What’s been keeping me busy in HR this month?
Posted on September 15, 2026
One of the things I love about working with SMEs is that no two weeks, or sometimes even two hours are quite the same.
Over the last month, I’ve been working alongside clients on everything from restructures and difficult employee conversations to new HR systems, management development, employee benefits, company culture and even designing and running a two-day company retreat.
When I look across all of that work, there are some very clear themes emerging about what businesses are dealing with right now.
Restructuring, redundancy and making difficult business decisions
There is no getting away from the fact that some businesses are having to look very carefully at their cost base.
I’ve been supporting clients through restructures, redundancy consultations, changes to roles and working hours, and decisions about whether vacancies really need to be replaced.
What I am seeing is that businesses aren’t simply looking at individual redundancies in isolation. They are looking much more broadly at their organisational structure: where work sits, whether roles are still required, whether responsibilities can be reorganised, where natural attrition can reduce costs and what the business genuinely needs for the future.
This is exactly where HR needs to work hand-in-hand with commercial decision-making.
A redundancy process shouldn’t start with “we need to lose a person.” It should start with understanding the business problem and then working through the organisational options properly and truly considering the people solutions that go with that.
When employee relations become complicated
I’ve also spent a fair amount of time dealing with the less straightforward end of HR-disciplinary matters, performance concerns, breakdown in working relationships to name a few. These are rarely as black and white as they first appearand this is when it’s so important to have a person to talk to and knows the right questions to ask. Context matters. Evidence matters. What has happened previously matters. And, importantly, how managers respond when concerns are first raised can significantly influence what happens next.
One recurring theme has been helping managers distinguish between an employee who genuinely needs some initial support and somebody who is simply not performing at the level reasonably expected of their role.
There comes a point where continually adding more support, checking and management oversight doesn’t solve the underlying problem, particularly in remote environments where employees need to be able to operate with an appropriate degree of independence.
The key is addressing issues early, being specific about what needs to improve and documenting the conversations properly rather than allowing frustration to build.
Wellbeing isn’t always a wellbeing problem
Another significant area this month has been workload, capacity and burnout.
When employees say they are overwhelmed, it is tempting to immediately categorise it as a wellbeing issue. Sometimes it is. But sometimes the real issue is operational.
Have people left and not been replaced? Has additional work gradually landed with the remaining team? Have priorities changed without anything else being removed? Are managers and employees looking at workload through completely different lenses?
I’ve been working with leadership teams to get underneath those questions rather than simply treating the symptoms.
The answer isn’t always another wellbeing initiative. Sometimes it is better resourcing, clearer priorities, improved management or simply stopping doing things that no longer add enough value.
HR technology: Getting the basics working better
At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve been helping businesses modernise the way they manage their people information.
That has included selecting and implementing HR systems and recruitment technology, moving away from spreadsheets and manual processes, improving how holiday and absence are recorded, strengthening data security and giving employees better access to their own HR information.
I’ve also spent time explaining something that often gets misunderstood: an HR system and an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) do very different jobs.
Not every piece of HR technology needs to be launched to every employee. The objective isn’t to introduce technology for technology’s sake, it is to make HR processes simpler, safer and more efficient.
Reviewing the employee proposition
Benefits and terms have also been firmly on the agenda.
I’ve been working with clients on increased annual leave, health benefits, sick pay, training allowances, study support and harmonising benefits where businesses or teams have come together. I’ve also been reviewing working patterns, including hours, lunch breaks, hybrid/homeworking arrangements and term-time contracts.
These can sound like relatively small changes, but they need careful thought. A seemingly simple change to working hours or holiday entitlement can have contractual, financial and employee-relations implications and appropriate consultation.
Getting the detail right before announcing the exciting bit saves a lot of headaches afterwards!
And sometimes HR involves organising a Company Retreat!
One of my more unusual and very enjoyable projects recently has been designing and running a two-day company retreat for a predominantly remote-working team. I worked with the business to think about what we actually wanted the two days to achieve and then designed the agenda around that.
The aim was to create the right balance between work, collaboration, team development, fresh air and, importantly, having some fun together.
There were facilitated sessions, work around company Values, team activities and opportunities for some proper business conversations. But we also deliberately created plenty of space for people simply to spend time together away from their laptops.
That included getting outside, eating together, informal activities and everyone mucking in with the practicalities of staying together, cooking, clearing up and generally operating as one big team.
And that was deliberate.
For a predominantly remote team, relationships are often built through scheduled Teams calls. What you don’t get so easily are all those little conversations that happen when you’re making a cup of tea, walking alongside somebody, preparing dinner or sitting around a table together. A retreat creates space for those connections. It can be a really valuable part of your people, culture and engagement strategy.
And then there is everything else…
Alongside all of that have been employment contracts, holiday calculations, sickness absence, phased returns, international employment questions, recruitment, pay reviews, flexible working, policy updates and the countless “Jo, can I just check something with you…?” questions that are invariably never quite as quick as they initially sound!
And that’s probably the best illustration of outsourced HR.
Businesses don’t necessarily need a full-time senior HR person sitting in the office every day.
But when something happens, an employee issue escalates, somebody resigns, a restructure becomes necessary, the business grows, legislation changes, a leadership team needs bringing together or a manager simply isn’t sure what to do next, having somebody who already understands the business makes an enormous difference. For me, good HR isn’t about quoting employment law at people.
It’s about understanding the law, understanding people and understanding the commercial reality of running a business – and then finding a sensible way through all three.
And sometimes, apparently, it also involves making sure 20 people have somewhere to sleep, something to eat and remember to bring their walking shoes!
If any of the issues I’ve touched on here sound familiar in your business, please do get in touch.
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