by Claire Ward | Nov 14, 2025 | Wellbeing
Let’s be honest — most of us have had that “mid-month, mid-panic” moment when you open your banking app and wonder where it all went. Yet while we’re happy to chat about sleep, stress, and sourdough, money is still the elephant in the meeting room….
Talk Money Week last week , however, is your gentle nudge to start the conversation. Because when leaders make space for real conversations about money, good things start to happen. People breathe out a bit. Engagement goes up. And the whole team feels that little bit calmer and more connected.
The awkward silence around money
Financial stress is one of those invisible drains that no one talks about but everyone feels. The research says one in four employees admit money worries mess with their focus at work. That’s a quarter of your people sitting in meetings while their brain quietly chews over gas bills, rent, or nursery fees!
But when founders open up the conversation — without judgement, spreadsheets or awkwardness — something shifts. Trust builds. Teams relax. And you create an environment where people feel genuinely supported, not just paid.
What a money-confident workplace looks like
This isn’t about grand gestures or doubling salaries. It’s about small, practical signals that say: we get it — money matters, and we’re here to help you feel on top of it.
- Start the chat. A short anonymous survey or a “Money Matters” lunch-and-learn is a simple way to test the temperature. You don’t have to become Martin Lewis — just give people permission to talk about what’s on their minds.
- Shine a light on what’s already there. Most employees have no idea how much value sits in their existing benefits. Pensions, salary-sacrifice schemes, EAPs, Cycle-to-Work — it’s all good stuff, but often buried in HR small print. Dust it off and tell the story properly. If people understand it, they’ll use it.
- Make learning easy. Share a good podcast (Meaningful Money, It’s not about the money), or invite someone in for a 30-minute Q&A about everyday finances (Lesley Morgan). Keep it light, friendly, and practical — more “how to save without crying” than “compound interest explained.”
- Join the dots. Help people see how the company’s success links to their own rewards. When people understand that growth leads to better opportunities and stability, they’re more likely to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.
The ripple effect
Here’s the lovely bit: when people feel financially steady, everything else improves. They think more clearly. They work better together. They stop that low-level background stress that eats up so much energy.
One of our clients recently added short money-check-ins and clearer pension comms. Nothing fancy — just common sense and consistency. Six months later, their engagement scores went up, sickness dipped, and someone even said, “I finally understand my payslip.” Small wins, big impact.
Do one thing
This year’s Talk Money Week theme, “Do One Thing,” couldn’t be more founder-friendly. You don’t need to launch a whole wellbeing programme — just one simple, visible action that shows you care.
Try these for size:
- Add a quick “financial wellbeing” question in your next pulse survey
- Share one money resource or story in your internal comms
- Invite a speaker for a coffee-and-chat on everyday finances
- Explain total reward more clearly during onboarding
- Or (my favourite) get your leadership team to share one money mistake they learned from — the human stories are gold
The point isn’t to fix everyone’s finances. It’s to make the topic safe, normal and useful. When people feel supported in their personal lives, they tend to give more at work — more focus, loyalty, and energy.
Why it matters (and not just for them)
Financial well-being isn’t fluffy. It’s performance fuel. Secure people make better decisions, collaborate more easily and stay longer. And for founders trying to grow without burning everyone out, that’s a competitive advantage you can’t buy.
Think of it like tidying the mental desktop. When money stress stops eating up brain space, your team has more capacity for creativity, client care and all the good stuff that drives growth.
Final thought
Money talks — but not enough. This Talk Money Week, be the founder who starts the chat. It might feel like a small thing, but the ripple effect on engagement, trust and team spirit can be huge.
And if you’d like a hand weaving financial wellbeing into your people plan, drop us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 951 1208.
by Claire Ward | Sep 1, 2025 | Wellbeing
Two weeks ago, I talked about the genius of doing nothing: how stepping away from the day-to-day and letting your brain drift by the pool can give you the kind of clarity you can’t find in a busy office. This was indeed the zone I was seeking whilst lying by the shores of the Mediterranean which I have just returned from….
The solitude was warm and the sun gods shone for us. And whilst I did indeed zone out for a while, one other thing made this a break to remember: my team.
I don’t know many business owners who go on holiday without either their laptop or a phone which is capable of running things should they need it: it just goes with the territory. And even though they may switch their OOO on, there’s always a cheeky look at the email at some point in their day to subdue any rising anxiety of what’s going on back at the ranch. Not to do any ‘real’ work you understand, just to keep an eye on things…. But this time knowing that my team were there to respond to anything that came up, made the time even sweeter than normal. So a huge thanks to them for this & for allowing me the space to think and let all of those ideas wash over me.
But of course we know that zone can’t last forever…
So, fast forward to post-bank holiday & the suitcase is unpacked, the sand’s been shaken out of your shoes, the 17th load of washing has been sorted through and you’re back at your desk. Your inbox has opinions about how your first day back should go. And yet, you’ve got this precious cargo: a handful of ideas, niggles and “aha” moments from your holiday headspace.
The question now is: how do you stop them disappearing into the black hole of “things I’ll get to one day”?
Step one: open the notes (before you open the inbox)
If you scribbled thoughts in a notebook, dumped them into your phone, or even left yourself a voice note mid-sunset, dig them out. Do it before you fully submerge yourself in email triage.
Holiday insights have a short shelf life. The longer you leave them, the more they fade, and the more likely they are to be replaced by whatever’s loudest and most urgent today.
Step two: sort the gold from the “nice to haves”
Not every poolside musing is a priority. Some are flashes of brilliance. Others… not so much.
Take ten minutes to scan through your list and mark:
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High impact / high urgency — the issues or opportunities that will genuinely move the dial if tackled soon.
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High impact / low urgency — still important, but can be scheduled for later in the quarter.
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Low impact — ideas that might be nice in theory but aren’t where your focus should go right now.
This isn’t about killing ideas. It’s about protecting the ones that matter most.
Step three: pick your “holiday top three”
Here’s the trap founders fall into: trying to action everything at once. You’ve come back with ten new projects in mind, and three weeks later, none of them have moved.
Instead, choose no more than three priorities from your holiday list to work on in the next 90 days. For each one, define:
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What “done” looks like
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Who’s responsible for it (and ideally, it’s not always you)
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The first step to get it moving
Step four: make a quick win your first move
Momentum matters. If one of your three priorities is something you can make visible progress on in under a week — do it.
That might be removing a pointless recurring meeting, signing off budget for a training programme, or delegating a chunk of admin you’ve been holding onto. Quick wins keep your post-holiday clarity alive and prove to yourself (and your team) that action follows insight.
Step five: loop in your team early
Sharing your priorities with your senior team is both an accountability tool and a way to get them engaged.
When you say, “One of my focuses this quarter is making our onboarding process slicker,” you give them permission to contribute ideas and spot obstacles you may not have considered. It also stops these projects from sitting solely on your plate.
Step six: keep a little holiday habit in play
If your clearest thinking happened while you were taking a morning walk or keeping your phone in another room for a few hours, try carrying that habit into your working life.
No, you can’t quite recreate a Greek beach in the middle of Croydon! But you can recreate some of the mental space that allowed those ideas to emerge. Even small tweaks — a walk before your first call, blocking out “thinking time” in your diary — make a difference.
Step seven: review before the glow fades
Book a slot in your diary, 30 days after you’re back, to check in on your holiday top three. Have they moved forward? Are they still relevant? What’s got in the way?
That deliberate pause stops the slow slide back into “business as usual” and keeps those bigger, better ideas visible.
From glow to growth
Your holiday headspace gave you something valuable: a rare, uncluttered view of your business. But insight without action is just a nice thought.
If you can capture, prioritise, and start implementing the best of your summer thinking now, you’ll thank yourself when autumn gets busy.
Because while tans fade and inboxes refill, the right post-holiday actions can keep paying off long after your suitcase is back in the loft.
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 – we’d love to help. You can reach us at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 7048.
by Claire Ward | Aug 15, 2025 | Learning & Development, Wellbeing
Picture this. You’re on a sun lounger, a book in one hand, something cold in the other, with the rhythmic sound of waves or cicadas in the background. The temperature is perfect, your phone is on silent, and for once there’s no one asking you to “just sign this off quickly.” You can feel your shoulders drop a little further with every passing minute.
And yet – like a stray lilo drifting into view – thoughts about your business keep floating into your mind.
You might try to bat them away. After all, you’re meant to be on holiday (and isn’t that what the mindfulness guidance tells you to do??). But here’s the thing: those thoughts aren’t the same as the frantic, reactive chatter of a Tuesday morning at your desk. They’re softer. Bigger picture. Often more creative. And that’s because when we step away from the day-to-day, our brains finally have the breathing space to do some of their best work.
Why rest works harder than you think
We’re conditioned to believe that productivity equals activity. If we’re not sending emails, chairing meetings, or crossing things off the to-do list, we’re somehow slacking. But science tells a different story.
When we’re not laser-focused on a specific task, our brain’s “default mode network” comes online. This is the part that helps us connect seemingly unrelated dots, imagine new possibilities, and see challenges in a fresh light. That’s why some of your most brilliant ideas have probably appeared in the shower, during a long run, or while you’re pottering about in the garden.
On holiday, you’re giving that network the perfect conditions to operate: no deadlines, fewer distractions, and ideally, a bit of sunshine. You’re relaxed enough to see the wood for the trees — which is precisely when the strategic stuff bubbles up.
The poolside problem list
Time away has a knack for revealing what’s really niggling you about your business. Maybe you suddenly realise you’ve been carrying the weight of one underperforming hire for far too long. Or perhaps you see, with fresh eyes, that a convoluted process is wasting your team’s time.
The trick is not to go into full “solution mode” while you’re meant to be unwinding. Instead, keep a small notebook or use the Notes app on your phone to capture the thought. Just a few bullet points will do — enough to jog your memory later. This approach means you can acknowledge the idea without letting it drag you back into work mode.
Over the course of a week away, you may spot patterns in these notes. If the same issue surfaces three times while you’re floating in the pool, it’s probably something worth addressing when you’re home.
Strategic thinking beats firefighting
At home, it’s easy to slip into firefighting mode. You’re dealing with whatever’s loudest or most urgent. But on holiday, you’ve accidentally put yourself into strategy mode.
Instead of “How do I get through today?” you start thinking “Where do I want to be next year?” You might notice bottlenecks to growth — often involving you personally — or start imagining what the team could achieve if you stepped back from certain operational tasks.
This is gold dust for any founder. It’s almost impossible to create that kind of headspace in the middle of your usual schedule, no matter how many productivity hacks you try.
The “don’t-do” list
One of the most powerful outputs from a holiday is not another long to-do list, but a “don’t -do” list. This can be surprisingly liberating.
Think about:
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The meeting that adds nothing to anyone’s week.
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The client who drains your energy and your team’s morale.
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The side project that’s been limping along, consuming time without real return.
Holidays give you clarity about what really matters. Use that perspective to edit ruthlessly. Sometimes, growth isn’t about adding more — it’s about stripping away the things that slow you down.
Bringing it back to shore
The genius of doing nothing doesn’t just happen on holiday — it’s in what you choose to do differently afterwards. That’s the real trick.
Before the tide of emails washes away your poolside clarity, block out an hour in your first week back. Revisit your notes. Look for the issues or ideas that came up more than once. Decide which are worth acting on now, which can wait, and — importantly — which can be delegated entirely.
Turn one or two of your clearest holiday insights into concrete next steps. For example, if you realised your onboarding process is clunky, book time in September to review it with your team. If you spotted a dependency on a single team member, plan how you can cross-train others.
A word on balance
Rest doesn’t just give you better ideas — it models healthy behaviour for your team. If they see you taking genuine breaks, they’re more likely to believe it’s okay for them to do the same. This can make a tangible difference to morale, energy and retention.
And while you might not be able to live life permanently on a sun lounger, you can recreate moments of that headspace throughout the year. Protect thinking time in your diary. Step away from the screen. Give yourself room to pause before deciding.
Because while you’ll be back at your desk soon enough, a little of that poolside perspective can — and should — stay with you.
📩 Drop us a line or book a call here to discuss how we can help lift somethings off your plate.
You can find us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 7048
Not a phone or email kind of person but want to get in front of some of these issues? Grab my book, The MAGIC of HR, for more practical tips to build a culture that actually works.
by Claire Ward | Jul 24, 2025 | Wellbeing
Mental health in the workplace is no longer a fringe topic. It’s a central part of how businesses perform, grow, and sustain healthy cultures. For founder-led companies in particular—where the pace is fast and the pressure is high—the mental wellbeing of your team can either quietly support your momentum or slowly undermine it.
This isn’t just theory. It’s backed by data and echoed in boardrooms across the UK.
Around 15% of UK workers live with an existing mental health condition. In 2022/23 alone, 875,000 employees reported stress, depression, or anxiety—issues that collectively resulted in 17 million lost workdays (Mental Health Foundation). And perhaps even more concerning: only 13% of employees feel they can speak openly about mental health at work.
So while it might not feel like “new news,” the challenge is both widespread and persistent – and it affects your team, whether you’re aware of it or not.
As a business leader, you’re not expected to solve everything. But you do play a key role in how your people experience work, especially when they’re not OK.
And yet, most leaders hesitate.
You’re not a therapist. You’ve got targets to hit, a team to lead, and Slack notifications piling up. So when someone on your team starts withdrawing, missing deadlines, or seeming emotionally checked out, it’s easy to second-guess yourself. Should you say something? What if you say the wrong thing—or worse, open a conversation you can’t finish?
This is the quiet tension so many founders and managers experience. And here’s the truth: you don’t need to be a counsellor. But you do need to show up as a human.
What to avoid saying
There are some familiar phrases many managers fall back on – often with the best of intentions – that don’t actually help.
- “Let me know if you need anything.” This feels polite and open-ended (see previous post). But it’s too passive and pushes the responsibility back onto the person who may already be overwhelmed or unsure of what they need.
- “We’ve all been stressed lately.” While perhaps meant to show solidarity, this can minimise their personal experience and make them feel dismissed.
- “Just take a few days off.” Time off can certainly help, but suggesting it as a quick fix can feel like you’re trying to brush the issue away – or outsource the solution.
- “What’s going on with you lately?” Even if well-intended, this kind of phrasing can come across as critical or confrontational, particularly if said in a moment of frustration or hurry.
What to say instead
You don’t need perfect phrasing. You just need to be sincere. One of the most effective openers is:
“I’ve noticed you seem a bit quieter than usual (or more stressed, or distracted), and I wanted to check in. How are things with you?”
Then pause. Give space, let them talk and really listen.
If they open up, you don’t need to offer solutions, just acknowledgment and support:
“Thanks for sharing that. I know it’s not always easy to talk about.”
“Would it help to chat through what support might be useful right now?”
The key is to listen without trying to fix. Often, your presence and willingness to hold space will be the most valuable thing you offer.
Why this matters
Managers have significant influence over how people feel at work. Yet most employees never discuss their mental health with their manager. In fact, more than one in three employees say they’ve never had a mental health conversation with their manager (SHRM / Wellable).
That silence doesn’t mean everything is fine. It usually means people are unsure whether they’ll be met with support or judgment.
Your role = support, don’t fix
You’re not expected to diagnose anyone or offer expert help. But you can:
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Create a safe environment where people feel seen and heard
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Adjust workloads, priorities or expectations when someone is struggling
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Point them towards professional help (whether that’s HR, a GP, or an employee assistance programme)
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Check in again later. A one-off chat is rarely enough—follow-up shows you genuinely care
Don’t wait for a crisis to start the conversation
Mental health conversations shouldn’t be saved for when someone’s already in distress. A proactive culture starts with the small things: how you model openness, how you share challenges, and how you talk about pressure.
You can normalise mental health in your team by:
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Being open about how you manage stress, pressure, and workload
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Sharing wellbeing resources throughout the year—not just during Mental Health Awareness Week
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Equipping other managers to feel confident in starting (and sustaining) these conversations
This isn’t therapy. It’s just good leadership.
And in a business where performance, trust and retention matter -showing up in this way might make more of a difference than you realise.
Contact us on hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call on 0203 951 1208 if you’re unsure or want some extra support in this area.
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.
by Jenny Stark | Nov 6, 2024 | Reward, Vision, Values & Culture, Wellbeing
As we approach another winter season, it’s a good moment to reflect on our teams’ financial health. Talk Money Week (Nov 4-8) provides the perfect opportunity to spark these conversations. The theme, “Do One Thing,” encourages each of us to take a single step toward improving our financial well-being and that of those around us.
Money worries are not confined to the holiday season. Financial pressures can arise at any time and weigh heavily on employees. In fact, over 40% of people constantly worry about money, and one in four report that these concerns impact their job performance (Close Brothers, CIPD). With financial insecurity continuing, it’s a good idea to do a quick audit of the support that you can offer your teams.
But supporting financial well-being doesn’t require big gestures. Here are a few simple actions your organisation can take to make a difference:
- Listen to Understand: Start by understanding where your team feels the pinch. Surveys or anonymous feedback can uncover specific needs, whether around budgeting, debt management, or building savings. Tailor your initiatives to address these areas for maximum impact.
- Encourage Conversations: Just as openness around mental health reduces stigma, normalising financial conversations can foster understanding and resource-sharing. Consider a forum where employees can share their stories, providing a supportive environment and practical tips that might resonate with others.
- Offer Financial Flexibility Tools: Financial literacy sessions and budgeting workshops can empower employees to take charge of their finances. Lunch-and-learn sessions, focused on setting financial goals or managing debt, can be a great way to introduce these concepts. Financial well-being apps like Mintago can also help employees get a handle on their expenses and set future goals.
- Provide Basic Financial Education: You don’t need to be a financial expert to offer resources. Weekly tips, podcast suggestions, or articles on budgeting and financial planning can help employees make informed decisions. Great resources include podcasts such as “In Her Financial Shoes,” “Meaningful Money,” and “Money to the Masses.”
- Highlight Support Resources: Remind your team of available Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that offer financial guidance. For employees facing financial crises, access to confidential, professional advice can be the first step toward finding relief.
- Maximise Workplace Benefits: Pensions, salary sacrifice schemes, and other financial benefits can make a significant impact. Arrange sessions to explain the tax benefits and long-term value of your pension scheme, and explore if other salary-saving programs, like Cycle to Work, might benefit your team.
- Promote One Simple Step: For Talk Money Week, encourage employees to choose “one thing” they’ll commit to for improving their financial wellbeing. It might be as small as setting a budget, consolidating debts, or opening a savings account. This single action can be a manageable step with a big impact.
This Talk Money Week, encourage your team to take that “one thing” step for their financial future. Small changes, supported by a workplace that understands and cares, can make a lasting difference.
Need a hand setting up these initiatives? Drop us a line at hello@thehrhub.co.uk or call 0203 627 7048 to chat about ways to support your team’s financial wellbeing.
If you don’t want to speak to anyone but would like to learn more, read my book The MAGIC of HR.
by Jenny Stark | Oct 21, 2024 | HR Data & Systems, Learning & Development, Wellbeing
Let’s face it: losing your star players can be a right pain in the (ahem! insert anatomical area) — costly, time-consuming and disruptive, especially when you’re trying to scale up. In fact, replacing an employee can cost an average of 33% of their salary, creating a not too insignificant financial impact on businesses. So how do you ensure your best people stick around as your company evolves?
Take care of them, and they’ll take care of you
It sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many companies miss this one. Employees (but particularly ambitious employees!) join companies to grow their careers, not to partake in a charitable endeavour. So as a leader you really want to encourage a feeling of forward momentum from the get-go by sitting down with them and creating a personalised development plan that matches their career aspirations.
What KPIs do they need to achieve in a year’s time, in order to get promoted? How do they align with your business goals? Can you invest in a course or learning opportunities or online training programme for them to skill up, and therefore become more valuable to you? What mentoring can you offer them to broaden their skills and network within the company?
In other words, what you want is to create a win-win situation where they know exactly what to do to rise up the ranks internally, and you know what they’re doing to help propel your business forward.
The carrot is almost always better than the stick
The days are (thankfully) over when you had to go to the office five days a week, and if you arrived five minutes late you’d be told off. But this flexibility is also a gain to businesses because by prioritising your employees’ needs, you increase the chances of retaining them.
Do you offer flexible working arrangements, such as remote work options or flexible hours? Do you encourage employees to take their full holiday allowance and respect their time off? Consider implementing policies that discourage after-hours work emails or calls to help employees maintain a healthy separation between work and personal life. Lead with the carrot (not the stick), and they will value you more as a business they want to work for.
Check-in before they check-out
If I asked you to give me a list of your star players you probably could rattle off a few names quite easily. But if I asked you – when do you think they’ll leave your company, I bet you that would be harder to answer.
In my experience, it’s often the leaders who don’t do regular check-ins who are most surprised when their talent becomes a flight risk. Schedule frequent one-on-one chats between your Managers and your employees to discuss progress, challenges and goals. Don’t just ask for feedback—actually do something with it! Show your team that their opinions matter by taking action on their suggestions.
And if you’re worried your employees might feel uncomfortable, consider implementing an open-door policy or anonymous feedback channels to encourage honest communication. Regular town hall meetings or company-wide updates can also help keep everyone informed and feeling connected to the bigger picture. The worst thing that can happen is that a dissatisfied employee stays quiet, and then abruptly leaves, taking valuable knowledge and skills with them. Check in, before they check out.
In the wise words of Rihanna…
This one’s a no-brainer so I won’t spend too long on it but let’s face it – money talks. Conduct regular salary reviews to keep an eye on market trends and make sure your pay packages are competitive…no one wants to feel undervalued! Consider offering unique perks that align with your company culture and values, such as wellness programs, sabbaticals for long-term employees, or even equity in the company for key players.
And finally…don’t forget the bigger picture
Employees who feel connected to your company’s mission are far more likely to stick around. What’s the bigger picture – how is your company changing the world for the better in a way that isn’t simply monetary? Keep everyone in the loop about the company’s goals and how each person contributes to the bigger picture.
Where possible, involve your team in strategic discussions; giving them a sense of ownership makes them feel valued. Remember: CSR isn’t just a good thing to do, it also shows that as a company you’re caring about wider society, which will go a long way to earn your employee’s trust, and loyalty.
Need help increasing retention in your company? Drop us a line via hello@thehrhub.co.uk or give us a call on 0203 951 1208.
If you don’t want to speak to anyone but would like to learn more, read my book The MAGIC of HR.
