Hi all,
I started worked in HR for a luxury retail business (head count of 270 people in the UK as well as a HR Manager and x 2 HR Officers)on a FTC as a HR Admin for 1 year. During that year I also self funded my CIPD L3 course which I passed. After my year was up I was offered another 6 months extension however had found a role that was better money and local. I was 24/25 at the time, I’m now 26 and still very much aware I have very limited life experience.
Fast forward to nearly a year later and I have gone from a very basic HR Admin mainly assisting with paperwork and 1 investigation to now being responsible for a incredibly
diverse workforce nearing 700 employees in the UK. My day to day can involve varying severities of ER casework, grievances, dismissals, redundancies consultations/dismissals, reporting, OH referrals, absence management, stakeholder management, matrix work, payroll assistance as well as dealing with all of the issues and uncertainly that COVID brought about. We are a lean business with each department only having one person, I am lucky to have a Employe Law consultancy to refer to at any time however, I am the first point of contact for 99% of all issues and processes and communications for my responsibility. This also can be anything from commercial cleaning operatives to office senior management.
I am lucky to have an understanding manager who is the finance director, however my role is new, they have never had someone as a dedicated HR person and therefore in some ways I have been able to mould the role into what suits the business and a small element of my L&D. It’s safe to say I love my job, but with no one to talk to about my role and the stresses it can bring is there any one who is able to relate to what I am going through?
I’m thankful to the business for letting me have a say on what I want the role to be, in some ways being thrown in completely at the deep end and all the experience I honestly don’t think I could have gained from not working within a pandemic. But my gosh I am exhausted, it’s chaos for lack of a better word, always someone wanting to ‘urgently’ speak with you, always an employee threatening to speak to ACAS/citizens advice over something small which a Line Manager failed to mention or proactively manage in some way or another. Am I crazy or can anyone else fairly new to HR relate? Funnily enough though I love it and despite the bad days I don’t think I would change too much....
Thanks
