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Are any other HR people feeling a bit lonely in all this :(

Samantha

Hi

Sorry its a self indulgent one.

Just wondering if anyone else is feeling a bit lonely?  I have streams of people coming in to my office concerned about it and asking what our plans are for WFH and sickness and about 101 other queries and being openly worried and I have to sit here and be the cabin crew and exude calmness.  Yet I am just as concerned as everyone else.

Managers and Directors etc look to us for calm, measured guidance and practical advice, and being so close to the 'inner circle' and hearing first hand the impact on the business etc.....very worrying, I'm feeling a bit forgotten about and just wondered if anyone else is feeling the same?  It just feels like sometimes people forget that we count as employees too?  

Parents

  • I had my big cry this weekend.

    As part of my role, I have been doing welfare check-in calls to people (been really well received, do recommend) and someone said this to me this morning:

    I realised I have been measuring time on what I haven't been able to do, rather than what I have done. 

    He told me about a sports event he was missing, a hobby that is a large part of his life he hasn't done activities for. But he then told me about he was able to eat 3 meals a day with his wife, invest in the future with some gardening and pick up his guitar for some online lessons. This really resonated with me as I was due to go on holiday Thursday and I have been in mourning already for weeks, rather that noticing that I have picked up my baking skills again* for example.

    Work stuff sucks too, but at least I am doing it in leggings, hair in a top knot and a cat on my lap. Not sure if that helps, but that mindset change is working for me.

    *Matcha and white chocolate cookies today

  • in reply to Cat Jones
    That's a great outlook on it Cat. I like that, much like Peter's suggestion for celebrating the small victories. I too have been baking more since all this - 2 successful loaves of bread made over the last couple of weekends and a batch of the old faithful banana bread to salvage some overripe bananas.
  • in reply to Gemma

    Gemma! A fellow bread-baker! I have made all my own bread for about the last two and a half years (I got fed up with eating white plastic) and have always made my own Christmas Cakes and Christmas puddings. I even made a wedding cake for one of the women at a company where I was HRM. I learned to bake bread at school (very unusual for boys to be taught to cook in those days of the late '50s ...and Yes, I am that old, but the school also taught girls carpentry and metalwork too).

    Apart from all the heath benefits of good fresh bread, and the pure magic of a sticky mess of flour, water, yeast and a little salt turning first into a smooth elastic dough, and then after half an hour or so in an oven becoming a light, crusty, delicious loaf; beating and strangling "seven bells" out of it in the process of kneading is the most therapeutic (and legal) way I know of dealing with frustrations caused by issues at work, other managers' HR-deafness, and similarly cross-making irritations.

    Another victory: The crosser I am, the better tomorrow-morning's toast will be!

    P

  • in reply to Peter
    Peter, yes I don't mind baking bread from time to time. My mum and my gran taught me to bake (although their method is the very traditional approach of "oh that looks about right"). The merits of bread baking are indeed many, nothing like taking some frustration out on a bit of dough! Although this weeks bread was made with treacle thanks to a recipe from the BBC's Saturday Kitchen which involved no proving or kneading, but still a rather nice loaf of bread.
  • in reply to Peter
    Peter, off topic but I'd love to try making my own bread......any chance of a recipe?

    Plus, there are a lot of people I'd like to punch squarely in the face at the moment so taking it out on bread sounds like a good alternative.
  • in reply to Samantha
    My take is that you find out at times of crisis who steps up and who doesn’t. For those staff that haven’t (and definitely a very small minority) it wasn’t surprising as there have been previous issues prior to this. I have had far more positives in the last few weeks than negatives and definitely holding onto that. Optimism is a great trait to have right now! Love the thought of kneading out your frustrations - go for it.
  • in reply to Gemma
    I shall have to look that one up Gemma.
  • in reply to Samantha
    Hi Samantha
    This is a very basic recipe for white bread, but you will find that all almost bread-flour bags (wholemeal or white) have basic recipes printed on them
    www.bbcgoodfood.com/.../easy-white-bread

    There are hundreds (if not thousands) of recipes for making bread and to start with you don't even need to buy tins (available from Amazon) as you can make either rolls or a "cottage" loaf (basically a ball of dough, placed on a large baking sheet)

    Kneading can be quite strenuous, but try not to give up until the sticky mess you first have turns into something smooth and elastic (and stops being sticky altogether).

    You can use a mixer and a dough-hook, which I now do for the early stages,"finishing off" kneading by hand (the good exercise and frustration-diverting stage). I also "knock back" by hand (re-kneading the dough after it has first risen), as this enables you to judge when it feels springy rather than "puffy" and is ready for the final "proving" rise before going in the oven. (You'll know what I mean when you try it).

    I usually bake a weeks worth of bread at once (which saves multiple baking-days and lots of energy heating the oven) as homemade bread freezes perfectly, but try one loaf at a time at first.

    You can also schedule your baking to fit with using the hot oven for other things, with or after the baking's done)

    The actual work of mixing is minutes, kneading (by hand) about 15-20 minutes (in total, including "knocking back") and oven time a little over half an hour. The long process is rising, which will take a good hour and sometimes longer, depending on where you have available to leave the dough to rise.

    It really is simple, and magically satisfying, though it needs a little effort and patience. ...and if it doesn't work perfectly the first time, it will very quickly with practice.

    P
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  • in reply to Samantha
    Hi Samantha
    This is a very basic recipe for white bread, but you will find that all almost bread-flour bags (wholemeal or white) have basic recipes printed on them
    www.bbcgoodfood.com/.../easy-white-bread

    There are hundreds (if not thousands) of recipes for making bread and to start with you don't even need to buy tins (available from Amazon) as you can make either rolls or a "cottage" loaf (basically a ball of dough, placed on a large baking sheet)

    Kneading can be quite strenuous, but try not to give up until the sticky mess you first have turns into something smooth and elastic (and stops being sticky altogether).

    You can use a mixer and a dough-hook, which I now do for the early stages,"finishing off" kneading by hand (the good exercise and frustration-diverting stage). I also "knock back" by hand (re-kneading the dough after it has first risen), as this enables you to judge when it feels springy rather than "puffy" and is ready for the final "proving" rise before going in the oven. (You'll know what I mean when you try it).

    I usually bake a weeks worth of bread at once (which saves multiple baking-days and lots of energy heating the oven) as homemade bread freezes perfectly, but try one loaf at a time at first.

    You can also schedule your baking to fit with using the hot oven for other things, with or after the baking's done)

    The actual work of mixing is minutes, kneading (by hand) about 15-20 minutes (in total, including "knocking back") and oven time a little over half an hour. The long process is rising, which will take a good hour and sometimes longer, depending on where you have available to leave the dough to rise.

    It really is simple, and magically satisfying, though it needs a little effort and patience. ...and if it doesn't work perfectly the first time, it will very quickly with practice.

    P
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