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HR Think Tank

Ignite excitement and dive into the latest HR topics.

104 Topics
Naturally Mindful
Newbie
Naturally MindfulNewbie
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
What's mental wellbeing got to do with it?

Why should employers take responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their employees? The law aside, which isn’t clear enough or enforced often enough, in my opinion, to what degree should an employer invest in promoting health and mental wellbeing in the workplace?I ask this, not as an academic, but because I can tire of the tick-boxing I witness when asked to deliver a mindfulness taster for a workforce, who need a lot more than 2 hours of meditation. I ask this, because it is too easy to skim over the centrality of a person’s mental health in their reason for being, which by the way, is not to be productive...rather to be sentient, engaged, creative. When we exercise these human needs and skills, the fruits of our creativity can lead to innovation, excellence and profitability. Oh, and I forgot, to happiness. Many businesses cover their base by ensuring a minimum number of mental first aiders, who, as a result of the training, possess a rudimentary knowledge of mental health dia

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Naturally Mindful
Newbie
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Community Question: What did you do before HR? 🤔

One of the things I am very interested in learning about is how people got into HR. We’ve had some lovely stories from some of our community members, like Zoe and Nina. I’m curious about everyone else here as well! Have you always wanted to work in HR? Or, perhaps, was there some other field, some other line of work you were in?What were you doing before making the leap to HR? And how did you get here? Can’t wait to read your stories! 

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Moe
Community Admin
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
📣 Announcing the Community Book Club! 📖

Happy Wednesday, everyone! So, I’ve had a few discussions with folks in the community about potentially starting a small book club. This would focus on books that are either directly related to HR or the world of work more generally (mindset, deep work, leadership topics, team-building, etc).Now, I’d like to try this out with you all. Consider this the announcement for the first Voyager Community Book Club! 🤩We’ll meet online via video call and discuss one book each quarter.Now, let’s start with an important question via the poll below. Big shoutout to ​@HRJoy , ​@andra.enache , ​@Kim Stringer , ​@SabbuSchreiber , and ​@SalC for the inspiration! 

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Moe
Community Admin
brittbosma
Getting Started
brittbosmaGetting Started
asked in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Managing partial sick Leave payments during reintegration

Hi Community,At the company I work for, we have a policy stating that employees in their second year of sick leave who are reintegrating receive 100% pay for the hours they actually work. For the non-worked hours, they receive 70% pay.There’s currently no way to track this in Personio, which makes the administrative correction quite a hassle for us in HR—especially since the number of worked hours fluctuates during reintegration, for example when employees gradually build up their hours.Do you have any best practices for how to manage or administer this effectively? Thanks! 

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LegoMD
Communicator
K
Newbie
Kim StringerNewbie
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Lunch and Connect - Proactive Performance management

I’m excited to finding out what others are doing about Proactive Performance management and sharing and learning.  Calibrations, Habits, Rewards, Career development in flat structures, 9 box grids, Skills based frameworks for development, Effective feedback- 2 ways, talent management. Motivations and Expectations. Have you seen Conscious unbossing?  ,  Founders mode rather v Managers mode? Looking forward to connecting and exchanging ideas over lunch.

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K
Newbie
Naturally Mindful
Newbie
Naturally MindfulNewbie
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Mindfulness training: survival skills

Why consider mindfulness training to build resilience in teams?I read recently that the Indian military had introduced mindfulness training to train minds to manage extreme emotional distress, strengthen mental acuity and prepare their workforce for the journey ahead. This reminded me that my training programmes go way beyond the alleviation of workplace stress, and that mind training, when delivered by an expert, with experience in organisational learning and development and meditation pedagogy, has the potential to turn individuals, teams and businesses around in they deal with pressure, conflict, trauma and loss.Mindfulness training is as much about how we interact with each other as it is about how we deal with stress. It elicidates how our core values and beliefs drive the decisions we make and how we behave with our colleagues. Interwoven in the meditation skills development is an introduction to the neuroscience of how mind works and how we have the potential to overcome life-lo

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Naturally Mindful
Newbie
S
Getting Started
sibilareev2024Getting Started
asked in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Automatic screening legal basis

Hi, Does anybody know if we can legally use automatic screening & rejections (e.g. based on location, phone number) in EU (specifically  Germany) or can that be considered discrimination?Thank you in advance,Best regards,

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Moe
Community Admin
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
HR's Brain Drain Problem in the UK: What can be done?

Hello, everyone!So, I’m a fan of kicking every year off with some optimism. However, the HR industry, as always, is facing some headwinds that need to be addressed. One example is the amount of burnout-driven resignations that are about to happen in 2025. Here at Personio, my colleagues have been doing some research on the HR profession in the UK. What they’ve found is sobering, including 41% of those surveyed saying they spend the majority of their time on unnecessary admin. This has led to over half of surveyed professionals reporting burnout and over a third planning on leaving the industry altogether this year.With this in mind, I’m curious what our community thinks might be the way forward. Here are some questions to consider:How would you address this problematic trend?  Is the focus on unnecessary admin a tech issue or an organisational culture issue? Or something else entirely? Have you faced these issues of overwhelm in the past? How have you dealt with them?

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Moe
Community Admin
Melissa
Former Personio Employee
MelissaFormer Community Moderator
published in Talent Acquisition
📝💡 The Art of Writing a Compelling Job Description & Attracting Top Talent!Community Activity

Note: This is a practical activity offered to you by our Voyager Academy as part of the Talent Attractor learning path. Today we invite you to a special Community discussion/activity. Thanks to the Academy courses you’ve already completed in the Talent Attractor path, you already know all about the theory of writing a compelling job description - now it's time to put what you've learned into practice. But before you put pen to paper, let's take a look at how you can complete the activity. 🎖️ How to earn the Talent Attractor badge  Participate in the Community activity described below, complete the Academy courses in the Talent Attractor path, and earn a brand new digital badge for your Community profile. ✏️ How You Can Participate:Choose a Position: Think of a position for which you want to write a job description. This can be a real position from your company or a fictional one for e.g. a Product Manager - see details in Show Content. Job Brief ⬇️ About the Company: BestHome Products

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nuovoaccount
Getting Started
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
📣 Learn People Strategy from Personio's CPO, Lenke Taylor

 Hello community,As you all know, working in HR involves a lot of strategic work - when you get time away from administrative tasks and putting out fires, of course! But, where does one start with building an HR strategy? And do you transition from one strategic approach to the other without changing the core principles of your organisation?We’re delighted to present to you this incredible conversation with Lenke Taylor, Chief People Officer at Personio. Brought to you by the Personio Foundation, this conversation is your way to access Lenke’s leadership experience, spanning years at places like Google, Buzzfeed, and Twitch.  Topics covered include: How to do more with less at an NGO. How to think about the value of HR as a strategic function. How to frame the value of joining your organisation. How to transition from a start-up to scale-up mindset while maintaining core principles. And much, much more, including specific examples from Lenke’s experience! Sit back, relax, and take your

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Moe
Community Admin
Melissa
Former Personio Employee
MelissaFormer Community Moderator
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
💞🔮 Valentine's Day: How are the 5 “love languages” reflected in appreciation at work?Valentine's Day

Hi Community,There are just a few days left until February 14th... On Valentine's Day, it's all about appreciation and connections – why not bring this into the work context as well? Just like in personal relationships, every employee in the office has their own “language” that helps them feel truly valued. The five love languages, originally developed for personal relationships, can help HR figure out exactly how to do this and apply it in everyday work life. The Five “Love Languages” in the Workplace🗣️ Words of Affirmation: A sincere “thank you,” personal praise in a team meeting, or a message highlighting a special contribution can work wonders. Words are powerful – and often exactly what employees need to feel seen.⏰ Quality Time: One-on-one conversations, real attention, and availability. When someone realises their concerns are truly heard, it creates a sense of appreciation and trust.🤝 Acts of Service: Proactive support with challenges, removing obstacles in everyday tasks, or

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Melissa
Former Personio Employee
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
HR Trends Report 2025: What's on the Horizon for HR this Year? 👀Blog

Hi everyone!As we all get settled into the new year, we’ve got some HR insight to get you thinking! As you solidify your priorities for 2025, check out our HR Trends Report, counting down some of the biggest topics in the industry this year. This special report covers a range of HR-specific trends, breaking each down to the data behind it and what it means for you and your organisation. For example, one key factor in 2025 is fighting off the rising tide of “AI fatigue.” Broadly speaking, this is the phenomenon of feeling overwhelmed by the “hype” surrounding artificial intelligence - something that isn’t exactly helped by the seemingly never-ending press-coverage concerning AI. Several data points indicate AI fatigue potentially rising in the workplace, including a study by Wiley that shows 40% of respondents are struggling to understand how to integrate AI into their work. Moreover, that same study shows 75% are lacking confidence in their ability to use this technology.What this migh

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Moe
Community Admin
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Unethical companies and "moral disengagement" 🤔

Can workplace culture lead to unethical behaviour by employees?New research suggests that, while sometimes unwittingly, corporations can indeed play a huge role in unethical actions by individual employees. This is done via organisational moral disengagement.To many of you, that might come across as a no-brainer. However, a few things caught my (admittedly inexperienced) eye. First, the fact that this research is being done at all indicates a focus on a structural approach to unethical corporate practices (rather than on individual employees).Second, there is a key point made about the importance of how unethical behaviour is framed. I was particularly fascinated by the use of language to make otherwise unethical practices seem minor. The example used in the linked article is seeing price-rigging as “stabilising prices.” How interesting!I am curious what our community members think about this. Specifically, two questions come to mind:What, if anything, can be done when an employee noti

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nina.johansson
Follower
Community Holiday Elf
Personio Employee
Community Holiday ElfHappy Holidays!
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
📝 Christmas Wishlist for HR: What’s on Your List?

Hi Community,Today is my second stop on my journey through the Community, and I’m super excited to hear your thoughts and ideas in the HR Think Tank – they say this part of the Voyager Community is like a treasure chest for HR professionals!As part of my yearly work, I’ve been going through the many wishlists from our hardworking helpers. They have wishes too and are thrilled when they come true:⏰ from more flexible working hours🗣️ to an open feedback culture✨ and innovative benefits. While reading through all these wishes, I started wondering: why don’t I have my own wishlist? And what would be on it? 👀Just like you, as HR professionals, I want to fulfill the wishes of our helpers while also keeping my own needs in mind. Before I start writing my wishlist, I’d love to know: What would be on your wishlist? What’s your biggest wish as an HR professional for the coming year?I can’t wait to read your comments and gather some valuable insights. Let’s discuss together to make sure HR cont

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JHBEM
Communicator
People Person
Communicator
People PersonCommunicator
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Christmas Party – A culture requirement or is there a better way?

With Christmas fast approaching, the buzz around the office always seems to turn to the infamous company Christmas party. In November employees are already wandering when it will be, where it will be, what the talk of the night will be, and in some cases, they’re wondering if there will even be a Christmas Party.This has made me think, Christmas parties seem to be a staple in most companies nowadays and they are all but expected by staff. If a company doesn’t have one, it can sometimes stir conversation around if the business is doing well, if the business cares about their people and ultimately, cause comments on the companies’ culture as a whole.With many industries are moving to homebased or hybrid contracts, or having a large spread of employees across the country, or even the world. Planning any sort of event can be a logistical and financial burden for companies.This all has had me wondering, is a company Christmas party considered a requirement in fostering a good company cultur

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S
Explorer
People Person
Communicator
People PersonCommunicator
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Managing Workload - Mission impossible

We all experience the desire to have more hours in the day or the wish to magically reduce our workload, which almost never happens, if anything, it is the opposite. Now I am by no means an expert in managing my workload, I don’t believe anyone is, but I have some methods that have helped me and maybe they could help you too. 1 – Minimise the number of locations your tasks are found It makes it much easier for me to prioritise my workload when I can see my full list of tasks in 1 or 2 places, so I ensure that all my tasks are either in my emails or Personio. Teams message with a request? screenshot it and email it yourself. Asked something in person? Send yourself an email. This way, I don’t have to worry about remembering things, I can see all my open tasks in one place and that not only helps me prioritize but also helps me see when I need to say no or ask for help due to being at max capacity. 2 – Find what works best for you Leading on from the above, you need to do what works best

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A
Getting Started
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Remote Work vs. In-Office

Hello everyone! 😄So, with all of the news in the last few weeks concerning return-to-office policies, my brain has been stuck in pondering mode 🤔. You’ve all heard some of the most prevalent arguments in support of in-office work from the likes of Starbucks, BlackRock, and, of course, Amazon. We’ve also heard from Spotify who is more, shall we say, lenient on the matter.My opinion is this: companies should leave the decision of whether to be remote or in-office (or both) to employees and their respective teams.Now, I’m quite curious what our community thinks. What do you think of mandated return-to-office policies? 

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Majid
Newbie
nina.johansson
Follower
nina.johanssonFollower
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
From security guard to HR professional: the trial-and-error approach to finding your career path.Blog

I believe the best way of knowing is trying, and that’s been my approach to finding my career path. Pinballing from one thing to the next in the pursuit of discovering what I want to do with my life. Trying After finishing the Swedish equivalent of A levels, I wanted to keep studying but didn’t know what. I started to become a teacher because my friends said “you’re good at teaching and explaining things, so maybe try that?”. So, I tried that. Quite quickly, I found that the most interesting thing about education was the psychology behind it. This was a lightbulb moment and the first pinball bounce. Maybe psychology was it?In 2010, I moved to Stockholm and started studying psychology, which was extremely interesting! Learning about people and why we behave the way we do brought out a new fascination. However, it was only one piece of the puzzle as a career in psychology wasn’t appealing. I like people, but I don’t like people THAT much for it to be my sole focus. So, I had to bounce. F

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Moe
Community Admin
Melissa
Former Personio Employee
MelissaFormer Community Moderator
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Networking Bingo at HUG Berlin: Your Chance to Win 2 Nights in a Wellness Retreat! 🏨🧘‍♂️BINGO

Hi there Community,Tomorrow is the day! Personio's biggest HR event, HUG, is making its way to the capital of Germany! At the 📍 Wilhelm Studios in Berlin, you can expect exciting and inspiring discussions, practical tips and opportunities for personal exchange. Our Community team has prepared something very special for you too! You can look forward to creative opportunities to network with other HR professionals and have lots of fun in the process! Please note: The following content is for those who participated in HUG Berlin and the Networking Bingo.As a HUG Berlin participant, you’ll have the opportunity to join a Networking Bingo on-site. You’ll find plenty of Bingo flyers spread around the venue - grab one and take on the challenge! 👾 Here’s How You Can Participate in the BingoComplete 5 activities in a row (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and tick of the boxes Bingo? Great! Write your name & business email address at the top of the flyer.   Then hand in the flyer in the coll

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V
Newbie
J
Getting Started
JoyGetting Started
asked in HR Strategy & Best Practices
How to process moving an employee from External to Internal

Hi everyone,We currently have a few freelancers transitioning into internal positions. In the past, my colleagues handled this by terminating the external profile and creating a new internal profile for reporting and clarity purposes. However, we are now questioning if this is the most efficient approach.How do others handle this process? Do you simply convert the external profile to an internal one, or do you follow a different method? We would greatly appreciate hearing about best practices for managing such transitions.Looking forward to your insights!Best regards,JoyPeople Operations Specialist 

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N
Communicator
Melissa
Former Personio Employee
MelissaFormer Community Moderator
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
🎃 Trick or Treat: The Sweet Rewards and Bitter Challenges in HRHalloween

The spooky season begins in just a few days - Halloween is just around the corner! 🎃At the end of October, children in particular dress up as spooky creatures, go from door to door and “trick or treat” to collect candy.We also want to keep up with this tradition in the Community and bring the concept into our virtual space: 🍭 What are the sweet rewards of your job?  Is it the thrill of hiring the perfect candidate, or the joy of watching your team grow and thrive thanks to your support?👻 And what about the bitter challenges?  Maybe it’s navigating tricky conflict conversations or balancing the needs of employees with the goals of the company.Let us know: I’m excited to see how full our virtual “Halloween basket” (i.e. comments) will get.And of course – are there any ghosts, witches, or perhaps even an HR vampire among us? 🧛‍♀️Feel free to share a picture or tell us about your spooky plans for this year!

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Melissa
Former Personio Employee
N
Follower
Nadia ChubarovaFollower
posted in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Applicant's Request to delete his data

I am interested in best practices with regards to deletion of the application and all personal data of the applicant based on applicant’s request. Did someone have an experience with German applicants when they request to delete and prove it was deleted. Thank you.

670
N
Follower
Melissa
Former Personio Employee
MelissaFormer Community Moderator
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
What Makes a Healthy Culture at Work? 🔍💡Blog

There’s no better feeling than genuinely loving to go to work! HR plays a huge role in creating this experience by fostering a healthy work culture. Not only do your employees benefit from being excited and motivated, but the organisation itself also reaps the rewards—think improved employee satisfaction, higher productivity, stronger loyalty, and much more! Ways to create a healthy culture at work: 🗣️ Open Communication: Transparent and honest communication helps employees feel heard and valued. When information flows freely and feedback is encouraged, trust and collaboration naturally flourish.🧠 Psychological Safety: Employees must feel comfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and expressing themselves without fear of negative consequences. This boosts creativity and innovation.⚖️ Work-Life Balance: Supporting a healthy balance between professional responsibilities and personal life reduces burnout and increases overall productivity. (E.g. offering flexible hours or remote work)�

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Melissa
Former Personio Employee
Moe
Community Admin
MoeCommunity Admin
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
Share Your Favourite Part of Your Job and Enter Our Giveaway! 🏆🎁News

Hi everyone, So, September is here and the warm weather is starting to leave (for most of us). As vacations wind down and we all get set to return to our busy lives, we thought we’d start the month on an exciting note! We also really want to learn more about our community members, so… we’re running a huge giveaway this month!  👇 How You Can ParticipateThis one’s very easy: To join the community raffle and be eligible to win, all you have to do is:Log into your community account Comment below with an answer to this question: What is your favourite part of your job and why? ⏳ Till “When” Can I Participate Share your comments in the thread below: You’ll have until September 30th, 14:00 GMT to enter the giveaway.🎟️ What’s There to WinTwo of our participants will be able to each win an Amazon voucher worth £50.  It doesn’t stop here: Our winners will also be able to chat with one of our Community Managers over a ☕️ 👀 Psst… if you’re coming from our recent London EventWelcome to the Commu

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Melissa
Former Personio Employee
People Person
Communicator
People PersonCommunicator
published in HR Strategy & Best Practices
My journey from Law to HRBlog

Hi everyone!My name is Zoe and I am one of Personio’s new community champions, which means I am hoping to post regular articles around my experiences within the Personio platform and HR in general. Before I start doing that, I thought it would be best to give the community a background on myself, my route into HR and my experience. Whilst it may seem a bit far back to go, I’ll start with a 10-year-old Zoe who told her entire family she was going to be a lawyer when she grew up, and whilst most of them laughed, the dream stuck. Fast forward 8 years to 2018 and I am in my first year of university studying law and loving it. As we all know, things change and for me they did.  Life Takes a Turn In February 2019, I got back to my accommodation following a lecture and had a nap (like most university students do), however when I woke up, I had awful chest pains.After about an hour, I called 111, and not long after I was sat in my local A&E being triaged by a nurse. After taking my pulse,

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Moe
Community Admin
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