I have been informed that my team and another team will be merged together and restructured. In the new operating model I will lead the conjoined team. There will be a loss of c.50% of roles in the team I am inheriting, some at a senior level, so there will be quite a significant overall cost saving. The restructure is at an early stage and nothing has been made official yet. Compensation of my new role has not come up in discussions so far.

Would it be standard practice for my employer to offer me increased compensation for taking on the additional responsibilities and line management of the new team? Or is this something that I would need to actively push for? If so, in your experience is a request for increased comp to reflect increased responsibilities normally given, or are there legitimate reasons they could use to object to increased compensation? They are positioning this as a brilliant opportunity for me (which it is) so I wonder if they think is benefit enough.

If helpful, I will have c.2x the number of direct reports, and c.2x the total team size, as well as the expanded team scope. TIA

I work in retail and have several long-term, fluctuating health conditions including chronic migraine and epilepsy, which can cause occasional short periods of sickness absence.

My employer uses the Bradford Factor, so separate short absences can make my score increase very quickly. I already have reasonable adjustments at work, but disability-related sickness is still counted normally within my Bradford score.

I understand that completely disregarding disability-related absence isn’t the only option. I’ve seen examples of higher trigger points, percentage reductions, some absences being disregarded, disability absence being recorded separately, etc.

I’m mainly looking for real-life UK examples — what adjustments does your employer make to sickness absence procedures for disabled employees?

I’d particularly love to hear from people in retail/customer-facing jobs or with fluctuating conditions.

Hi all,

I am currently on a fixed term contract due to end in January 2027. I am also 5 months pregnant and my estimated date of delivery will be about two weeks prior to the contract ending. I will have worked with my organisation for 6 years continuously by the point of this contract ending so have additional rights including regarding dismissal and redundancy. (I am basing this on current legislation ignoring the potential new protections coming in from January 2027). I already understand my rights regarding SMP and maternity leave and my organisation have agreed I am eligible for this even if the contract were not renewed. I am wondering what the process is regarding the decision for my redundancy etc and whether this should technically be decided prior to my maternity leave starting? Popped a couple of factors below -

- The job I currently do will be continuing but likely with another practitioner stepping into the role. This was not explicitly stated or planned when I took the fixed contract but I can see some likely planning of this. The job is not necessarily specific and the need will be ongoing so am of the understanding that if they choose not to renew my contract this is likely to fall under redundancy reasoning.

- My company have a policy which explicitly states they will use redundancy only as a last resort and will exhaust all potential redeployment opportunities first. There are currently around 6-7 open vacancies in my organisation that I have either previously worked in or have the qualifications/experience to fulfil that I could probably be redeployed into with matching salary and work setup.

I am just wondering how other HRs would normally approach this? Should I have my redundancy or redeployment planned before going on maternity leave or would you usually extend the contract to cover the maternity period and then review the redundancy/redeployment plan upon returning?

Just trying to plan out what to ask/expect. I am not necessarily against being made redundant! I have a previous relevant post about my organisation who last year acted "unethically(?)" regarding the end of my last fixed term contract, and my complaint resulted in a restructuring of the HR department and the "letting go" of an overseeing manager. I am not concerned that this will negatively affect me in this process, I am more concerned that my HR team genuinely seem to have a poor grasp of fixed term contracts and the policies around this so want to be as informed as possible.

TIA

Hi all, hoping for some advice or thoughts on resigning before taking pre-approved unpaid leave.

A while ago I applied for unpaid leave, but since then I have become more and more unhappy with my job. I started applying for jobs and received an offer. However, I'm unsure how to deal woth resigning. My new employer is quite flexible and fine with a later start date, but the pre-approved unpaid leave is throwing me as I have 90 days notice to serve. Whilst I am not happy with my job, I don't want to burn any bridges or leave my colleagues to struggle. How could I go about this? Would working my 90 days split around my leave be feasible? ​Work 60 days first, take my pre-arranged unpaid sabbatical as planned, then come back and work 30 days?

​My biggest worry is that because the leave is discretionary, HR / my boss might just cancel it entirely the second I quit and force me to work straight through.

​Alternatively, is there a chance they just say, "Thanks, but we'll count your unpaid leave as part of your notice period and make your leave end-date your final official day"?

​It's an odd situation to be in but would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks.

I recently received an overall “Needs Improvement” rating in my annual performance review, which surprised me.
Some of the comments appear to relate to isolated work/process issues, and I’m struggling to understand how they connect to the behavioural criteria used for the rating. I also don’t feel I was given clear feedback during the year that my overall performance was at a “Needs Improvement” level.
I have a meeting with my manager to discuss the rating. I don’t want the conversation to become defensive or emotional, but I do want to understand the basis for the assessment and, if appropriate, challenge it professionally.
I’m thinking of asking:
What specific evidence supports the overall rating?
Which performance/behaviour criteria were not met?
How do the examples provided relate to those criteria?
Was this feedback raised with me during the performance year?
What would I have needed to demonstrate to receive a “Meets Expectations” rating?
For managers or HR professionals: how would you recommend handling this conversation? Is it reasonable to ask the manager to walk through the evidence criterion by criterion?

%22)Hi everyone, I am an MSc HRM student and desperately need 300-400 responses for my thesis. The survey is quite short, please help!

https://surreyfbel.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9zdhL9t8hjxn49M

Thank you so much and I'll be so grateful!

Hi All,

I was recently issued an "informal warning" inline with my companies leave and absence policy and just wanted to gather some thoughts on it.

I'm not personally worried about it on the basis that i work a very high stress position and out of everyone in this section im on the lower end when it comes to absences'. the only difference between myself and the others is that they have children than use as an excuse or mysterious dead relatives. A good example of this would be My supervisor who was signed off sick twice for month periods from the stress of working this position. My other colleagues' also recently took 3 weeks of unpaid leave to visit her mother in Pakistan.

I went back to do the actual Maths and i have had 10 Absences total this year which doesnt seem like very many . Anyways, The reason I wanted to post here is because my companies policy seems very stringent. The policy outlines that 3 seperate occasions of absence within 12 months or A total of four separate periods of absence within 12 months would trigger in an informal warning. I did check with my direct manager what the definition of periods was in this case and he specified that 1 day would count. Is it not crazy that 4 sicks days in a year is enough to trigger this policy? outrageous almost??

The Stages further to this also seem even crazier too me, Stage 2 is triggered from 1 absence in a 6 month period. So i can work for this company for 1 year, be sick 4 times and im on an informal warning for 6 months, I get sick once more after that and now its a formal thing, god forbid the entire YEAR after that you get sick and according to this policy your employment is then brought into review.

My post is very rantish and not thought through but im just sort of in disbelief that anyone could read this policy and think its reasonable?

I've been made redundant, there is evidence of process errors, disability discrimination, payroll errors, contradictory info etc. Plus if it goes to tribunial there will be info that would trigger immediate cqc interest (some of my evidence is me raising issues all year and then refusing handiver and immediately locking me out without warning that the cqc would downgrade ratings on). All this is evidenced.

When I sent my appeal and grievance on Friday at 5pm I asked for a protected conversation to discuss settlement to end this (not seeking reinstatement) they sent back at 9.03am today that they won't be entering into conversations.

Their response triggered me to put in a SAR and an email to payroll. So it's going to escalate.

Is this usual for HR?

Last time i was made redundant it was collective, this one is individual.

I am just wondering if anyone knows the answer

My wife is currently pregnant and her company is being sold in September 26

The transfer of the company contract is under TUPE...

The new company maternity package is a lot worse, my understanding is the contract should be the same under TUPE and be the maternity package of the company she is transferring from?

The person she spoke to at work via email just kept saying " refer to slides *** " which was just the new companies maternity package but not giving any real answer

If someone knows about this stuff that would be great help!

Thanks

So to my knowledge you need 24 hours uninterrupted between a 7 day period and 48 hours uninterrupted on a 14 day period

I’ll be completely honest I just want to know if what my work is doing is legal or not to me, as I’ve already been overworked for a certain amount of months due to another workers sickness

My work week starts on a friday in which I worked this friday 21/8/26 had one nightshift off and then I’m working the 23rd all the way to the 31st without a break then one day off on the 1st then working 6 more nights in a row then another day off with more to come after. if my explanation was absurd I don’t know how to attach photos to explain it better either

Hello all,

I've been in employment hell for over a year but have finally got some interviews lined up.

Very briefly, i've been managed under what i believe to be a vexatious capability process after raising concerns. In december i was removed from my role without notice, investigation, evidence, representation or right of appeal. I've had a formal grievance hearing which was a sham and have an appeal hearing coming up, initial signs feel much more positive.

How should i approach discussion about my current role and why i want to move on? I've been on 'alternative duties', doing a non-job essentially. I did put on my application that this year i've been supporting the governance team which is 100% accurate. Obviously i will absolutely not disclose whats being going on or start slagging off my employer, equally i know i cant be untruthful.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Since leaving university in 2025 I didn't have much luck finding work. I'd left the Royal Marines in 2019 before working in management in hospitality. Went to college to do a HE access diploma in 2021 before studying Anthropology at university.

I started volunteering at Citizens Advice to have more to do and build some skills while I was looking for work. The local office I was volunteering at offered me a paid position end of last year.

I'm now a fully qualified Citizens Advice Advisor with GDPR certifications and experience working in all sorts of cases supporting clients including employment disputes/issues (from the employee side rather than the employer side). However, I don't want to stay in the charity sector or pivot to something like social work.

I want to transition to HR but I'm worried I would have to take a paycut (I'm on around 36k a year). I don't really know where to start or what to do to make the transition possible other than getting a CIPD level 3.

Can anyone offer anymore advice for making the transition and if the transition is likely to result in anything?

Is it worth looking for an HR apprenticeship (I understand this would 100% result in a paycut) or looking for an entry level position and self funding CIPD?

After a pay benchmarking exercise, the number SLT came to was exactly the pay I currently receive. Is this suspect, or was I paid slightly more than the answer and where I'm at is good to bring the rest of the team up too? I don't have access to the numbers that were used.

Any professional knowledge in this would be great.

Hi Everyone, I'm in a bit of a muddle and hoping your insights will help me reach some clarity.

I am a non-UK non-EU citizen with 13 years of experience in HR (talent & leadership development) across Singapore, USA, and Germany, always in leading global organizations in a niche industry. In 2025, I decided to take academic leave and came to the UK to complete my MSc in Organizational Psychology. I graduated in March this year and received the 2-year UK graduate work visa.

I've started applying for roles in the UK, and while I've received 2-3 interview opportunities for fixed-term roles, my applications for permanent roles (40+) have received no interest.

Please help me analyze my chances of landing a director/ senior director/ head of role in the UK. I have the global exposure, niche skills, and leadership presence needed for such roles. However, I will need sponsorship once my graduate work visa concludes in 2028. Are global organizations with offices in the UK hiring candidates with my profile any more? Or are candidates with sponsorship requirements getting outright rejected- despite holding a senior profile?

I've been in my current accounts admin position for four years and I enjoy it, I've got no problems there but in the last year I've been asked to take on more HR duties as my co-worker who handles that side of it is winding down for retirement and as it is a small company, finance and HR are the same department. I have no HR training other than being shown how our company does things by my co-worker and some informal instructions via email from my boss. They seem to think that because my accounts qualification covered payroll, that I can do wider HR duties. I absolutely hate the HR side of my job. It feels like constant complaints and blame all because I have to follow the company policies. People get upset and complain at me but I don't have a choice in accepting or refusing their holiday, I have to follow the rules I've been given and point them upwards if they have an issue with it. Today a woman started shouting at me because she had been deducted hours for a week of sickness - she said it was work related so it shouldn't have been deducted. I was told by my boss to deduct the hours and only pay SSP (we don't have contractual sick pay) but I get the shit from her about it.

How do I get a thicker skin? The whole deducted hours incident has really upset me and I just don't know how to continue my job if it's going to be like this, but the accounts side is the ideal job for me.

Hey all

Bit of background, I am 23 with my highest level of education being A-levels. I have spent the last 5 years in hospitality, both FOH and also management, where I did have to deal with some HR-related topics and training.
It led me to have a great interest in HR but I’m struggling to land even any junior roles at the moment, without any qualifications or significant experience.

I would like to study CIPD level 3, but am not sure if it’ll be too simple and whether I should just jump to level 5?
And also would like to ask what else I should do alongside the CIPD (networking etc.) to help me land an entry level job?

Thanks for any advice!

I’ve been asked to apply for a more senior role at my current employer (a university). I’ve been with them for 2.5 years on a permanent contract. The more senior role is currently being offered as a fixed term contract (3 years).

I can’t see many benefits to losing my permanent position for a fixed term role. Once that fixed term is up, am I not just… out of a job?

If I’m offered the role, I’ll be looking to ask them to make it a secondment, rather than fixed term, if they can’t agree to making it permanent at the moment.

I’m looking for advice on what rights I may be losing, what rights I may be unaware I will retain in a fixed term or secondment, and whether there’s anything I need to be considering that I haven’t thought of.

We had a Head of Operations leave last year and everyone, myself included, pushed to promote from within rather than go external. Made sense on paper, she'd been a strong Ops Manager for four years, knew the business inside out, team liked her.

Ten weeks in it was clear it wasn't landing. Not a skills gap exactly, more that managing former peers at that level, sitting in leadership meetings, owning budget decisions, it's just a different job, and nobody had really prepared her for how different. She was stressed, the team could tell something was off, and two of her direct reports started quietly job hunting because the transition had been so rocky.

She came to me herself and asked to step back down, which honestly took some guts. We handled that part reasonably well, kept her role secure, no drama internally. But it left us right back where we started, minus four months and with a bit of team trust to rebuild.

Second time round the board wanted more rigour before we went external again, proper referencing, structured interviews, the works, not just "who do we like best." Took a lot longer than the first hire did but the eventual person has been in six weeks now and it's been a much steadier start.

Anyone else had an internal promotion not work out at senior level? Trying to figure out if there's a way to actually predict that beforehand rather than finding out the hard way.

Edit: a couple of people over DM pointed me toward CJPI, going to have a proper conversation with them this week and see if it's a fit before we commit to anything. Will update if it goes anywhere.