The three HR problems that cost construction firms the most — and how to stop storing them up.
Electra HR
Powered by Bonsai LawElectra HR: practical HR support, backed by legal reality.
Most employer problems do not start with a claim form. They start with a difficult conversation, a messy absence, a grievance, a first hire, or a senior employee situation that feels like it could go wrong. That is why Vanessa created Electra HR: practical, straight-talking HR support for founder-led businesses and SMEs, with a clear route into legal advice when the stakes rise.
For SMEs & founder-led businesses in Kent, London, Essex, Surrey and Sussex
Why Electra exists
Electra HR sits in the gap between generic HR helplines and full law-firm handling. It is built for businesses that want sensible day-to-day help on people issues without paying for a formal legal response every time — but that also do not want advice that falls apart the moment a problem becomes serious.
Because Electra is powered by Bonsai Law, the support is grounded in dispute experience. Advice is shaped not just by policy and process, but by what actually causes trouble later if things are handled badly.
What Electra HR helps with
Performance and capability issues
Grievances and investigations
Sickness absence and return-to-work
Contracts, handbooks and policy updates
First hires and startup HR set-up
Director and senior employee situations
Disciplinary processes and conduct issues
Redundancy, restructures and TUPE
Day-to-day manager support on tricky staff issues
Why Vanessa built Electra.
At Bonsai, a lot of the employment and founder disputes that become expensive later started as ordinary HR moments that were mishandled early. Electra exists to help clients deal with those moments properly, at the point where practical support matters most.
For some clients, Electra will be enough. For others, the issue will move into more sensitive legal territory, where Bonsai can step in directly. The strength of the model is that there is no hard divide between “just HR” and “suddenly legal panic” with no bridge between the two.
Electra or Bonsai?
Use Electra HR when…
- It is operational, preventative or day-to-day
- You need a fair process run properly and early
- Performance, grievance, absence or a first hire
- Manager conversations and senior exits
- You want practical help without being over-lawyered
Bonsai steps in when…
- The matter is already contentious or formal
- There is a live or threatened claim
- Privilege, shareholder or director complications
- High-value, board-level or legally sensitive issues
- The dispute needs a legal strategy, not just process
Clients get practical HR support without being over-lawyered — but they are not stranded with generic advice when the stakes rise. Electra handles the practical HR front end; Bonsai provides the legal backbone where required. That joined-up route is the point.
Examples
What this looks like in practice
A sense of the employer issues Electra HR helps with every week — and where HR process meets legal risk.
You don’t need corporate HR. You need someone to talk through exits, performance and equity without panicking.
Electra HR
Before you hire your first person: five things to get right so you’re not fixing it in front of a judge later.
Electra HR
Can I dismiss someone for poor performance in the UK? What fair process actually looks like before dismissal becomes a risk.
Electra HR
How to handle a grievance as a small business — running a fair process before a complaint turns into a wider dispute.
Electra HR
Employee off sick: what can I do as an employer? Absence, evidence, adjustments and next steps.
Electra HR
Practical HR support first. A clear legal route when risk rises. That is why Electra HR is powered by Bonsai Law.
Electra HR
Day-to-day, operational or preventative?
Speak to Electra HR for practical employer support before a people issue hardens into a dispute.
Talk to Electra HRContentious, high-value or legally sensitive?
Speak to Bonsai Law directly where the issue is already board-level, formal or strategically important.