If you have not yet read ‘Start with Why’ by Simon Sinek, we recommend you do. We believe in knowing why we each do what we do first and here is ours……
“Growing up, I spent time working with my parents at an education center for people with learning disabilities. Their approach, which focused on enabling each individual to shine and treating everyone with dignity, greatly inspired me and influenced my career in human resources. I have a deep-seated belief in creating a workplace culture where everyone can reach their full potential, regardless of labels or preconceived notions.
Despite some doubt from peers about my ability to work in a legal framework with compassion and equity, I embarked on my HR career as one of the youngest CIPD students. My passion for working for the best for people and enabling them to shine has remained constant throughout my career.
In 2009, I founded Acorn Support, with the goal of directly supporting directors, managers, and their teams to help each individual be their best and deliver results for the company. At Acorn, we believe in working with first-class employers who treat their employees fairly and equitably, and we strive to bring out the best in everyone to enable the business to thrive.
Our team is committed to understanding each business we work with and identifying areas of frustration or pain. With our professional training, knowledge, and experience, we are well-positioned to work through the complexities of employment cases and deliver the right outcomes for everyone involved. At Acorn, we live by our values of treating people with compassion and taking the time to understand each unique situation.”
Claire Lawton
Managing Director
Our Values
Team Player
We value and respect each person within the team and the skills and contribution they bring to make the Acorn team a success.
Integrity
This the foundation of the work we do. We will be honest, transparent and realistic in our advice to ensure that we promote fairness and trust.
Compassion
We always have the person in mind, we listen and will offer solutions.
Credible
We are committed to learning and developing our skills to enable us to provide up to date professional advice.
Individual
Valuing each individual’s lives inside and outside of work are important to us to be the person we are.
Celebrate Success
We identify the good times, praise our achievements both inside and outside of work.
Meet The Team
Claire Lawton
Managing Director
From reading the why of Acorn Support, you will understand the passion Claire has for her career and how her parents work developed her personal ‘why’ Claire has demonstrated her passion throughout her career in HR of nearing 35 years! She focuses on the best outcome for all involved with care and compassion, and can be a formidable force for a case.
Outside of work Claire is often found in her garden or craft den or enjoying time with her partner, children, grandchildren and pooch. That is when they are not away in their happy place, Crofty the campervan enjoying a cheeky G&T.
Ruth Harvey
HR Business Partner
Ruth is a true HR professional, with extensive experience within all areas of Human Resources , mainly supporting SME’s with case management, Disciplinary, Grievance and Sickness absence. Her strengths lie in building strong stakeholder relationships, by offering support and guidance to clients by being their trusted subject matter expert.
Ruth’s experience includes policy and procedure development ensuing compliance with current employment legislation whilst reflecting the essence of the organisation. She supports the implementation of HR strategies to contribute to business objectives with passion reflecting that of our clients.
When Ruth is not working you will find her curled up deep in a good book or out for long walks in our beautiful countryside. She loves time with her family, especially when she can be at the beach watching the waves and enjoying the sunshine.
Jacqueline Ridley
HR Business Partner
Mum to two very grown-up people, who are so very different in nature, yet both share the most enormous capacity for caring. I love gardening, sitting in the sunshine reading (when time allows) and cycling, and despite the creaky knees the only electric bike I’m bothered by at present is a spin bike, but I know it will come ….
Having spent many years looking at gardens with greenhouses, wishing I could have one too, I’ve finally banished those green-eyed thoughts and having done the landscaping myself this summer, am now the proud owner of not only one I can stand up in, but I can also sit in it too. A packet of seeds, some custard creams and a nice hot cuppa and all time off will be fully accounted for!
I stumbled into the world of HR by accident and find myself still as an HR Generalist some 20 years later. I have, like so many of us, succumbed to natural curiosity and dabbled in some of our other HR functions such as Reward and Benefits, Organisational Design and Strategic People Planning, Learning and Development and Health and Wellbeing, but I still come back to being a generalist.
The parts of the role that I like most are around helping people to grow – developing their learning and skills sets, supporting them through change activities and interacting with people at all levels. No two days are the same and what might work one day might not the next. People aren’t all straight lines and right angles – we are wavy and that’s what is so fabulous about the HR profession, we have the opportunity to be continually tested.