Who we are

Hardwick HR Ltd, owned by Carolyn Giles MCIPD, has been successfully supporting SMEs, Primary Care practices and public sector organisations since 2002.

Whilst embracing the ideal of respecting diverse cultures and organisations, Hardwick HR's main aim is to assist those companies without any specialist HR input to ensure that they: meet legislative requirements; are aware of good practice and are encouraged to follow those principles; and manage staff in a way that enables them to reach their full potential, so that the organisation and individual enjoy mutual benefit.

Carolyn is regularly joined by 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 others can be found on the Who we work with page.

Carolyn Giles:

Following several years experience of HR in the public sector, Carolyn decided to branch out and direct her efforts to 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 thousand employees.

Carolyn has over 13 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 Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and development in 2002.

Between 1994 and 1999 Carolyn worked within the National Health Service for an acute trust, primary care groups, a health authority and the community health councils across the South West. She took on various roles including Personnel Officer and Personnel and Training Manager.

From 1999 to 2002 Carolyn was a member of the Senior Management Team for the Plymouth area of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. Her role included the management and deployment of police officers and support staff across Plymouth.

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 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 What we've done.

Sharon Storr:

With over twenty years experience in the business environment, Sharon is currently working at a senior level, influencing and facilitating the growth, development and improvement of companies in many industry sectors in Devon and Cornwall. Prior to this she successfully managed Devon and Cornwall's Business Link Advisory Service. In both positions, her specific advisory work has included business planning, effective communications, individual performance review, setting of standards and competencies, learning and development. Sharon combines this keen interest in business support and human resource issues with a track record in banking and a working knowledge of the education, voluntary, retail, transportation and health sectors.

Her general management skills include project, contract and budgetary management, recruitment and selection, facilitation of training, management, and staff motivation. She is an innovative and supportive coach. Sharon has a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel and Development, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies, (both from University of Plymouth), a Certificate in Leadership and Management (The Institute of Leadership and Management) and is a qualified Investors in People (IiP) Assessor (awarded by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development). In addition she is a qualified facilitator of The Pacific Institute's "Investment in Excellence" programme. Sharon has a particular interest in business coaching, and developing managers and business owners to assist them manage their staff effectively.

Margaret Davies:

Margaret is a Business Psychologist experienced in working with clients across the private and public sectors. Prior to training as a psychologist, Margaret worked as a senior marketing manager in large organisations, including Microsoft UK. She combines her psychology and marketing knowledge with her management experience to help organisations increase their performance through people centred change.

Her work includes cultural change, developing leadership and management capability, and designing bespoke selection and development centres.

Margaret has a Masters in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London, and is a member of the BPS Special Group in Occupational & Coaching Psychology. Level A & B trained, she has access to a wide variety of Psychometric Instruments.

Margaret’s personal strengths include her insight and her ability to inspire individuals and groups at all levels within organisations to develop their potential at work. She is able to help build trust and openness between individuals and teams, whilst negotiating complex organisational dynamics. These competencies make her a very effective agent for change.As a Business Psychologist, Margaret helps organisations grow through enhancing the performance of their people. Her work includes:

The assessment and development of individuals and groups.
Recruitment and selection.
Organisational development and change.
Performance management
Psychometric testing.

Maggie Lewis:

Our newsletter editor and advisor on the written word is Maggie Lewis, who provides a service as a freelance writer/editor. Maggie's experience covers: copy for newsletters, trade magazines, websites and brochures; research and writing of features, articles and interviews; editing internal and external reports; printing and publication.

Bob McMahon:

Bob is an experienced social work manager and has spent most of his career working in the public sector as both practitioner and manager. This included a period in personnel and training. He was for many years a trade union representative negotiating with employers and acting as an advocate for staff in grievance and disciplinary matters.

More recently Bob has worked for the Plymouth Drug Action Team as their Young People’s lead, developing and monitoring substance misuse services working with both the statutory and voluntary sector.

He is a lay member of the Employment Tribunal hearing cases across the whole range of employment law.

Bob has a long standing involvement in the voluntary sector providing advice and support on employment matters, governance, project planning, fund raising and management. He is a trustee of Plymouth Mind, chair of its staffing and finance committee and chair of a steering group establishing a therapeutic horticulture project in the Tamar Valley.