When Kat Derbyshire set up her HR consultancy seven years ago, it wasn’t just a fresh start – it was a leap into the unknown. “If you knew me well, you’d know that I’m probably one of the most non risk-taking people you’d ever meet,” she says, laughing. “So, to think I actually did that, managed to hold my nerve and get it done, in some ways, is quite surprising. But the desire to do it was there – and I just got out there and made it work.”
Since founding Black Kat HR in 2018, Kat has been helping small business owners navigate the at times murky world of employment law, people management and HR best practice. After a career spanning corporate call centres and national HR roles, she knew exactly what small business owners were missing – and why it mattered.
“Most of the time, business owners in small businesses don’t necessarily know much about HR as a subject, but also probably don’t have what the big companies have – an internal HR department,” she explains. “They don’t have it, they don’t need it, but they do need access to help.”
That’s where Black Kat HR comes in. Based in Barnsley but working with clients across Yorkshire and beyond, Kat offers outsourced HR services to companies who want the support without the overhead. “It’s outsourcing your HR to someone with expertise in that area,” she says. “I set this business up with a view to provide small businesses who don’t have a ‘me’ already in their business with access to help and expertise.”
It’s support that goes beyond ticking legal boxes. With employment law changing frequently – especially with the new Labour government introducing reforms – Kat says it’s more important than ever that small businesses get the right advice. “What I’m finding is, for a lot of businesses, when they’re talking about the new stuff coming, often they’ve not actually even got into place what’s here now,” she says. “So it’s kind of uncovering that stuff first. Let’s worry about getting to today, and then we’ll worry about what’s coming next.”
Kat makes it her job to stay on top of every change, so her clients don’t have to. “I keep on top of those things so that my clients don’t need to – they get on with doing what their day job is,” she explains. “They’re proactively kept up to date with what’s coming, what’s happening, what it means for them. I update policies, handbooks and contracts so they’re always on top of it.”
Though some might run a mile from HR handbooks and disciplinary procedures, Kat genuinely loves her work – and it shows. “Lots of people go, really, that is not what I want to do. When I get home on a night, sit there and readjust my company handbook? Just no,” she jokes. “But I love it.”
Her enthusiasm is backed by years of practical experience. After working as a national HR manager in logistics, construction and manufacturing, Kat had a brief stint at a firm that was trialling HR consultancy as a service. “That gave me a flavour of the consultancy world,” she says. “It was a light bulb moment – I was doing it for somebody else and thought, why not just do it for myself?”
And so Black Kat HR was born. “I got myself a set of business cards and went out to every sort of networking event you could shake a stick at,” she says. “I just started talking to people about their businesses – have they got a team now? Do they plan to have a team? What are the challenges?”
Seven years on, she’s built a solid foundation of clients who value the tailored, personal approach. “I pride myself on really getting to know the businesses I work with – what they’re good at, what they struggle with, what they’re comfortable with and what they’re not,” she says. “That’s why I’ve purposely kept the business as just me from a client-facing perspective. Clients often tell me they hate having to repeat everything again to the next person – that’s not the experience I give them.”
While Kat does offer ongoing retained HR services, she’s just as happy to help on a project-by-project basis or with one-off advice. “If people just want a bit of advice for an hour on a call, that’s available,” she says. “If they want a particular project doing – a redundancy programme or dealing with a grievance – that’s available too. Not everyone needs to sign up for a seven-year contract.”
She’s also well aware that many business owners are tackling HR for the first time. “Often they don’t know what they don’t know – and that can be a big challenge,” she says. “But the strength is knowing you don’t know it and finding someone who can help.”
Part of her role is to guide new employers through that steep learning curve – from contracts and policies to understanding working hours, holiday pay and best practice. “Because I work with lots of different businesses, I know what normal looks like,” she says. “So I can share that best practice stuff and say, typically, businesses like yours tend to offer this or that.”
Kat admits she’s still learning herself – not about HR, but about running a business. “HR is the bit I knew. The running a business bit was what I’ve had to learn over the last seven years,” she says. “It still feels like every day is a school day – but I really like that.”
Seven years in, the business is thriving – and so is Kat. “It was terrifying at first. But when you think, right, if I don’t get some business in, I’m not quite sure how I’m paying the mortgage this month – it does motivate you,” she says. “I’ve built a lovely client base now, and I’m still learning and growing. I don’t think it’s a journey you ever really arrive at.”
For small businesses looking for flexible, expert HR support with a personal touch, Black Kat HR might just be the call they’ve been needing to make. blackkat-hr.com
