The HR Podcast | Built for Business

Wellbeing problems rarely announce themselves. Nobody walks into your office and says "I'm burnt out" before it's already a crisis — instead, it shows up in small, easy-to-miss changes: someone who's usually chatty goes quiet, a high performer starts working later and later, or a normally reliable team member misses a deadline for no obvious reason. In this episode, you'l...

When the same employee seems to be off sick every Monday, it's easy to assume the worst. But before you jump to conclusions, it's important to understand what might really be driving the pattern. In this episode, you'll learn how to approach Monday sickness absence fairly, spot attendance patterns early, and manage short-term absence without creating unnecessary legal risk. We discuss...

Only 7% of UK workers now wear a suit to work. The era of formal dress codes has largely passed — but employers still have a say in what people wear. The question has become more nuanced, not less relevant. In this episode: whether a dress code policy is still relevant, why guidelines work better than rigid rules, what UK law allows employers to require, how tattoos and piercings fit in, and why h...

If you're still relying on CVs to make hiring decisions, you might be missing your best candidates. Skills-based hiring is becoming increasingly common, with more employers using practical assessments and skills tests to predict job performance rather than relying solely on work history and qualifications. At the same time, AI is changing how candidates present themselves and how employers eva...

Is a CIPD Qualification Worth It? An Honest Career Assessment If you're in HR or thinking about moving into it, the CIPD question comes up constantly. Is it worth the cost? Do hiring managers actually care, or is it just a box they've been told to tick? And if your career is going fine without it, should you bother? In this episode: the three levels and what they're for, whether CIPD m...

Should You Introduce Stay Interviews? An Honest Assessment An exit interview happens when someone has already decided to leave. The feedback is useful for the next person — but it's too late to help the one walking out the door. A stay interview flips that. You have it while someone is still there, still engaged, and still worth keeping. Oxford Economics puts the average cost of replacing an e...

Employment Rights Act 2025: Why You Can't Just Fire Them Anymore When we first answered "why can't I just fire them?", employees needed two years before unfair dismissal protection applied. From 1 January 2027, the Employment Rights Act 2025 reduces that to six months. Unfair dismissal claims are up 72% year on year. The average case takes 33 weeks. The compensation cap is being...

Authenticity at Work: Where Does It Cross Into Oversharing? Half of UK workers find oversharing annoying — but many would leave if they couldn't be themselves. Where's the line? This episode unpacks it. Listen now. "Bring your whole self to work" sounds positive until you're sitting next to someone describing their UTI in graphic detail. Authenticity at work genuinely matters...

What Great HR Mentoring Looks Like (And Why Most Gets It Wrong) Most people have had a mentor who didn't really mentor them. The sessions happened, the conversation was pleasant, and nobody was sure what the point was. Mentoring ranked number one in LinkedIn's Learning Report for L&D priorities — yet only 52% of those who say a mentor is important to their career actually have one. In...

Why Candidates Are Ghosting You (And What To Do About It) Candidates ghosting your recruitment process? This episode covers why it happens, what your hiring process signals, and how to fix candidate experience. Listen now. If candidates are disappearing after interview invitations — or not showing up on day one — the instinct is to blame applicants. But 56% of UK employers admit they're likely...

Pet Bereavement Leave UK: Should You Offer It? No legal obligation exists for pet bereavement leave in the UK — but what should you actually do? Practical advice for small business owners handling this well.   If an employee came to you tomorrow morning, red-eyed, and told you their dog had died — what would you do? There’s no legal entitlement to pet bereavement leave in the UK, but that doesn’t...

Culture Integration After a Team Merger: What Actually Works Merging two teams with different cultures? This episode covers what leaders get wrong in M&A and how to make culture integration actually work. Listen now. If your business has just merged two teams — through an acquisition, a restructure, or a cost-saving consolidation — you already know the business case. What nobody prepares you f...

Toxic High Performer: What To Do When They Deliver But Destroy Your top performer hits every target but makes everyone else miserable. Here's how to handle a toxic high performer before it costs you the team. Listen now. If your best performer is also your biggest problem, you're not alone — and you're not imagining it. Toxic workplace culture costs the UK economy over £20 billion a ye...

How to Create an Inclusive Workplace: The Small Things That Make a Big Difference Episode Summary Inclusion isn't a policy document. It shows up in the small, everyday decisions — whether your team socials always end up at the pub on a Friday, whether there's somewhere quiet for someone to decompress or pray, whether a new mum returning from maternity leave has a private space to express m...

Most managers are promoted because they're great at the job — then expected to just know the people stuff. In this episode, Claire Cathcart and Sarah Ropek cover the HR basics every manager actually needs, where the line sits between HR's job and the manager's job, how to make policies less overwhelming, and what happens when managers avoid people issues altogether. Giving good feedbac...

In this episode, Sarah Ropek and Claire Cathcart explore why performance improvement plans (PIPs) have developed such a negative reputation and whether the problem is the process itself or how it’s used. Many employees see a PIP as a sign that their job is already at risk, but Claire and Sarah discuss why that perception exists and what often goes wrong in performance management before a formal pr...

International Women’s Day Special: Careers in HR, Confidence & Building Your Own Business In this International Women’s Day episode, Sarah Ropek and Claire Cathcart step away from their usual Q&A format for a more personal conversation about their careers in HR, the decisions that shaped them, and why they both chose to start their own businesses. With more than 20 years of experience each...

The Employment Rights Act is reshaping UK employment law in 2026 and 2027 - but what does this major legislation change actually mean for your business? In this episode of The HR Podcast Expert Sessions, Sarah Ropek and Nic Elliott break down the biggest employment law reforms in years. Discover what's coming first, including day-one statutory sick pay and the new Fair Work Agency, plus what&#...

Hiring the wrong person can cost up to 3x their salary. This episode covers the real causes of bad hires and practical fixes for your recruitment process. Listen now. If you've ever looked at a new starter three months in and thought "this isn't who I interviewed," you're not alone. According to the REC, the wrong hire can cost up to three times their salary — and in a small...

Why HR Still Matters Even With Great Managers Good managers don't remove the need for HR in small businesses. Here's what HR actually does, when to get support, and what the risks are if you don't. Listen now. Your managers are competent, your team is happy, one-to-ones are happening — so what exactly is HR adding? It's a fair question, and one Claire and Sarah hear regularly from...

Can You Contact Employees on Sick Leave? UK Absence Guide Think you can't contact an employee on sick leave? You can — but how you do it matters. This episode covers UK absence management done right. Listen now. You can contact an employee who's off sick. That's the short answer — and it surprises more managers than it should. What you can't do is contact them in a way that feels p...

Probationary Period Purpose: What UK Businesses Need to Know Is your probationary period actually working? This episode covers what probation is for, how long it should be, and what changes in January 2027. Listen now. If your probation reviews get forgotten or treated as a formality, you're running a risk that's about to get significantly bigger. 22% of UK employees say they didn't re...

Why Employee Resignations Spike in January (And How to Stop Them) January resignations don't come from nowhere. This episode covers why staff leave after the holidays and which employee retention strategies actually work. Listen now. If you always seem to lose people in January, the decision to leave almost certainly wasn't made in January. LinkedIn and Indeed both show January is one of t...

Exit Interviews: Should You Bother and How to Make Them Work Exit interviews done badly are a tick-box exercise that changes nothing. This episode covers when they work, what to ask, and what to do with the data. Listen now. Exit interviews are one of those HR rituals everyone does but few use well. A 2023 CIPD study found 35% of UK employees were considering leaving within 12 months — poor manage...

Promoted Your Star Performer and It's Gone Wrong? Here's Why One in four high performers underperform after promotion. This episode covers the promotion pitfalls, how to prevent them, and what to do if it's already gone wrong. Listen now. Promoting your best person seems like an obvious call — until three months later it's clearly not working. According to the Harvard Business Revi...