Senior advisory for the business problems
that turn out to be organisational
Strategic advisory for boards, leadership teams, and PE-backed businesses, across management consultancy, complex people work, and management training.
Senior-Level Expertise
All work is delivered by our expert team of consultants, specialist associates and partners to ensure that we have the right people in the right room at the right time.
Commercially Driven
People decisions are analysed and resolved as business decisions; the diagnostic always begins with the commercial question.
Confidential & Discreet
The firm is structured for sensitive work. Initial conversations are confidential as a matter of course, and engagements are scoped accordingly.
People solutions to business problems.
Esbee's working position is that most business problems have their root cause in the people and organisational layer, at a level that sits beneath where the symptoms appear. A sales team that keeps missing target, a marketing function that has been reshuffled twice without improving, a transformation that has stalled, an integration that has not integrated, an EBIT decline that does not respond to cost-cutting: each of these typically has an organisational or people cause that the existing management analysis has not yet surfaced. The presenting problem is functional. The root cause is organisational, which is a different thing, and it requires a different kind of analysis to identify it.
The diagnostic approach at Esbee sits in the gap between pure strategy firms (which have the commercial framing but not the people-side depth to resolve what they diagnose) and pure HR consultancies (which have the people-side expertise but not the operating-model perspective to identify what is actually driving the dysfunction). Organisational diagnosis at Esbee now sits alongside fluency in technology, AI adoption, and operating model design as part of how the firm reads business problems; the operating model implications of technology change are, in most cases, a people and organisational question before they are a technical one.
How we think about this in full →When something
is going wrong
The urgent, high-stakes work. Senior exits and settlement agreements where the situation is sensitive and the cost of handling it badly is significant. Employment tribunal preparation and support. Complex grievances and investigations that require independence and procedural rigour. Interim HR leadership where the business needs senior capability immediately. Sensitive restructuring and redundancy programmes where commercial and legal risk need to be managed together.
AdvisoryWhen something
isn't working
The diagnostic and advisory work. Transformations that have stalled and do not know why. A total operating model that no longer fits the scale or strategy of the business. Functions that keep underperforming despite repeated restructuring. Post-acquisition integrations that have not realised the value the deal assumed. And the operating model and workforce implications of technology and AI adoption, which in most businesses are organisational questions before they are technical ones.
Who we work with
Private Equity
Pre-deal people due diligence, management assessment and retention strategy, post-acquisition people integration, and exit readiness. A specialism that touches both doors.
Training
The firm's capability-building output, translating the practice's diagnostic work into structured programmes for management teams.
Who we work with
Private Equity
PE firms and their portfolio companies. Pre-deal people due diligence, management assessment, post-acquisition integration, and exit readiness across the full investment cycle.
Founders & Owner-Managed
Owner-managed and founder-led businesses navigating sensitive people decisions, co-director exits, and the organisational questions that come with growth or ownership transition.
Scaling Tech & Fintech
Technology and fintech businesses between Series B and scale, where operating model design, comp architecture, and leadership population decisions are the constraint on growth.
Professional Services
Law firms, accountancy practices, and professional services partnerships on partner exits, lateral integration, Managing Partner succession, and the governance decisions particular to the partnership model.
Education and Skills
FE colleges and training providers, edtech businesses, and awarding bodies, professional bodies, and education charities on complex investigations, advisory, and organisational development.
From the casebook
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. We managed the entire process: board strategy, without-prejudice discussions with the individual, and negotiation of settlement and equity terms. The departure was completed within six weeks. Client relationships were preserved, and the total cost was approximately 40 per cent lower than the individual's solicitor's opening position.
Complex HR work →A healthcare provider received an unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claim from a former employee dismissed following long-term absence. The absence management process had not been followed consistently, and occupational health evidence had not been properly considered before dismissal. We rebuilt the case chronology, identified the process gaps, prepared the management witnesses, and advised on the realistic settlement range. The business settled early at a cost significantly below the potential tribunal award, and we then redesigned the absence management framework.
Complex HR work →A growth-stage fintech engaged us to design a redundancy programme in sales and marketing after revenue flattened in Year 1. The diagnostic surfaced a different problem. The sales compensation structure had been incentivising the wrong outcomes since launch, and marketing was sitting operationally inside sales rather than aligned to strategy and product. We redesigned the compensation structure and repositioned marketing within the operating model. The redundancy programme was avoided entirely, and revenue recovered the following year.
Advisory →The practice is led by Sam Bramhall.
Sam Bramhall is the Principal Consultant at Esbee, with over 15 years of advising up to 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 →The HR Audit: a structured way to start.
Most businesses do not know where their HR exposure sits until something goes wrong. The HR Audit is a structured, independent review of the firm's HR and compliance position. It serves two purposes: it tells you what you need to know, and it provides a considered entry point into a working relationship with the firm.
Find out about the HR Audit- Employment contracts & documentation
- HR policies & employee handbook
- Employment legislation compliance
- Disciplinary & grievance procedures
- Data protection & record-keeping
- Management capability & HR governance
- Risk exposure & potential liabilities
Recent writing from Sam Bramhall
View the archive →
Common questions
- What does Esbee actually do?
- Esbee is a senior-led consultancy working at the intersection of complex people work and organisational diagnosis. In practice, this covers the situations where the presenting problem is functional but the root cause is organisational: the underperforming team, the stalled transformation, the integration that has not delivered. The firm also handles complex employee relations work, senior exits, tribunal preparation, and settlement negotiations.
- Who do you work with?
- The typical client is a board, a leadership team, or a private equity firm working with a portfolio company. The situations they bring are characterised by complexity, sensitivity, or the recognition that the in-house team does not have the experience the situation requires. The firm works across sectors, with particular concentration in PE-backed mid-market businesses and professional services.
- How are engagements typically scoped?
- Most engagements begin with an initial conversation, which is free, confidential, and without obligation. From there, the scope is agreed before work begins: typically a defined project with a clear output, a retained advisory arrangement, or an interim support role. The structure is determined by what the situation requires.
- What happens in an initial conversation?
- An initial conversation is typically 30 to 45 minutes. You describe the situation; I ask questions to understand it properly. By the end, you will have a clearer sense of what the problem actually is and whether it is the kind of work the firm does. There is no charge and no obligation to proceed.
- Do you work with private equity firms?
- Yes. Private equity people advisory is one of the firm's core specialisms, covering pre-deal people due diligence, management assessment, retention risk, post-acquisition people integration, and exit readiness. The firm works with PE houses directly and with portfolio company management teams.
- Can you support an active tribunal claim?
- Yes. Supporting businesses through employment tribunal preparation is part of the complex HR practice. This typically involves rebuilding the case chronology, identifying process gaps, preparing witness statements, supporting the legal team on the HR evidence, and advising on the commercial merits of settlement versus proceeding to hearing.
Ready to talk?
Whether you have a specific challenge or just want an initial conversation, all initial conversations are confidential and without obligation.
Get in touch