Michelle Heard

National private-equity-backed dental group with 350+ sites across UK & Ireland (4,500 employees / 2,500 self-employed clinicians)

• Trusted partner to five Regional Ops Managers, supporting 80 dental practices within the area, providing insight and advice on people management strategies aligned with business goals, and best practice. Including performance management, restructures, succession planning, complex ER casework, and training delivery to build HR capability.
• Lead HR aspects of regional acquisitions and TUPE transfers, ensuring legal compliance and smooth integration.
• Designed and delivered internal workshops on employee relations, policy, and people leadership.
• First point of contact for sponsorship (Skilled Worker Visas), ensuring legal compliance.
• Supported IR35 processes for self-employed clinicians, advising on SDS assessments.
• Contributed to employee engagement and wellbeing initiatives.

• Supported scaling from 25 to 150 practices; transitioned from an HR setup role to regional business partnering.
• Built the first internal HR function from the ground up: policies, contracts, and scalable HR frameworks.
• Implemented and managed HR/payroll system for new legal entity, including vendor management, configuration, data transfers, GDPR, UAT, and rollout training.
• Established a compliant group-wide pension scheme under salary sacrifice, consolidating 35 multiple legacy schemes. Ongoing pension compliance with The Pensions Regulator.
• Supported the HR Director with the annual salary review, bonus awards cycles, and related activities.
• Acted as the key contact for the company’s EAP provider, ensuring contract renewals, evaluating usage data, and promoting engagement.

• Business partnering with senior leadership on performance, employee relations, learning and development, and succession.
• Delivered training programme using the 70/20/10 and 9-box grid models.
• Used HR analytics to inform strategy and decision making.

• Delivered first-line HR advice on all ER issues.
• Managed payroll and pensions administration for seven entities, and P11Ds.
• Administered employee onboarding, and health and safety inductions for new hires.
• Reviewed and updated company policies to reflect current best practices in HR management.
• Coordinated recruitment processes, from advertising vacancies to conducting interviews and selecting candidates.

• Managed the administration for the employee lifecycle, onboarding, offboarding, and exit processes.
• Provided HRIS implementation support. Superuser.
• Provided HR reporting and supported policy compliance.

Held various roles, including Accounts Assistant, Purchase Ledger Clerk, and Sales Ledger Clerk.

• Produced management accounts, VAT returns, supplier reconciliations, employee benefits reporting, and expenses.