"Having Mentor as a partner has been incredibly valuable and reassuring."

GoJoe’s challenge

As with many startups, GoJoe’s main priority was growing their business and developing their fitness product. This meant there was limited time to spend on HR activities for which neither of the co-founders had any experience in. Phil recognised early on that the lack of HR support and limited capacity was holding the business back. “We were massively in need of template contracts and good document management and structure”, says Phil. Before joining Mentor, GoJoe struggled with:

• a lack of clear operational and HR guidelines for management to follow
• uncertainty about what their employment law obligations were
• difficulty in drafting their own template contracts
• challenges in calculating and recording annual leave.

How Mentor helped

A dedicated consultant from Mentor carried out a full telephone review and identified gaps and areas for improvement, putting forward a number of recommended actions. The consultant then drafted bespoke employment contracts and an employee handbook that both managers and employees could follow.

Mentor also developed and implemented a new recruitment and onboarding policy, ensuring the business met their legal obligations and helping them to attract and retain the best possible talent. This included putting together comprehensive guidance and template letters for each stage of the process. “The staff onboarding advice from Mentor was incredible, with really helpful step-by-step instructions”, says Phil.

Phil also commented that he found the digital suite of tools and calculators really useful. In particular, using Mentor's time off tracker meant holiday and absence requests can now be fully tracked online. “A welcome change from using spreadsheets and having to manually calculate and record holidays”, says Phil.

GoJoe results

Having access to Mentor provides GoJoe with peace of mind and reassurance they are doing the right thing and meeting their legal obligations. Phil recognises the value of being able to access specialist legal advice without incurring hefty legal fees. “I was a lawyer for 13 years, not an employment lawyer. But even with my law degree and having worked for a decade in a law firm, the employment law support that we’ve received from Mentor has been massively valuable”, says Phil. 

• We developed new HR policies and procedures tailored specifically for their business.
• We drafted template contracts with key clauses helping to keep the business protected.
• We took time to understand their business needs and provided step-by-step recruitment guidance. 
• We developed their onboarding processes helping to create a good first impression for new starters.
• We provided access to digital tools including our time-off tracker, secure document storage and online calculators.
• We freed up valuable time so the co-founders could focus on tasks that help grow their business. 
• We reduced risk by ensuring all documentation was legally compliant.
• We provided unlimited access to our telephone helpline ensuring support was available whenever needed.