one piece of work. Pause when you need to. Scale up to a fractional partnership only when the value's clear.
You work with Gemma directly. Not a junior, not a faceless team — the person who quoted you is the person on your file.
Most casework, policy writes and projects are quoted at a fixed fee. You know the cost before we start.
If your case is weak, your policy is illegal, or your manager is the problem — we'll tell you. That's the point of paying for an outsider.
Case study
When the operations director called, three formal grievances were sitting open and a fourth was about to land. The root cause wasn't bad people — it was inconsistent management, no documented expectations, and a culture of avoiding hard conversations until they became formal complaints.
We rebuilt the manager toolkit, ran a six-week confident-conversations programme for all eight line managers, and put a lightweight performance framework in place. Nine months on, formal grievances were down from one a month to one a quarter, and exit interviews stopped mentioning "the manager problem".
It felt like having an HR director two doors down — without the headcount cost. Gemma fixed problems we'd been kicking down the road for years.
What clients say
“Gemma turned a grievance that could have ended in tribunal into a calm, two-hour mediation. Pragmatic, kind, fast.”
“We came for a contracts refresh and stayed for everything else. Plain English, no waffle, prices we could plan around.”
“Three managers, three different problems, one calm voice on the phone. Worth it before lunch on a Monday.”
Insights & resources
Suspension feels like the safe move. It rarely is. A guide to the alternatives, the legal tests, and the conversations to have before anyone gets sent…
Read →From flexible working day-one rights to fire-and-rehire reform — a plain-English summary of what's actually changing, what it costs you, and the four updates your handbook…
Read →If you've ever lain awake at 11pm rehearsing a feedback chat, this one's for you. The framework we teach Norfolk managers, with worked examples.
Read →Frequently asked
Can't see your question? Drop us a line and we usually reply within four working hours. g.chapman@glc-hr.co.uk
Where we work
Based on St Giles Street in central Norwich, we work with clients across Norfolk and into Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Site visits anywhere within a 90-minute drive are included; further afield handled remotely or by arrangement.
Ready when you are
Whether it's a live HR issue, a long-running people problem, or just a question you can't ask anyone else — book a free 30-minute discovery call. No agenda, no obligation, no slide deck.