About us
We help 40,000 UK employers to create great, safe places to work.
Our aim is to help business owners proactively solve problems, ensure regulatory compliance and achieve commercial objectives through responsive, pragmatic Employment Law, HR and Health & Safety support underpinned by innovative digital solutions.
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The UK’s leading providers of outsourced Employment Law, HR and Health & Safety services for businesses have come together to create a new force.
The WorkNest story: the power of partnership
At WorkNest, partnership is at the heart of everything we do. We work closely with tens of thousands of organisations nationwide with one clear purpose: enabling employers to manage their workforce, workplace and workflow effectively, efficiently and compliantly.
So it’s appropriate that we ourselves are the result of partnership and synergy. A meeting of many different but complementary teams of talented people. Over recent years, a wealth of the leading lights in our various fields of expertise have joined forces.
Our roots go back to 2001, when Malcolm MacKay founded Law At Work, providing the employment law expertise of a legal firm, but without the prohibitive pricing. LAW gradually strengthened its offering with the acquisition of Square Circle HR, employee relations consultancy Empire, Solve HR and Deminos Consulting.
Mark Ellis founded Ellis Whittam in 2004 with an equally revolutionary mission: to provide high-quality employment law, HR, and health and safety services for businesses that add value not cost, and are based on fair, fixed fees.
In 2019/20, both became part of Marlowe plc, the leaders in business-critical services and software. Since then, a number of other like-minded businesses have been added to this team:
- HRSP, a trusted partner to the third sector, providing bespoke, cost effective, HR support and strategies.
- ESPHR, a new-model employment law firm and employee relations technology business – strategically focused to help HR professionals transform their ER capabilities.
- Youmanage, more than HR software, it’s an operational business tool, helping companies to improve the quality and effectiveness of their HR management processes.
- Cater Leydon Millard, a specialist employment law firm offering a ‘partner-led’ service with focus on the public and education sector.
- CQC Compliance, founded to help healthcare companies ensure continuing regulatory compliance.
- DeltaNet and Cylix, e-Learning partners to national and global organisations, helping to shape their training programme and embed long-term cultures of compliance.
Now we are bringing all these businesses together under the WorkNest brand.
Our purpose is to empower employers with preventative and proactive services covering employment law, HR and occupational health, safety and wellbeing. The personal, high-quality and responsive services that our clients know and love will absolutely remain at the heart of what we do. As WorkNest, we will bring together a broader range of services that will help you to further protect and nurture your organisation.
Our ambition is to be the most highly valued provider of advice, technology and services across these and related fields.
What we do, and the expertise with which we do it, enables our clients to manage the most sensitive issues. We believe that when employers are compliant, confident and risk-aware, when employees feel safe, supported and encouraged, companies can attract the best people, focus on innovation and drive growth.
Our clients tell us that their people are their greatest strength, the same is true for us.
We are blessed with extremely capable and engaged colleagues, determined to support you with informed commercial advice and digital platforms. We will make WorkNest a diverse, inclusive and welcoming place to work – the natural home for the UK’s most gifted practitioners in people management, health, safety and wellbeing, employment law, professional training and business technology.
99.2% Client happiness rating
97% Client retention rating
Who we work with
Proud to support over 40,000 UK employers
Our clients range from small businesses with fewer than 50 staff at a single location, through to large household names employing thousands of people at multiple sites across the UK. Whatever your size or sector, we have solutions to suit your needs.
Client stories
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Gus Hosein
Executive Director, Privacy International
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WorkNest supports our 280 staff members with Employment Law and Health & Safety and has provided quality management training too.”
Lisa Best
Head of Service Delivery, Catalyst Choice
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We get a great deal of comfort and satisfaction knowing that we have support as and when we need it, in a decisive and responsive way.”
Richard Berry
Group HR Director, Culina Group
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We moved our legal support to WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) having previously used a time and line law firm. It was important, though, that an all-inclusive fee structure did not come at the expense of quality. Thankfully we’ve been delighted with the service we’ve received from WorkNest.”
Chief Executive
Waverley Care
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What we recognised in WorkNest is the background that they have. They are able to supply knowledge and experience in a number of disciplines, which enables us to develop our business in a way that’s safe, to do it on time and with a quality to it.”
Debbie Rainbow
Director of Human Resources and Health & Safety,
Bluestone National Park Resort
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Celia McKeon
Chief Executive, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT)
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As the company started to get larger, we knew we had to protect our employees and our contractors both onsite and in the offices. WorkNest is exactly what we needed to move the company forward.”
Joanne Beaver
Operations Director, Beaverfit
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Pineapple have worked with the team at WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) since 2003, and we have built a trusted partnership together. We particularly like WorkNest’s concise and practical advice concerning employment law/HR issues and also appreciate their totally supportive approach in all areas of health and safety.”
General Manager
Pineapple Dance Studios
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I’ve taken WorkNest into every organisation that I’ve worked with. I’ve introduced them to many teams and many colleagues and referred them with absolute pleasure because I genuinely trust in the service that we get.”
People Director, The Works
Meet the team
Our people are the most important part of our service.
From our highly-qualified advisory teams that deliver dedicated support to our clients, to our back-office teams that ensure a smooth service, we’re exceptionally proud of the team we have.
A secure and trusted partner
We understand that you’re trusting us with important and sometimes sensitive information. Your data privacy and software security is hugely important to us.
- TLS data encryption and web firewalls
- ISO 27001 certified protection
- Advanced software security
Partner with us
Unlike mass-market providers, we build genuine, trusted relationships with our membership organisation and trade association clients, managed by our strong, experienced Partnerships Team.
- Work in partnership to understand your long-term objectives
- Create compelling services propositions with add value to your members
- Proactively support your membership retention and recruitment initiatives
Careers at WorkNest
WorkNest aims to be a great place to work. If you share our values of Brilliant Service, Optimism, Integrity and One Team – and want to work for a fast-growing, Legal 500 accredited company – we’d love you to join our team.
- Generous benefits package
- Flexible working potential
- Investors in People Silver
Our Locations
- Horsham
