Case study
The Body Shop is a purpose-led British skincare and beauty brand known for its distinctive culture, values and approach to retail, focusing on delivering exceptional customer experiences in their stores, with managers working closely with their teams to bring the customer experience to life.
Legally privileged employee relations support
The need
The Body Shop went through a period of significant change in 2024. Following this, they saw an opportunity to drive efficiencies in the employee relations function to help improve employee experiences across multiple locations, with a lean HR team.
The requirement
The Body Shop needed an employee relations advisory outsourcing supplier to drive efficiency and deliver consistent, compliant and commercial advice to their management teams. They needed a partner that would integrate seamlessly into their organisation and culture, ensuring a unified approach to ER across all locations. This would include:
Unlimited, straight-talking legal advice – on-demand advice from specialist employment law professionals, ensuring managers and HR have immediate access to expert guidance for complex ER matters whenever they need it.
Drafting and documentation support – comprehensive drafting assistance for letters, investigation reports and outcome documentation, helping maintain consistency and compliance across all cases.
Legal privilege and risk management – by embedding legal privilege into employee relations processes, we safeguarded sensitive cases and reduced organisational risk, giving The Body Shop confidence and commerciality when handling complex situations.
Monthly reporting – detailed reports on new cases, total cases, case volume by store or function, case types, and time to close cases, enable data-driven decisions and improve transparency.
”Drafting outcome letters was an absolute win and music to managers' ears, and for us it was equally about ensuring managers felt confident.
Head of PeopleThe Body Shop
The outcome
Consistent access to ER and legal experts – managers and in-house HR have continuous access to specialist ER advice every day, eliminating gaps caused by holidays, sickness, or other absences. This ensures uninterrupted support across all locations.
Improved manager capability and confidence – managers are empowered with timely guidance enabling them to handle ER issues competently and confidently. Quick identification of managers requiring support enables targeted upskilling, strengthening capability across the business.
Faster case resolution and process improvements – streamlined processes and expert input speed up ER case resolution, with managers receiving same-day advice to keep issues on track from the outset. End-to-end documentation provided throughout the process enables managers to deliver consistent, robust people processes, minimising disruption and protecting productivity.
Optimised HR capacity to focus on strategy – outsourcing ER support enables in-house HR to focus on strategic priorities and people development, helping support better employee and customer experiences.
Enhanced employee experiences – timely and consistent case handling improves the experience for employees going through ER processes, supporting wellbeing and fairness. We operate as an extension of The Body Shop team, immersed in their ways of working. This has helped reduce ER case volumes by 45% in the first 12 months.
Legally privileged protection and reduced risk – legal privilege and expert oversight provide complete confidence and commercial assurance, ensuring compliance and mitigating risks in complex ER cases. Advice protected by legal privilege means that advice conversations are protected from disclosure in evidence at tribunal.
Want to know more about how our Outsourced ER solution could work for you?
Our legally privileged solution keeps your ER case load on track – removing bottlenecks, reducing risk, and giving your HR team the space to focus on impactful and strategic priorities.