Complex & High-Stakes HR Support
Senior exits, tribunal preparation, and interim HR leadership; for the situations where experience and discretion are not optional.
Some HR situations carry consequences that extend well beyond the people involved. A senior departure handled badly can destabilise a leadership team. A tribunal claim can consume months of management attention and six figures in costs. An HR leadership vacuum during a critical period can mean decisions are made without the expertise to make them well.
These are not situations for generalist advice or template-driven processes. They require consultants who have managed high-stakes HR situations before, who understand the legal, commercial, and reputational dimensions, and who can operate with the discretion and judgement that the situation demands.
Esbee provides expert support for the most complex and sensitive HR challenges UK businesses face. If the situation matters, we are the people to call.
What this means
Complex and high-stakes HR is the category of employment situations where the standard approach is not enough and where the consequences of getting it wrong extend beyond the immediate matter into the commercial, reputational, or structural health of the business. The work falls into three areas. Senior exits and settlement agreements: departures at board and senior leadership level where equity, confidentiality, or institutional knowledge makes the situation structurally different from a standard redundancy. Employment tribunal support: claims where the quality of the HR evidence, the processes that were followed, and the witnesses who can explain decisions determine whether the business wins or settles on acceptable terms. Interim HR leadership: filling a senior HR vacancy at pace, to a standard that allows the function to operate and the business to make decisions well before a permanent hire is in place.
What we do
Senior Exits & Settlement Agreements
Managing sensitive departures at board and senior leadership level. Negotiation strategy, settlement agreement terms, communication planning, and transition management. Getting this right protects the business and the individual and avoids the cost of paying more than you should.
Employment Tribunal Support
Preparing for and supporting businesses through employment tribunal claims. Witness statements, document bundles, case strategy, and commercial decision-making about settlement versus defence. We work alongside your legal team to ensure the HR side of the case is as strong as the legal side.
Interim HR Leadership
Experienced interim HR directors and managers for transitions, maternity cover, or periods of significant change. Senior capability from day one. Because the cost of the wrong HR leader is measured in months, not money.
Senior exits and settlement agreements
Senior departures are among the most sensitive situations a business faces. The individual often has access to confidential information, client relationships, and institutional knowledge. The remaining leadership team is watching how the situation is handled. The financial terms, when not managed properly, can be significantly higher than they need to be.
We manage the full process: assessing the situation, advising on strategy, conducting without prejudice conversations, negotiating terms, and managing the practical transition. For a comprehensive overview of the process, see our guide to settlement agreements.
Our approach is always to achieve a clean, professional exit that protects the business commercially while treating the individual with respect. The best departures are the ones that neither party feels the need to talk about afterwards.
A founder-led technology business needed to exit its commercial director, a co-founder who had become a barrier to the next phase of growth. The relationship had deteriorated, and the individual held a significant equity stake. The board had no experience managing a departure of this sensitivity and was concerned about both the commercial disruption and the risk of a claim. We managed the entire process: initial strategy with the board, without prejudice discussions with the individual, negotiation of settlement and equity terms, and a managed transition period. The departure was completed within six weeks. Client relationships were preserved, the team was briefed appropriately, and the total cost was approximately 40 per cent lower than the initial figure the individual's solicitor had proposed.
Employment tribunal preparation and support
Receiving a tribunal claim is stressful. For many business leaders, it is the first time they have been on the wrong end of a legal process. The instinct is often to hand everything to lawyers and hope for the best. That is rarely the right approach.
Tribunal cases are won or lost on the quality of the HR evidence: the processes that were followed, the documents that were created, the conversations that were recorded, and the witnesses who can explain why decisions were made. Our role is to ensure that the HR side of the case is as robust as possible: preparing witness statements, organising document bundles, building chronologies, and advising the business on the commercial merits of settlement versus proceeding to hearing.
We also help businesses learn from tribunal exposure. If a claim has arisen because of a weakness in your processes, we help you fix it so it does not happen again. Often, an HR Audit after a tribunal experience is a sensible step to identify other areas of risk.
A healthcare provider received an unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claim from a former employee who had been dismissed following a long-term absence. The internal HR team had managed the process but had not followed the company's own absence policy consistently, and the occupational health evidence had not been properly considered before the decision to dismiss. We were engaged to support the company's legal team in preparing for the tribunal. We rebuilt the case chronology, identified the process gaps, prepared the management witnesses, and advised on the realistic range of outcomes. On our recommendation, the business entered into an early settlement at a cost significantly below the potential award. We then redesigned the absence management framework to prevent similar claims in future.
Interim HR directors and managers
There are moments when a business needs senior HR leadership immediately and cannot wait six months for a recruitment process. A sudden departure, a maternity absence, a period of rapid growth or organisational change, or simply the realisation that a critical decision needs to be made and there is nobody with the experience to make it.
Our interim HR directors and managers step in with immediate effect. They bring the seniority, experience, and credibility to operate at board level from day one. They are experienced consultants who understand that their role is to deliver outcomes during a defined period, then hand over cleanly. Where the interim engagement coincides with a business transfer or service change, the scope extends to managing TUPE obligations: consultation procedures, election processes, and sequencing integration decisions around the statutory constraints.
For businesses considering a permanent HR leadership hire, our interim service also provides the time and space to define the role properly so that when you do recruit, you hire the right person for the business you are becoming, not the business you were.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Esbee mean by complex and high-stakes HR?
- Complex and high-stakes HR is the category of employment situations where the standard approach is not enough and where the consequences of getting it wrong extend beyond the immediate employment matter. The work covers three areas: senior exits and settlement agreements at board and senior leadership level; employment tribunal support where the quality of the HR evidence base determines the outcome; and interim HR leadership where a senior vacancy needs to be filled at pace without waiting for a permanent hire.
- When should a business engage external HR support rather than handling it internally?
- The signal is usually when the situation is more complex than internal capability, or when the personal dynamics make impartial advice difficult to give. An internal HR team can manage a straightforward disciplinary without help. They cannot always manage a settlement negotiation with a co-founder who holds equity, prepare a tribunal case from scratch, or step in as interim HR Director when the permanent post is vacant. External support is also appropriate when confidentiality means the situation cannot be discussed internally at all.
- Do you support active employment tribunal claims, or only pre-tribunal preparation?
- Both. We can be engaged from the moment a claim lands, or brought in partway through a live case where the existing approach needs strengthening. We work alongside employment counsel at all stages: building the HR evidence base, preparing witnesses, organising document bundles, and advising on the commercial merits of settlement versus proceeding to hearing.
- How does Esbee work alongside employment counsel?
- We work in parallel with employment lawyers, not instead of them. Solicitors handle legal strategy and advocacy. We handle the HR side: the quality of the internal processes, witness preparation, documentary evidence, and the commercial judgement about settlement. In practice, the HR preparation is often what determines whether a case is won or settled on acceptable terms, and it is frequently the part least well handled by legal teams working alone.
- Can you handle senior exits where the individual has equity or where confidentiality is paramount?
- Yes. Many of our most sensitive engagements involve departures where a shareholder agreement, a phantom equity arrangement, or a co-founder relationship is part of the picture. We work with the business's corporate lawyers where equity documentation is involved. The HR side of these negotiations is where we add the most value and where getting it wrong is most costly.
- What does an initial conversation cover?
- We begin with a confidential conversation about the situation: what has happened, what the business is trying to achieve, and what the immediate risks are. There is no agenda and no obligation beyond that conversation. For most situations we will give you a clear view of how we would approach it and what the likely range of outcomes is. If the situation is one we cannot help with, we will say so and direct you to someone who can.
Who this work is for
Complex and high-stakes HR arises across organisations of every type. These are the contexts where this work shows up most frequently.
PE-backed businesses
Portfolio companies where management changes, TUPE events, and the pace of the hold period create a concentration of high-stakes HR situations.
Scaling technology businesses
Fast-growth businesses where early leadership decisions, co-founder relationships, and rapid headcount change create situations the business has not faced before.
Founder-owned and owner-managed businesses
Businesses where the owner is personally involved in the situation and needs independent, senior support that can operate without the internal politics.
Professional services firms
Partnership and professional services businesses where partner exits, equity arrangements, and confidentiality requirements are part of the picture.
Identify risks before they escalate
If you have been through a tribunal claim or a difficult exit and want to make sure there are no other vulnerabilities, our HR Audit provides a structured independent review of your entire HR position.
The practice is led by Sam Bramhall.
Sam Bramhall is the Principal Consultant at Esbee, with two decades of board-level strategic HR and organisational advisory across telecoms, fintech, professional services, technology, and PE-backed businesses. Engagements are principal-led: you work directly with Sam throughout, not with a junior team managing upward.
About Sam and the firm →Last reviewed: May 2026
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Discuss a sensitive situation
All initial conversations are confidential. Tell us what you are facing and we will explain how we can help.
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