The variety of working in HR

As you know, we’re currently on the lookout for a new HR consultant to join our expanding team.

This position offers exciting and rewarding opportunities for the right person allowing them to make a real difference as our business grows, but what exactly does working in HR consultancy entail?

To answer this question, we talked to Paula, Angie and Julie, three of our most highly experienced and knowledgeable HR Advisers, to find out what their typical working day looks like.

For Paula, one of the best parts of her job is the variety of workplace issues and problems she gets to advise on.

She said: “This morning, for instance, I’ve been helping an employer with a Statutory Sick Pay issue. Sick pay at his company was previously paid after three days of sickness absence, but following requests from the workforce, it will now kick in from day one. This is quite a change for the employer so I’m now busy amending his employee contracts.

We never know what sort of HR calls we’re going to get. Someone might ring us to find out what they can and can’t do and be on the phone for a minute, while another employer might want a lengthy conversation about their issue and be on the line for 40 minutes.”

Being patient and understanding with all callers is essential to doing an HR Adviser’s job well agrees her colleague Angie.

She said: “You have to be good on the phone. You might take several calls on the same issue, but you must sound as enthusiastic when talking to the tenth caller as you were with the first.

We also like to provide consistency so that an employer with a particular issue always speaks with the same Adviser. This saves them the rigmarole of having to explain the situation every time they ring us.”

Angie’s caseload at this time of year typically includes enquiries about holiday entitlement as well as annual business reviews.

She added: “If a company is looking to restructure, then it will usually start planning any redundancies months ahead, often at the start of a new year.

Generally, having specific industry knowledge in this job is useful. For example, I regularly deal with the leisure sector and find that familiarity with the industry’s terminology is an advantage.”

HR:4UK has, for the past 20 years, offered a bespoke HR service to the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NSFP) and it’s an area of the business in which HR Adviser Julie takes many calls.

She said: “At the beginning of a new year I tend to spend a lot of time advising sub postmasters on the TUPE regulations as new employers come into the post office and take on existing staff.

As HR Advisers we’re here to explain to employers what they can and can’t do but it’s not our job to tell them what to do, its their business. We just give them the possible options and then guide them accordingly.”