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

Hi Emily,

I was having the exact same thoughts as you and also in a standalone role. And absolutely the petty school ground like squabbles that some of our employees were having and people asking why we didn't just shut the business down for an unknown potentially indefinite period of time and expecting that if we did that they would still get full pay and have a job at the end of it all. It became very tiring explaining to people that this wasn't possible and that if they didn't want to come to work then they were more than welcome to take holiday or unpaid leave (funnily enough they weren't too keen on that idea) - of course this was before furlough and then we had the endless questions of why has X been furloughed and not me and the snarky comments about "oh it's alright for the office - you get to sit at home all day"

Don't get me wrong most of our workforce came together to work well to point that we had a supervisor agree to be furloughed so one of his team who is a single parent wasn't (their roles overlap) and our IT support driving back and forth to someones home to collect their laptop and test it out in the car because it wasn't working and the employee was shielding so couldn't come to the office. Those things restored faith a bit.

I think (and hope) that it's starting to get a bit better now, we're gradually bringing people back - albeit on temporary shift patterns/adjusted hours - and those of us working from home have been working together to get a rota in place to allow us all a couple of days in the office without having too many at a time.

It is just now the lingering concern of the longer term impact on the business and whether or not we come out the other end without any redundancies.

One thing I found helpful, and I don't know if this is an option for you Emily, is that all the HR managers from the other sites in the UK joined up as a team and we formed a HR network as we were all doing the same tasks and having pretty much the same struggles so we started having daily (now weekly) calls to talk through things and update on each of our sites and that really helped as we were able to share resources. You say you have a regional director so are there perhaps other HR teams on other sites - could you perhaps reach out to them and build a virtual team?

Hopefully we're all feeling a little more positive or less dragged down by it all now to some degree.

Thanks for sharing, its helpful to see a lot of us are in the same boat here.

I am feeling exactly like this too. Particularly today I am really struggling. My work load is so high and I feel like the stress is getting on top of me and resulting in me being completely unproductive because i don't know where to start, then feel guilty for not being productive and the cycle continues!

This is exactly how I feel, especially this week.

I am back in the office so thought I would feel better, but trying to figure out flexible furlough, coupled with managers not communicating with me and now the announcement of redundancies, let's just say I am glad it is Friday!

Hi Nicole,

I wholeheartedly feel your pain!! Its so hard particularly when we are supposed to know all the answers. I'm struggling to think straight at the moment let alone answer complex queries around furlough and government guidelines/ risk assessments.

Indeed, I wish I could say happy Friday but that wont be the case until my work day is done!

By all means PM me anytime you ever want to vent, its always helpful to know we are not alone in this :)

Beckie

Hi Samantha,

I completely understand how you feel, please do get in touch if there's anything i can do, or if you ever just want to chat to someone.

I am late to checking community posts, I hope you are feeling much better now, Samantha. You are not alone. It is what many are feeling. Acknowledging the feeling is a good step I think. It is a very distressing time for all. This is HR's time and many organisations have been pleasantly surprised at how HR teams were able to quickly transition organisations to working from home (WFH) for example, and managing not just operations, but mental health and wellbeing. HR teams comprise individual employees, which too often can be forgotten. It can be a lonely time especially for those who live alone. Remaining connected and grounded can differ from person to person. Restructuring daily routines, connecting with networks, and setting goals to work towards has helped some people. I found myself dwelling on the past or anxious about the future, but daily meditation, finding things to be grateful for everyday, and keeping my mind occupied with positive pursuits in my spare time (e.g. I signed up for online courses) has helped me some.

Hi Peter
We spoke a while back......I tried to message you but it said access denied.....? I'm really struggling, I've made a big mistake at work.....

I can't imagine why. We're not supposed to give personal details on the main site here, but Steve, the site Moderator, has my phone numbers and personal email. Contact him and he has my permission to pass them on to you. ("Help" at the top of the page here, then "email moderator") I have tried PM-ing you too just now and it's giving me the message "cannot connect". I have all my message settings open to all, so there must be a fault somewhere.

Call ANY time. I don't do office hours any more :-)

P

Yes! Absolutely! I seem to get asked questions like I work for the government. There is this expectation that we are the all knowing oracle on COVID-19. Sharing is good and networking imperative in this climate. You're not alone.

I feel the same - the oracle of all knowledge. The fact that Mr Google does have some information for people to find themselves seems to be lost, unless they use Mr Google for shopping!