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.
Episodes
83 episodes
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”...
*SPECIAL* When The Tequila Was Not In Budget
A summer Friday work BBQ can feel harmless right up until it isn’t. One drink too many, an argument in front of clients, a messy taxi story that surfaces secondhand, and by Tuesday you are juggling a complaint, a possible safeguarding concern a...
Probation Is Not A Free Pass Anymore
That familiar small-business safety net, “they’re under two years so we can let them go”, is about to shrink dramatically. With the Employment Rights Act changes taking effect on 1 July 2026, unfair dismissal protection moves much closer to day...
The Practical Guide To Menopause Support For Small Businesses
Someone on your team used to be unflappable, then suddenly they’re overheated, not sleeping, forgetting things, snapping over tiny issues, and quietly losing confidence. Many managers read that as performance or attitude. We see it for what it ...
Quiet Quitting Starts Long Before Anyone Resigns
Someone on your team is still turning up, still delivering, still saying they’re “fine” and yet the spark has gone. That grey zone is where quiet quitting lives, and in a small business it does real damage long before anyone resigns: slower pro...
Your New Starter Can Take Paternity Leave From Day One
A new starter turns up on Monday morning and, before you have even finished the office tour, tells you their baby is due in eight weeks and they want paternity leave. If your first response is to do the rota maths in your head, you’re not alone...
Why Good Workers Go Quiet Then Leave
One of the hardest workplace risks to spot is the person who never complains. We open with “Mark” the dependable grafter who shows up early, takes barely any time off, and quietly carries months of poor sleep, pain, and pressure until he disapp...
The Spreadsheet On Sharon’s Old Computer Strikes Again
Someone hands in their notice, sends a polite email, and casually mentions they have 11 days of holiday left. You open your tracker and realise your “system” is a spreadsheet on someone else’s computer, a trail of emails, and a few approvals bu...
Managing Workplace Heat Safely Without A Legal Temperature Limit
Your kitchen wall says 29 degrees, the Met Office alert pings, and you can feel the mood change at work. Someone goes quiet because they feel rough. Someone else rewrites your dress code with shorts and flip-flops. And at least one person is wa...
A WhatsApp Passport Photo Can Cost You £60,000
That casual “looks fine to me” moment during hiring can become a £60,000 problem long after the person has settled in. We walk through how UK right to work checks actually work in practice, why the Home Office issues civil penalty notices to or...
Hire For Skills Not CVs
You've got a vacancy.You've written the job ad. The same job ad you wrote in 2019, with two new bullet points bolted on the front and one removed from the bottom.Five years' experience required. Degree preferred. Industry knowledg...
*Special* What To Do After An Are You OK Chat
You've been noticing. For about three weeks now.She's quieter than usual. Missing a couple of mornings. Apologising for things she hasn't done wrong. Saying "I'm fine" before anyone's actually asked.You've thought about saying som...
Six Years. £20k Per Worker. Zero Warning: The Fair Work Agency Is Here
A polite knock at the door.A woman with ID. From the Fair Work Agency.She'd like to see your records, pay slips, hours worked, holiday taken, contracts, and right to work checks. For everyone you employ. And everyone you've employ...
International HR Day For Small Business Owners Who Do It All
You've been at your desk for seven minutes.You haven't sipped anything yet. Your laptop is still loading. Your inbox is already winning.A payroll question. A WhatsApp sick day with no reason. A "can we have a quick chat?", and we ...
Stop Near Misses Becoming Accidents In Small Businesses
There's a box in the walkway. It's been there for three weeks. Your team member nearly trips over it. They say nothing because the last time someone mentioned something, the list went into a drawer.In the break room, someone's been hunch...
How Minimum Wage Rises Quietly Break Your Pay Structure
The minimum wage went up to £12.71 in April 2026. Your newest team member got a pay rise. Great.But what happened to the person who's been with you for four years?When the floor rises, and nothing else moves, experienced staff not...
April 6 2026 changed the rules, here's what no one told you
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am doing the debrief that a lot of small business owners needed last week but did not have time to sit down for.The sixth of April 2026 was the biggest single day in UK employment law in a generatio...
Day One Rights Turn Week One Into Your Highest Risk Window
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am talking about day one rights and why they change the rhythm of employment for small businesses.Because day one is no longer just about laptops, logins, uniforms, and trying to remember whe...
The Friday Flu: Sickness Patterns That Catch Small Businesses Out
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, we are talking about sickness absence. Not the tidy policy version where everyone follows the rules and no one texts at 6:58am saying they are not coming in. The real small business version. The one w...
Don’t Paste That: The AI Mistake That Could Leak Your Client List
In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I am talking about one of the quietest risks sitting inside small businesses right now. Not hackers. Not competitors. Not some dramatic cyber attack.Someone on a deadline, with good intentions,...
Stop Playing HR Cluedo: How to Run an Investigation Properly
If someone says “Can I have a quick word?” and your stomach drops, last week was about grievances. This week is what comes next.Investigations.And this is where most small businesses wobble a bit.Not because you’re doing an...
“Can I Have a Word?” What to Do When Someone Raises a Concern
If someone in your business says, “Can I speak to you privately?”, most leaders feel a small jolt of panic. Are they resigning, raising a grievance, or about to report something serious?In this episode of Buzzing About HR, Kate br...
Later Is Not a Strategy: 3 HR Mini Dramas Every SME Must Fix in 2026
If your phone’s been pinging all morning, you’ve nodded through a meeting while quietly panicking, and you’ve already said “I’ll deal with that later” twice… you’re in the right place.It’s
Small Business Survival Guide To The Employment Rights Act 2025
If you have heard the words “Employment Rights Act 2025” and thought, “I’ll deal with that later,” 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 ...