Kiran elliott, human resources business partner
Human Resources Business Partner, Kiran Elliott, helped deal with a multitude of queries from team members during the pandemic – and experienced being in and out of furlough herself, too.
The first lockdown was strange. I was furloughed for eight weeks and really didn’t know what to do with my time. As a human resources business partner (HRBP), I’m usually on trains, travelling to pubs to deal with everything from recruitment, retention, reward and training to disciplinary issues. Suddenly, I had all this spare time and it was very odd – it took some time to adjust.
Just before the pandemic we’d moved to a new area, coincidentally very close to where Captain Sir Tom Moore (Army officer and NHS/Covid fundraiser) lived, so there were plenty of house jobs to do and a lot of local activity. I made the most of this rare free time with family and enjoyed walks discovering our new neighbourhood, while marvelling at all the media interest and community spirit going on around me. Back in March 2020 I was supporting our Locals pubs in the London area. We found ourselves dealing with a lot of staffing issues because team members were falling ill or had come into contact with someone with Covid-19 and they’d had to self-isolate. Some had to shield because they lived with someone vulnerable.
We also had team members living in houses of multiple occupancy who couldn’t form a bubble because their house mates worked across different pubs. It was a challenge trying to keep pubs staffed. There was a lot of fear too – about the virus – but also because customer numbers had been falling.
Furlough fears
Being furloughed a few weeks later was quite demoralising. No one really knew what it meant at that point and although I knew pubs were closing, I didn’t think the HR team would stop working. When I got the call I went through so many emotions, and I worried whether I’d have a job at the end of it. I was reassured by all the Teams calls we had and regular management updates.
The HR team was really busy dealing with queries about everything from furlough to the future of the business, and I was asked to go back in June 2020. People wanted to know how furlough would work for them, how much they’d get paid, whether holiday entitlement was included, how long furlough might go on for. Team members were genuinely worried about how they would put food on the table for their families. We were inundated with queries on our intranet.
We organised ourselves into a rota so that we were available seven days a week to support and respond to queries and concerns – we were keen to put people’s minds at rest. We really pulled together as a team so that we could respond quickly to the crisis.
Mental health first aid
The hardest calls came from people who were really struggling with their mental wellbeing. Coincidentally, just before the virus hit many of us in HR were trained as mental health first aiders, which was so useful. We distributed a lot of information about mental wellbeing support on our internal training portal, TAP, and encouraged business development managers to have weekly check-ins with general managers. We were also there for support, where needed.
Ops managers also held regular catch-ups with their business development managers and listening sessions for pub managers. These sessions would include an update on work matters but they were mainly to check in with our people and to see how they were feeling and discover what they’d been doing to help boost morale.
The HRBPs would drop in on those calls and be available if anyone felt the need to talk. It was a good opportunity to remind people of the support available, such as the Support Fund for those who were in real financial need. I also told people about the 24/7 Employee Assistance Helpline, which is a benefit that’s always been available, but in the past wasn’t used as much as it was during the pandemic. It’s staffed by mental health professionals who could help those who were really struggling.
I think the majority of people just wanted to talk to someone who understood their concerns and would listen to their worries. People would say to me, ‘Oh, Kiran, how long do you think this will go on for?’ and of course, I couldn’t answer that, but I could be there for them while they expressed their fears and frustrations.
We are family
As part of a restructure during the pandemic I moved across to the newly formed division, Premium and Urban. I was itching to get back out and meet my new team, but of course, I couldn’t. Technology was great, but you can’t really replicate face-to-face contact, especially in my role. Holding a meeting over Teams means you can miss nuance and hints that you’d get about how someone’s feeling from their body language.
I’m proud of how Greene King responded during the pandemic. The communications, the Support Fund, the weekly updates from Nick Mackenzie, the care and support shown by everyone that’s filtered down from the top. We’re a huge company but with a genuine family feel – and I was so excited when I was able to go back to work.