A disadvantage of using an HR consultant can, on other hand, be potential expense. Depending on level of expertise required, consultant fees can vary from £200 to £1,000 per day so companies need to consider what they can afford and negotiate over daily rate and number of days required. To avoid escalating costs consideration should be given to estimating a set number of days to define a project, such as management training, and build this into contract drawn up.

To cover a maternity post, many companies use a fixed term contract, which gives added bonus to consultant of some employment protection such as paid holidays and sick leave, but which will be another cost to organisation.

To avoid any confusion a clear agreement or contract needs to be drawn up at start between company and consultant establishing clear long and short term goals with regular meetings built in to check progress. Clear responsibilities should be allocated to avoid any confusion.

Fees and expenses need to be included as well as problem resolution such as delivery failures. With a fixed term contract latter can be solved by using disciplinary or capability procedure. Ideally a contingency plan should be put into place together with guidance on confidentiality issues such as data protection.

Before recruiting an HR consultant company needs to have a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve and draw up a project plan and brief for discussion.

There should also be a job description and person specification. With latter this provides assistance to recruit right calibre of person. As need for an HR consultant can often be at short notice, companies need to consider best place to advertise or find right candidate and consider a more streamlined recruitment process.

Once recruited consultant should be provided with a structured induction to enable them to hit ground running. This should include as much information about organisation as possible including meetings with key stakeholders so that they can complete task in hand as effectively and professionally as possible.

Article provided by Sandra Beale of SJ Beale HR Consult. Telephone 07762 771290 or email info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk. Website: www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

These quiet times provide perfect opportunity for you to ask yourself how satisfied you are with your current reality and decide on what you would like to create.

How you got to where you are is based on decisions you make, what you think, and opinions you hold. In order to achieve a breakthrough in your thinking so you can move forward, you need to spend time on your vision, and great outdoors provides perfect setting.

Removing yourself from daily activities of life and being with nature allows you to understand what goes on in your mind, heart and spirit. Spending time in a natural setting provides you with a positive energy that causes you to act on your vision and attract things into your life that support you in creation.

Sometimes in business and life, you know what you have to do to succeed, but you procrastinate. By quieting yourself and being with nature, you can increase your energy and receive amazing intuitive messages that will provide you with direction and motivate you to act.

By acting, you will create results and those results will attract more of same. When you are motivated, you attract things into your life from very unexpected sources.

You may not have a back yard or maybe not a quiet one, but if you can visit a nearby park, hiking trail, lake or seaside, do this for yourself.

So often our minds are spinning with activity from daily living and then for relaxation, we sit in front of television and stare at a moving screen for several hours. Our minds become over-stimulated. There is no down time to quiet mind and allow it to receive intuitive messages.

Television supplies a great deal of negative energy. In a one-hour sitting, how many acts of violence do you witness?

Put yourself in a natural setting where you can vibrate with expectation and quiet your mind. You will then be inspired and motivated to act in a way that will attract that which you desire.

Laurie works with small and home-based business owners who want to grow or build their business without sacrificing quality of life. She is the author of numerous articles and a bi-weekly newsletter, "The Heart of Living."

To subscribe to her free newsletter and learn more about coaching, visit www.wheretheheartis-lifecoaching.com