The Sneak Peek May 20th 2024

The Sneak Peek May 20th 2024

The HR Big Meet

Well tickle my bum and call me Donald…

I don’t even know where to start – and I’m still processing the absolute MAGIC that was The HR Big Meet last week❤️

Emma Djemil is a total game changer in the world of HR, and I always come away from the HR Big Meet full of inspiration and loved up 🩷

It was even referred to as a ‘professional hen do’ by one of the Geeks… which feels totes accurate given the disco balls, prosecco and large amount of swears happening in one room! 😂

I started out on the train wearing the brightest colours I own (of course), overloaded with bags and disco ball boppers 🪩🪩🪩 and ended up partying the night away!

And ho-ly shitballs – The HR Geek Squad makes me proud in ways I don’t even have words for. 💖

What a DAY!

✨Get on the list for The HR Big Meet 2025✨
and make sure you’re first to hear when next year’s date is released!

What’s On Your Proud Cloud?

After the magical The HR Big Meet, I still have ALL the feels…

In fact, I attended a workshop with Dagmar Albers and Ursula Tavender on talking about our achievements and how many of us can find it hard to be proud of the stuff we’ve achieved.

So, obvs I went off looking online for images of being proud of yourself and I saw a lovely little template from an education site that was about ‘Proud Clouds’.

So here’s my take on it… what’s on your proud clouds this week?

Awareness Weeks

Do you know what really NAFFS me off about ‘awareness weeks’?

The bloody lip service posts: I’m tired of seeing them.

So – let’s stop:

🛑 Posting the platitudes
🛑 Judging people who experience poor mental health
🛑 Paying lip service to mental health awareness
🛑 Using language poorly like: ‘ooh that’s mental’, and ‘I’m a bit manic’
🛑 Saying ‘it’s ok not to be ok’ when you don’t mean it or understand it, or fail to create safe spaces for those that do

Instead, let’s start:

✅ Enabling people to take mental health days, no questions asked
✅ Talk about mental health on more than just the awareness week/day/month
✅ Breaking the shame cycle and TALK to people when they are off sick with mental ill health
✅ Creating safe spaces where people (yes, even leaders 😳🙄) talk about their challenges, feelings, concerns and issues
✅ Sharing your own experiences, whatever they are – when you feel able to – so that even one person feels seen and heard
✅ Post your Pills to help others see that medication is more common than you think, doesn’t hold any shame and can be a helpful tool in recovery: citalopram genuinely saved me.

What are you going to do differently on the next mental health awareness week?

#NoMoreLipService

Red Flags For HR Peeps

These are just some of my red flags – and I’ve definitely got worse ones too!

🚩 Day 1 of your new job and your predecessor is pushing around the cake trolley 👀😂
🚩 You realise Health & Safety is included in your Job Description… 😱
🚩 Your biz has a mandated return to office and no hybrid 🤢
🚩 Your department is still referred to as ‘Personnel’ 🤮
🚩 The SLT think HR is to ‘keep them out of jail’ 🙄

What are your HR Red Flags, friends?

What’s On Your ‘Ick’ List?

There are some pretty nasty ‘icks’ on my list – how about yours?

🤢 the workplace fridge 🤮
🤢 having to battle for any kind of budget
🤢 people who think HR is there do their admin
🤢 people who think HR is there to sort out the toilets 🙄
🤢 having to constantly prove myself and my function’s value
🤢 people who are ‘too busy’ to give proper feedback to candidate

Do You Know Your Actual Hourly Rate?

Do you know your **actual** hourly rate?

I don’t mean the one off the payroll system, I mean the one that is your ACTUAL weekly Hours / your pay…

So many of the awesome HR people in my world are giving away HOURS and HOURS for free.

When I was in corporate, I worked at least an extra day a week – and that was the minimum.

The to-do list was never-ending, and I had to get to the point where I felt like the list was ‘done’ before I left for the day.

I didn’t count meetings as ‘work’, and so if I hadn’t produced anything, despite being in meetings all day – I’d feel like I’d done nothing, so I had to overwork to feel like I’d actually done something.

Crazy!!

Here are a few tips from me on breaking the overwork habit – because overwork just got me burned out.

✅ Start small: take breaks
– just take them: a lunch, away from the desk every day, a cuppa break away from the desk – ten minutes.

✅ Book something in after work
– book something that starts close to your finish time, and DONT cancel it. Have a reason to leave that means you finish on time.

✅ Leave your laptop behind or away
– leaving it locked away or back at the office to avoid the temptation to work when you get home. And while we’re at it, switch off the work phone too.

✅ Prioritise urgent and important work only
– focus on the big stuff, forget the rest. Use the Eisenhower matrix to help you focus on what’s needed now, and leave the rest for times when you can choose when to do them.

💷 Calculate your REAL hourly rate
– based on all of those hours you’re giving away for free – it might be enough to shock you into doing fewer hours!

There’s No Bread Left In The Sh*t Sarnie

Now look here…

Why do we keep pretending that there’s bread?!

I speak to a lot of wonderful HR people daily and I can say with confidence that ALL OF THEM have stayed in roles for far too long!

In fact, I’ve stayed in roles for far longer than I should have because:

💩 I didn’t trust my gut
💩 I felt financially stuck
💩 I thought I could change them
💩 I didn’t want to let my team down
💩 I didn’t have time to look for a new role

And honestly?

All that got me was burned out and exhausted.

It’s time to think about what you need to do to follow your joy, and get yourself a role (roll?!) with more bread!

ORRRRR: a role where the sandwich doesn’t contain sh1t…?!

😀 Make a list of all the things you can do to bring joy and find a happy place.

😀Take time out to do things you love or make you feel good

😀Play my Micro Self-Care Moments Bingo

Awesome Creators to Follow

I was genuinely blown away by all of the amazing speakers at The HR Big Meet, who all managed to give me OOF moments, made me laugh, made me cry and made me remember why I love our profession so bloody much!