Paula Fisher

Paula Fisher started her career in HR at the age of 18 when she joined the Marks and Spencer's young management training scheme. After five years with M&S she went on to work in other blue chip organisations such as Burberry and Matalan, holding HR management and senior management positions.

She then left the corporate world and commenced a Law degree (as a very mature student!) at Anglia Ruskin University, graduating in 1997 with a First-Class Honours degree. She formed her first business, with a business partner (providing HR services to SMEs) in the 3rd year of her Law degree. After five years, she left this business to pursue her academic studies and completed her Master's degree in Law and Employment Relations.

In 2002 Paula founded Practical HR Ltd, literally working from her spare bedroom. For the first two years she subsidised the business by teaching Employment Law on the CIPD course (Certificate in Personnel and Development) at Anglia Ruskin Business School.

Practical HR was, and still is, focused on providing pragmatic and commercial support to SMEs. In addition to traditional consultancy services, Paula has created a number of online solutions, recognising that HR can be supported by technology. This has culminated in the development of YourHR.space, an online portal that solves the HR compliance and communication problem for SMEs. This was developed as a direct result of Paula identifying the common problem that SMEs have in keeping up to date with HR and employment law, and communicating information to employees.

Practical HR is located in Essex, just outside Southend-on-Sea. Here, Paula works with a small, dedicated team who all share the same passion for providing practical solutions and great customer services. All the team are dedicated to making HR easier for clients and they continue to innovate to achieve this.

Practical HR also has a second office based near Bishop's Stortford, on a wide beam canal boat! This office is used for meetings with local clients and as a place where Paula goes to focus on writing, drafting or to concentrate on product development. A boat on the river is an ideal spot for tranquillity and inspiration.

Paula is married to Peter Fisher. They met at school (many, many years ago) and will soon be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. They live in a small village in Essex. Paula's spare time is spent walking her dogs, gardening and enjoying good food, good wine (and the occasional gin and tonic) and good times with friends.

Paula and Peter enjoy travelling and aim to spend more time doing this in the coming years. Since discovering the Prosecco region in Italy (yes, there really is one) they are keen to explore other wine regions. Champagne is high on the list!

You can contact Paula via email on paula@practicalhr.co.uk or find her on LinkedIn.