About us…
Founded in 2008 face2faceHR grew out of a desire to help small to medium-sized businesses gain access to HR advice and support at a fraction of the cost of employing a full-time member of staff.
Our intent was to provide personalised, client-focused HR solutions easing the pressures of staff management, leaving clients free to grow their business, with confidence and reassurance their HR operations are legal, appropriate and effective.
After several years growing her consultancy into a thriving business, Eleanor decided to invest in developing the face2faceHR brand and business model into an opportunity to enable other HR professionals run their own successful consultancy, and bring face2faceHR to many more small businesses.
Launching in 2013 the franchise business has gone from strength to strength and has helped over 15 HR professionals throughout the UK launch their own consultancies and achieve their dreams of becoming independent HR consultants.
To locate your nearest consultant and find out more about their background and experience please click below.
Meet the team…
Eleanor Deem – founder and MD
Eleanor is an experienced HR professional with a background working in the private and not-for-profit sectors. She focuses her time on supporting our consultants through coaching and advice, whilst constantly developing the franchise business to ensure existing and potential franchisees gain access to the skills, knowledge and tools they need to be successful in their own business.
She is passionate about empowering people to achieve whatever their personal goals are, whether it’s stressed and overwhelmed small business owners or HR professionals wanting to set up their own consultancy, and to grow it successfully.
Eleanor is also a Non-Legal Member of the Employment Tribunal, is on the panel of expert contributors for the CIPD’s online employment law resource ‘HR-Inform’ and provides coaching and mentoring to HR professionals who are not currently operating as HR consultants but who benefit from her guidance.
In her spare time, Eleanor is very musical and in addition to playing the violin enjoys singing in a local choir (and in the car, and in the shower…!). Her favourite place to holiday is Cornwall, and she likes visiting castles and other historical places. She has two boys and a springer spaniel named Hamish, who mainly enjoys lying at her feet when she’s working from home, when he’s not otherwise occupied making friends with the Cambridgeshire wildlife!
Sarah Short – Company Secretary
Sarah is an experienced business manager with over 30 years office management knowhow who has been with face2faceHR since 2009, initially supporting Eleanor to grow her consultancy and then helping to develop and launch the franchise business.
Of her three lifetime ambitions – riding a horse along a beach, owning a house big enough to fit a very large Christmas tree in the entrance hall and watching a live space shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Centre – thus far she’s achieved two of those… but which two?
Martin Freeman – Franchise Manager
Martin is a business development and marketing professional, specialising in the franchise sector, who joined face2faceHR in 2022.
Having started and grown his own small business into an international franchise, Martin knows what it takes to succeed when running your own business as part of a franchise.
Enjoying his work and building great relationships with colleagues has always been Martin’s priority, and he applies those values within face2faceHR by making sure everyone has what they need to have the best chance of fulfilling their business goals.
When Martin isn’t wearing his franchising hat, he loves to start every day with a fresh cup of coffee, spending as much time as possible with his wife and two daughters, walking in the woods, and warming popcorn for a movie night (anything but a horror!).
Hannah Ambler – Administrator
Hannah is an accomplished administrator with over ten years of experience, both in a supervisory capacity and as a Personal Assistant. She started her own business as a Virtual Assistant after deciding she wanted more control and flexibility in her working life. Hannah joined face2faceHR in 2018 to provide additional support in all administrative areas of the business to the head office team and the growing team of consultants.
When she’s not keeping everything running like clockwork at face2faceHR HQ, Hannah is quite the creative soul and spends her time knitting and crocheting children’s toys and teddies. Her preferred four-legged friends are rabbits and she would one day like to set up her own rabbit sanctuary. She also likes gaming but would admit that she can be a little too competitive at times!
Other team members
In addition to the head office team, consultants also benefit from ongoing support with email and website management, an answer service team and have access to business coaching, a virtual assistant, a graphic designer, a print firm, and a lawyer. These all provide consultants with the advantages that come from working with professionals with a solid base of business skills and experience from day one.