Getting your people proposition right is crucial to the success of an early-stage business.
Your people are one of your most valuable assets - they will help grow your company and achieve your long-term strategy. A comprehensive workforce strategy is vital in attracting and retaining the right talent to drive this success and growth. This is true whether your longer-term aim to secure further funding or enhance value with a view to making a strategic disposal later down the line.
We have a wealth of experience in working with venture clients to develop their workforce strategy. Our experts can translate business intelligence acquired during a due diligence process, together with our sector experience and understanding of the issues on the horizon, to help you develop a workforce strategy consistent with your ESG and CSR goals.
Making sure that your workforce is on a sound legal footing also brings value, as employment law missteps can be costly. Our venture capital employment specialists are on hand to help venture capital funds, their portfolios and their management teams navigate the ever-changing employment landscape.
Business protection
In today's world it is vital that relationships, information, assets and opportunities generated by your workforce are protected and belong to the company. Our team can help put your business on the strongest footing from bespoke restrictive covenants and confidentiality provisions through to IP and professional networking/ social media restrictions. When a key individual leaves, we can immediately help you to assess the threat and take action to minimise the risks to your business and reputation.
Our team also help companies sitting on the other side of the fence too - from successfully arguing restrictions are not enforceable all the way through to advising on the best ways to onboard restricted employees and their teams and expanding client bases.
Find out more about protecting your business >
Contingent worker arrangements
Many start-ups need to be flexible with their labour requirements. You might need to hire consultants to deliver a particular project or agency workers to supplement your workforce at times of high demand. Our team has a deep understanding of the issues and requirements around using contingent workers and are experts on managing the labour law, tax and regulatory risks around them. We regularly advise on IR35, employee/worker status, agency workers, intermediaries or umbrella companies and PEOs.
Find out more about contingent worker arrangements >
Business immigration
In a globally competitive environment, you will want to recruit the best people wherever they are in the world. Our immigration team can support you and your key individuals, ensuring they are able to enter or remain in the UK, as well as assist with the requirements of your business visitors. We have considerable experience in helping business develop and implement international agile working arrangements from an employment, data protection, health & safety, taxation and immigration perspective.
Learn about our bespoke fixed price business immigration solutions >
HR compliance
When you are busy focusing on your core business, it's important to remember your legal obligations to your employees and the corporate governance issues that need to be considered as part of the workforce strategy.
We can help you:
- put in place the employment contracts and policies you need;
- navigate complex employment-related data protection legislation;
- make sure you comply with equal opportunities obligations and avoid discrimination claims;
- identify your health and safety obligations;
- implement best practice to promote wellbeing and avoid burnout in your workforce; and
- help to reduce the reputational risk that can arise from a disgruntled employee or failure to implement appropriate whistleblowing safeguards.
Work highlights from across the ventures ecosystem
Connect with one of our experts
Justin Starling
Partner, UK
Rob Hayes
Partner, Head of Reading Office, UK
Herke van Hulst
Partner, Advocaat, The Netherlands
Mikael Nelson
Partner, Sweden
Helen Parsonage
Partner, UK
David Miranda
Partner, Spain
Nicolas Gabrysch
Partner, Germany
James Taylor
Partner, UK
Elizabeth Yell
Associate Director, UK
Josephine Healy-Russell
Associate Director, UK
Robert Pook
Associate Director, UK
Elinor Owen
Associate Director, UK
Kamila Bochenek
Senior Associate, UK
