Meet Melanie
Melanie Knight is the founder and Managing Director of Blue Tree HR Solutions. But who is Melanie Knight? What journey has led her to become a freelance HR expert? And what does she get up to in her spare time? Well, wonder no more, as here is Mel’s story direct from Melanie Knight herself!
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Melanie Knight’s Journey
I started my career in a laboratory! I loved science at school and wanted to work doing something with science. I ended up in a lab growing bacteria and viruses in bulk to make vaccines. This was interesting for a while but being in a laboratory for 7 hours a day wearing sterile suits, gloves, masks and boots wasn’t very engaging. I was lucky they were a good employer and they paid for me to do my HNC in medical microbiology, and then my degree in Applied Biology. Following maternity leave, I returned to work with a different team after a change of company ownership. The new owners were really hot on health and safety and asked if I would coordinate H&S from now on. They then paid for me to do various health and safety qualifications, including a master’s degree in Health, Safety and Environment. We were part of a large corporate Pharmaceutical company, which meant lots of opportunities to travel. I was asked to attend sites all around the UK, Europe and the USA, working on health and safety, biosafety, emergency planning and even pandemic preparedness planning.
During this time, I got married, had two children, and then got divorced! It was certainly a busy time of my life!
I was then nominated for a management training programme, this was an intense programme for people selected from the business around the world. It was really good! As part of the programme, we were assessed and profiled using psychometric profiling. It was decided that I was considered to have good people skills, which is uncommon in scientists and I was fast-tracked into HR. I was trained on the job in HR and was often thrown in the deep end managing redundancies and complicated investigations, all by myself. I was responsible for managing the company car fleet of over 300 cars and found that I liked working in HR even though it was a role I had never previously considered. I soon learned how to manage difficult conversations as people just want you to be honest and kind in any situation.
In 2012 the part of the company I was working in was sold to another business, this business was very much smaller and I was the only person who had qualifications in H&S and HR – so I became the Health and Safety and HR Manager for the business. Unlike the previous company, the employees were not all scientists! Instead, they were farmers, publishers, vets etc. It was very interesting and I learned a lot.
I was not happy there though and had found that I didn’t agree with the ethics of the business I was in. I wanted to leave but I didn’t know what I would do. Luckily for me, I was made redundant in 2015, (it’s a complicated story), but it worked out well for me as I had been working at that site for over 20 years and I needed to leave.
2015 was an all-around good year for me, I ran the London Marathon, I got married and then got made redundant!
I had no idea what to do next… I was offered a few jobs, but turned them down, I’ll admit I was a bit lost! I then went on a course ‘Small Steps, Big Changes” for women starting up a business. I had no intention of setting up a business but thought it would be interesting. The other women there really inspired me, they all had such great business ideas and I thought I would give it a go!
I knew HR and I knew Heath & Safety, so decided to go it alone and set up an HR consultancy.
Blue Tree HR Solutions was formed in April 2016 with the intention of providing friendly HR advice to small business owners.
My experience in big companies did not prepare me for what I found was going on in small businesses, so many people have no idea what they should be doing and they are putting their businesses at risk of a tribunal regularly. Small businesses do not need an HR manager as issues do not arise that often and it seems that quite often HR responsibility falls to the wife of the business owner or the person who does payroll. These people manage for a while but find the risk of getting it wrong stress to big for them to bear. Having someone who knows the business that they can call, for occasional advice is all they need.
It has not been all small businesses and one of Blue Tree HR Solutions’ first contracts was working with Ryanair, managing pilots as an outsourced HR business partner – this was a really interesting company to work for and a great team of people and I was flying back and forth to Dublin for over 2 years.
Working with small businesses is fascinating, there are so many different businesses doing all sorts of jobs. I have worked with manufacturing, construction, IT, Farmers, hairdressers, retail, and childcare, – and in my experience, people are people in all workplaces. It doesn’t matter what they do, they just want to be treated fairly, and they appreciate good clear communication and honesty. And this is what I help provide.
In my homelife, I have many hobbies. I have two dogs and I walk them daily and enjoy long walks at the weekend with my husband and family.
I have been in a rounders team for 30 years and we play in a summer league. I enjoy running but have no intention of running the London Marathon again even though it was one of the best days of my life. I also practice yoga regularly – I often wish that I had become a yoga teacher instead of an HR consultant as I am sure I would enjoy life living in colourful leggings showing others how to stretch and meditate, followed by healthy energy balls and chamomile tea!
I am a member of Rock Choir and regularly sing at events around Essex & Suffolk, this year singing at the Edinburgh Fringe.
I started learning to play golf in 2018 and really enjoy it even though I am not very good, and I love the opportunity to play at local courses.
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Training Programme
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The above services are available on either a one-off, ad hoc basis, or as part of a more permanent arrangement. For more information on our ad hoc and retained services, click below.
Ad Hoc
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Free HR Health Check
Blue Tree HR Solutions offer any business a FREE HR health check. We will meet with you to look at what existing HR Policies and Procedures you have in place, and then offer free advice on what actions you need to take to comply with current legislation.
Click here for more information on our free HR Health Check service.
Free HR Health Check
Blue Tree HR Solutions offer any business a FREE HR health check. We will meet with you to look at what existing HR Policies and Procedures you have in place, and then offer free advice on what actions you need to take to comply with current legislation.
Click here for more information on our free HR Health Check service.
