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.
How Small Businesses Build Real Workplace Wellbeing
•Kate Underwood•Season 2•Episode 44
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National Work Life Week and World Mental Health Day, and what wellbeing actually means in a small business once you take away the fruit bowl. Kate makes the case that wellbeing lives in your systems and your managers' everyday behaviour, not in perks and posters, with sickness absence at a fifteen-year high and mental ill health the top cause of long-term absence. She covers day-one Statutory Sick Pay, handling flexible working fairly, and how to make that first "I'm not okay" conversation safe.
Key points:
Wellbeing is built, not bought. It lives in workload, rotas, flexibility and manager behaviour, not in a fruit bowl or a wellbeing week.
Since 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from day one with no lower earnings limit, so lower-paid staff are covered and resting when ill is easier.
Flexible working requests can be made from day one and you have up to two months to respond. Handled fairly, flexibility is a powerful, low-cost retention and wellbeing lever.
Managers don't need to be therapists. They need to notice, ask, listen and signpost. The system around them is what makes the human moment safe.
UK sickness absence is at a fifteen-year high, with mental ill health the top cause of long-term absence.
Links:
Free HR Health Check, see where your wellbeing foundations stand: kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/hr-health-check
HR Software, take the absence and flexible working admin off your desk: kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/services/hr-software
Cake, Coffee and Compliance, one-hour manager sessions, Tuesdays 9.30am, £75 a seat, Block 1 starts 13 October: kateunderwoodhr.co.uk/managers
If you're struggling right now, you can call Samaritans free any time on 116 123.
Call to action: Take the free HR Health Check this week to see where your wellbeing foundations are solid and where they're leaking, then pick one thing from the quick-action list to fix before winter. And if the honest gap is that your managers have never been taught any of this, Block 1 of Cake, Coffee and Compliance starts next Tuesday, the thirteenth.
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 30th October 2026 you’ll get a bonus 7 Pillar Strategy-on-a-Page, tailored to help you manage HR brilliantly for the year ahead.
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If you're not sure how your HR is really holding up, take the free HR Health Check. It's short, jargon-free, and gives you a clear score on what's working and what could do with a bit of love.
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Picture this. It's the first proper week of October. The clocks haven't gone back yet, but you can feel them thinking about it. There's a jumper on the back of your chair. Someone's brought in the first tin of Christmas biscuits, which feels both too early and completely correct. And on somebody's desk, or more likely in the corner of the kitchen, there's a fruit bowl. The fruit bowl, you know the one. It appeared during a well-being push a while back, it's mostly bananas going quietly brown. And it exists so that a business can say it takes well-being seriously. And here's the gentle truth I want to start with today. A fruit bowl is not a well-being strategy. A yoga voucher nobody uses is not a well-being strategy. A poster on the back of the toilet door that says it's okay not to be okay is not on its own a well-being strategy. This week is National Work Life Week, and Saturday is World Mental Health Day. So I want to talk about what actually moves the needle on well-being in a small business. Not the fruit. The systems and the way your managers behave on an ordinary Wednesday. Kettle on. Let's get into it. The
Welcome to the Hive. Welcome back to Buzzing About HR, the podcast that makes sense of the world of work, one honeycomb of good advice at a time. I'm Kate, your HR Queen Bee, and Hazel, our well-being officer, is taking her title extremely seriously this week. She has conducted a full audit of the sunniest spot in the house, filed her findings by lying in it, and is now leading by example on the importance of a proper rest break. Honestly, she's better at well-being than most of us. This is National Work Life Week, 5 to 9 October, and World Mental Health Day lands on Saturday, the 10th. Two prompts, one week, to look at how work and life fit together for the people who work for you. And with sickness absence in the UK at a 15-year high, and mental ill health now the top cause of long-term absence, this isn't a soft, nice-to-have topic. It's right at the centre of how a business holds together. Here's my promise for the next 20 minutes or so. No jargon, no doom, and I'll handle the mental health part with real care, because it deserves it. Just what well-being actually is when you strip away the fruit bowl, the couple of legal changes that quietly help you here, and a short, doable list you can act on this week. Let's go.
The buzz. Let me set the scene properly because the backdrop matters. Sickness absence in this country is at its highest level in 15 years. That's not a blip. And when you look at what's actually keeping people off work for the long stretches, mental ill health is the top cause. Stress, anxiety, burnout, low mood. The things that don't show up on an X-ray, but absolutely show up in your rotor, your output, and your goodwill. For a small business, that's not an abstract statistic. It's the experienced team member who suddenly signed off for six weeks and you're not sure why. It's the person who's technically at their desk but clearly running on empty. It's the quiet lever, the one who doesn't make a fuss, just updates their CV one evening and is gone by spring. Now here's a bit of legal context that sits right underneath all of this, and it's genuinely good news for people. Since the 6th of April this year, statutory sick pay is payable from day one, from the very first day of sickness, not the fourth. And they've removed the lower earnings limit, so lower paid staff, who were often the ones who missed out entirely, are now covered too. That's a real change to how sick pay works in this country, and it's live right now. Why does that matter for a well-being conversation? Because it quietly removes one of the worst incentives we had. The old system nudged people who felt rough to drag themselves in anyway, because the first few days paid nothing. That's how a two-day bug becomes a two-week one, and how a small wobble becomes a long absence. Day one Sick Pay says, if you're not well, rest, and we've got you. That is well-being policy with actual money behind it, set by law, and it's already in force. So that's the picture. Absence high, mental health leading it, and a sick pay system that, as of this spring, is finally on the side of resting when you need to. The
hive check. Let's do a quick check on the things so many businesses get muddled about because it changes everything you do next. The muddle is this. We treat well-being as a thing you add on. A perk, an event, a bowl of fruit, a well-being week, a mindfulness app nobody opens after the first Tuesday. Bolt it on the side, tick the box, feel good. But well-being at work isn't a thing you add. It's a thing you either have or leak in the ordinary running of the place. It lives in your workload, your rotors, your notice periods, how predictable someone's week is, whether they can get to a doctor's appointment without a performance of guilt. It lives in whether their manager notices when they've gone quiet. Here's the heart of it. The single biggest driver of whether your people are alright is not the perk budget. It's the behavior of the person they report to. A brilliant manager with no well-being budget will hold a team together through a hard year. A poor one with a fruit bowl and a yoga voucher will still burn people out because the fruit was never the point. So the honest check is this. When you say you care about well-being, is it a thing you bought or a thing you built? Because you can't decorate your way out of a workload problem, and no app fixes a manager who makes people feel small. The sting.
Here's the part worth sitting with, gently, and I'm going to slow down for it because it deserves care. When someone is genuinely struggling with their mental health, the moment that decides how it goes is usually small and ordinary. It's the first conversation. The one where they say, a bit awkwardly, I've not been sleeping, or I'm finding things really hard at the moment. And what happens in that 30 seconds shapes the next six months. If the answer is warmth, if it's thank you for telling me, let's work out what would help, then you've got a person who feels safe, who's more likely to stay, more likely to recover at work rather than away from it. If the answer is a flinch, a change of subject, or worse, a sense that they've just made themselves a problem, then that person learns something. They learn not to tell you next time. And the next time is usually when it's much further along. Most managers aren't cold. They just freeze because nobody ever showed them what to say and they're terrified of saying the wrong thing. So they say nothing, which is its own message. The fix isn't a clinical qualification. Your managers do not need to become therapists, and they shouldn't try. They need permission to be human, a few simple phrases, and to know where to point someone for real help. That's it. Notice, ask, listen, signpost. Four small things and none of them cost a penny. And this is where the boring structural stuff earns its keep, because it takes the pressure off the moment. If you have a clear route for someone to raise that they're struggling, a fair way to handle a phased return, a manager who's had 10 minutes of guidance on how to respond, then that first conversation isn't a cliff edge. It's just a conversation. The system is what lets the humanity happen safely. That's the sting. And it's also the reassurance. You don't need to be an expert in mental health. You need to be a business where it's safe to say you're not okay, and where something sensible happens when you do. The growl.
Hazel says the quiet part. Before we get to the doing, there is someone stretched across the sofa she is not allowed on with a strong view about workplace well-being. Hazel, our self-appointed well-being officer, is two and a half, which means she has the confidence of somebody who has never once been wrong. She also cannot talk, which is the only reason this podcast is broadcastable. So I read you the subtitles. Subtitles on.
SPEAKER_00
Bought a fruit bowl you have. Lovely. She has been asking for a chair that does not hurt her back since March. Tidy, that fruit. And the Mindfulness app. Twelve people downloaded it, two opened it twice, and you put that in the newsletter as a win. Here is a thought now. Ask her what would actually help. Terrifying idea, I know.
Kate
Subtitles off. We are trying to be encouraging on this show. Though I notice nobody has contradicted any of it. Let me put that properly because there is a fair point in there under all the teeth. A perk is something you choose for people. Support is something you find out they need and then provide. The first one is easier, cheaper, and far more photogenic, which is exactly why it is usually what happens. The second one starts with a question most of us never ask, because we are slightly afraid of the answer and of what it might cost. It rarely costs much. A chair. An hour moved, a workload that is humanly possible. Which, now I say it out loud, is the same sentence that was running under the dog with better manners and considerably fewer teeth. She has gone to sleep in the sunnier square of the floor. Either a demonstration or a coincidence, and I know which she would claim. The waggle dance. So what
does good actually look like in a real small business without a well-being department or a big budget? Here's the honest version. It comes down to systems and behaviour, and I'll walk through both. Start with the systems because they're the quiet load-bearing walls. Sick pay done right. You've got day one SSP now, no lower earnings limit, so make sure your policy and your payroll actually reflect it, and make sure people know they'll be looked after if they're ill. A sick pay policy people trust is one that gets used honestly. Flexible working handled fairly. Since this year, you've got up to two months to respond to a flexible working request, and people can ask from day one. That's not a threat, it's an opportunity. Flexibility is one of the cheapest, most powerful, well-being levers you have. Handle each request properly, on its merits, with a real conversation, and you keep people who'd otherwise quietly leave to find it elsewhere. Workload that's actually survivable. This is the unglamorous one. No app fixes a job that's designed for one and a half people and given to one. Look honestly at whether the work fits the week, now the behavior, because this is where it's won or lost. Managers who check in properly. Not you all right in the corridor, but a real regular one-to-one where how are you doing is a genuine question. That rhythm is worth more than any perk. Managers who model it. If you email at 11 at night and take calls on holiday, no well-being poster will convince your team that rest is allowed. They watch what you do, not what you laminate. And a clear route to help. Whether that's an employee assistance program, a named person to talk to, or simply knowing where the door is. People cope far better when they know there's somewhere to go. Here's how I'd start. You can't fix what you can't see, and the fastest way to find out where you stand is our HR Health Check. It's free, five to seven minutes, and it gives you an instant red, amber, green picture plus a report in your inbox, including whether your sickness and flexible working foundations are actually solid. You'll find it at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk slash hr-health-check. And if the admin around all this, the return to work forms, the absence tracking, the flexible working timelines is what's drowning you. Our HR software takes that weight off your desk so you can spend your energy on the people, not the paperwork. Have a look at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk slash services slash HR dash software.
The Swarm Mythbuster Parade. Let's clear out four things I hear all the time about well-being. Myth one. We did a well-being week, so we're sorted. A week is a lovely prompt. It is not a policy. Well being is what happens in the 51 weeks nobody's watching, in your workloads and your one-to-ones, not in the one week with the fruit and the balloons. Myth two. If I offer flexibility, everyone will want to work from home and nothing will get done. No. Most people want a reasonable, fair conversation, not the moon. And you've got up to two months to consider each request properly and say yes, no, or here's a compromise. Handled well. Flexibility is what keeps your best people, not what loses your grip. Myth 3. Talking about mental health opens a can of worms I can't deal with. The can is already open. People are already struggling whether or not you talk about it. Talking about it just means you find out early when a kind word helps instead of late when you're managing a long absence. And your manager's signpost to help, they don't provide it. You're not on the hook to fix anyone. Myth four. Sick pay from day one means everyone will pull a sicky. The evidence just doesn't bear that out. What day one pay actually does is stop people dragging a contagious bug into the office and taking three others down with them. It shortens absences more often than it lengthens them, because people rest properly and come back sooner. Trust tends to be repaid. The honeycomb, your quick action list. Here's
your list of six things to take away from today in order. One, take the free HR health check at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk slash hr dash health check so you know where your well-being foundations stand before winter. Two, check your sick pay policy actually reflects day one SSP with no lower earnings limit, and that your payroll does too. Three, look at your flexible working process. Do you handle requests fairly on their merits within the two-month window? If not, that's a quick, high value fix. 4. Give your managers permission and a few simple phrases. Notice, ask, listen, signpost. Ten minutes of guidance beats a year of frozen silence. 5. Pick the one workload in your business that's clearly designed for more people than it's got and be honest about it. No perk fixes that. 6. Model it from the top this week. Take your lunch, log off at a sensible hour, and let your team see that rest is genuinely allowed. Flying the hive, close. So that's
National Work Life Week, the honest version. Well-being isn't the fruit bowl and it isn't the poster. It's your systems, your sick pay, your flexibility done fairly, and above all the way, a manager responds when someone quietly says they're struggling. With absence at a 15-year high and mental ill health leading it, this is one of the most practical, money-saving things a small business can get right. And if Saturday, World Mental Health Day, does one thing, let it be this. Make it a little bit safer, in your place, to not be okay. If you'd like a hand working out where your well-being foundations are strong and where they're leaking, that's exactly what we're here for. Start with a free health check or drop us a line at buzz at kateunderwoodhaar.co.uk. No pressure, no jargon, just a proper conversation about what would actually help your people. Until next time, keep buzzing, look after your people, and take your own lunch break while you're at it. Kettle on.
