Sick pay changes are coming fast, and messy sickness processes will feel every bump. In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we unpack what day one SSP, the removal of the lower earnings limit, and the new rate calculation could mean for small businesses, especially if you rely on part-timers, casual hours, or weekend shifts. Then we turn policy into practice with a simple framework managers can use at 7:58 a.m. when the first text arrives.

We walk through the Four Cs: Clear, Consistent, Calm, Captured. You will hear how one reporting route, a firm cut-off time, and a few short, respectful questions stop absence from turning into WhatsApp drama. We cover the minimum information to collect without prying, how to set expectations while someone is off, and why a five-minute return to work chat after every absence is one of the most effective tools in attendance management.

We also talk about fit notes. When they are needed, sensible deadlines, what to record and where, and how to avoid risky over-sharing of health details. This matters because health information is sensitive data, and it is easy to store more than you need.

To keep culture steady, we share manager scripts you can lift and use. Warm openers that show care, and fair trigger conversations that address patterns without being harsh. Part-timers matter here, too. With more people qualifying for SSP, their admin needs the same consistency as full-timers, or resentment creeps in fast.

Want the full training session and toolkit for managers? This topic is covered inside Coffee, Cake and Compliance, click to find out more 

If this episode helps, share it with a manager who handles sickness calls, and leave a quick review so more small businesses can find practical HR support that actually works.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ever find yourself stuck in the middle?

One side asking, “Why isn’t this sorted yet?”

The other asking, “Why are you doing this to us?”

That awkward, lonely space is middle management. And for a lot of people, it feels like being squeezed from both ends with very little room to breathe. This episode is about why that role so often feels impossible, and how to make it workable without burning people out.

We start by naming the real reasons middle managers struggle. Accountability without authority. Promotions based on being good at the job, not good with people. And the quiet emotional load of being the first person everyone comes to with complaints, tears, frustration, and the occasional snap. None of that is in the job description, but it shows up every day.

From there, we look at the friction points that stall progress. Mixed messages from senior leaders. Managers being undermined in front of their teams. The two-job trap, where someone is expected to lead people and still be the top doer. That combination drains confidence fast and turns small issues into constant firefighting.

Then we get practical. I share simple system tweaks that make a big difference. Clear standards written in plain language. Decision rights that explain who decides what. Light-touch documentation that protects the manager as much as the business. Nothing heavy. Just enough structure to stop everything feeling personal.

You will also hear starter scripts managers can actually use. For performance conversations. Attendance issues. Behaviour that needs addressing early. We talk about how public backing and private coaching protect a manager’s credibility, why consistency matters more than perfection, and how removing just one admin blocker can give managers hours back each week.

This episode is not about telling people to be more resilient. It is about building resilience properly. Through clarity. Authority. Skills. Backing. And time. I also share a quick audit for owners and senior leaders to check whether their setup is helping or quietly hindering their managers, plus a one-thing challenge to make next week easier than last week.

If you are a manager who wants confidence rather than constant self-doubt, or a leader who is ready to stop firefighting and start seeing progress, this episode is your playbook for calmer, fairer, faster delivery.

Subscribe, share it with a colleague who needs some backup, and leave a review telling us the one

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am talking about something that is getting lost in the headlines. Hiring might be slower, confidence might be wobbling, but small businesses can still build a strong early careers pipeline without spending a fortune or burning everyone out in the process.

This one is for anyone who has noticed fewer decent applicants, candidates disappearing halfway through recruitment, or managers saying they simply do not have the time or headspace to train someone new.

I talk honestly about why higher unemployment does not magically solve your hiring problems, and why transport, shift patterns, confidence, and basic skills still get in the way for a lot of perfectly capable people.

Then we look at how to take the panic out of early-career hiring and turn it into something calmer and more repeatable. I walk through how to design one starter-friendly role that actually adds value in the first few weeks, how to write a clear job advert that separates must-haves from trainables, and why a short work task often tells you far more than a polished interview ever will.

We also get into mentoring, because that is where a lot of businesses either make this work or quietly sabotage it. I share how experienced team members, including people nearing retirement, can pass on knowledge without carrying the full workload, and why pairing that with a buddy for day-to-day questions makes a huge difference.

I also talk through a simple 90-day plan that helps people settle, build confidence, and show what they can do, without leaving managers in constant firefighting mode.

And yes, we cover inclusion too. Flexible interview times, written instructions, protected learning time, and small adjustments that help people start well and stay.

If you are fed up with churn, tired of chasing “ready-made” candidates who still need retraining, and want a steadier way to grow talent, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a calmer hiring plan, and leave a review telling me one thing you are going to try differently.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we step straight into the festive chaos that hits every small business in December. Hazel is under a pile of Christmas lights, the inbox is bursting with last-minute shift changes, and everyone is one rota wobble away from losing the plot.

If December usually feels like fairy lights wrapped around a burnout buffet, this episode is for you.

I talk through the real reasons things go wrong at this time of year and how to spot the pressure points before they blow up. The last-minute leave requests. The people who are technically off but still somehow replying to emails. The one person with all the logins who has vanished. Suppliers are quietly shutting early. Payroll deadlines are creeping later and later. And the slow build-up of pressure that makes good people snap or shut down.

More importantly, I walk you through what to do about it.

This is not about creating the perfect festive workplace. It is about putting a few sensible things in place now so your team can actually switch off, your customers are looked after, and the same three reliable people are not carrying the whole business on their backs.

We also cover the grey areas that always seem to pop up in December. Holiday clashes. Sickness during leave. Bank holiday rules. Remote working tensions. And how to keep trust steady when everyone is tired and running on mince pies and adrenaline.

You will come away with a short, practical list of what to fix this week so your team, your service, and your sanity all make it into January in one piece.

And if December is already wobbling, book a discovery call, and we will map one quick win for the week, so you are not trying to sort it all alone.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a calmer December, and let me know which fix you are going to try first.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am tackling the Employment Rights Bill and turning all the noise into something much more useful. A plan.

Because if you are a small business owner or the poor soul holding HR together with coffee and spreadsheets, you do not need another dramatic headline. You need to know what is actually changing, when it is likely to land, and what is worth doing now, so you are not scrambling later.

We start with what looks locked in and what is still developing. That includes the likely six-month unfair dismissal threshold from 1 January 2027, day-one Statutory Sick Pay from April 2026 with no lower earnings limit, and the new predictable hours rules that will matter if your rotas and contracts do not match real life.

We also talk about the possible removal of the cap on ordinary unfair dismissal compensation and why that matters most if you employ higher earners or have managers who still think “gut feel” counts as a fair process.

Then we get into the practical side. What these changes mean for probation, SSP wording, rotas, contracted versus worked hours, and why basic forecasting is about to become much more important if you want to avoid cost, conflict, and chaos.

We also touch on union duties, but without making it sound like you need a full employee relations department. I talk through a simple, neutral approach that keeps things compliant and low effort.

And because I know everyone wants the “just tell me what to do” bit, I finish with five things you can actually do this week. Straightforward changes that make a real difference now and save you pain later.

If the Employment Rights Bill has been sitting in your brain as one big scary blob, this episode is here to break it down into manageable pieces.

Subscribe, share it with another business owner or HR lead, and leave a review if it helps. And if you need a sanity check on your contracts, policies, or people process, send us a message before the dates hit, and the panic starts.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am digging into the Autumn Budget 2025 and what it actually means for small businesses.

Because the headlines always sound shiny. Promising. Reassuring, even. But if you run a business, you know the real story is never in the headline. It is in the numbers, the knock-on effect, and the quiet little changes that suddenly make life more expensive.

This episode is about cutting through that noise.

I talk through the updates people are buzzing about and what they could mean for your wages bill, staffing costs, hiring plans, training spend, and the way you think about the year ahead. Yes, there are challenges. But there are also opportunities if you know where to look and you are not making decisions in a blind panic.

The aim here is simple. Plain English. No waffle. No government-speak. Just a grounded look at what is changing and what deserves your attention.

I also share practical next steps you can take straight away. The kind that helps you protect your people, your margins, and your culture without overcomplicating everything or sending yourself into a spreadsheet spiral.

If you want the full breakdown, this episode will help you make decisions with confidence, not fear.

Subscribe, share it with another small business owner, and leave a quick review so more people can find useful support that actually helps.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about men’s health at work and why a few posters in November are not enough if the culture still punishes people for slowing down, switching off, or going to an appointment.

Because this is what I see all the time. The appointment that keeps getting pushed back until it becomes urgent. The calm, capable supervisor who suddenly starts snapping because they are overloaded and running on fumes. The reliable driver or engineer who says yes to everything until something gives.

This episode is about spotting those warning signs earlier and doing something useful before they turn into sickness absence, burnout, or a much bigger problem.

We talk through the small, practical things that make a real difference in small teams. A simple health time policy that people can actually find. Proper cover planning so appointments do not feel like a burden. Manager check-ins that focus on workload and pressure, not trying to play doctor. Caps on hero hours. And clear praise for switching off instead of glorifying people who run themselves into the ground.

We also get into something that trips a lot of workplaces up. Banter. Because sometimes what looks like joking is actually masking stress, exhaustion, or someone not wanting to admit they are struggling. I talk about how to move from banter-as-deflection to kinder, shorter, more useful conversations that do not make people feel exposed.

And yes, we cover the privacy piece too. You do not need everyone’s medical history. You do need enough clarity to manage workload, time, and risk properly. We talk about what is fair to ask, when evidence is reasonable in safety-critical roles, and how to keep things confidential without becoming vague or avoidant.

You will also come away with a simple weekly playbook. Protected appointment time. A short manager huddle. Better rota habits. A quiet space for real breaks. Small changes that make it easier for people to ask early instead of disappearing later.

If you want less firefighting, steadier teams, and a healthier way of working that actually functions in a small business, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a nudge, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support that goes beyond the posters.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about quiet quitting. Or more accurately, what is usually sitting underneath it.

Because by the time someone is keeping their camera off, doing the bare minimum, and giving you absolutely nothing in meetings, something has already gone wrong. Quiet quitting is rarely laziness. More often, it is a very rational response to fuzzy goals, uneven workloads, and the feeling that extra effort changes absolutely nothing.

So this episode is about reading disengagement for what it really is. Information.

We start with the three things that drain teams fastest. Clarity, fairness, and growth. When people do not know what matters, feel like the workload is lopsided, or cannot see how they move forward, they stop stretching. Not dramatically. Quietly.

I talk about how this shows up in real businesses. Shops. Salons. Agencies. Field teams. The “reliable” person who quietly absorbs more and more until resentment kicks in. Slack chats full of noise but no decisions. Pizza and perks are being used to patch over rotas that change every five minutes.

Then we get practical. I share some quick tests you can run straight away. A calendar check to spot meetings that achieve nothing. A chat health check to work out whether your team is actually communicating or just narrating their day. A customer lens that helps you see whether the issue is people or a broken process.

We also look at a simple weekly rhythm that helps re-engage people without forcing fake enthusiasm. A short pulse. Better one-to-ones. A proper Friday wins round-up that notices real work, not just the loudest person in the room.

And yes, we tackle the harder questions too. How to tell the difference between a disengaged person and a broken system. How to stop high performers from carrying everyone else. And what to do when the bare minimum is dragging the team down.

If you are tired of gimmicks, posters, and trying to fix morale with snacks, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a reset, and leave a review so more small businesses can stop guessing and start fixing what is actually causing the drift.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am diving into a question that so many businesses quietly worry about. Does offering menopause support genuinely help you keep brilliant people, or does it risk looking like special rules that create tension in the team? It is a tricky one, and today I take you through a grounded, practical way to get it right without drama.

We start with the legal bits you actually need to know. Nothing overwhelming, just the parts that protect you and your employees. I explain how the Equality Act 2010 links menopause to sex, age and disability, why harassment risk is real if conversations are handled badly, and how health and safety, data protection and the new day one flexible working rights all fit into the picture.

Then I bring it right back to real life. The whole thing becomes easier when managers understand this simple idea. Reasonable adjustments are available to anyone with a health or life stage need. Menopause is not a special category, it is just one example. Once you take that heat out of it, fairness stops being a worry.

I walk you through a quick and memorable manager briefing that gives them the confidence to handle these conversations kindly and consistently. You will hear supportive scripts, a simple review rhythm and privacy habits that build trust instead of gossip.

Then we get into the practical examples that actually work.
In office roles, that might mean cooler desks, a short mid morning breather or small deadline tweaks that stop errors creeping in.
In warehouses and production, it is breathable base layers under PPE, water access that moves with the job, rest points that are actually usable and smarter shift swaps that keep people steady.
I also share universal fixes like better ventilation, sensible fabrics and shared water points. These small changes help everyone and stop the whole why her and not me issue from even starting.

You will leave this episode with clear answers to the fairness questions managers always bring up, a simple way to test flexible working without committing forever and kind return to work conversations that record only what is needed. No heavy dashboards, no drama, just grown-up decisions that prevent bigger problems down the line.

If this episode hits home for you, subscribe, share it with a manager who needs some guidance and leave a quick review, so more people can find the show.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am diving into one of those moments every HR person and business owner knows too well. A client is pushing for speed, your gut is shouting no, and you are stuck trying to keep the work without dropping your standards. We have all been there.

I walk you through a simple way to stay calm, respond confidently and keep things legal without blowing up the relationship. You will hear wording you can use straight away, practical alternatives that take the heat out of the situation and how to protect yourself long before these requests even land in your inbox.

We start with the basics. What the Equality Act 2010 really means when you are under pressure. Why neutral rules can still land you in trouble. And why a client saying they want a certain type of person is never going to stand up in recruitment.

Then we get into the messy real world stuff.

No headscarves on reception? Offer a fair, branded dress code.

Requests for unpaid trial days? Keep it legal with a short paid trial or a simple skills task.

Feedback like not the right vibe? Bring it back to skills and behaviours.

Night time demands for instant replies? Set up a paid on call rota or promise a next day response.

Need checks done quickly? Use digital verification with a conditional start.

None of this is about being awkward. It is about being fair, protecting your business and showing your standards through your actions. It matters even more during Black History Month when people are watching what organisations actually do.

Fairness will not slow you down. It reduces risk, builds trust and makes hiring cleaner and easier. Hold your line, offer options where you can and only walk away if you have to.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about employee perks and whether they are genuinely helping your team or just papering over bigger problems.

Because let’s be honest. A birthday cake, a shiny wellbeing app, or a ping-pong table is not going to fix poor pay, bad workload planning, or a manager who never says thank you.

So this episode is about getting perks right.

We start with the obvious but often ignored truth. Pay has to be right before perks can really do their job. If the basics are off, the extras will not land the way you hope they will.

From there, I walk through a simple, practical framework for choosing workplace benefits that actually help people work and live better, without draining your budget. We talk about the small health perks that often matter more than flashy platforms, like flu jabs, eye tests, and access to a real human when someone needs support.

We also talk about time as a benefit. Flexible working where it is possible. The odd paid life admin hour. Small changes that can make life feel more manageable without creating chaos.

Then there is the money side. Not huge expensive packages, but practical support like late-shift meals, safe travel home, and discounts people will actually use.

I also cover the compliance bits people often miss. Tax treatment. National Minimum Wage issues. And the risks of changing contractual perks without properly checking what you are allowed to do.

Most importantly, I share a simple playbook. Ask people what they would actually use. Pick one or two things. Trial them. Track whether they are used and whether they are useful. Keep it fair. Keep it clear. And skip the gimmicks that sound fun but do absolutely nothing for retention or morale.

If you are trying to build a better benefits offer without buying random shiny stuff in a panic, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who loves a gimmick, and leave a review telling us the best and worst perk you have ever seen.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about a trap loads of businesses fall into. Someone is brilliant at their job, so they get promoted. Then everyone watches them slowly drown in rotas, one-to-ones, and awkward conversations they have never been taught how to handle.

You know the type. Amazing operator. Great doer. Knows the job inside out. Then suddenly they are managing people, and it all gets a bit wobbly.

This episode is about how to stop that from happening.

I start with the big tension most businesses face. Promote your star performer and risk destabilising the team, or keep them where they are and risk losing them altogether. The answer is not to guess and hope for the best. It is to build two clear paths. One for managers. One for specialists. Both with proper recognition, progression, and pay.

I talk through how to create a simple framework you can actually use. Clear criteria that people understand. Acting-up opportunities before you commit. Light training and mentoring. And goals that show whether someone can really lead, not just whether they are popular or confident in meetings.

We also get into the quiet ways this goes wrong. New managers are still doing their old job and burning out. Promotions based on who shouts the loudest or has been there the longest. Quieter, part-time, or less obvious talent is getting overlooked because they do not fit someone’s idea of what a manager looks like.

And yes, we cover the process side too. How to keep it fair, how to document decisions, and why ACAS guidance matters more than people realise when someone later says they were overlooked unfairly.

If you want to grow proper managers, keep your culture steady, and stop promotion decisions from feeling like a coin toss, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager or business owner who needs it, and leave a review if it helped you think about leadership a bit differently.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Hiring quickly can feel like survival mode. You need someone in the seat, yesterday. But the real risk often shows up weeks later, when projects slow down, standards wobble, and your best people quietly start carrying the extra weight.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we go behind the scenes of a probation process that actually works for small teams. One that protects momentum, reinforces culture, and gives every new hire a fair chance to succeed without turning managers into micromanagers.

We start by naming the hidden cost of a bad hire. Not just salary or training time, but the drain on focus and morale when leaders spend their days correcting work, firefighting mistakes, and smoothing things over. That is usually when resentment creeps in and standards start slipping.

From there, we walk through a simple framework you can realistically run in a small business. Clear contracts that explain probation and when benefits kick in. A first week that sets expectations properly. And targets that turn your values into visible behaviour. Things like response times, quality standards, and basic data hygiene that are easy to track and hard to argue with.

Consistency is the engine of it all. Short weekly check-ins and a proper midpoint review replace last-minute shocks with steady course correction. We talk about how to document in plain English, focusing on what someone is doing rather than how it feels, and how to make your notes sound supportive rather than like a case file.

We also cover the harder decisions. When to extend probation and when not to. How to end employment cleanly if it is not working out. And why getting final pay and holiday right matters more than people realise when it comes to avoiding messy disputes.

Along the way, we tackle the questions managers always ask. What to do if someone discloses a disability. How to support managers who hate giving feedback. How to handle team complaints during probation. And the classic dilemma of someone who is genuinely lovely, but not quite hitting the mark.

Probation is not a waiting room. It is part of good hiring, and a test of your process as much as the person. If you want fewer misfires, stronger onboarding, and a team that performs without constant rescue missions, this episode is for you.

If it helped, follow the show, share it with a fellow manager, and leave a quick review so more small businesses can hire with clarity and keep their momentum.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about flu-jab season and how something meant to help your team can quietly damage trust if it is handled badly.

Because on the surface, it sounds simple. Offer flu jabs, reduce absence, everyone wins.

In reality, this is where small businesses can accidentally create pressure, confusion, and a bit of an “us and them” culture if they are not careful.

So this episode is about doing it properly.

We start with the reality of winter absence and why it hits rotas, cover, and stress levels so hard in small teams. Then we look at how a voluntary, voucher-based approach can reduce absence without turning into something that feels forced or monitored.

I break down the legal and data side in plain English, including how to keep things privacy-first, what you do and do not need to record, and why less data is usually the safer option. We also talk about setting clear deletion points so you are not holding onto health information longer than you should.

From there, we get into the bit that really matters. How you communicate it.

Making sure your approach is inclusive for people with allergies, pregnancy considerations, or faith-based reasons. Training managers so this does not turn into subtle pressure, rota penalties, or awkward “have you had yours yet?” conversations that land badly.

We also cover the common mistakes that trip businesses up. Asking for proof. Linking it to shifts. Creating quiet pressure. And how to fix each one with a simple, fair approach.

Finally, I answer the questions I get all the time. Can you make it mandatory? Should you ask for proof? Can you link it to attendance? How do you measure if it is working?

If you want to support your team, reduce absence, and avoid turning a good idea into a trust issue, this episode will help you get it right.

Subscribe, share it with another business owner who is about to roll this out, and leave a review if it helped you rethink your approach.

If you would like to offer flu-jab vouchers at a discounted rate, you can find more details here.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are looking at one of those moments that catches businesses out all the time. It is Friday afternoon, tempers are up, someone says something they absolutely should not, and the instinct is to sack them on the spot and be done with it.

The problem is that it is often where the real trouble starts.

Because when a workplace conduct issue ends up at a tribunal, the big question is not usually just, “Was the language inappropriate?” It is, “Did the employer follow a fair and reasonable process?”

And if the answer is no, things can get expensive very quickly.

This episode breaks down how to handle swearing, outbursts, and workplace conduct issues properly under UK employment law. We talk about the Employment Rights Act 1996, the ACAS Code, and why process matters just as much as the behaviour itself.

I walk you through a simple disciplinary approach that works whether you are a small business owner doing this yourself or the HR person trying to stop a manager from making a bad situation worse. We cover what to investigate, when suspension is actually appropriate, how to think about context, and why proportionality matters.

We also get into the myths people cling to when things get heated. No, WhatsApp messages are not automatically private. No, under two years’ service does not mean “no rights”. And yes, a genuine apology can matter, but it does not replace a proper process.

This is really about being the grown-up in the room. Pausing. Gathering facts. Following a fair process. And choosing an outcome that makes sense, rather than reacting emotionally and hoping for the best.

If you want to protect your business, keep standards high, and avoid turning one bad Friday into a very expensive lesson, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs to hear it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support before things get messy.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about dogs in the workplace. Because yes, office dogs can be brilliant. They can lift morale, get people moving, spark conversations, and make a workplace feel warmer and more human.

But they can also cause absolute chaos if no one thinks it through.

This episode is about getting the balance right.

We look at the real upsides first. Dogs can genuinely help with employee wellbeing, encourage proper screen breaks, and act as natural ice-breakers in teams that do not always talk much. For some businesses, a pet-friendly office can even help with recruitment and retention, especially when culture really matters.

Then we get into the reality.

Not everyone loves dogs. Some people are allergic. Some are frightened. Some just do not want to spend the day stepping over a Labrador under a desk while trying to answer emails. And those concerns are not “being difficult”. They can link to health, safety, and even equality issues if handled badly.

So I talk through what small businesses actually need to think about before they jump on the office dog bandwagon. Lease agreements. Insurance. Hygiene. Trip hazards. Welfare. Space. Boundaries. And whether your workplace is genuinely suitable, not just cute in theory.

I also share a really simple framework to help you think it through properly, plus why a pilot scheme is usually the sanest place to start. One calm dog. One day a week. A short trial. See what happens before you accidentally create a four-legged free-for-all.

And yes, we cover how to make decisions fairly. What should make you stop? What might be fixable? And how to avoid creating a culture where one person’s lovely perk becomes everyone else’s quiet resentment.

If you are thinking about allowing dogs at work, or you already have and suspect it might need a bit more structure, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a fellow manager, and leave a review if it helped. And if you have a sticky pet policy question, send it in. Anonymous is absolutely fine.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are looking at a real tribunal case that should make every small business pause for a second.

A long-serving shift manager, clean record, no history of issues, dismissed for gross misconduct after giving a 50% staff discount on takeaway food instead of the policy-compliant 20%.

On paper, it looks straightforward. Policy breached. Evidence confirmed. Decision made.

But the tribunal said otherwise.

Because this was not really about the discount. It was about proportionality. And more importantly, the appeal stage that should have caught it and didn’t.

In this episode, I break down exactly where it went wrong. The line between negligence and dishonesty is getting blurred. Documentation that did not quite stack up. Inconsistent application of rules. And a policy that clearly was not as understood as the business thought it was.

Most importantly, we look at the appeal process. Because that is your safety net. The moment where you step back, sense check the facts, and ask one simple question. Is this decision fair?

In this case, that did not happen. And that is what turned a manageable situation into an unfair dismissal finding.

I then walk you through a simple small business playbook to stop this from happening in your world. How to make policies actually usable with real examples. How to follow a fair ACAS-aligned process without overcomplicating it. How to sense check proportionality before you land on an outcome. And how to keep evidence clean, clear, and consistent.

We also talk about when to bring in an independent appeal chair, especially when you do not have someone senior and uninvolved who can genuinely review things with fresh eyes.

Because this is the bit people miss.

The appeal is not a rubber stamp. It is your second chance to get it right.

If you want your processes to be fair, defensible, and not end up costing you far more than a discounted meal, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a reminder that fairness matters, and leave a review telling me the one policy in your business that probably needs tightening.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am tackling the Employment Rights Bill without the drama, because if it has landed in your inbox and made you want to shut the laptop for a bit, I get it.

The good news is this. It is not all crashing down tomorrow.

The changes are rolling out in stages between 2025 and 2027, which means you have time to get organised if you stop treating it like one giant scary blob and start looking at it in chunks.

So that is exactly what we do in this episode.

I walk you through what is changing and when, in plain English. We start with the early changes expected around Royal Assent, then move into the April 2026 updates like day-one rights to paternity leave, Statutory Sick Pay from day one, and the new Fair Work Agency. We also look ahead to the next stage of changes around harassment prevention, fire and rehire, unfair dismissal, and flexible working.

But this episode is not just a timeline.

It is also about how to prepare without turning your life into one long HR admin session.

I talk through a phased readiness approach that actually works for small businesses. Review what you already have. Pick one area to tighten at a time. Use quieter periods to tackle something manageable, like sickness, flexible working, or harassment prevention. And create a simple tracker so you can see what needs doing and when, instead of leaving it all until autumn and regretting your life choices.

We also deal with a few of the myths that are already doing the rounds. No, you do not need to rewrite every policy this week. No, you do not need a huge system to stay on top of it. And yes, a spreadsheet is still a perfectly respectable plan if you actually use it.

If the Employment Rights Bill feels big, this episode is here to make it feel doable.

Subscribe, share it with another business owner who needs a calmer way to tackle it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support without the panic.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

If your phone is pinging nonstop with shift swaps, late changes, and “can someone cover me”, your rota is not a rota. It is a group chat with admin powers. And it will swallow your day.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we talk about why letting WhatsApp run formal decisions leads to confusion, inconsistency, and the classic “he said, she said” mess. Then we show you how a few clear rules can calm rota chaos fast.

We start with the real cost of a messy rota. It is not just annoying. It hits morale, service, and safety. It creates fairness disputes that feel personal. It breeds resentment when the same people always cover. And it damages trust because nobody knows what is actually agreed.

Then we lay out a simple framework that works for small businesses in hospitality, care, retail, and manufacturing.

Step one is one source of truth. One rota. One place. One rule that changes everything: if it is not on the rota, it is not agreed.

We add a sensible cut-off so the target stops moving. Issue rotas two weeks ahead where possible. Ask for changes at least 72 hours before a shift. Define what counts as an emergency. That alone removes so much stress.

From there, we share a swap process that actually holds. Staff can find cover. Managers approve. It only counts when the official rota is updated. No quiet side deals. No “I thought you said it was fine” moments.

We also tackle holiday chaos with a visible tracker and a clear approval rule to prevent last-minute gaps and “I thought I booked it” surprises.

WhatsApp still has a place for quick updates and reminders. But decisions that affect pay, hours, and fairness must be confirmed properly.

Finally, we talk about rolling this out without becoming the bad guy: calm language, clear reasons, and consistent follow-through. Changes by the deadline. Both parties confirm. If it is not on the rota, it is not agreed.

When the rota is calm, everything else gets calmer too. Managers stop firefighting. Teams know where they stand. Service improves.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Hiring can feel like a leap of faith—until the first wobble makes you wonder if you misjudged the fit. We break down how to tell a normal new starter dip from a genuine red flag, and share a calm, practical path that keeps standards high without losing heart. If you’ve ever debated whether to coach longer or call it early, this guide gives you the words, the structure, and the timing to decide with confidence.

We start by making “what good looks like” tangible. No fluff, just clear tasks, examples of quality, and milestones for week two, week four, and week eight. From there, we use a simple diagnostic—skill, will, or fit—to pinpoint the real issue. Skill gaps respond to training, shadowing, and templates. Will issues show up as repeated problems after feedback. Fit misfires appear when the person can do the job, but the pace or culture is wrong. Naming the problem guides the remedy and saves everyone from endless, vague coaching.

You’ll hear the exact language to use in early check-ins, how to give specific feedback that is kind because it’s actionable, and how to write a short, focused improvement plan: three priorities, clear support, firm review dates. We talk about providing real help—time, tools, examples—then watching the trend line instead of reacting to one off days. Improvement means keep coaching; a flat line after support signals it’s time to act. When ending probation is the right step, we show how to do it properly and respectfully: be clear, reference expectations, confirm notice, and protect dignity. It’s not cold; it’s fair. And it protects your team’s morale, energy, and standards.

This conversation is built for founders, HR leaders, and managers in small teams where every seat matters. If you need practical HR advice, onboarding best practices, and performance management you can actually use tomorrow, you’ll find it here. Listen, take the checklist, and then tell us: what’s your clearest sign that a wobble has become a warning? If this helped, subscribe, share with a manager who needs it, and leave a quick review so more teams find the support they need.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am tackling one of the biggest time drains in small businesses. HR paperwork that looks official, feels important, and then completely lets you down the moment something goes wrong.

If your records are scattered across folders, screenshots, WhatsApp messages, and policies no one has opened since 2022, this one is for you.

This episode is about getting you out of the paperwork snowstorm and into something much simpler. Records that are short, signed, dated, and easy to find. The kind that actually protects your people and protects your business when it matters.

We start with the two extremes that cause the most pain. No records at all, or mountains of paperwork nobody reads. I talk through why clear, focused evidence changes everything when regulators or tribunals get involved, and why more paperwork does not automatically mean more protection.

I also break down what UK employers genuinely need to keep, without the legal waffle. I group it into five simple buckets that make sense in real life. People basics. Pay and time. Conduct and performance. Health and safety. Data and fairness.

To make it workable for small teams, I talk about splitting responsibility properly so it does not all land on one poor soul. Owner. Payroll. Admin. Safety support. Shared responsibility is what stops things from falling through the cracks.

You will come away with a clear view of the records that really matter. Contracts. Right to work checks. Induction checklists. Training records with proof. Risk assessments that name actual controls. Accident logs. Short conduct notes. Grievance outcomes. Leaver checklists. Not pretty folders. Useful evidence.

We also get into the everyday dramas that trip businesses up. The signed policy nobody follows. The verbal warning that lives only in someone’s head. The training session has no proof. The grievance is buried in WhatsApp. For each one, I share a simple fix that turns chat into something you can actually rely on.

If you are ready to swap noise for clarity and sleep a bit better knowing your records would stand up if tested, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with another small business owner or HR team of one, and leave a review telling me your biggest paperwork headache.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we start with a first day that far too many people recognise. No logins. An induction from 2016. A team who did not know someone was starting, let alone their name. And by lunchtime, that new hire is already wondering if they made a mistake.

A messy first day tells people everything they need to know about your business. And it is rarely the message you want to send. This episode is about turning that chaos into a simple, repeatable onboarding system that helps good people settle, feel valued and actually stay.

If you run a UK small business or you are the HR team of one, this is a practical blueprint you can put into action straight away. We break onboarding down into five clear stages. Before they start. Day one. Week one. Month one. And the first 90 days. Nothing fluffy. Just what needs to happen, when, and who owns it.

I talk through why the first week matters more than most businesses realise. It builds trust, cuts mistakes and stops people quietly disengaging before they have even found their feet. We also cover the UK legal basics that need to be right from the start, including contracts on or before day one, right to work checks, correct pay, basic health and safety and handling personal data properly. Getting these right early builds instant credibility.

Then we get practical. I show you how to split onboarding roles across tiny teams without overwhelming anyone. Owner, buddy, IT, payroll and even virtual assistants all have a part to play. You will hear what a realistic first day actually looks like, including a calm start time, meaningful work before lunch and a clear finish with a plan for tomorrow.

You will also get quick wins for both on site and remote starters. Simple things like a one page day one plan, a booked lunch with friendly faces, short screen recordings for common tools and daily buddy check ins that stop small worries growing into big problems. I share simple scripts and templates you can reuse, from welcome messages to those slightly awkward wobble conversations that can make or break confidence.

We also talk about spotting early signs that someone might leave. Silence in meetings. Repeated small errors. Eating lunch alone every day. And more importantly, what to do within the first seven days to turn things around. Clear milestones keep it fair and focused, with simple goals, check ins and decision points that protect both the business and the individual.

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If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ever opened a simple holiday request and felt your stomach tighten?

It is just time off. It should be straightforward. But in small businesses, annual leave can turn into one of the biggest sources of tension. School holiday clashes. “I booked first” debates. Quiet swaps that no one tells you about. And suddenly what should restore energy is quietly draining trust.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we break down why leave becomes such a flashpoint and how to fix it with clarity, fairness, and speed.

We start by stripping policy back to what actually matters. Short rules that people can find and understand. Naming peak weeks upfront instead of pretending they do not exist. Being honest about how many people can realistically be off at once. And choosing a fairness method that actually fits your team. That might mean rotating priority year to year. Capping peak-season leave. Or running a genuine first-come-first-served system that everyone can see is fair.

We also talk about speed. Nothing fuels anxiety like silence. A simple rule such as deciding within five working days, or setting a clear decision date, removes so much drama. And when you do have to say no, we cover language that keeps it about capacity, not character, and offers workable alternatives instead of a blunt refusal.

Then we get into the messy middle. Manager inconsistency. Swaps happening in the shadows. Hero culture where one person never takes leave and everything collapses the moment they finally do. We talk about making swaps visible, aligning managers so everyone applies the same approach, and creating simple cover plans that spell out what continues, what can pause, who is backing up, and where instructions live.

Most importantly, we talk about real switch off. Defining what counts as an emergency. Stopping the habit of pinging people while they are away. And modelling boundaries from the top so rest feels safe, not risky.

If you are tired of rota jigsaws, guilt trips, and last-minute tension, this episode gives you a calmer, fairer way to handle leave in a small team.

Subscribe, share it with a fellow manager, and leave a quick review telling us the one change that would make time off feel fair in your workplace.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about that mid-winter morale dip. Not a full-blown disaster. Just that flat feeling where everyone is still showing up, but the spark has gone a bit quiet.

This episode is about how to shift that without extra budget, forced fun, or another all-hands meeting that everyone politely hates.

Because when a team is tired, stretched, or quietly fed up, what usually makes the biggest difference is not a grand gesture. It is a small, specific appreciation that actually lands.

I talk through what really works in small teams, where culture spreads quickly for better or worse. It comes down to a very simple habit. Name a specific action, link it to a real impact, and say you want more of it. That is it. No speech. No drama. Just a bit of proper noticing.

I also share a five-minute recognition routine for busy managers. One clear message each day. A short weekly team shout-out with two genuine wins. And a monthly impact note that does not feel like corporate fluff.

We also talk about recognition as trust, not just praise. Giving someone meaningful work. Asking for their judgment. Letting them lead something that matters. That kind of recognition often does far more than a generic “well done”.

And because not everyone likes being clapped for in public, we tackle the awkward bit too. How to ask people how they actually like to be recognised, and why that matters more than assuming everyone wants the same thing.

I also cover the mistakes that quietly kill this stuff. Only praising the loudest person. Waiting for big wins. Using recognition to dodge harder conversations. Or turning it into a once-a-year box tick that no one really believes.

If morale feels a bit flat and you want something simple, human, and doable, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs the nudge, and leave a review so more teams can find practical tools that actually make work feel better.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about that moment every small business owner dreads. The kettle is on, payroll is tight, and an email lands with a counteroffer attached. July has a habit of doing this. Budgets are already set, cover is thin, and suddenly a competitor is waving a bit more money or the promise of Fridays off.

The temptation is to panic, match it, and hope for the best. The problem is that one quick yes can quietly set fire to your pay structure.

So this episode is about doing the opposite.

I walk you through a calm, repeatable way to make fair pay decisions that help you keep good people without breaking trust across the rest of the team.

We start with equal pay in plain English. Same work, similar work, or work of equal value means the same pay. And when someone says “market rate”, I talk about what real evidence looks like and why gut feel does not cut it.

From there, I take you through a simple decision flow you can use every time. Pause. Set a review date. Check the legal baseline. Be clear about the reason for any change. Look at the roles around it. Sense check gender pay risk. No drama. Just structure.

We then look at the different tools you can use depending on the situation. Sometimes it is a short-term retention payment. Sometimes it is moving the rate for the role and applying it fairly. Sometimes it is a step-up increase with clear expectations, or a temporary allowance with a proper end date. The point is to match the fix to the problem, not just throw money at the loudest moment.

I also call out the traps that cause chaos. Pay compression. Secret pay rises. And the dangerous habit where threatening to leave becomes the only way someone gets noticed.

If you run a small business or you are the HR team of one, this episode gives you a practical toolkit to bring daylight to pay decisions, reduce risk, and stop rumours before they start.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ever looked at someone on a monthly invoice and thought, “They’re freelance… I think”?

This episode is for that moment.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I get into one of the most common and risky questions small businesses ask. Is this person genuinely self-employed, or have we accidentally created an employment relationship and just called it freelance?

Because the label does not save you.

If someone works regular hours, only really works for you, follows your systems, and looks for all the world like part of the team, HMRC is not going to be impressed by the word “freelancer” in the contract. They care about what is actually happening day to day.

And this is not just a big business problem. We have all seen the headlines around presenters, broadcasters, and referees, but small businesses get caught too. The tax risk, the employment rights risk, and the “how did we not spot this sooner?” panic are very real.

So in this episode, I talk through a simple freelancer sanity check you can actually use. We cover the things that really matter. Control. Substitution. Mutual obligation. Length of relationship. Day-to-day reality. Not just what the paperwork says, but what the arrangement looks and feels like in real life.

I also talk about why employment status is not static. Someone can start out genuinely freelance and, over time, quietly become something else if the relationship changes and no one stops to review it.

This is about more than avoiding an HMRC headache. It is also about fairness, clarity, and not leaving yourself with a messy situation that could have been dealt with much earlier.

If you use freelancers, contractors, or consultants in your business, this episode is well worth a listen. It might save you a lot of money and a lot of stress.

Subscribe, share it with a business owner who needs a reality check, and leave a review so more small businesses can get this right before it gets expensive.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Hiring should show you who can do the job. Not who can cope best with a noisy room, a vague task, and a stopwatch.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I talk about neurodiversity in the workplace and how small, sensible changes can make hiring and day-to-day work better for everyone, not just neurodivergent employees.

Because this is where a lot of employers get stuck. They want to be fair, they want to do the right thing, but they are worried about saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question, or turning the whole process into a paperwork marathon.

So we strip it right back.

We start with hiring. What are you actually trying to assess? If the role needs clear communication, problem-solving, and accurate updates, then test that. Not spelling under pressure. Not who performs best in a loud room with three people staring at them. I walk through how to redesign an assessment so it reflects the job properly, while still keeping standards high.

We also talk about reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. What “reasonable” actually means in real life. How to ask what someone needs without getting hung up on diagnosis. And why equal does not always mean identical.

Then we move into the workplace itself. Noise. Meetings. Vague instructions. Constant interruptions. All the little things that quietly make work harder than it needs to be. I share some simple changes that can make a big difference, like quiet work time, shorter written briefs, better meeting habits, and a basic manager approach that focuses on one thing. Spot the barrier, make an adjustment, check if it helped.

You will also come away with a simple do-next list. Rewrite one job advert. Split must-haves from learnables. Add an adjustments welcome line. Swap a generic pre-screen for a tiny real work sample.

The point is not to lower the bar. It is to make sure you are testing the right thing.

If you want stronger hiring, less chaos, and a workplace where more people can do their best work, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a hiring manager who needs a nudge, and leave a review telling us the first change you are going to make.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

If you have not looked properly at the Worker Protection Amendment yet, this is your nudge.

Since October 2024, all UK employers have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. And yes, that includes small businesses. There is no “we are too small for that” exception.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I break down what that duty actually means in real life. Not in legal waffle. In practical terms. What you need in place, what tribunals will care about, and where small businesses often get caught out.

Because this is not just about having a policy tucked away in a folder no one reads. It is about whether your people know what is okay, what is not, how to raise a concern, and whether managers will actually do something sensible if they do.

We talk about what reasonable steps look like for a small team. Updated policies. Some kind of training. A clear reporting route. Managers who know how to respond. A workplace culture where concerns are taken seriously instead of brushed off as “banter” or “just how they are”.

I also tackle the myths that get businesses into trouble. No, being small does not get you off the hook. No, “they did not mean anything by it” is not a defence. And no, waiting until someone complains is not prevention.

We get into the real-world questions too. Staff nights out. Customer behaviour. What to do if someone raises something informally. How to handle concerns quickly without making the whole thing worse.

This episode is about taking sexual harassment prevention off the scary pile and turning it into something manageable. Because prevention is always easier, cheaper, and kinder than panic after the event.

If you run a small business, manage a team, or know this is something you keep meaning to sort properly, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs to hear it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support before this becomes a bigger problem.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

If maternity paperwork makes you want to lie down in a dark room, you are not alone.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I break down maternity leave and Statutory Maternity Pay in plain English, so you can stop panicking every time HMRC sends you something that looks vaguely threatening.

Because this is one of those areas where a lot of small business owners worry they are going to get it wrong. The rules feel fiddly, the paperwork can be a pain, and the fear of saying the wrong thing is very real. But getting it right matters. Not just because of compliance, but because of how you handle maternity says a lot about your business and the kind of employer you are.

We cover the basics you actually need. Who qualifies for SMP, what notice employees need to give, how much you can reclaim from HMRC, and why some small employers can recover more than they realise. We also talk through the legal side, including maternity rights, pregnancy discrimination, and the newer redundancy protection rules that extend protection well beyond the birth itself.

I also share the step-by-step process I use to manage maternity properly, from the first conversation through to return to work. The aim is to help you feel calm, organised, and clear on what happens when, instead of juggling paperwork and hoping for the best.

And yes, we tackle the questions people actually ask. What if they do not come back? What if the role changes while they are off? What are you meant to do about KIT days, antenatal appointments, and all the practical things no one explains properly?

This episode is here to make maternity feel manageable, not overwhelming.

If you run a small business, manage people, or know this is one of those HR topics you tend to put off until it is urgent, this one is worth a listen.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find straightforward HR support that actually makes life easier.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ever shoved a Performance Improvement Plan to the bottom of a drawer and hoped the problem might somehow sort itself out?

You are not the only one.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I talk about PIPs properly. Not as scary legal documents that everyone dreads, but as practical tools that can help someone improve and protect their business if things do not get better.

Because let’s be honest, most PIPs go wrong for one of two reasons. They are either too vague to be useful or so badly handled that they feel like the decision has already been made. Neither helps anyone.

We break down the three things every good Performance Improvement Plan needs. Clear, measurable goals. Realistic timelines with actual dates. And proper support is written down, not just assumed. If those three things are missing, you are already wobbling.

I also walk through a simple seven-step process that makes the whole thing feel more manageable. How to gather the evidence, set SMART objectives, agree sensible timelines, offer support that is real, run the meeting properly, keep track of progress, and close the process without drama.

And yes, we cover the awkward bits too. What if someone refuses to sign? What if the person works remotely? What if mental health might be part of the picture? These are the questions managers always ask, and they matter.

This episode is about getting performance management right before it turns into a bigger mess. Because a decent PIP is not about catching someone out. It is about being clear, fair, and giving them a real chance to improve.

If you run a small business, manage people, or tend to avoid performance conversations until they are already painful, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support that actually helps.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ten years ago, I was sitting at my Harry Potter desk under the stairs with redundancy papers in one hand and cake in the other, agreeing to “give consulting a go” for six months.

Well. Those six months escalated.

In this special anniversary episode of Buzzing About HR, I look back on the last ten years of building Kate Underwood HR. From burnout and uncertainty to building a business that supports small companies through the people stuff that keeps them awake at night.

I talk about what those ten years have really taught me. Not the polished business-owner version. The real version. Like learning that not every client is your client. That some people expect HR support, and others seem to want a referee for family politics and Christmas bonus arguments. The pandemic had some of us working flat out while the rest of the internet was making banana bread.

At the heart of it all, one thing has never changed. Small businesses deserve proper HR support. Not watered-down advice. Not scary legal jargon. Not big business prices. Just practical, commercially sensible help that actually works in the real world.

What has changed is how we deliver it. Online training. Fractional HR Director support. Better systems. Smarter tech. More ways to make compliance feel manageable instead of miserable.

I also share what I have learned about people. That policies matter, but honest conversations matter more. That recognition is not fluffy nonsense; it is often the reason people stay. And that the best HR work is not about sounding impressive. It is about making difficult things feel clearer, calmer, and more human.

Mostly, though, this episode is a thank you. To clients, listeners, supporters, and everyone who has been part of this slightly chaotic, cake-fuelled journey.

Subscribe, have a listen, and come with me into the next chapter. There is still plenty more buzzing to do.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

There are few hiring moments more awkward than this one.

You have found the right person. You have made the offer. Everyone is happy. Then something changes, and suddenly you are asking yourself, “Can we actually take this back?”

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I talk through one of the most uncomfortable parts of recruitment. Withdrawing a job offer. Whether it is a failed reference, a budget freeze, a restructure, or something else entirely, this is one of those situations where good intentions are not enough. If you get it wrong, it can get expensive very quickly.

We start with the bit that really matters. The difference between a conditional job offer and an unconditional job offer. Because that line is often where your legal protection sits. I explain when an offer can become a binding contract, what notice or compensation you might still owe even if someone has not started yet, and why “they had not joined yet” is not the magic defence some employers think it is.

We also talk about where the real risk builds. Not just breach of contract, but discrimination claims, especially if the reason for withdrawing the offer connects in any way to health, disability, pregnancy, race, sex, or another protected characteristic. Sometimes the issue is not the decision itself. It is how badly it was explained or how shaky the paperwork is underneath it.

I share real examples of businesses that handled this well and others that really did not, plus the simple steps that make a huge difference. Clear offer wording. Proper conditions. The right paperwork. Short, factual notes. And a calm, respectful process when the worst happens.

We also get into the questions people always ask. Do verbal offers count? What if the reference is poor? What if the role disappears? What if it is just gone wrong before day one?

If you hire people and you want to protect your business without behaving like a robot, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs it, and leave a review so more small businesses can find practical HR support before things get messy.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Have you ever wondered if robots are coming for your HR job? After my visit to the HR Technologies UK show at Excel London, I've been buzzing with questions about artificial intelligence in Human Resources—and it turns out you have been too.

Ever had that moment where everyone seems to be talking about AI like it is either going to save your life or steal your job?

After a trip to the HR Technologies UK show at Excel London, I came back with a head full of questions, and judging by the messages coming in, so did you.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I get into what AI in HR actually looks like in real life. Not the shiny sales pitch. The practical stuff. What helps, what does not, and where small businesses need to be careful.

We talk about where AI is already showing up. Recruitment, CV screening, job descriptions, HR chatbots, performance management, and all the bits in between. I cover what it can do well, where it saves time, and the areas where it can quietly create a mess if no one is paying attention.

Because yes, AI can help sift through applications. It can give you a solid first draft of a job description. It can answer routine HR questions at 11 pm while you are sensibly in bed. But it does not know your culture, your team, or your values unless you teach it properly. And if it biases or helps someone make a lazy decision, “the system did it” is not going to save you.

We also talk about the legal and ethical side of AI in HR, especially under UK employment law and the Equality Act 2010. If AI influences who gets shortlisted, who gets performance-managed, or who gets disciplined, the responsibility still sits with the employer. Not the software.

So this episode is about using AI as a tool, not as a shortcut that replaces judgment. I share a simple five-step way to start using it sensibly, without drowning in jargon or buying shiny tech you do not actually need.

If you are AI-curious, a bit sceptical, or quietly wondering whether any of this is worth the fuss, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who is either obsessed with AI or terrified of it, and leave a review so more small businesses can figure out what is useful and what is just noise.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

If you have ever had someone stroll in late, mutter “I’m on flexi time,” and then later ask to work from home every Friday like it is all part of the same thing, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I get into one of the most common workplace mix-ups I see. FlexiTime and flexible working are not the same, and when businesses blur the line, it creates confusion for managers, employees, and anyone trying to determine what has actually been agreed.

I break it down in plain English.

FlexiTime is usually a workplace perk. It exists only if your contracts or policies state otherwise. Think of it like a little hours piggy bank. Someone works a bit extra, banks the time, and uses it later, usually within clear limits.

Flexible working is different. That is a statutory right. Employees can ask for changes to hours, days, or where they work, and you need to deal with those requests properly. Since the changes in 2024, that right starts from day one.

This episode walks through how to handle flexible working requests without making a mess of it. We cover the right process, the common traps, and why a casual “yes, let’s see how it goes” can come back to bite you later if you do not confirm what was agreed and when it will be reviewed.

We also talk about the mistakes I see all the time. The endless trial that quietly becomes permanent. The inconsistent yes that turns into a discrimination risk. The knee-jerk no that sounds fine in your head but would look shaky under scrutiny.

And yes, I cover the business reasons for refusal too, along with what good documentation actually looks like when you are trying to show your decision was fair and reasonable.

If you want to stop FlexiTime and flexible working from becoming one blurry headache, this episode gives you a simple framework to keep both clear and manageable.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs it, and leave a review so more small businesses can stop winging this stuff.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we start with something small that quietly disappeared, and took a lot with it. The paper round. Not as a misty-eyed trip down memory lane, but as a reminder of how many young people used to learn the basics of work before they ever stepped into adult jobs that now expect confidence, judgment, and common sense from day one.

We talk through a real moment on a manufacturing floor where a young apprentice made a poor judgment call just as a VIP tour walked past. It could have ended in blame or punishment. Instead, it forced us to stop and ask a better question. Had we actually taught what “professional” looks like, or had we just assumed they would know?

That one moment changed how we approached induction. We got much clearer about boundaries, humour at work, how to speak up, how to treat colleagues and leaders, and where the lines really sit. The result was growth, confidence, and someone who stayed and learned, rather than someone who left feeling ashamed or confused. It was a good reminder that when the gap is knowledge rather than intent, guidance works far better than discipline.

From there, we zoom out and look at what early work looks like now. Retail Saturdays are rarer. Hospitality roles are harder to come by. Paper rounds have all but gone. In their place are online selling, tutoring, creative gigs, app work, and side hustles. Some of these are brilliant. Many are unstructured, unsupervised, and offer very little feedback, which means young people miss out on learning how work actually works.

We also talk through the practical bits for UK employers. What you can and cannot ask under-18s to do. Working hours. Permits. Pay. And the standards that should never drop, no matter how young someone is. Safety. Respect. Clarity. And paying people properly.

If you hire young people, this is about building a pipeline and doing something genuinely positive for your community. If you are a parent or teacher, it gives you language to push for roles that teach responsibility without overwhelming teenagers. And if you are a young worker, there are practical tips for finding structure, building confidence, and understanding how effort links to reward at work.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Ever asked what felt like a harmless question and then immediately thought, “Oh no… was that allowed?”

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I talk about one of those moments. I casually asked a new warehouse manager about old sports injuries and very quickly realised I might have wandered into dangerous territory.

That is the problem with post-offer medical questions. A lot of UK employers are trying to do the right thing, but no one has really explained where the line is. Under Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010, health questions before a job offer are heavily restricted. After an offer, you can ask them, but only if you do it properly. Get it wrong, and you are opening the door to discrimination claims that can get very expensive very quickly.

This episode breaks down how to handle post-offer health questionnaires without turning them into a legal mess. We talk about what you can ask, what you should not ask, and how to collect the information you genuinely need to support someone safely in the role.

We also get into occupational health, because that is where a lot of employers get stuck. When to refer. What to do with the advice when it comes back. And how to turn recommendations into reasonable adjustments that actually work in real life, not just on paper.

We tackle some of the nonsense too. Adjustments do not always cost a fortune. In fact, many are simple, practical, and cheaper than replacing a good person. I share examples across different roles and conditions, and how to focus on what someone needs to do the job well rather than making assumptions.

We also cover the GDPR side, because health information is special category data and needs handling carefully. Who sees it, where it is stored, and how much is actually necessary.

If you want to build a workplace that is fair, compliant, and not one badly phrased question away from a problem, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs it, and leave a review so more small businesses can get this right before it gets expensive.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Sick days are costing small businesses more than most people realise.

When absence starts creeping up, it is not just a few inconvenient mornings. It hits productivity, piles pressure onto the rest of the team, and quietly drains money from the business. For some SMEs, it can feel like half of January disappears into empty desks and rota chaos.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, Kate digs into absence management for small businesses and how to handle sickness in a way that is fair, practical, and legally sound.

We talk about what is really driving absence right now, including the big shift from physical illness to mental health-related absence, especially for younger workers. That changes the conversation for employers. It is no longer just about counting days off. It is about spotting patterns, understanding what sits underneath them, and managing absence without tipping into panic, resentment, or legal risk.

Kate breaks down the practical tools that actually help. Statutory Sick Pay, return to work conversations, the Bradford Factor, and why documenting things properly saves a lot of pain later. We also look at simple changes that can make a real difference, including small rota tweaks, micro-flexibility, and giving managers a clearer structure for handling sickness fairly.

There is a real-world example too, showing how one small business turned absence from a constant drain into something far more manageable with a few sensible changes.

We also talk about the admin side, because if sickness reporting is eating your week, your process probably needs tightening. From cloud-based systems to better record keeping, this episode covers ways to save time while staying on top of what matters.

If you run a small business and feel like sickness absence is starting to cost more than it should, this episode will help you take back control.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Verbal job offers can feel quick, friendly, and harmless. Until they are not.

One enthusiastic “We’d love to have you” can carry a lot more legal weight than many small business owners or managers realise. And if things change afterwards, what felt like a warm conversation can turn into a very awkward and expensive problem.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, Kate breaks down the legal reality of verbal job offers in the UK and how to handle them without creating unnecessary risk.

We talk about when a verbal offer can become legally binding, why timing matters, and how a casual conversation can end up costing you notice pay even if the person never actually starts. This is one of those HR traps that catches good businesses out because everyone is moving quickly and trying to be nice.

The good news is that the fix is simple.

Kate shares the five words every hiring manager needs in their toolkit: subject to references and right to work. Used properly, that one phrase helps turn a risky verbal promise into a safer, conditional offer while you complete the checks you need.

You will also hear the practical steps that make the whole process feel calmer and more professional. Simple offer scripts. Quick written follow-up. Clear conditions. And the bits you should never casually promise in the excitement of a good interview.

This episode is especially useful for SMEs, where hiring often moves fast and the same person is juggling interviews, operations, and everything else at once. If you have ever worried about saying too much too soon, this one will help you tighten the process without becoming stiff or corporate.

If you want to make job offers with more confidence, and avoid promises that come back to bite later, press play.

And if you want help with conditional offer letters or contract wording, get in touch. Sometimes a few small tweaks save a lot of pain later.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Every small business has valuable intellectual property—far beyond what you might imagine. Your sales strategies, client lists, training materials, and even the clever copy on your website represent significant assets, but are you protecting them properly?

Buzzing About HR tackles the often-overlooked world of intellectual property protection for businesses of all sizes. We break down the five essential contract clauses that serve as your first line of defence: IP assignment provisions that ensure what your team creates belongs to your business, moral rights waivers that prevent creative control disputes, confidentiality clauses with teeth, clear requirements for returning and deleting company data, and strategic garden leave provisions that buy critical time during transitions.

Beyond paperwork, we explore practical operational measures that don't require a massive IT budget—from managing the LinkedIn contacts dilemma to preventing data loss through personal Apple IDs. Learn why restrictive covenants often fail in court and discover alternatives that better protect your business interests. We'll walk through supplementary tools like IP deeds and BYOD agreements that close common loopholes, plus provide a straightforward 30-day action plan to strengthen your intellectual property safeguards immediately.

The stakes are high—when a key team member walks away with your hard-earned intellectual assets, recovering them can be costly and stressful. Prevention truly is the more efficient path. Whether you're a startup founder handling HR yourself or a seasoned HR professional looking to upgrade your protection strategies, this episode delivers actionable advice without the legal jargon. Ready to keep your intellectual property where it belongs? Subscribe, leave a review, and join us next time when we tackle the surprising legal implications of verbal job offers!

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Does the phrase “summer party” make you smile… or sweat?

For many small business owners, that one question brings back memories. Some brilliant. Some legally expensive.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we talk about summer socials properly. Not as fluffy extras, but as strategic tools when they are done well.

A good team event can strengthen retention more effectively than a small pay rise. It builds genuine employer brand moments that no job advert can fake. It creates social media buzz that lands in trusted networks. For cash-conscious businesses, that makes it less of a cost and more of a smart investment in culture and recruitment.

But let’s be honest. The risks are real.

The Bellman v Northampton Recruitment case is still a stark reminder of how quickly things can escalate. After-party misconduct led to a serious injury and six-figure consequences. That is not a scare tactic. It is a reason to plan properly.

We cover practical safeguards that keep the fun without the fallout. Drink token systems. Clear but friendly expectations. Inclusive planning that considers faith, accessibility and different comfort levels around alcohol. Small tweaks that dramatically reduce risk.

You will also hear real-world cautionary tales. The pool party plunge. Rosé gate. The sunstroke saga. All reminders that good intentions are not a substitute for structure.

And if you are bored of the default boozy barbecue, we explore alternatives that work for every budget. Park picnics. Volunteer mornings. Office bake-offs. Escape rooms. Activities that bring people together without excluding anyone.

Because losing one good employee costs far more than a well-planned event ever will.

If you want to turn your summer social from stress point into strategic advantage, this episode is for you.

Listen, plan smart, and let’s get buzzing about better team events.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Hiring internationally is not what it used to be.

Since Brexit, EU candidates are treated the same as applicants from anywhere else in the world. For many small businesses, that has turned what used to feel straightforward into something that feels… bureaucratic.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I break down the sponsor licence process in plain English. What you actually need. What it costs. And where small businesses tend to trip up.

If your candidate is not British or Irish, does not have settled or pre-settled status, and does not already hold the right visa, you will likely need a sponsor licence. For small businesses and charities, that currently costs £536. For medium or large organisations, it is £1,579. Processing is typically 8 to 12 weeks, and delays are common.

But the fee is only part of the picture.

You need a named Authorising Officer. You need proper right to work checks and monitoring systems. The role must meet the skill level and salary thresholds. And visa costs can range from £769 to £1,519, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge at £1,035 per year.

There are strict rules around who pays what. Employers cannot pass sponsorship costs to employees, though repayment agreements for certain visa fees may be structured properly.

We also cover the April 2025 changes, including increased salary thresholds, care sector partnership requirements, and updates affecting creative industries.

This is not just about compliance. It is about onboarding well. Supporting relocation. Setting expectations clearly. And avoiding expensive mistakes.

If you are thinking about hiring international talent, this episode will help you understand what is realistic, what is required, and what to plan for.

Future episodes will cover visa routes that do not require sponsorship.

Until then, stay compliant, stay caffeinated, and keep buzzing.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

The clock is ticking.

In just days, neonatal care leave and pay becomes law. From April 2025, eligible employees will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of additional leave if their newborn needs hospital care. For some families, that will make the difference between coping and falling apart.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we break down exactly what employers need to know. Who qualifies. How the 26-week service requirement and earnings threshold work. What statutory pay looks like. And how the leave can be taken flexibly in blocks within a 68-week window.

But this is not just a compliance update.

Neonatal care leave is about real families facing one of the most frightening starts to parenthood. It is about time, space, and security when everything feels uncertain.

We also talk through what HR teams should be doing right now. Updating policies. Briefing managers. Checking payroll systems. Reviewing absence processes. Making sure the paperwork matches the law. And having the right conversations before someone needs this support in a crisis.

There is also an often-overlooked opportunity. Review your business insurance policies. Some employers can enhance pay with minimal extra cost if cover is already in place. It is worth checking before you assume it is unaffordable.

We are especially proud to connect this episode to our Charity of the Year, New Life Special Care Babies, which supports neonatal units across the UK. Their work is a powerful reminder that behind every policy is a family navigating something incredibly tough.

Whether you are fully prepared or scrambling to get ready, this episode gives you clear, practical steps to make sure your business is compliant and compassionate.

Visit our website for policy templates, statutory rate tables, and practical resources.

Because compliance matters. But how you show up for people in difficult moments matters even more.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

The Employment Rights Bill is not a small tweak. It is one of the biggest shifts in UK employment law in years, and it will change how small businesses hire, manage, and exit people.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, Kate breaks down what is actually changing, what has been softened or scrapped, and what it really means if you run a small business.

Unfair dismissal is set to become a day one right instead of requiring two years’ service. The controversial fire and rehire practice faces heavy restrictions, with potential penalties rising sharply. Redundancy rules are tightening to stop businesses avoiding consultation by spreading smaller cuts across different sites. Zero-hours workers are likely to gain rights to more predictable or guaranteed hours after regular work, and compensation for last-minute shift cancellations is on the table.

There is more. Holiday pay records must be kept for six years. Tribunal time limits are expected to double from three to six months. A new Fair Work Agency will have enforcement powers, meaning compliance is no longer just about reacting to claims.

This episode is not a legal lecture. It is a practical conversation about what small businesses need to start doing now.

Kate walks through a sensible action plan. Review your contracts. Check your probation processes. Tighten up documentation. Look at how you manage consultations. Train managers to have clearer conversations. And make sure your record keeping could stand up if challenged.

The message is simple. Do not wait until 2026 and panic. Build good habits now so the legislation feels like refinement, not a shock.

If you want to understand how the Employment Rights Bill affects your business in plain English, this episode is your starting point.

Subscribe and stay tuned for next week’s episode, where we cover neonatal leave changes coming into force in April 2025 and what employers need to have in place.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead.

Feeling like HR’s getting away from you?

Our Monthly SME Reset helps you track what matters, tweak what’s off, and tidy up the people stuff — in one focused routine.

No fluff. No overwhelm. Just a free checklist that keeps your team (and your sanity) on track.

👉 kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/resources/monthly-sme-reset

That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

National Insurance rises to 15 percent in April 2025.

For small businesses, that is not a headline. It is a hit to cash flow.

Payroll is already one of your biggest costs. Margins are tight. And now employer NI is climbing again. The temptation is to absorb it and move on.

But what if you could offset some of that increase without cutting roles or freezing pay?

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we unpack one of the few genuine win-wins available right now: salary sacrifice.

Done properly, it allows employees to exchange part of their gross salary for a benefit they already value, such as pension contributions, an electric vehicle scheme, or cycle to work. Because the swap happens before tax and National Insurance, both the employee and the employer reduce their NI liability.

At a time when NI is rising, that matters.

We break it down simply. How it works. What the savings can look like. And how small businesses are already using it strategically.

You will hear real examples of teams saving thousands a year through pension salary sacrifice while increasing employees’ retirement savings. Retail businesses lowering NI costs through electric vehicle schemes while strengthening their sustainability message. Smaller firms using cycle-to-work to reduce contributions while helping staff cut commuting costs.

This is not about gimmicks. It is about structuring what you are already paying in a smarter way.

We also talk through the practical side. Clear communication. Written agreements. Compliance checks. Salary sacrifice needs to be implemented properly to avoid confusion or risk.

If the NI increase feels like another squeeze on already stretched margins, this episode offers a constructive response rather than a reactive one.

If you want to understand whether salary sacrifice could work in your business, tune in. It might be one of the most commercially useful HR conversations you have this year.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead.

Feeling like HR’s getting away from you?

Our Monthly SME Reset helps you track what matters, tweak what’s off, and tidy up the people stuff — in one focused routine.

No fluff. No overwhelm. Just a free checklist that keeps your team (and your sanity) on track.

👉 kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/resources/monthly-sme-reset

That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Have you ever given a quick pay rise to keep someone from leaving, only to watch it snowball into resentment across your team? That knee-jerk decision might be costing you far more than you realize.

With International Women's Day approaching and the National Living Wage set to increase next month, pay fairness questions are unavoidable for small business leaders. This episode dives deep into the real-world challenges of handling counter offers and pay decisions when margins are tight and good people are getting poached.

We walk through a practical decision framework that helps you navigate these difficult moments with clarity and consistency. You'll learn how to choose the right mechanism for each situation—whether that's a retention bonus, market adjustment, or progression increase—while protecting your business from equal pay risks that affect companies of all sizes.

The legal lowdown section demystifies equal pay law in plain English, addressing common misconceptions head-on. Contrary to popular belief, equal pay applies to businesses of all sizes, not just those required to report. Jobs don't need to be identical for comparisons to be valid, and "market rate" isn't a magic defence unless you can prove it with solid evidence.

Through mini-dramas illustrating common pay scenarios gone wrong, we demonstrate how seemingly small decisions can trigger costly spirals of resentment, claims, and turnover. The episode closes with a rapid-fire Q&A addressing your most pressing questions about comparators, job evaluation, and time limits for claims.

Pay decisions are well-being decisions that directly impact both your people and performance. Which approach will cost your business less: creating a fair structure that withstands scrutiny, or constantly firefighting departures and rebuilding teams? 

Download our free one-page Paym Rise Decision Flow and share it with your busiest manager today.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Deadlines that sit a couple of years away can feel comforting. Plenty of time. Nothing urgent. Until the small, everyday habits quietly harden into rules you never meant to create.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we look at the UK Employment Rights Act and why the real risk for small businesses is not the legislation itself, but what happens in the meantime. The vague conversations. The informal promises. The inconsistent decisions that feel harmless now but come back to bite later.

Kate talks through how ERB risk really builds in day-to-day working life. The kitchen table agreement turns into a formal dispute. The “we’ve always done it this way” approach collapses the first time it is challenged. And how to prepare sensibly, without panic, policy overload, or spending your weekends rewriting documents you do not yet need.

A big theme running through the Employment Rights Bill is reasonableness. Not being nice. Not saying yes to everything. But making decisions that fit your business, applying them consistently, and being able to explain them calmly and clearly. You will hear practical examples of what a reasonable no sounds like, why blanket refusals on flexible working are risky, and why copying big-company HR approaches often backfires in small teams.

Kate also shares a quick consistency sense check that reveals hidden risk in minutes. If two people in the same role ask for the same thing, do they get the same answer, and can you explain why? If not, that is where problems start long before the law ever changes.

To keep this manageable, the episode sets out a phased approach to ERB readiness that works for small businesses. Right now, the focus is on habits rather than paperwork. Clear language. Agreed working patterns. Managers who feel confident in having proper conversations instead of avoiding them. Later comes alignment, making sure contracts match reality and decisions are recorded properly. By the time the bigger changes land, you should be refining, not firefighting.

And this is where many businesses struggle. Not with policies, but with managers freezing in the moment when someone asks for flexibility, raises a concern, or pushes back on a decision.

If that sounds familiar,  Cake, Coffee and Compliance is designed for exactly this gap. Launching in March, it helps managers handle tricky conversations with confidence, apply rules consistently, and make reasonable decisions without panic or second-guessing.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

The future of work is a hot topic, especially as we navigate the intricate dynamics of hybrid and in-office models. In this episode, we dive deep into the battle of work styles, examining the perks and pitfalls of each approach. With many employees now comfortable working from couch to boardroom, we explore how hybrid structures can offer flexibility while still retaining the energy and collaboration of an office environment.

The conversation doesn’t shy away from challenges; we discuss communication hurdles, potential feelings of isolation, and the importance of regular engagement—especially for remote team members. As we dissect the benefits of face-to-face interactions, we collectively ponder whether the short commute to the office could outweigh the cuddly comforts of home. Our insightful discussions offer valuable insights into finding the right balance for your organisation, helping you navigate between comfort and productivity.

We also highlight strategies for implementing an effective work model tailored to your team's unique needs. From core hours to leveraging technology for engagement, the episode offers actionable takeaways that leaders can utilize immediately. Join us as we explore future trends and the evolving expectations of employees. Don’t miss out on essential insights designed to help you maximise employee satisfaction and productivity—whether they're dressed in pyjamas or business casual. 

Connect with us, share your thoughts, and experience the journey of transforming workplace culture for the better! Subscribe now and join the conversation!

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, host Kate Underwood takes a closer look at the rise in National Insurance contributions coming in April 2025 and what it really means for small and medium-sized businesses.

With contributions increasing to 15%, many employers are already feeling the squeeze. Payroll costs are climbing, hiring decisions are being delayed, and some businesses are even considering redundancies to stay afloat. Others are exploring contractor arrangements to cut costs, but that brings its own challenges, especially with proposed changes that could abolish zero-hours contracts altogether.

Kate unpicks how these shifts could ripple through your workforce, from engagement and morale to long-term planning. She shares practical, people-first strategies to help you steady the ship, protect jobs where you can, and keep your culture strong even when budgets are tight.

If you are a small business owner or HR lead wondering how to balance the books without burning out your team, this episode will help you find that middle ground between financial reality and human impact.

For hands-on support, you can reach Kate at buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk for a strategy session, contract review, or to book a free HR Health Check.

You will also find more tips and updates at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk.

If you’re not 100% sure how your HR is really holding up, take our free HR Health Check. It’s short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what’s working — and what needs a bit of love.

And if you do it before 1st April 2026, you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead.

Feeling like HR’s getting away from you?

Our Monthly SME Reset helps you track what matters, tweak what’s off, and tidy up the people stuff — in one focused routine.

No fluff. No overwhelm. Just a free checklist that keeps your team (and your sanity) on track.

👉 kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/resources/monthly-sme-reset

That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

Making AI Work for Small Business
Secure AI for SMEs: streamline processes, cut costs, train teams to work smarter.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, host Kate Underwood explores one of the most important topics for any workplace: mental health.

For small and medium-sized businesses, the impact of poor mental health can be huge. But with the right approach, supporting your team’s wellbeing isn’t just good ethics, it’s good business.

Kate shares practical ways to create a mentally healthy workplace, the role of leaders in setting the tone, and why investing in mental health support can pay off in performance, loyalty and culture.

Here’s what’s covered in this episode:

• The current state of mental health in UK workplaces

• Why SMEs often feel the strain most

• Kate’s own experience of mental health and seeking support

• How proactive strategies make all the difference

• Using the Mind.org.uk Workplace Action Plans effectively

• The value of occupational health services

• The real economic benefits of investing in mental health

• Common questions and practical solutions from the field

• A call to action for business owners and HR professionals to make mental health a priority

☕ And if you’re ready to see how your business measures up, start with a FREE HR Health Check.

C-Suite Perspectives
Elevate how you lead with insight from today’s most influential executives.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, host Kate Underwood tackles one of the hardest parts of running a business: redundancies.

Whether it’s financial pressure, restructuring, or simply the need to evolve, making roles redundant is never just a legal process — it’s a human one. Kate unpacks how to do it properly: with fairness, empathy, and a clear plan that keeps both the business and its people steady through change.

You’ll learn how to:

• Plan a compliant redundancy process from start to finish
• Communicate difficult news with honesty and care
• Support those staying behind to avoid “survivor syndrome”
• Keep morale, trust, and engagement from falling off a cliff

If you’re a business owner or HR lead facing tough choices, or just want to be better prepared for the future, this episode will help you approach redundancies with confidence and compassion, and keep your culture intact along the way.

Ready to check how resilient your people processes are? Complete a FREE HR Health Check and see where your business stands.

C-Suite Perspectives
Elevate how you lead with insight from today’s most influential executives.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

The Fresh Patch Podcast - Where Good Pets Get It.

Welcome to the Fresh Patch Podcast where we talk about everything, from dog...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts  

Thank you for tuning in to Buzzing About HR with Kate Underwood!
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—your feedback helps us grow and reach more people like you.

Have questions or need HR advice? Reach out to Kate Underwood HR & Training at www.kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email us on buzz@kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or follow us on social media for more tips, resources, and updates.

Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!