How are you all doing?

I don't know about others but I am really finding it difficult working from home so often.. During the pandemic my org downsized our office and move to perm hybrid working but unfortunately the office was moved a further distance than it had been..

I'm a lone parent so most days the only time I leave the house is to do the school run and I'm struggling with the isolation. I am considering looking elsewhere but my org are very supportive and allow me to work flexibly around my daughters school so I feel a bit stuck.

@becci Lloyd. Couldn’t agree more, I work full time from home and the isolation has been a real shock to my system. I am seriously considering another role just so I can return to hybrid. There unfortunately isn’t any office space for me to be hybrid in my current role, and most of my team love being fully remote. I’m really feeling the impact from a personal point of view..I feel most jobs are now mostly remote or a few are hybrid. For some people it works so well for work life balance but if it doesn’t work for you, then you just have to adapt. It’s mixed feelings really as I wouldn’t love being fully office based; hybrid for 2-3 days in the office would be great for me, with the team committing to the same.

Hi Becci, sorry to hear you are feeling so isolated with wfh. Do you have people/team/line manager you can chat to regularly eg via Teams/Slack etc? I have a catch up every day at the same time with my team and it's great just to check in for a chat and an update on what we're all working on, what's coming up next etc and anything else going on in our lives. It might also be worth exploring any co-work places in your local area, or suggesting the odd meet up with colleagues mid way in a cafe, park or gallery or something similar?

I think your ER-Admin experience is normal! at least from something similar I experienced.. the best I have is that the tasks need very different styles and levels of analysis, behaviour, focus and input. They're both familiar, so you think it should be fine, but your brain does a mental gear shift each time, gets used to that way of being.. then you have to shift again and reacclimatise - and (think Zoom) it does take more out of you than you think!
Answers? Segmenting time during the day / week; Getting some temporary help (could be a part-time internal secondment from a client-group admin if external is not on? but your organisation is wasting money having you doing admin and then, your not efficient with the rest); Publishing an employee assistance resource of some sort (signposting to relevant info sources / support; FAQs; Citizen's advice, EAP, OH..) to handle some of those new queries and help them feel cared for - I like your thinking about it being possible new 'helplessness'.
Good luck and best wishes X

Nicolas. I totally agree and have that same experience. I am sorry you feel the way you do. it's been hard for sure. HR is expected to be Jack of all trades and I have got to the point where I feel master of none. There is an expectation that we can have the biggest impact on our staff wellbeing, and we do loads even before the pandemic hit, but it seems the more we do the more people expect us to make their world better. Whilst we can to a point, the workplace cannot be the be all and end all..individuals have to take responsibility. As a team of one strategic, one advisor and a part time admin to 340 employees in a challenging work environment with Govt passing down their ever changing decrees, it is tough. I myself no longer want to be an HR practitioner because it feels to me that whatever I do for our staff, there is no acceptance or understanding that I, and my team, are human too and the ETs that I read up on every day leave me and my colleagues unsupported almost always falling on the side of the employee. What happened to the need to be able to run a business. When will common sense come into some of these outcomes. I feel sad that I am giving up a job I loved but I can't keep giving of myself at the level I have been doing. Its been a tough decision to make. I feel for all my HR colleagues and hope that you are able to take steps to look after yourselves in the coming weeks, months.

I know exactly what you mean, Wendy. With the cost of living rises, I find myself spending more and more time deeply concerned about people who are off on long term sick leave - I have a number who are really struggling financially as they've exhausted company sick pay and SSP and I spend as much time talking to them about other sources of support as I do about managing their absence and trying to find a way back to work for them. I feel exhausted from trying to help them - they view me as some sort of counsellor/social worker/problem solver who should be able to fix everything for them and I feel like I'm letting them down when I can't.

Thanks for asking again Steve, how are you?

Without sharing details publicly I’ll stop at…

Tired, undervalued, humiliated and isolated but mostly bitterly disappointed at this stage of my career to feel this way.

Empathy to all struggling and well done to those going strong :)