There is so much to do when you own your own business and it's impossible to be an expert in everything. The Hire to Fire toolkit saved us hours of endless research. It is easy to use and can be utilised immediately. The policies within the kit are great for any business. They cover a whole host of relevant areas and can be easily personalised and adapted. We don’t know what we would have done without it. I cannot recommend the whole experience and staff more highly at Employment Matters. They help put worries aside by giving accurate advice efficiently and in a friendly manner. They have a realm of resources and services to help any small business. Nothing is too much trouble.

The prospect of an employment dispute is terrifying to me, despite 40 years of legal experience, mainly in large firms. Now that I am the principal of a boutique planning and environmental law practice, employing 7 people, my salvation has been Natasha Hawker's book 'From Hire to Fire & Everything in Between'. It is a gem: well written and practical, it nicely balances my need for simplicity with sufficient detail to make it useful. The book is empowering in that it helps me identify the issues and questions I need to have in mind when analysing and addressing a problem. Thank you Natasha, you have literally improved the quality of my life by reducing my stress when it comes to dealing with employment matters.

We were referred to Employee Matters by our business coach, to provide coaching and support for our management team, make sure we were compliant with our HR responsibilities, and build on some of the structure that we already had in place. Employee Matters and the team were knowledgeable, responsive, flexible to the needs of our business, and Nardia became an integral part of our team. Employee Matters will continue to be part of Technium as we grow, and I'd recommend anyone who has employees to not wait for a problem, but to take a proactive approach and engage with Employee Matters sooner rather than later.

The Hire to Fire toolkit subscription from Employee Matters has been the exact match to the structure of our HR system and has definitely proven useful. We found the checklists the most helpful part of the toolkit because it's scary to think that if we miss something small, or get something wrong, in HR, there is the possibility of some fairly high penalties.

Natasha was engaged to develop and facilitate a half day training session as part of our annual global conference. The brief was to educate our people leaders on hiring excellence and optimising team performance. As a fast growing small company, we were looking for someone to train our relatively new people leaders from both commercial and technical backgrounds (and multiple geographies). Natasha was willing to understand our organisation and particular needs, and tailor the content and workshop accordingly. She also set up an expectations model in advance so we could reflect on the desired outcomes and we debriefed against this model after the event. The training session itself was very well run, with a nice mix of theory, discussion and practice sessions for behavioural interviewing in small groups. Natasha's experience as well as her passion and enthusiasm for effectively recruiting and managing people is impressive. The session was very highly rated by our people leaders and we frequently hear people talking about Natasha's interviewing techniques. We would happily recommend Natasha to organisations seeking to invest in their recruiting and people-management capability.

Natasha did a fantastic job of both presenting key information in a pre-planned structure that was informative and easy to understand, and dealing with the many questions that came thick and fast from Q and A. It was really great to get the opportunity to speak to an expert who could help with any challenges a company is facing in the HR space no matter how big or small. I particularly liked that Natasha’s focus wasn’t just advice on how to stay on the right side of employment law, but also how to build a company with great culture and a happy, motivated and cohesive workforce. Great Job Natasha, looking forward to learning more from you in the future.

"In 2017, my company launched its first group coaching program, designed to provide small business owners in their early years with the knowledge and support they need to grow, whilst effectively managing commercial risk. Employees and contractors are such a high-risk area for business owners, specifically those who cannot afford – or do not know where to find – reliable advice. I met Natasha in 2015 when she was delivering a presentation to a group of small business owners. With years of experience of my own in HR, within corporate organisations, it was obvious Natasha knew her subject matter inside-out. She was engaging, relevant and it was obvious that she cared. Upon launching my group coaching program, Natasha was an obvious choice to deliver a workshop on recruitment and employee engagement. Natasha was – as usual – engaging, and the content of the presentation was very relevant to the audience. As was evident from our surveys, my clients were extremely satisfied with the workshop – they felt that Natasha was the “right balance between knowledgeable and approachable”, and that the workshop resulted in increased awareness relating to HR matters which are relevant to them, and the confidence to expand their business through more clarity on the hiring process and employee engagement strategies. Since then, all the clients who attended the workshop have hired employees and they have found the strategies they learned to be extremely useful. I recommend Natasha to all my clients who currently, or plan to, employ staff, and I hope Natasha will continue to facilitate the HR workshop for our future group coaching programs."

"I was very fortunate to meet Natasha Hawker at a Conference and felt so inspired by her enthusiasm that I got hold of her book “From Hire to Fire”. I found it to be an excellent summation of events that occur every day in the workplace with ready tips in how to deal with these situations. Natasha’s goal in writing the book was for it to sit "doggy eared" on managers desk and being referred to as a guide when these situations arise unannounced. This objective has been achieved and I would recommend any small business owner who is unfamiliar with managing staff to get hold of the book as it is a great knowledge base to deal with these situations".