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Katie Elliott | HR Consultant

@hr.katie

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HR for small businesses and growing teams
No jargon, clear, practical guidance.
15 yrs in HR | The i Paper columnist
Book a call or join The HR Hub 👇

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I got (another 💁🏻‍♀️) 5 star Google Review this week, which is always highly pleasing!

But I'm sharing this one particularly as the founder told me that one discovery call with me had already put her mind at rest on a few things she'd been carrying around: the Employment law changes, team stuff, all the bits that are genuinely hard to find headspace for when you're the one running the whole show.

My reply on Google was pretty instant: this is exactly why I set up HR Katie, to lighten the load for founders. Which, now I've read it back, is absolutely true.

Nobody starts a business dreaming of keeping on top of employment law changes in whatever spare five minutes they've got. That's the bit I take off your plate, so you can get on with the bit you actually wanted to do.

Got your own worry list on the go?
The first call's free and takes twenty minutes.
Link's in my bio. by @hr.katie

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a month ago

👋 Work with me in 2026👋

(Save this for later!)

There are a few different ways you can work with me, depending on what your business needs right now.

✅ Join The HR Hub - This is my monthly HR support service. It’s ideal if you want ongoing HR guidance, templates, and email support for a low monthly cost

✅ Employer Essentials package - This is for businesses employing staff for the first time, or getting their employment documents properly in place. It covers the core contracts and policies you need from day one.

✅ Book a Power Hour - A focused one hour session if you need help with a specific HR issue, decision, or situation and want clear next steps.

⭐️ New for 2026. Monthly retained HR support ⭐️
If you want more hands on, ongoing HR support, I now offer a monthly retainer. It includes access to The HR Hub plus up to 4 hours of dedicated support each month.

If you are not sure which option fits, you can still book a free 30 minute discovery call and I will help you work it through.

Looking forward to working with you in 2026

(Thanks to @lucywernerpr who remains my original inspo for this post)

#hrsupportforsmallbusiness #hrsupport #hrservices by @hr.katie

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9 months ago

💬 Feedback about Working with Me! 💬

So many small business owners tell me the same thing: HR feels overwhelming, stressful, and like something they’d rather put off.

But the feedback I hear most after working together?

* I respond quickly when something urgent comes up *
* The advice is practical and easy to use *
* HR feels less scary and more manageable *

That’s what I want every business owner to feel. HR should give you confidence, not stress.

If you’ve been putting HR off, maybe now’s the time to have a chat. taken in St Albans by @hr.katie

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a year ago

As we're now at the start Q4 for 2026 (howwwww?) my advice to Founders is this.... don't let HR tasks slip through the cracks, and these three are the ones I'd start with.

📝 Create a single shared folder for all your HR forms and policies. Whenever someone needs a document, they know exactly where to go with no more hunting through emails or digital filing cabinets.

📝 If you've got someone new starting, condense your entire first-week plan onto one sheet with key contacts, system logins, training sessions and must-know policies.

📝 Put a weekly HR check-in in the diary, so it has a time that's actually set aside for it.

A weekly HR check-in, a well-maintained policy library, and a touch of automation can transform fire-fighting into being proactive and feeling under control.

If you'd like a hand getting any of this set up, send me a message by @hr.katie

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3 days ago

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4 days ago

I get it, HR doesn’t exactly sound like a laugh.

Contracts, policies, the stuff you’ve been putting off because it feels heavy and a bit scary.

But most of my calls with founders don’t feel like that at all, because once you’ve said the thing you’ve been worrying about out loud, it usually turns out to be far more fixable than it felt at 11pm the night before.

So yes, we cover the serious bits properly, and we laugh along the way too.

If you’ve got an HR question you’ve been sitting on, book a call and bring it with you. by @hr.katie

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5 days ago

Welcome to the very first FAQ Friday, and this week it's all about sickness, because it’s been a topic I’ve covered a lot recently.

These three came from my newsletter, and the one I'd look at first is the sick pay change, because it's easy to assume payroll sorted itself out back in April when it might not have. If your contracts still talk about waiting days before sick pay kicks in, that's your sign they need a refresh.

The doctor's note question comes up a lot too, and I get why, because asking for a note feels like the safe thing to do. For the first seven days a self-cert form does the job though (and nobody with a streaming cold wants to sit in a GP waiting room for a bit of paper).

If there's a question you'd like me to answer, pop it in the question box on my stories, and I won't share who asked. And if you'd like the answers before they land on here, you can sign up to my newsletter through the link in my bio. by @hr.katie

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9 days ago

Is your Christmas closure plan written down anywhere yet?

I've already had one HR Hub member ask me how to handle holiday over Christmas, and we're only just into October. So if your business shuts over the festive break, here are the three things I'd get sorted this month rather than leaving them until December.

If you want your team to use some of their annual leave for the days you're closed, you need to tell them in good time.

Unless your contracts say otherwise, the legal minimum is notice of twice the length of the leave, so three days off means at least six days' notice. Telling everyone now is much kinder anyway, while they're still planning their own time off around it.

The early finish on Christmas Eve or the extra day as a thank you is lovely, but make it clear each year that it's discretionary. If it happens the same way every year without anyone saying so, it can start to look like something your team is entitled to, and that leaves you stuck in the year the workload just won't allow it.

Then write your closure rules down once. Even a line in the handbook means you're not working it all out from scratch every November, and once it's written, that bit takes care of itself 🗓️

If you'd like to talk your Christmas plans through with me, you can book a Power Hour through the link in my bio. by @hr.katie

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11 days ago

Maybe it’s an age thing, but nobody warned me that one day I’d be sat at my desk minding my own business and find a hair on my chin that I’m almost certain wasn’t there five minutes ago … where to they appear from?!

And once I’ve found it, that’s it. The inbox can wait, the to do list can wait, because I’m now fully committed to fiddling with this thing until I can get my hands on a pair of tweezers and deal with it properly.

So yes, this is how your email finds me, and you’ll get a reply as soon as the monster’s gone.

Please tell me it’s not just me?? by @hr.katie

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13 days ago

Got an HR question you keep meaning to ask but never quite do, because it feels too basic, or a bit awkward, or like something you should already know? If that's you, I'd love to hear it.

I answer questions like these in my newsletter, and from next Friday I'm going to start sharing them on here too, so every week there'll be an "FAQ Friday" with the question and a practical answer you can actually use.

Pop yours in the question box on my stories today (I won't share who asked, so nothing's too basic or too awkward) and I'll pick from those alongside the ones from my newsletter.

And if you'd like the answers in your inbox before they land on here, you can sign up to my newsletter "HR Happenings" at the link in my bio by @hr.katie

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16 days ago

It's 8am on a Monday, you've barely finished your first coffee, and someone's rung in sick... again, and it's hard to know whether to be worried or annoyed...

Before you decide which, there are three things I'd check.

Is this part of a pattern, or is it a one-off? One Monday off isn't the same as four in a row, so have a look back before you jump to anything.

Then think about how they've let you know, and whether the absence has been reported the way your policy actually asks for.

And have you logged it? Just as importantly, are you logging absence in the same way for everyone on your team, not only the person you've got a feeling about?

A Monday sick day doesn't automatically mean there's a problem, but how you handle those first ten minutes decides whether it turns into one. by @hr.katie

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17 days ago

They catch you at the coffee machine and ask, "Am I paid the same as her?" and your brain just goes blank 😬

"That's confidential" is usually the first thing that comes out, and it's the trap most founders fall into, because it sounds like you've got something to hide even when you haven't.

It won't necessarily end the conversation either, because under the Equality Act your team can talk to each other about pay if they're trying to find out whether a difference is linked to something like sex or race, even if their contract says pay is confidential.

What I'd say instead is this...

"I don't discuss individual pay, but I'm happy to talk through how pay is set here and where you sit."

It's honest, it doesn't break anyone's confidentiality, and it keeps the door open.

The only catch is that you then need to be able to explain how pay is set, so if that's a bit hazy in your business right now (no judgement at all), it's worth getting clear on before someone asks.

Nobody ever gave most founders the words for this, so freezing when it happens is completely normal. Save this one for the day it does. by @hr.katie

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19 days ago