We Just Hire the Best Person for the Job’ (And Other Myths)

by Claire Ward | Oct 24, 2025 | Uncategorized

Ever found yourself in an interview thinking, “This person just feels right”? Chances are, it’s not your sixth sense for talent kicking in:  it’s bias.

And before you roll your eyes, don’t worry. We’re all wired that way. Literally. Our brains still think we’re in the stone age

Our brains were designed for survival, not hiring.

Back when “friend or foe” decisions had life-or-death consequences, it made sense to trust people who looked, sounded, and behaved like us.

Fast-forward a few thousand years, and that same instinct shows up in far more civilised situations — like job interviews.We unconsciously favour people who feel familiar: who laugh at our jokes, share our hobbies, or remind us of… well, us.

“I just hire the best person for the job”. Do you, though?

It’s an easy line to say. But when left unchecked, unconscious bias can seriously distort what “best” means.

Because when we meet someone who ticks our unspoken “like me” boxes — same background, accent, uni, or sense of humour — our brain lights up with approval. We assume other qualities from that tiny bit of information. And just like that, we’re hiring based on comfort, not capability.

Multiple studies back this up — from the University of Oxford’s Nuffield College research to earlier work by Steinpres et al. — consistently showing that applicants with British-sounding, male, or younger profiles often get the nod over equally qualified candidates.

So if you’ve ever “just known” someone was right within five minutes, it might not be intuition at all. It might be your inner caveman.

Why clone hiring Is bad for business

Populating your business with people who think, act and look like you might feel easy — but it’s risky.

• Diverse teams outperform homogenous ones in:
• Decision-making: They challenge assumptions instead of nodding along.
• Problem-solving: Different perspectives spark better ideas.
• Innovation and growth: They see opportunities others miss.

It’s not just about being “fair” or “inclusive”. It’s about building a team that can serve your clients better, adapt faster, and make smarter calls when things get messy (which, let’s face it, they often do).

When your team all come from the same mould, blind spots multiply. Creativity flattens. And your culture risks turning into an echo chamber.

So how do you break the cycle?

Awareness is the first step and it’s a big one. Just recognising that your brain has preferences helps you pause before acting on them. But awareness alone isn’t enough. Try these practical steps to make your hiring process more objective:

• Structure your interviews – Ask all candidates the same core questions, in the same order. It forces fairness and focuses attention on what really matters.
• Diversify your shortlists – Ask your recruiters to actively bring you candidates from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
• Use more than one interviewer – Pair people up for interviews to balance perspectives.
• Revisit your job descriptions – Watch out for language that could unintentionally exclude great talent (“energetic young team”, “digital native”, “perfect for grads”).
• Get feedback fast – Make interview scoring immediate and data-based, not post-chat impressions over coffee.

Dr Helen Turnbull, an expert in unconscious bias, puts it perfectly: “We may never totally rid ourselves of bias, but we can learn to feel affinity for more people of difference.”

Inclusion: The ‘I’ in MAGIC

At The HR Hub, we talk a lot about creating MAGIC — Meaning, Accountability, Growth, Inclusion, and Care. Inclusion isn’t just a value; it’s the engine of better business. Because when everyone around your table feels genuinely seen, heard, and valued, not just the ones who remind you of yourself,  that’s when the real magic happens.

Challenge your instincts. Widen your lens.

Want to make your hiring process fairer and faster?

At The HR Hub, we help founders build workplaces where inclusion isn’t just a campaign — it’s a foundation. If you’d like help turning reflection into action, drop us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 951 1208.

When good enough isn’t enough

by Claire Ward | Oct 21, 2025 | Uncategorized

There comes a point in every growing business where the systems, habits, and people practices that once worked… stop working.

You’ve got decent foundations in place: contracts, payroll, onboarding, maybe even a few solid managers — but the pace of growth means the cracks are starting to show. Conversations feel a bit disjointed. Expectations aren’t always clear. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but things feel… messy.

It’s not that anything’s wrong. It’s that “good enough” has quietly become your ceiling.

From Survival to Scale

In the early days, “good enough” was exactly what you needed. It got the business off the ground and kept things running while you juggled ten other priorities.

But as your headcount grows — 10, 20, 50+ — your people processes need to catch up. Without that evolution, you risk bottlenecks, burnout and brilliant people quietly losing faith in the direction of travel.

Here’s what typically happens:

• Managers are doing their best but haven’t had the right tools or training.
• Objectives drift because no one’s clear on what “good” looks like anymore.
• Recruitment decisions are reactive rather than strategic.
• Culture starts to wobble under the weight of speed and stress.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone — this is the point most scale-ups reach before things start to fray.

What ‘Beyond the Basics’ Really Means

Growing beyond the basics doesn’t mean corporate red tape. It means putting enough structure in place to help your team thrive without slowing everyone down.

That might look like:

• Clarity – Clear goals, feedback, and growth conversations that link back to your business priorities.
• Consistency – A simple rhythm of performance reviews and one-to-ones that keeps everyone aligned.
• Capability – Managers who know how to coach, not just delegate.
• Connection – People who understand how their role contributes to something bigger.

These are the building blocks that turn a group of individuals into a cohesive, high-performing team.

A Quick Self-Check
Ask yourself:

• Do my managers know what ‘great management’ looks like here?
• Are our people clear on what’s expected of them — and how they’re doing?
• Do we recognise and reward performance consistently?
• Is our culture intentional, or just happening by default?
• If you hesitated at any of those, it might be time to go beyond good enough.

Where to start

You don’t need to reinvent everything overnight.

Start by reviewing where your team experience sits across the six stages of the Employee Lifecycle — Recruitment, Onboarding, Growth, Reward, Retention, and Off-boarding — and ask where the biggest gaps or frustrations are right now.

A few small upgrades can make a huge difference:

• Refreshing your performance review process
• Equipping managers with simple coaching tools
• Tightening up how you communicate expectations
• Re-articulating your values as you scale

Each of these sends a signal: we’re levelling up.

The MAGIC Factor

At The HR Hub, we call this stage “building the MAGIC” — ensuring your people feel Meaning, Accountability, Growth, Inclusion, and Care at every step.

Because when those five elements are alive and well, your team doesn’t just perform — they stick around, champion your culture, and help you scale with less chaos.

Ready to Go Beyond Good Enough?

If you’re feeling that your team’s outgrown your current setup, it’s the perfect time do a quick check with our MAGIC Scorecard to see what opportunities are out there. This will help you pinpoint exactly what needs to evolve — and how to do it without losing your edge.

Drop us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 951 1208. We’re here to make your HR less “ho-hum” and more “holy wow”.

Happy Birthday to us!

by Claire Ward | Sep 22, 2025 | Uncategorized

Hello from the other side… of 10 years in business.💙

Back in 2015, when Adele’s Hello was topping the charts, everyone was still bingeing Breaking Bad, and “Zoom” was just what you did with a camera lens, The HR Hub was born. Contracts were mostly still a faff of tos-and-fros, hybrid working was barely a whisper, and no one was (in all seriousness) talking about AI in HR.

A lot has changed since then, in the world and in the workplace. But one thing that hasn’t changed is why we set up The HR Hub in the first place.

From start-up to 250+ businesses supported

When The HR Hub first launched, the mission was simple: make HR something that genuinely helps founders grow their businesses, rather than a box-ticking exercise & give access to expert HR-Director level support (without the price tag). Fast forward 10 years, and we’ve had the privilege of working with over 250 brilliant companies across tech, agencies, financial services and more — supporting them as they’ve hired, onboarded, scaled, restructured, and everything in between.

Along the way, our MAGIC framework (Meaning, Autonomy, Growth, Inclusion, Connection) has become our north star. It’s the lens we use to help founders and managers move beyond “firefighting HR” to creating environments where people and businesses thrive together.

And while the world of work has evolved (step forward to centre stage hybrid & flexible working, mental health and inclusion), the fundamentals of great leadership and a great employee experience have stayed the same.

A Decade of gratitude (without the cringe I hope!)

No 10th birthday blog would be complete without a thank you. So here goes — and I promise not to get too Oscars speech about it.🌟

To every founder who’s trusted us to help build your team: thank you. Whether we’ve been your sounding board through a sticky employee situation, your partner in designing new people systems, or your extra pair of hands during a growth spurt, we’ve loved being alongside you.

To the team – Rosie, Hannah, Sophia – you’ve brought HR Hub energy, expertise and calm to every client you’ve worked with. You’re the reason the “Hub” in The HR Hub really works.

But of course there is a much wider team of support with former team members, associates and loved ones. So to everyone who’s cheered us on, referred us, or simply read one of our blogs along the way — thank you!

So what’s next?

More of the same, in the best possible way. More founders supported, more calm replacing chaos, more MAGIC at work. We’ve got new tools and services in the pipeline (the big girls aren’t the only ones testing out how AI can help them….), and as always, we’ll keep helping leaders focus on what really matters: building people systems that grow with your business.

Because while we’re proud of the last 10 years, we’re even more excited about the next 10.

At The HR Hub, we’ve spent 10 years helping founders build calm, capable teams that scale. If you’d like to be part of the next chapter 📩 drop us a line or book a call – we’d love to help.You can find us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 704

From Winging It to Winning

by Claire Ward | Aug 6, 2025 | Uncategorized

You’ve got half your team on leave, Slack’s a ghost town by 4pm, and even your inbox is quieter than usual. August might not be the month you launch a new product – but it is the perfect time to come up for air and think about what’s working (and what’s quietly clogging the engine room).

And if your people set-up feels a bit, well… cobbled together, then you’re not alone.

Because while you’ve scaled the work, the revenue, and maybe even your pool of freelancers, there’s a good chance your people systems are still stuck in “start-up mode”.

When you’re scaling fast, winging it doesn’t work anymore

You didn’t start a business to write policies. Or design induction processes. Or map out career pathways.

You started because you had a brilliant idea, a killer skillset, or just couldn’t stand one more meeting with Geoff from Accounts.

And in the early days, winging it works. You’re small. Nimble. People talk to each other all day anyway – who needs an org chart?

But then you hire a few more people. And a few more. And suddenly:

• You’re the unofficial HR department.

• New hires are still asking you basic questions three months in.

• Performance conversations feel reactive, inconsistent – or non-existent.

• People start “doing their own thing” and you’re not quite sure why.

At this stage, most founders think: I just need better people.

But what you actually need are better systems.

Fair enough you say, but what is a People System Anyway?

Let’s cut through the jargon. A ‘people system’ is just how your business handles the moments that matter when it comes to your team.

Things like:

• How people join

• How they get feedback

• How they grow

• How performance is measured

• How decisions get made

• How problems get dealt with

Right now, if these things are being handled on the fly, differently by different managers (or always by you), or by trawling through your Sent Items for “that email we sent last time” – then you don’t have a people system. You have a series of workarounds.

And over time, those workarounds chip away at speed, clarity, and confidence – both yours and your team’s.

There’s a hidden cost of no structure

When things go wrong in a business like yours, it’s rarely because the team doesn’t care. It’s because they don’t know.

They don’t know what good looks like.

They don’t know who’s responsible for what.

They don’t know how to get support or raise concerns.

They don’t know how decisions get made.

The result? Drift. Frustration. Drop-offs in performance. You’re pulled into firefighting mode. Again.

And the irony? The same traits that made you a brilliant founder – the pace, the energy, the “let’s just get it done” mindset – are often the ones that hold back the operational maturity needed to scale.

That doesn’t mean you need to turn into a corporate zombie. But it does mean you need just enough structure to take the pressure off.

What good people systems look like in a 20–50 person business

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about a 200-page handbook or a “Manager Toolkit” that gathers digital dust.

We’re talking about lightweight, human, scalable frameworks that:

• Make it clear who’s doing what (and why)

• Flag people issues early (before they escalate)

• Give your managers confidence, not confusion

• Protect your business from legal risk (without scaring everyone)

• Reinforce your culture without you having to personally fly the flag every day

Think clear job descriptions, simple 1-1 templates, onboarding that actually prepares people for success, and performance conversations that don’t feel like annual dental check-ups.

When you build these well, they don’t feel bureaucratic. They feel like clarity.

“But I don’t have time to build all that”

You’re right. You don’t. That’s why it keeps sliding down the to-do list.

But the cost of not doing it is huge.

You lose time answering the same questions. You make reactive hires. You deal with conflict too late. You burn out trying to hold the whole team in your head.

Building your people systems isn’t just an HR job – it’s a scale job. Just like implementing a CRM or upgrading your financial reporting. You’re setting the stage for faster, smoother growth. With fewer facepalm moments….

From Winging It to Winning It

Your team wants the structure. Not boring, soul-sapping, fill-in-this-form stuff. But clarity. Confidence. Knowing where they stand.

It’s the same reason why planes don’t just “wing it” on take-off. And why the best teams – from F1 pits to film sets – run on brilliant systems behind the scenes.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to start.

Need help turning chaos into clarity?

At The HR Hub, we’ve helped over 250 businesses grow, building lean, human-first people systems that support performance and scale. No jargon. No bureaucracy. Just the right foundations, tailored to you.

📩 Drop us a line or book a call here – we’d love to help.You can find us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 7048

Not a phone or email kind of person? Grab my book, The MAGIC of HR, for more practical tips to build a culture that actually works.

No One Wants a Career Plan. Until They Do

by Claire Ward | Jun 19, 2025 | Uncategorized

Let’s be honest: telling your team it’s time to talk about career plans is a bit like announcing a fire drill – everyone knows it’s important, but it’s not exactly high on people’s minds. Most will nod politely, then quietly hope it’s one of those ‘HR things’ that goes away if ignored long enough.

And that’s fair enough. For the most part, your team isn’t actively asking for this stuff. Most people in growing teams are too busy reacting to today’s fires to think about tomorrow’s path. Career planning? Bit corporate. Bit HR. Bit… meh.

Take note however, that disinterest is often temporary. And misleading. Because while most people won’t shout about wanting a plan for their future, that doesn’t mean they don’t care. Give it time — a year in the job, a colleague getting promoted, a badly handled  conversation with their manager or review — and suddenly that question shows up:

“What’s next for me here?”
“What makes a senior project manager versus what I’m doing?”
“How do I become a ‘Head of’?

And if your business can’t answer it clearly, don’t be surprised if the next line is something along the lines of, “Because X company really focuses on career development.”

Silent signals and missed moments

The absence of a visible path forward doesn’t always feel like a crisis. At first. But over time, it wears people down. Those who were once enthusiastic start to drift. Some stay and switch to autopilot. Others polish up their CVs. Not because they’re desperate to leave, but because they can’t see what staying leads to.

In scaling businesses — where everything moves fast and the focus is on survival as much as success — it’s easy to deprioritise career development. It can feel like a luxury. A ‘big company’ thing. Something you’ll sort out once the next client signs or the product ships.

But people don’t wait for your strategic roadmap to align. They look around, compare notes with friends in other companies, and wonder why their own career feels a bit… flat. 

The day I was handed a PDP

Way back in the ‘day, I was handed my first Personal Development Plan (PDP) by my manager and asked to complete it. It was my first ‘proper’ job and he was well-meaning, thoughtful, and clearly thought he was doing a good thing. I nodded enthusiastically and then sat back at my desk with the dawning horror of someone who wasn’t sure what she wanted for dinner, let alone in five years.

So I did what any clueless 20-something would do. I looked around, picked out the people I liked and respected, and decided to aim vaguely for whatever they were doing. I felt that it was expected to be looking at ‘climbing the ladder’ and ‘becoming a manager’ seemed pretty within reach, so I wrote down that I wanted to ‘be a Director by the time I’m 30’  plus a few more qualifications. It wasn’t strategic. It wasn’t exactly original. But it was a start — and more importantly, it was the first moment I realised that someone was actually interested in my growth.

I say that, but looking back, it could have been a more guided process (I honestly can’t remember what kind of conversation went alongside it!) . But the intent was there. And it taught me something that’s stuck ever since: people don’t always know how to talk about their development. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to. It just means they need someone to start the conversation.

Ambition isn’t always loud or obvious

Not everyone wants a promotion of course and I’m a real advocate for the portfolio career which has emerged as being a much more realistic type of plan for many. Some people want depth, not height. They want to specialise, lead a project, mentor someone, or finally tackle that one skill they’ve always put off. Others are quietly ambitious but don’t know how to say it without sounding pushy.

That’s why structure matters. Not rigid policies or generic frameworks, but simple, meaningful ways of showing people what’s possible and how to move forward. A conversation that’s more than just “where do you see yourself in five years?”, but one that helps them figure out what lights them up, where their strengths lie, and what direction they might want to explore.

And yes — that takes time. But it takes far less time than replacing a brilliant team member who leaves because they felt overlooked or stuck.

“We don’t have time for this”

Totally get it. You’re busy. You’re scaling. You’re fighting the good fight every day. And the idea of building bespoke career paths or frameworks for every employee probably makes your eyelid twitch.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to. This isn’t about building a corporate career ladder with 17 steps and a thousand competencies. It’s about putting the idea of growth on the table. Making it okay — encouraged, even — to talk about where someone might want to head next. Being honest about what’s possible now and what could be possible later.

It’s also about giving your managers a nudge. Many of them want to support their teams but don’t know how to have these conversations. A little guidance here goes a long way. Not training them to be life coaches, just helping them ask better questions and actually listen to the answers.

Without growth you simply stagnate

Eventually, people drift. Some will leave. Others will stay and check out quietly. And that vague sense of disconnection — of working hard but going nowhere — becomes contagious.

But when you do make space for career conversations, something shifts. People engage. They stretch. They stick around. They feel seen.

You don’t need a perfectly polished development framework to get there. You just need to start talking about it.

As an aside, I found the physical copy of my very first PDP when I was moving house in the last couple of years and was interested to see that – by the skin of my teeth ins ome cases – a lot of what I’d written down I’d actually ended up achieving and I remain grateful to my manager for getting me to focus on not just the present, but the future. 

Like the idea but haven’t got time?

We’re experts at creating and implementing career frameworks that work for you, so do get in touch via hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call on 0203 951 1208 to find out more about how our Fractional HR services can help look after this for you. 

Not a phone or email kind of person? Grab my book, The MAGIC of HR, for more practical tips to build a culture that actually works.