Hi Jennifer,

A great place to start would be to read through all the contributions to this thread:

Who pays for your CIPD costs?

...and I know that many people share the sentiment that Hannah expressed in this other discussion... 

"without access to this forum and the CIPD website I would really struggle to do my job!"

I have many many testimonials that I can perhaps share with you separately if required... but let's hear what others have to say!

Good luck!

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Thank you. I have looked through that thread already actually. But this is a case for convincing them they need a fully trained HR person. It is a small company that has shown really quick growth. Three years ago there were only 8 of them and we are now at 30+. How can I show them they need that?

Hi Jennifer

I've not done a business case for studying but I have come into our organisation as a legal executive and studied before transitioning into the HR role as there wasn't one either. My advice is to sit and think about your company and how it functions and where expertise/knowledge of best practice and employment law would benefit.

Some of the biggest changes I implemented when progressing into my role was introduction of an employee handbook, development on an internal HR Site to help new hires onboarding and as an information point for existing employees.

I found one of my company's biggest challenges was communications. It is quite easy to assume everyone is informed of changes, company strategy or even mistakes to be learned from with a staff of 8 but but less so with 30 or 60 etc.

There are lots of areas where HR can make a positive change within your company but you will need to identify those and be willing to follow through on them once they give you the support for the training. My advice is don't pick too many, just a couple of large ones to put into the business plan or you could end up overwhelmed when it comes down to getting started.

Good luck!