Short articles on the situations that come up most often. Written for business leaders and senior teams, not HR theory.
Six uncomfortable questions about people risk, absence cost, leadership capability, employer brand, M&A integration and HR readiness. Written for CEOs, COOs and senior leaders who want honest answers instead of HR theory.
Most organisations believe their HR function is working. In many cases it is held together by workarounds and goodwill. This board briefing paper sets out what fragmentation actually costs, and what a coherent operating model looks like in practice.
Published April 2026
Not getting it wrong. Not being able to prove you got it right. From 6 April 2026, failing to keep adequate holiday pay records is a criminal offence under section 35 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. Unlimited fines. Six years of retrospective reach. And most businesses cannot prove a thing.
Published April 2026
People sell their homes because of death, debt or divorce. So why does the estate agency industry train its leaders to always be closing? A story about redesigning a senior leadership reward model, and why remuneration beats the culture deck every time.
Published April 2026
Most of what I write is about things that are broken. But occasionally someone asks what good actually looks like. A story about a director who stood up and apologised, and why care and honesty are not opposites.
Published April 2026
If every organisation believes in the same values, why do they all behave so differently? The real test comes when behaviour collides with what’s written on the wall.
Published March 2026
Most HR policies exist to protect the function, not equip the manager. After 25 years in HR, a case for shorter documents, clearer language, and fewer forty-page PDFs that nobody reads.
Published March 2026
TUPE transfers rarely fail because the law is unclear. They go wrong because the process around them drifts. What to watch for, and what to do when it's already started to unravel.
Published March 2026
Most organisations know TUPE exists. Fewer know what it actually requires, and that gap is where most of the problems happen.
Published March 2026
Performance Improvement Plans rarely do what they say on the tin. The real performance work happens long before the paperwork, and the cost of getting it wrong is higher than most organisations realise.
Published April 2026
The job isn’t what most people think it is. HR exists to help organisations perform through people. Not pastoral care. Not the enemy. Something more useful than either.
Published March 2026
There is a version of HR that is busy, well-intentioned, and genuinely not adding the value the business needs. Here is how to tell if that is what you have.
Published March 2026
Most grievances are contained. Some are not. When allegations involve senior leaders or governance, the organisation's response becomes as important as the original complaint.
Published March 2026
Most employee relations issues can be handled internally. Some cannot. How to tell the difference, what to look for when you need outside help, and why leaving it too late makes the job harder.
Published March 2026
You can contract out of TUPE. Rights only transfer for two years. You can harmonise after the transfer. None of these are true, but all of them still come up.
Published March 2026
Pensions are treated as an afterthought in too many TUPE conversations. They are one of the quickest ways to turn a manageable transfer into a long-term liability.
Most of these articles came from real situations. If something here sounds familiar, it's worth a conversation.