About Gundog HR and Development
“My passion is to support business owners to release the potential of their people to achieve business goals.”
Meet Simon, the founder of Gundog HR and Development
I truly believe that to deliver great service to others, people need to be confident, competent, and engaged in their work. I understand how difficult it is to manage a business, particularly the people. This is where I can help you. By passing over the ‘people elements’ of your business to me, we can work together to deliver your objectives.
Gundog HR & Development has been created from my hunger to provide HR and learning solutions that make a real difference to organisation. I use a range of interventions that deliver a positive impact, whilst retaining the core principle that work and learning should be both meaningful and fun!
Simon’s qualifications
I am a fully qualified, professional HR and training specialist and a Chartered Member of the HR professional body, CIPD.
Following a number of years in senior HR and training roles in the public, corporate, voluntary and charity sectors, I decided I wanted to help businesses to get the best out of their people by using my practical approach to HR.
Simon’s experience
You may ask what experience I have to deliver on my promise to help businesses with their HR requirements?
Well, my experience spans a whole range of businesses, starting with 15 years as a hospitality professional! I managed busy hotels and catering establishments, delivering high profile banquets and events throughout the UK. I provided staff training and individual coaching on the job to get the best from team members. This grounding in hospitality demonstrates that I am definitely not afraid of hard work!
However, there is of course much more to me than 15 years in the hospitality industry! It was when I was at North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service where I really brought together my two passions:
- Supporting and developing people
- Delivering outstanding customer service
I was instrumental in modernising the Service, developing people to create a change in working practices, and embedding a new culture throughout the delivery of a Fire & Rescue Service. This was where I moved into a broader role, delivering the whole HR function including:
- Recruitment
- Performance management and equality
- Diversity and inclusion
Achieving high standards is important to me and I have worked with many apprentices, assessing and measuring their competence and how they interact with the rest of their teams through a simple benchmarking process. This was against national standards in:
- Hospitality
- Leadership
- Team leading
- Human resources
- Training and development
What about outside work?
Of course, I am not just about work! I believe in giving back to my local community, having fun and giving 100% of myself to others. Among other things, I spent:
- 15 years as a special constable in York
- 3 years as a school governor/chair of governors
- 10 years in the Scout Association to date
In addition, I recently became a Co-Chair of Trustees for a National Children’s Charity that supports children in Romania.
