Monday Interview: Gavin Howarth, Managing Director at Howarths

A Cleckheaton-based business set up to provide SMEs with human resources, employment law and health and safety support is on track to achieve £1m worth of turnover this year.

Gavin Howarth, Managing Director of Howarths, said when the business was established in 2003 it comprised nothing more than its founder Andy Howarth – Gavin’s father – his mother Helen, along with a phone and computer at the couple’s home.

Now, he said that modest beginning has led to Howarths boasting a strong client base across the manufacturing, construction and education sectors, with a list of retail clients including national high-street footwear retailer, Moda in Pelle.

Within the last three years, the business has launched a new service – strategic HR support for SMEs, which has contributed significantly to an increase in turnover. The launch included the recruitment of three highly qualified and experienced HR professionals, taking Howarths’ headcount to 21.

Howarth, who has been MD since 2013, said the company had invested heavily in the development of a client retention strategy, adding its attrition has not exceeded 10% over the last three years.

He said: “Over the last three years, turnover has increased by 58%, averaging a 16% growth year on year. In the same period, gross profit has increased by 60%, averaging a 17% growth year on year.

“For the next three years our objective is to grow the business’s turnover by at least 10% each year, working to a minimum ratio of 75 to 25 turnover to profit.

“The Japanese approach of continuous improvement, called ‘Kaizen’, means a lot to me.

“It means asking how can we serve our clients better? For example, how can we use technology to make sure clients have a better experience with us? We should never take anything for granted.”

His father, Andy, is a former police officer who completed a law degree during his last four years on the force.

Howarth senior and his wife first had an office for their firm in the appropriately named Law Street, on the outskirts of Cleckheaton, but for the last seven years the business has been in Brooke Street, in the town centre.

Gavin Howarth said: “The company’s progress has been brilliant. We had a vision of what we wanted the business to look like and the clients we wanted to work with and we’ve achieved a fair amount of that.

“We have fantastic members of staff who bring with them great expertise. We’ve expanded into HR and have further plans to explore going into immigration work.

“Although our growth has been amazing, as a family business what’s important to us is that we don’t go for growth at all costs.

“Our reputation in the market and how clients remember working with us is also important, and we try to strike the right balance between that and being commercially successful. We’d never want to be the kind of business which is ruthless in its pursuit of growth.”

The family launched its charity, The Howarth Foundation, in mid-2017. The initial idea came from Andy Howarth and has involved the Howarths firm rallying its business network to create an expanding group of companies prepared to provide employment for individuals who have experienced homelessness across Leeds and Kirklees.

Gavin Howarth said that since launching, the charity has managed to directly help 15 previously homeless individuals from Leeds secure jobs at businesses including Leeds United Football Club and Ringways Motor Group. The initiative has also secured backing and funding from Leeds City Council.

Howarth said: “My dad now runs the foundation. Homelessness is an issue that is quite dear to his heart and we believe that employment gives everyone a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning.”

 

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