Meet The Leadership Team

Our friendly team of experienced HR professionals

  • Duncan is a CIPD qualified HR Leader with over 24 years’ experience across numerous sectors. Duncan started his career in food retail with Budgens Stores, joining their graduate management programme and progressing from Store Management, Employee Development and Training, HR Management positions in Food manufacturing and Distribution and to Head of HR for Retail Stores over a 10-year period.

    Duncan then moved to Sytner Group (part of US based Penske Corp), a prestige motor group in the UK. He initially worked as Divisional HR Head for the Toyota / Lexus division before moving to the BMW division also as their Head of HR. He also worked with brands such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini, Maserati, Audi, Volvo, Saab, VW. During his time at Sytner Duncan was awarded the Global HR Manager of the year on two separate occasions and was also nominated twice for UK overall Support Manager of the year.

    Duncan left Sytner Group to join Porsche GB as their UK Head of HR (member of UK Board). Porsche GB is a subsidiary of Porsche AG.

    Duncan then moved to Truck-Lite Europe ltd, a tier one supplier of mirror and lighting products to the truck, trailer and passenger car market. Duncan assumed the role of European HR Director overseeing plants in Harlow, Birmingham, Eisenach (Germany), Bydgoszcz (Poland) and Minsk (Belarus) and operated as a key member of the European Board of Directors. During his time at Truck-Lite Duncan had to navigate the business through the 2007/08 global recession, working with works councils and unions across the network to agree significant headcount reductions, shorter working weeks and reductions in pay. Although heavily impacted the Company managing to retain all operational plants throughout the economic downturn and without any employment-based litigation.

    Most recently Duncan has been working in the Financial Services Sector for Dollar Financial Group (The Money Shop, MEM, Payday Express, Suttons and Robertsons, Biggars, Duncanson and Edwards, TGS Stores), a short-term high cost credit organisation. Duncan’s initial role was that of Global HR Director for Online Business however the role evolved, and he became the UK Chief Operating Officer and a member of CFA (Consumer Finance Association) board. During his time at Dollar he and his fellow Operational Board members were charged with “cleaning up” the business in preparation for FCA regulation and against a backdrop of significant political and press pressure. Over the course of 6 years Duncan was a key influencer in ensuring that the business was regulated, restructured to ensure it met the needs of the new business model, agreed and delivered a customer redress programme and oversaw two sales to Private Equity Investors.

    On leaving Dollar Duncan set up Harwood HR Solutions in order to provide 1st class HR services to the UK. Duncan has two daughters and is a keen follower of Football, Rugby and motorsport. He also enjoys eating out and nice holidays!

    07912 115 749

    Email Duncan

  • A fully CIPD qualified, experienced HR professional with a strong operational background.

    Having worked in customer services, training and finance for a number of years, Zoe joined MEM Consumer Finance (Dollar UK) in its infancy, taking on numerous roles required when being part of set up.  Zoe was Operations Manager before moving solely to Human Resources & Training; implementing the department from scratch. Zoe was a key member of the team helping the company to grow from 4 to 250+ employees. In her role as Head of HR, she worked with senior management through 4 acquisitions, in 13 years of working for the company; assisting with TUPE transfers, large scale rightsizing and restructuring projects and alignment of terms and conditions.

    Zoe worked with the senior leadership team on the UK regulatory project to help change culture, restructure and develop the organisation to ensure that the organisation was ready for FCA regulation.

    Working in a rapidly growing, fast paced environment Zoe led her team to deliver a high level of service, covering all aspects of HR including; training and recruitment, employee relations and large-scale redundancies with zero litigation.

    In her spare time Zoe enjoys spending time with her family, including her two dogs; holidays in the sun and lots and lots of shopping!

    07920 058 632

    Email Zoe

  • A passion for people being able to be their best and thrive underpins It’s Time for Change. I am determined to make a positive impact on people in their day-to-day lives whether that’s in their own space or at work.

    It was nearly ten years ago that I set out on an evolving journey, founding the company after working in Oxfordshire as a teacher, and Milton Keynes as a psychologist. I created the name It’s Time for Change because I firmly believe that if we all started to do things a little bit differently, we’d achieve huge results. After a focus on working as a psychotherapist and a trainer for emotional aspects of development, mental health and wellbeing, I decided to broaden my approach to people being able to really engage. And so, I’m now at a place where I also help leaders understand what they can do differently in the workplace to create a culture for employees to excel, where teams are dynamic and where people are happy. Being a chartered psychologist gives me a point of difference to understand what’s going on and enable change.

    My offer has grown but I still have the same relationship-based approach, developing true collaborations with clients and other businesses in order to really understand and support the journey to a better future. If we get people right, we get society and business right.

    I was proud to have been awarded Psychologist of the Year, Oxfordshire by GHP Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Awards in 2018 and to have had my business written about by OxLEP.

    I juggle time between my work, being a mum, DIY and travels in our camper. I’m also often found charging around the countryside keeping fit.

     

    HG.Dip.P,    CPsychol,    MSc.,     P.G.C.E.,    BSc.Hons,

    www.itstimeforchange.co.uk

     

     

  • I am passionate about helping businesses to grow from the inside out. I believe we are all capable of creating a work environment that is motivating, inspiring and engages everyone to achieve their best.

    I believe that by enabling your key people to take ownership, develop critical leadership skills and support each other to achieve their potential, you allow your business to grow beyond your own expectations and limitations.

    Having spent 15 years in various senior operational and training roles in the recruitment industry I have a clear understanding of the commercial realities of business and the need to balance development with results. I have worked across a wide variety of different businesses and strongly believe that getting the right people into your business and keeping them there is achievable.

    With 14 years’ experience of creating and delivering leadership development programmes I have a strong sense of the various needs of the different levels of management and the unique challenges they all face.

    When people understand their role and position in the business and how they can support its growth they are able to discover strengths and confidence they didn’t know they had.

    Using a blend of 1-2-1 coaching and group workshops I work closely with organisations to create bespoke programmes that deliver sustainable outcomes.

    When I am not talking about business and people I can be found reading, writing or cooking and eating. Usually followed by a long walk with the family and the dog.

    https://people-spark.co.uk

  • Helping businesses to grow has always been my passion and the last 10 years of my life has been spent in pro-active business development, working with a number of clients through Fastforward Sales.

    I work across a wide range of sectors from SME’s to Multinationals, helping my clients engage with precisely the right people that they need to be communicating with. Working with them to develop a strategy and implement the plan to deliver a clear message. Building trust and confidence through dialogue and face to face meetings is the key to building these relationships, work that takes me all over the UK and Europe.

    I am delighted to now include Harwood HR as a client; a driven team of talented individuals with an incredible commitment to their customers.

    When I can be pulled away from my work, I enjoy cinema, motorbikes and holidays in the sun.

BenQ UK Ltd

As a large global corporate group, but a local UK office we’ve got by with a central HR team, but as my headcount grew I knew we needed local support eventually, and at the start of 2020 Harwood HR Solutions were recommended, We signed up in the initial briefing not just from their credentials but we knew we could work together. Little did we know how 2020 would turn out and Zoe’s support during the COVID-19 pandemic has been outstanding and I’m sure I say for both my senior management team and our UK employees, their guidance through the minefield of unprecedented new legislation has been crucial, we certainly couldn’t have got by with the information supplied by government. We are now looking forward to building a positive modern workplace with Zoe’s support. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Royce Lye

gHawk Accounting

COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge for employers and the interpretation of the Furlough scheme to different employee scenarios was a big a challenge to me and my clients. Luckily, we had Zoe at the end of a telephone to rescue us! Zoe has gone above and beyond not only to provide up to date information, but also to clarify what it meant for small business owners. She has supported me in hiring team members, creating policies, and made the people management process smooth and manageable. I would highly recommend working with Zoe as an outsourced HR Partner. I am glad I did! Lenah Oduor

Pass Technology

To say Zoe at Harwood Solutions has been a key third party contact for PASS would be an understatement, Harwood Solutions been an extension of our in-house team and their support has been absolutely imperative to building the HR foundations of our business, on which we continue to grow.

During our continued growth they’ve assisted with the implementation of not just our HR-related policies and procedures to ensure that we’re compliant, but also the additional components that allow us to really build on our people and culture. They’ve been on-hand when we needed their advice and support and we cannot thank them enough. We look forward to continuing to work together.

UKPHR

At UK Public Health Register, we use Harwood HR Solutions for help with all our employment policies, processes and practice and we have always found them to be fast, friendly and efficient. We are grateful to Duncan Turner for all the work he does for us. David Kidney

Venture Harbour

 As a remote tech company, we’re always trying to ensure that our team has everything they need to do the best work. Zoe and the team at Harwood have helped us improve the lives of our team by helping us implement policies, from option schemes to healthy living allowances, while ensuring we’re always in check with the ever-changing HR legislation. Marcus Taylor, Founder & CEO

Oxford Travel

We are a transportation company that provide a number of different services from school transport / airport transfers / taxi / minibus hire / chauffeur/ tours etc and found Zoe from Harwood HR on LinkedIn. Harwood have helped by bringing structure to our business in so many ways. Due to the number of staff we have working with us it can be difficult to manage, but Harwood are always there for support and at the end of the phone or email when we have any questions, not like working with other companies I have experienced take your money and you don’t even get what you pay for. The guys at Harwood are great and are an asset to small businesses like ours. We decided to outsource HR  as we needed someone with expertise in this area and experience to take on the role for the business due to the nature of us having employed and self-employed staff. The benefits of working with Harwood HR? Everything!  Cost , service , one to one service! I would highly recommend Harwood, it’s refreshing to have to work with great professionals like Zoe and Duncan – I would be lost without them. Anil Gill

Dress Me Pretty Bridal Room

Duncan and his team have been such a huge help since day one of choosing them for my HR services. The attention to detail and swift replies mean that I can rely on them. Since this awful COVID-19 situation I am so pleased to have peace of mind and be in such good hands. Thank you so much for all of your help and support. Amy Mann

Jim Moughton

Worked with individuals within Harwood HR Solutions for some years now. Would highly recommend their services and advice. Competent with integrity are but some of the qualities you would gain from these subject matters experts.

Lightbulb Credit

A bespoke service that suits our needs perfectly. Duncan and his team are the best at what they do, supporting your company’s HR needs. James Piper

VT Accountancy

I highly recommend the services of Harwood HR Solutions. I have found them to be professional, extremely knowledgeable and friendly and approachable at all times! Victoria Thomas

Wendy Stringer

Professional, approachable and dedicated to your needs. Superb HR advice.

Gavin Peace

Great team of people with a wealth of knowledge providing advice and solutions with a pragmatic approach.

MyJar

Awesome company with expert staff. Highly recommended. Tom Horne

John Hancox

Fantastic HR support and value for money. Would highly recommend.

Damian Hill

Superb service and would recommend to anybody!