HR musings with added sparkle!
Let’s be honest – December in the workplace is absolute carnage, isn’t it?
Secret Santa gone wrong. Someone’s ordered three pairs of shoes on company time. Dave from Accounts is three sheets to the wind at 2pm. And don’t even get me started on the passive-aggressive battle royale over who gets Christmas week off.
Sound familiar?
Continue reading “Festive Chaos in the Workplace? We’ve Got You Covered”
I need to talk about something that’s been troubling me for a while now. It’s not about employment law, tribunal statistics, or compliance issues – though those are all connected. It’s about something far more fundamental: basic professional courtesy seems to be disappearing from our workplaces, and it’s making everyone’s lives significantly harder.
As someone who’s spent the last two decades in HR, I’ve seen workplace dynamics shift in countless ways. But this particular change – the erosion of simple, decent communication between colleagues, between employees and managers, between people – is perhaps the most concerning of all.
Continue reading “Whatever Happened to Professional Courtesy? A Letter to Employees (and Employers)”
Let me start with something I say at least ten times a week in my HR consultancy, Rebox HR: You do not have an automatic right to work from home in the UK. Not even in 2025. Not even after all the changes to flexible working legislation that came into force in April 2024.
And judging by the conversations I’m having with both employees and employers, this seems to be one of the most misunderstood aspects of current employment law. So let’s clear this up once and for all, shall we?
Continue reading “Working From Home: It’s a Request, Not a Right (And Why That Matters)”
Finally, a bit of good news for small businesses.
The government has U-turned on its manifesto commitment to offer all workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from their first day in a job. Instead, ministers now plan to introduce the right after six months – a significant climbdown following pressure from business groups who warned it would discourage firms from hiring.
And honestly? This is the right call.
Continue reading “Common Sense Prevails: Day-One Unfair Dismissal Rights Scrapped”
Let me be completely honest with you: this post is one of the hardest that I have ever written, but I think that too many are skipping over the realities of what the HR profession looks like right now.
One of the most common things I am seeing is watching colleagues leave the HR profession in their droves, and it’s heartbreaking. These are talented, passionate people who once loved what they did. But right now? Being in HR feels less like a rewarding profession and more like being stuck between a rock and a very hard place, with everyone expecting you to perform miracles whilst the ground keeps shifting beneath your feet.
And I know that many are not alone in feeling this way.
Continue reading “Why Being in HR Right Now Feels Like an Impossible Job”
Natalie Ellis HR 