Rare

HR Health Check

What they said.

Working with Zest gave us a valuable independent perspective on where our HR foundations were strong and where to focus next. Kat and Suze were lovely to deal with – practical, easy to work with, and they quickly understood our business and culture. Their recommendations were considered and useful, without adding process for the sake of it. We really enjoyed working with them and will definitely be partnering with Zest again on some of our broader strategic people initiatives.

Adam Copple-Smith

Head of Finance & Transformation

The Need

Rare, a well-established creative agency, was preparing to introduce an internal HR role. With comprehensive HR foundations already in place, the Board wanted to ensure the new HR function was set up for success and focused on the areas that would create the greatest value.

Rare engaged Zest to conduct an independent HR Health Check, assessing the maturity of its existing frameworks and identifying how its people practices could better support the business strategy, values and desired culture.

The Solution

Zest reviewed Rare’s people practices across six dimensions, working with the Board to understand both its current position and future ambitions.

The review considered:

Strategic alignment between the business and people priorities.
HR governance, policies and supporting guidance.
Existing people systems, processes and tools.
Leadership accountability and decision-making.
Employee communication and engagement.
Alignment between people practices, Rare’s values and its desired culture.
Priorities and expectations for the incoming internal HR role.

The review found that Rare had a comprehensive HR framework that provided leaders and employees with clear guidance on how key people processes were managed. Rather than introducing additional processes, the opportunity was to simplify, connect and activate what was already in place.

Highlights

Strong foundations already established: Rare had a comprehensive suite of HR policies, processes and guidance in place. The Health Check confirmed that the next phase should focus on making these foundations easier to navigate and apply.
Adding value without adding work: The recommendations focused on enhancing existing processes rather than creating unnecessary layers. This included opportunities to synthesise current guidance, introduce practical tools and complement platforms already in use, including Google NotebookLM.
Principles for everyday decisions: Zest identified an opportunity to create clear decision-making principles that would help leaders apply Rare’s policies, strategy and values consistently—while retaining the autonomy needed in a creative environment.

Challenges

Ensuring the new internal HR role was positioned to operate strategically, not only administratively.
Connecting established HR frameworks to Rare’s broader business strategy.
Making a comprehensive body of policies and guidance simple to access and apply.
Strengthening developing areas such as strategic alignment, governance and employee engagement.
Creating greater accountability without limiting leadership empowerment or autonomy.

Wins

Confirmed that Rare had strong, comprehensive HR foundations in place.
Established clear priorities for the incoming internal HR role.
Identified opportunities to improve existing processes without creating additional work.
Created a pathway to connect the business and people strategies.
Highlighted practical ways to bring policies and guidance to life through technology and decision-making tools.
Established a future focus on clarity, empowerment, autonomy and accountability.
Positioned Rare to connect its people frameworks more closely with its strategy and values, bringing its desired culture to life.

More Work.

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