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Description
đď¸ Buzzing About HR
Straight-talking HR for real businesses (the kind where you are doing payroll, sales, and playing therapist before lunch).
From Kate Underwood HR & Training, this podcast makes the people stuff make sense, without the corporate jargon and âsynergyâ nonsense.
Hosted by award-winning HR expert Kate Underwood, each episode is designed for real life. You know, the moments nobody prepares you for:
- The employee who is brilliant at the job but chaos in the team
- The manager who avoids tough conversations until it turns into a bin fire
- The âitâs only a small issueâ grievance that suddenly becomes a formal complaint
- The sickness pattern that is suspiciously linked to Mondays and payday
- The resignation that makes you think, âWait⌠what did we miss?â
This is practical HR for small businesses and busy leaders. We talk performance, absence, hiring, retention, culture, motivation, and how to stay on the right side of UK employment law without turning your business into a paperwork museum. Expect straight answers, real examples, and steps you can actually use the same day, not theory that only works in perfect-world HR departments with unlimited budgets.
Itâs also a permission slip to lead like a human. Clear standards, fair boundaries, decent communication, and less drama. The goal is a calmer workplace, fewer sleepless nights, and a team that actually wants to stick around.
And yes, Hazel the office dog pops up too, because nothing says âpeople managementâ like a judgemental stare from a Wellbeing Officer who has never written a policy in her life.
â Start here: Take the FREE HR Health Check and see where your risks (and quick wins) are hiding.
56Â Episodes
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If you have heard the words âEmployment Rights Act 2025â and thought, âIâll deal with that later,â you are not alone. Deadlines that sit a little further away feel manageable. Plenty of time. Nothing urgent. Until it is suddenly urgent and you are trying to untangle years of informal habits in the middle of an emotional people issue. In this episode of Buzzing About HR, Kate breaks down what the Employment Rights Act 2025 really means for small businesses and why the biggest risk is not the l...
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, C...
Ever find yourself stuck in the middle? One side asking, âWhy isnât this sorted yet?â The other asking, âWhy are you doing this to us?â 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 autho...
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 micromanager...
Feeling that mid-winter morale dip? The one where everyone is showing up but the spark has gone a bit flat? This episode is about turning that around quickly and sensibly. No extra budget. No balloons. No forced fun or another all-hands meeting that everyone secretly dreads. Just appreciation that actually lands. We dig into what really works in small teams, where culture spreads fast for better or worse. It comes down to a simple habit that takes about 15 seconds. Name a specific action, lin...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we start with something small that quietly disappeared, and took more with it than we realised. The paper round. Not as nostalgia, but as a reminder of how many young people used to learn routine, responsibility, and judgement long before they stepped into adult workplaces that now expect a lot and explain very little. 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 a...
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 Bill 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. Kat...
Your inbox says âquick chat,â and suddenly January feels like a wave you didnât see coming. In this episode, Kate unpacks why resignations spike at the start of the year, how to tell the difference between a normal January wobble and a genuine culture problem, and what small businesses can do in the next two weeks to steady things without launching a huge programme or making promises you cannot keep. We start with the human truth. Clarity follows a break. People come back after time off, the ...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are doing a proper year end reset for small business owners and managers. Not the polished ânew year new youâ stuff. The real kind. Because year end rarely feels neat when you run a small business. One person goes off sick, someone resigns with no warning, and the policies you meant to sort in March are still sitting there quietly judging you. By the time you hit late December, it is easy to feel like you have dropped the ball. This episode is here to r...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we drop into that familiar end of year moment. It is the 23rd of December. The calendar has slid onto the floor, budget papers are wedged under a mug, and the to do list looks like it is multiplying when you are not looking. If December chaos has a habit of following you into January, this episode is designed to stop that happening. This is a calm, practical reset to help you step into 2026 feeling organised rather than already behind. Over a brisk, biscu...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we turn down the noise and focus on what really matters. The UK Employment Rights Bill is full of big headlines and bigger opinions, but small businesses need something much simpler. Clear decisions, clear steps, and no late nights trying to decode legislation. This episode is about cutting through the chaos and translating recent rule changes into something you can actually use. Not theory. Not political noise. Just what applies to you, what is already ...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I want to talk about something that is getting lost in the headlines. Hiring might be slowing down, confidence might be wobbling, but small businesses can still build a really solid early careers pipeline without spending a fortune or exhausting their teams. This one is for anyone who has noticed fewer decent applicants, people disappearing halfway through the process, or managers saying they simply do not have the time or headspace to train someone new. I...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we step straight into the festive chaos that hits every small business in December. Hazel is asleep under a pile of Christmas lights, the inbox is bursting with last minute shifts and mystery calendar blocks, and everyone is only one rota change away from losing the plot. If December normally feels like a burnout buffet mixed with fairy lights, this episode is your life raft. I take you through the real reasons things go wrong at this time of year and how...
Big HR changes are on the way, and weâre turning the noise into a clear plan. Kate breaks down the Employment Rights Bill for UK small employers with plain-English timelines, practical examples, and the exact places to focus so you protect people, manage risk, and avoid lastâminute scrambles. We start with whatâs locked in versus whatâs likely: a six-month unfair dismissal threshold from 1 January 2027, simpler statutory sick pay from April 2026 with day one eligibility and no lower earnings...
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am digging into the Autumn Budget 2025 and what it actually means for small businesses. The headlines sound promising, but if you run a business, you know the real story is always in the numbers. This episode helps you understand what is changing, what it means for you, and what you can do next without any panic or guesswork. We talk about the big updates everyone is buzzing about right now and how they might affect wages, costs, hiring, training and the...
The moustaches are fun, but posters donât cover shifts. We take a straight look at menâs health at work and how small teams can spot trouble early, protect time for care, and avoid expensive firefighting. From missed safety steps to hero shifts that end in burnout, we walk through the subtle signals leaders often miss and show how a few plain rules can turn chaos into calm. We share three vivid workplace snapshots: the appointment that never happens until itâs urgent, the calm supervisor who...
The signs show up before the resignation letter lands: cameras off, ideas thin, meetings that end with nothing decided, and work kept tightly to the job description. We call it quiet quitting, but whatâs really happening is a rational response to fuzzy goals, uneven workloads, and stalled growth. I unpack why disengagement is data, not defiance, and share a simple toolkit to turn the trend without cheesy pep talks or another all-hands. We start by naming the three big gaps that drain teamsâc...
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. ...
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 hea...
A birthday cake, a messy keyboard, and a very pleased office dog set up a sharper question: are your perks pulling their weight or just glossing over deeper problems? We dig into a clear, UKâfocused approach to benefits that actually help people work and live better, starting with the truth that pay must be right before perks can shine. We share a simple framework that keeps teams included and spending tight. Youâll hear why small health wins like flu jabs, eye tests and a real person on the...
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