Lilac HR
Established in 2018, Lilac HR is a leading HR Consultancy helping empire-building business leaders across East Anglia and beyond. The business was founded by Shona Hamilton-Higgins, CIPD qualified and award-winning HR Consultant, known by her clients as the HR Warrior Princess.
Lilac HR helps small, rural and equestrian business leaders to grow their businesses with less stress, more profit, and happy people through authentic, no fluff, expert HR support. Lilac HR has so far helped 120 small businesses across the UK with over 1200 HR cases. And this is just the beginning…
What we help with
- Recruitment
- Contracts of employment
- Policies & employee handbooks
- Disciplinary & grievance
- Absence management
- Performance management
- TUPE transfers
- Redundancy
- Dismissal
About us
Shona Hamilton-Higgins (33) is the award-winning HR expert behind Lilac HR. Utilising her 10+ years experience in corporate HR management, Shona broke free from the ‘expected’ path and started her own consultancy to help other small businesses and their people in Norfolk and across East Anglia to thrive.
Shona’s first dealing with a HR department came from one of her first job roles where she sought support to contest an unjust disciplinary case. Through the process she saw first hand what a positive impact HR can have on employees, and subsequently got the case dropped.
This experience sparked a desire in Shona to move into the world of HR where she knew she could make a huge difference. She studied two CIPD diplomas in HR Management while working full time and promised herself that she would work her way into a position where she could run the best HR department possible, that makes work a happy place to be for all its employees.
Shona’s corporate career took her from the bottom of the HR ladder as HR Administrator, right up to the top as HR Manager across a variety of industries including manufacturing and social care, and she learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. In a HR team where the leader was unwilling to stand up against the Directors to do the right thing, Shona learned that she was unwilling to compromise her values and her professional integrity for anything.
In October 2018, burnt out, fed up with the corporate grind & bureaucracy, tired of walking the dogs in the dark and never having time to ride her horse, Shona set up Lilac HR and spent the next two years carefully building the foundations of her business while working full time. In June 2020 when the world was thrown into the chaos of a global pandemic, Shona went full time in her own business.
Lilac HR has since helped a wide range of businesses across East Anglia, from a farm shop in Wisbech to an equestrian centre in March, a construction company in Fakenham and a manufacturing company in Cambridge. Ensuring they have the best support for the CEOs and senior leadership teams, but also the employees, so that the businesses can thrive, be as profitable as possible, and be great places to work with fantastic reputations.
Since June 2020, Shona has been selected as a finalist for Employer of the Year 2022, High Growth Business of the Year 2022, Business Person of the Year 2022, Best Business 2023 and won Bronze Businesswoman of the Year 2021 and Best Rural HR Support Provider 2023 in regional awards.
A keen horsewoman, Shona’s rural roots shine through in the businesses she works with across rural East Anglia. She is in a unique position to support them better than any other HR expert out there; she knows them, she understands them, she is them.
The team at Lilac HR continues to expand with the support of rural and equestrian HR professionals including Bethan and Karin.
I would like to thank Shona Hamilton Higgins for engaging with our team at the Magpie Centre to update and improve our HR procedures and ensure that we are fully compliant with all current legal HR requirements.
Shona has designed and completed new and bespoke up to date handbooks for our staff and volunteers as well as producing all of the required policy documents to go with both handbooks. The results were well received by both staff and volunteers and are a useful resource and point of reference for the whole team.
The professional, timely and supportive help that we received from Shona during a recent staffing issue helped us to understand our legal and moral responsibilities as well as guiding us through the HR process to achieve the best possible outcome for both our employee and us as employers.
I have no hesitation in recommending Lilac HR to any business needing support and advice all for matters relating to the management of Human resources.
Shona is brilliant, she is calming, knowledgeable & supportive. Everything you need in professional support.
Employees and employment law is a minefield. To have someone who is straight talking, knowledgeable and understands your business and its needs certainly helps you sleep better at night. And, its not expensive!
