Buzzing About HR

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, Captured. You will hear how one reporting route, a firm cut-off time, and a few short, respectful questions stop absence from turning into WhatsApp drama. We cover the minimum information to collect without prying, how to set expectations while someone is off, and why a five-minute return to work chat after every absence is one of the most effective tools in attendance management.

We also talk about fit notes. When they are needed, sensible deadlines, what to record and where, and how to avoid risky over-sharing of health details. This matters because health information is sensitive data, and it is easy to store more than you need.

To keep culture steady, we share manager scripts you can lift and use. Warm openers that show care, and fair trigger conversations that address patterns without being harsh. Part-timers matter here, too. With more people qualifying for SSP, their admin needs the same consistency as full-timers, or resentment creeps in fast.

Want the full training session and toolkit for managers? This topic is covered inside Coffee, Cake and Compliance, click to find out more 

If this episode helps, share it with a manager who handles sickness calls, and leave a quick review so more small businesses can find practical HR support that actually works.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

Ever find yourself stuck in the middle?

One side asking, “Why isn’t this sorted yet?”

The other asking, “Why are you doing this to us?”

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 authority. Promotions based on being good at the job, not good with people. And the quiet emotional load of being the first person everyone comes to with complaints, tears, frustration, and the occasional snap. None of that is in the job description, but it shows up every day.

From there, we look at the friction points that stall progress. Mixed messages from senior leaders. Managers being undermined in front of their teams. The two-job trap, where someone is expected to lead people and still be the top doer. That combination drains confidence fast and turns small issues into constant firefighting.

Then we get practical. I share simple system tweaks that make a big difference. Clear standards written in plain language. Decision rights that explain who decides what. Light-touch documentation that protects the manager as much as the business. Nothing heavy. Just enough structure to stop everything feeling personal.

You will also hear starter scripts managers can actually use. For performance conversations. Attendance issues. Behaviour that needs addressing early. We talk about how public backing and private coaching protect a manager’s credibility, why consistency matters more than perfection, and how removing just one admin blocker can give managers hours back each week.

This episode is not about telling people to be more resilient. It is about building resilience properly. Through clarity. Authority. Skills. Backing. And time. I also share a quick audit for owners and senior leaders to check whether their setup is helping or quietly hindering their managers, plus a one-thing challenge to make next week easier than last week.

If you are a manager who wants confidence rather than constant self-doubt, or a leader who is ready to stop firefighting and start seeing progress, this episode is your playbook for calmer, fairer, faster delivery.

Subscribe, share it with a colleague who needs some backup, and leave a review telling us the one change you are going to try first.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

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 micromanagers.

We start by naming the hidden cost of a bad hire. Not just salary or training time, but the drain on focus and morale when leaders spend their days correcting work, firefighting mistakes, and smoothing things over. That is usually when resentment creeps in and standards start slipping.

From there, we walk through a simple framework you can realistically run in a small business. Clear contracts that explain probation and when benefits kick in. A first week that sets expectations properly. And targets that turn your values into visible behaviour. Things like response times, quality standards, and basic data hygiene that are easy to track and hard to argue with.

Consistency is the engine of it all. Short weekly check-ins and a proper midpoint review replace last-minute shocks with steady course correction. We talk about how to document in plain English, focusing on what someone is doing rather than how it feels, and how to make your notes sound supportive rather than like a case file.

We also cover the harder decisions. When to extend probation and when not to. How to end employment cleanly if it is not working out. And why getting final pay and holiday right matters more than people realise when it comes to avoiding messy disputes.

Along the way, we tackle the questions managers always ask. What to do if someone discloses a disability. How to support managers who hate giving feedback. How to handle team complaints during probation. And the classic dilemma of someone who is genuinely lovely, but not quite hitting the mark.

Probation is not a waiting room. It is part of good hiring, and a test of your process as much as the person. If you want fewer misfires, stronger onboarding, and a team that performs without constant rescue missions, this episode is for you.

If it helped, follow the show, share it with a fellow manager, and leave a quick review so more small businesses can hire with clarity and keep their momentum.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about that mid-winter morale dip. Not a full-blown disaster. Just that flat feeling where everyone is still showing up, but the spark has gone a bit quiet.

This episode is about how to shift that without extra budget, forced fun, or another all-hands meeting that everyone politely hates.

Because when a team is tired, stretched, or quietly fed up, what usually makes the biggest difference is not a grand gesture. It is a small, specific appreciation that actually lands.

I talk through what really works in small teams, where culture spreads quickly for better or worse. It comes down to a very simple habit. Name a specific action, link it to a real impact, and say you want more of it. That is it. No speech. No drama. Just a bit of proper noticing.

I also share a five-minute recognition routine for busy managers. One clear message each day. A short weekly team shout-out with two genuine wins. And a monthly impact note that does not feel like corporate fluff.

We also talk about recognition as trust, not just praise. Giving someone meaningful work. Asking for their judgment. Letting them lead something that matters. That kind of recognition often does far more than a generic “well done”.

And because not everyone likes being clapped for in public, we tackle the awkward bit too. How to ask people how they actually like to be recognised, and why that matters more than assuming everyone wants the same thing.

I also cover the mistakes that quietly kill this stuff. Only praising the loudest person. Waiting for big wins. Using recognition to dodge harder conversations. Or turning it into a once-a-year box tick that no one really believes.

If morale feels a bit flat and you want something simple, human, and doable, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a manager who needs the nudge, and leave a review so more teams can find practical tools that actually make work feel better.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

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 as a misty-eyed trip down memory lane, but as a reminder of how many young people used to learn the basics of work before they ever stepped into adult jobs that now expect confidence, judgment, and common sense from day one.

We talk through a real moment on a manufacturing floor where a young apprentice made a poor judgment call just as a VIP tour walked past. It could have ended in blame or punishment. Instead, it forced us to stop and ask a better question. Had we actually taught what “professional” looks like, or had we just assumed they would know?

That one moment changed how we approached induction. We got much clearer about boundaries, humour at work, how to speak up, how to treat colleagues and leaders, and where the lines really sit. The result was growth, confidence, and someone who stayed and learned, rather than someone who left feeling ashamed or confused. It was a good reminder that when the gap is knowledge rather than intent, guidance works far better than discipline.

From there, we zoom out and look at what early work looks like now. Retail Saturdays are rarer. Hospitality roles are harder to come by. Paper rounds have all but gone. In their place are online selling, tutoring, creative gigs, app work, and side hustles. Some of these are brilliant. Many are unstructured, unsupervised, and offer very little feedback, which means young people miss out on learning how work actually works.

We also talk through the practical bits for UK employers. What you can and cannot ask under-18s to do. Working hours. Permits. Pay. And the standards that should never drop, no matter how young someone is. Safety. Respect. Clarity. And paying people properly.

If you hire young people, this is about building a pipeline and doing something genuinely positive for your community. If you are a parent or teacher, it gives you language to push for roles that teach responsibility without overwhelming teenagers. And if you are a young worker, there are practical tips for finding structure, building confidence, and understanding how effort links to reward at work.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

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 Act 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.

Kate talks through how ERB risk really builds in day-to-day working life. The kitchen table agreement turns into a formal dispute. The “we’ve always done it this way” approach collapses the first time it is challenged. And how to prepare sensibly, without panic, policy overload, or spending your weekends rewriting documents you do not yet need.

A big theme running through the Employment Rights Bill is reasonableness. Not being nice. Not saying yes to everything. But making decisions that fit your business, applying them consistently, and being able to explain them calmly and clearly. You will hear practical examples of what a reasonable no sounds like, why blanket refusals on flexible working are risky, and why copying big-company HR approaches often backfires in small teams.

Kate also shares a quick consistency sense check that reveals hidden risk in minutes. If two people in the same role ask for the same thing, do they get the same answer, and can you explain why? If not, that is where problems start long before the law ever changes.

To keep this manageable, the episode sets out a phased approach to ERB readiness that works for small businesses. Right now, the focus is on habits rather than paperwork. Clear language. Agreed working patterns. Managers who feel confident in having proper conversations instead of avoiding them. Later comes alignment, making sure contracts match reality and decisions are recorded properly. By the time the bigger changes land, you should be refining, not firefighting.

And this is where many businesses struggle. Not with policies, but with managers freezing in the moment when someone asks for flexibility, raises a concern, or pushes back on a decision.

If that sounds familiar,  Cake, Coffee and Compliance is designed for exactly this gap. Launching in March, it helps managers handle tricky conversations with confidence, apply rules consistently, and make reasonable decisions without panic or second-guessing.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

Your inbox says “quick chat,” and suddenly January feels like a wave you didn’t 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 job market wakes up, and all the questions they parked in December come back loud. From there, we look at what really drives exits in small teams. Manager inconsistency, constant busyness with no outcomes, fuzzy roles, thin recognition, values not matching reality, and ongoing rows about flexibility.

Then we get practical. You will hear a simple retention reset you can do fast. A 30-minute risk scan to spot hotspots, stay interviews that surface what actually keeps people, and quick visible fixes that rebuild trust quickly. We talk about supporting managers properly with clear expectations, short training, scripts, and weekly check-ins so you do not lose them. We also cover how to simplify roles, set five clear priorities, pause the non-essential, and cut the “urgent” clutter that drains everyone.

We tackle pay and progression with honesty, too. What you can improve when cash is tight, when a counteroffer helps, and how to stop resignations becoming contagious by communicating calmly and early. To make it easier, there is a lean resignation checklist to standardise handovers, lock down access, and keep team messages neutral and steady.

Make January the turning point, not the fire. Subscribe, share with a fellow small business leader, and leave a review telling us the first change you will make this week.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are doing a proper year end reset for small business owners and managers. Not the polished “new year new you” 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 reset that story. We look at what actually worked for SMEs in 2025, what caused the most stress behind the scenes, and what small changes will make 2026 calmer and clearer.

One theme comes up again and again. Clarity beats chaos. When expectations are clear and conversations happen early, performance becomes manageable. When standards are vague, everything turns into drama. Managers get frustrated, employees feel unsettled, and everyone ends up walking on eggshells.

We also talk about onboarding, because it is one of the cheapest ways to keep good people. I cover how to make week one feel steady and welcoming, how to name one go to person so new starters are not left guessing, and how to explain what good looks like in plain English so people can actually hit the mark.

Then we get honest about flexibility. Flexible working can be brilliant when it is agreed properly, written down, and reviewed. It becomes a mess when it is based on vibes, done differently depending on who asks, or quietly unfair. I talk through how to keep it consistent, when you can say no, how to explain the business reason, and how to keep trust high even when the answer is not what someone wants.

We also tackle something that quietly cost a lot of businesses in 2025. Avoidance. The feedback that did not happen. The patterns everyone noticed but nobody named. The “they are fine” situations that are not actually fine, and slowly drain time, energy and margins. I share a simple reset you can do in January to get back in control without turning it into a big drama.

And yes, we talk about tribunal fear too, because it hangs over a lot of small business decisions. Doing nothing is often riskier than doing something properly. Most problems blow up because of delay and inconsistency, not because someone acted early, fairly, and with clear notes.

We finish with a look at what is coming next in season two. Hiring without regret. Keeping good people without overpromising. Managing sickness before it spirals. Tackling long running performance issues. And staying on top of employment law changes calmly, without losing your weekends.

If you are ready to move out of survival mode and into something steadier, this is your reset. Subscribe, share it with another small business owner, and leave a quick review so more SMEs can find a saner way to run their teams.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we land right in that familiar end-of-year mess. It is the 23rd of December. The calendar is on the floor, budget papers are trapped under a mug, and the to-do list looks like it is breeding.

If December chaos has a habit of following you straight into January, this episode is here to stop that from happening.

This is a calm, practical reset to help you step into 2026 feeling a bit more organised and a lot less behind. Over a brisk, biscuit-fuelled hour, I talk through the people practices that genuinely helped small teams stay steady in 2025. Things like better onboarding, fairer pay decisions, and training that leaves a proper trail of proof instead of just good intentions.

We also tackle the Employment Rights Act in human language. What is already live? What is coming next, and what does that actually mean for your business day to day? I turn the legal stuff into practical actions you can take now, like clearer offer letters, simpler day one information, manager scripts that explain tricky topics without causing a mutiny, and short, sensible training that people might actually remember.

If January usually starts with firefighting, I also share five specific moves to steady things quickly. Short diary slots to tidy your handbook, sweep payroll, and brief managers. A one-page people list with pay rates, start dates, and probation milestones. A basic onboarding starter pack. And a simple way to redesign the role with the highest churn so your next hire has a better chance of staying.

We also cover the questions that always pop up at this time of year. What to update now and what can wait. How to prove training without making it a drama. What really applies to tiny teams. Why apprenticeships still make sense. And how to explain frozen tax thresholds in a way that normal human beings can actually follow.

If you want to start the year with less chaos and a bit more control, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with another owner who needs a calmer January, and tell me which of the five moves you are going to do first.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am cutting through the noise around the UK Employment Rights Bill and focusing on what actually matters for small businesses.

Because let’s be honest, there has been plenty of commentary, plenty of opinion, and plenty of people making it sound like the sky is falling. What most small business owners actually need is something much simpler. Clear decisions. Clear priorities. And a sense of what needs doing now, what can wait, and what is just noise.

So that is what this episode is about.

I walk through the employment law changes that should already be quietly working in the background, including flexible working from day one, carers leave, extended redundancy protection, tips and service charge rules, the duty to prevent sexual harassment, and neonatal care leave. I explain what these mean in practice, what managers actually need to say and do, and where small businesses often get caught out without realising.

Then we look ahead to what is coming next in 2026 and 2027. Changes to Statutory Sick Pay, predictable working requests, reforms to zero-hours and casual work, and a tougher approach to fire and rehire. We also get into the one that is making a lot of businesses sit up straighter. Unfair dismissal rights are dropping to six months.

I talk about what that really changes day to day, without panic and without overcomplicating it.

We also cover what is not happening, despite some of the headlines, and why sensible workplace boundaries still matter even when the law does not spell every single thing out for you.

By the end of this episode, you will have a much clearer sense of what to tighten up now, what to plan for next, and how to keep your business compliant without turning your weekends into one long HR admin session.

If you want to get ahead calmly and confidently, this episode will help you do exactly that.

Subscribe, share it with another owner-manager, and leave a review telling me which policy you know needs attention first.

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. That’s it for today, but if you fancy a bit of friendly HR advice in your inbox (with zero waffle), come and join our newsletter.

We send out bite-sized tips, plain-English updates, and handy things you’ll actually use — no spam, no fluff.

You can sign up here 

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.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe so you never miss one, and leave a review if you've got thirty seconds. It honestly does help more small business owners find the show, and it's the cheapest good deed you'll do all week.

Got a question or need actual HR support? Find Kate at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk, email [email protected], or follow along on social.

Until next time, keep buzzing, and take care of your people.