Global employment law consultancy Peninsula has opened its first office in Belfast, employing 20 staff across advisory, legal, sales and health & safety.
And the company, which also operates in Dublin, says it already has plans in place to increase the number of roles in the north by 25% in the next 12 months.
Over the past five years, Peninsula has opened five offices worldwide, including at Citylink business park in Belfast, and now has 3,500 employees across five countries in three continents.
Peninsula has been providing HR, employment law and healthy & safety support since 1983, and has worked with more than 33,000 businesses worldwide.
Gavin Cumiskey, the firm’s employment services manager, said: “We’re delighted to be enhancing our operations with the launch of this Belfast office, which enables us to provide our award-winning services to businesses across Northern Ireland.
“With a mood of optimism following the return of Stormont, we can expect to see much needed legal changes, and employment law reforms are just one of the many areas the new Executive will have to deal with.”
He added: “We’ve seen first hand the significant impact the deadlock had on the Northern Irish economy, with a 47% increase in the number of businesses calling for advice on redundancies.
“Between last October and December alone, Peninsula NI saw a 28% increase in calls on redundancies.
“SMEs have also struggled with the impact from the public sector strikes, so it’s good to see that public sector pay is reportedly top of the list of priorities for the new government.”
