Here at the HR Dept North Birmingham, we remember hearing about the Coronavirus early in the New Year, but as far away and someone else’s problem.
Things escalated more quickly that we imagined and in March we had our first HR query, and we remember it vividly.
A client had an employee who was still on the plane returning to the UK from Italy. The plane had landed and she was showing symptoms of Coronavirus. Our client wanted to know what to do, because of course he couldn’t have her back at work. What sort of leave was this; was she sick? What should he pay her? We were the first people he’d called and we didn’t even know at this point where the employee would end up once she got off the plane.
Even at this point we still didn’t fully appreciate the scope of this virus and what it meant for the UK, it’s people, our children, our businesses and the economy.
One thing is for sure and it is how many jobs Furlough Leave has saved. Some have inevitably gone, and are still to go, but that week before Furlough was created for the first time here in the UK, we assisted with many lay-offs that would have become job losses.
Working in HR supporting small businesses, we witnessed the worry of so much uncertainty. Queries were varied – furlough leave, lay-offs, staff problems, childcare issues, sickness, mental health, refusal to return from furlough leave, redundancies and holidays to name a few. So varied, but one thing in common – Coronavirus.
But even if the question was the same, the answer could sometimes be different depending on the circumstances – and the guidance changed a lot!
We saw our varied client base closing their doors and furloughing their staff, or asking their workforce to move and work from home. As we did ourselves, to the delight of all our feline friends at home!
We saw businesses come up with new and innovative ways of working using technology and indeed the norm now is meeting our clients virtually over zoom, although we have been able to carry out some on site work safely, when restrictions permitted which was lovely!
It’s not all been doom and gloom. Whilst it is true we have seen our fair share of redundancies, we have also assisted in several successful recruitment campaigns and have celebrated with our clients when they have come up with new and innovate ways of working. Along with a few lock down babies arriving of course, and maternity leave is always one of our favorite subjects anyway! Although Coronavirus has inevitably snuck its way in to these queries too of course!
What this year has really shown us is how resilient, brave and creative SMEs are and this year they have really risen to the challenge. It has been a real pleasure and quite humbling to share this journey with so many amazing clients this year.
If you need some HR support next year, please do get in touch to see how we can assist you and your business.
