Buzzing About HR
🎙️ Buzzing About HR
Straight-talking HR for the people doing payroll, sales and playing workplace therapist before lunch.
If you run a UK small business, or you're the HR-of-one trying to keep the wheels on, this podcast is for you.
No corporate jargon.
No "synergy."
Just real answers to the people's problems no one warned you about.
Hosted by award-winning HR expert Kate Underwood, each episode tackles the moments small business owners actually face:
- The employee who's brilliant at the job and causes chaos in the team
- The manager who avoids hard conversations until they turn into a bonfire
- The "small issue" grievance that suddenly becomes a formal complaint
- The sickness pattern is suspiciously linked to Mondays and payday
- The resignation that makes you think, " What did we miss?"
You'll get plain-English UK employment law, practical advice on performance, absence, hiring and retention, and grown-up culture conversations, all usable the same day. No theory. No paperwork museums. No advice that only works in big HR departments with unlimited budgets.
This is also a permission slip to lead like a human. Clear standards. Fair boundaries. Decent communication. 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 "people management" quite like a judgmental stare from a Wellbeing Officer who's never written a policy in her life.
☕ Start here: take the FREE HR Health Check and see where your risks and your quick wins are hiding.
New episodes every Tuesday.
Buzzing About HR
Latest Episodes
If You Hired Since July, The 2027 Clock Is Already Ticking
You can feel it in early August: the office is quieter, half the team is away, and you finally get a clear hour to think. That’s exactly when the most dangerous HR deadlines sneak up, because this one looks like a “2027 problem” on paper while ...
The Office Kettle Has Never Been The Problem;
Your employee handbook can be quietly betraying you. Not because you have bad intentions, but because policies drift while life moves on: new UK employment law, day one rights, fresh record keeping duties, and the hybrid working pattern that st...
SMART Objectives
Your team set SMART objectives in January, you file them away, and by July half of them are pointless. Sound familiar? We are pulling apart the real reason performance reviews feel tense in so many small businesses: SMART goals quietly turn int...
Contract Changes Without Fire And Rehire
You’ve got a contract term you regret. Maybe it’s overtime you can’t sustain, enhanced sick pay that keeps biting every winter, or a bonus structure that looked generous when the team was small and now feels ruinous. You’ve heard the “solution”...
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