Case Study
Developing bespoke people documentation
Creating unique HR documents
The development of Severn Screen’s bespoke employee handbook and contract, to more closely align with its company culture.
Severn Screen, a growing film and television production company, approached Fitzgerald to review and refresh its foundational HR documentation, specifically its contract template and employee handbook. They were looking to bring greater clarity and focus to its HR documentation, ensure that it was both legally compliant and also reflected the creative and inclusive culture they were building.
Enter Lisa
Lisa worked closely with Severn Screen to understand the essence of their organisation. The approach was holistic, aiming to explore their culture, strategic vision, and their working practices.
As part of this process, it was vitally important to understand how Severn Screen wanted the company to be perceived longer-term, in order to create documents that were fit-for-purpose now and in the future. Through discussion and evaluation of previous experiences, Fitzgerald built an understanding of Severn’s projected workforce requirements and used this to shape new documentation that more closely reflected the company’s approach and identity.
Developing the guides
An early decision was made to focus this work on creating two separate documents.
The first would be a policy handbook for staff that comprehensively covered the company’s employment policies, safeguarded the organisation and provided complete clarity for both parties.
The second was something a little different, with the development of a shorter ‘Who We Are’ guide. This was a conscious divergence from the traditional longform employee handbook format, and instead sought to provide a key overview of the company’s culture. It‘s aim was to help new employees understand, from day one, who the company was and what it stood for; with the aim of aligning employer and employee expectations.
Lastly, a contract template was created that used clear, human-centric language. This represented a move away from the more clinical, legalistic clauses often found in contracts, while still addressing all compliance requirements.
A partnership that simply worked
We focussed on developing an effective, personable working relationship with the company, enabling Fitzgerald HR to produce documents that more closely matched Severn Screen’s identity and future aspirations.
We were looking to undertake a review of our HR policies and documentation, and wanted to find a company with demonstrable experience in the Film and TV industry. We discovered Fitzgerald via an online search and they seemed to fit the bill.
As a growing organisation, it was important to us that our policies were up to date, but that they also reflected a little of who we were and what we had become after 10 successful years in business. We weren’t looking for an off-the-shelf solution, but were after an opportunity to tailor a solution that worked for us.
We were intrigued by the promise of ‘HR with a human touch’. HR related documentation can sometimes come across as being legalistic and not always accessible, and were clear that we wanted the language in our policies to reflect who we were as an organisation.
Our dedicated point of contact, Lisa, worked closely with us to understand the workings of our organisation before setting off to create our new employee handbook (which ultimately evolved into two separate valuable documents). From the very first draft, it was clear that Lisa understood what we were trying to achieve. The tone was spot on – clear, concise, human.
Working with Lisa was straightforward and easy. She was extremely proactive in moving the project forward. We were in very capable hands, and the whole process was a really positive experience for us.
And even at the end, when it came to invoicing, there were absolutely no surprises! We’d been kept appraised of the time spent on the work throughout, so the billing was transparent, clear and fair – which was also very reassuring.
We’d be more than happy to recommend the services of Fitzgerald.
Mathew Talfan
