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

Totally feeling the same! You're definitely not alone. I think the hardest part is that we are all in completely new and unchartered territory and wondering whether we're doing the right thing - add that to the expectation that you're the voice of calm and reason across the business and HR becomes the pillar that everyone leans on at the moment. Self care is so important right now - as is avoiding isolation. I'm here if you want to chat :)

I am finding it all a bit surreal. Some aspects are carrying on as normal, we still have the usual casework, support meetings, and so on. There's a lot of contingency related work, so guidance for managers and employees about remote working, best practice etc. Managers seem to have lost the ability to use objective discretion (some didn't have it in the first place). I feel like I am herding kittens sometimes. But remotely, as we have all been asked to work from home if possible, which is now useful as child's school has shut as staff were displaying symptoms and had to deep clean and now it's staffing as they have to wait for the necessary period of time before they can return.
I have chosen to ignore all social media posts relating to COVID19, jokey, serious, community minded, conspiracy theorist, whatever. I have found this very beneficial to keeping perspective.
I am trying to practice the Mind 5 ways to wellbeing as well, in simple ways. The daffodils in the garden, the fact that homeworking has helped me reach the bottom of the laundry basket for the first time in years, little everyday things to take heart from.

Hi Jules sending virtual hugs

And in the boat with you all! I've had a horrendous menopause that came on like a tsunami - so now having bizarre anxiety and brain fog, all whipped up by current events. The organisation is looking to me to answer everything and put plans in place and it's just overwhelming. Glad we've got the team here!

It may help some in these unprecedentedly turbulent and distressing times to contemplate something completely different in the form of imaginary excursion into W.B. Yeats’ ‘Celtic Twilight’:


I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

- might be completely off-topic, but it works for me!

Totally feeling the same, with the added complication I'm sat on a remote island 8000 miles from home, feeling very detached from my family and reality right now.

My husband is due to fly back out here from the UK tonight and we won't know if he will definitely make it until he's on the ground here - flight could be cancelled at any point, but I just want him here with me.

I'm not thinking straight and have made some stupid mistakes this morning already, but starting to feel calmer after a good cry.

We will get through this together.

Has the coronavirus made it to where you are?

We have no way of knowing - no capability to test on island so we will not be able to confirm any cases. A few people in isolation as precaution, but could easily just be anxiety, flu or common colds at this stage.

It is highly likely it will get here if it is not already - we have had something like 10,000 cruise ship passengers in the past fortnight from all over the world, as well as other tourists, military and residents coming and going.

Any one of those could be a carrier and when it hits it will spread like wildfire as it is very hard to socially distance in such a tight-knit community where there is no infrastructure for home-working and most people are in critical service roles anyway.

The bigger worry is our isolation, as other countries close down their borders. We usually medically evacuate anyone with severe illness, but we are unlikely to be able to over the coming months. People may die, not necessarily from covid, but lack of access to other urgent medical care.

this is exactly how I am feeling - threats of redundancy whilst trying to keep a workforce some of whom are working from home motivated and those that are not able to work from home also motivated as they are hacked off they cannot work from home.

People come to us for calm responses but forget we don't have all the answers and get the same information as everyone else does!

Stay safe and strong

Herding kittens made me smile!