People Manager Review

I am a People Manager, I am responsible for supporting both the management in the restaurant and assist them in supporting the employees also. I monitor that all People related aspects of the business are being adhered to and processes in place. I ensure performance reviews are completed in line with company policy, ensure working time directives are understood and followed and all our policies and guidances are understood and in place. I am external support for employees to reach out to if they want to speak to someone outside the restaurant and I am first point of call for advice relating to all people aspects for the management team. I conduct training audits and monitor the progress of development in the restaurants. I also help to monitor recruitment and turnover and put plans in place if needed for this area.

In my role I have gained a Level 3 in HR, through this apprenticeship, I am a trained mental health first aider and I have been trained in areas such as managing long term absence and how to support employees to return to work or make the right decision taking in to account their circumstances and the requirements of their role. I have developed my people skills, I have learnt how to effectively adapt to different people and how to best manage and support them and I have increased confidence on how to build positive working relationships and gain/increase trust, respect and mutual understanding. I have attended discipline days to increase my knowledge and understanding on the organisations policies and the law. I have completed training courses on 'Creating Belonging', 'Building a Safe and Respectful Workplace' and 'Workplace Violence Prevention'.

I enjoyed the programme, it worked well around my work and it was also a pleasure to be completing it at the same time as other People Managers in the organisation as we were able to support each other by planning training sessions together and organising what activities we can complete to increase our knowledge and understanding. It was good to be able to discuss things we had learnt and how it applies to our working actives. Completing the apprenticeship during COVID times did put a big strain on my time management and I believe that I would have thoroughly enjoyed the programme with no exception had this not been the case, but I did find parts hard to manage due to having to balance my time with taking accountability for COVID tracking and providing advice, as well as my normal role and the apprenticeship. My managers were very supportive of me completing the programme and understanding of what I needed, as well as checking in on me.

I believe that communication at the beginning would be good, it was a shock to complete documents in September but not really sign up properly and meet with someone until December, I think making this clearer would help people not to be concerned that something has gone wrong or they have missed emails. I did feel that between my meetings on occasions there was a change in expectation of some of the supporting documents I had to complete, my tutor informed me that she was being more information and updates about what was now accepted and what wasn't. The overall layout of the 20% tracker was changed during my apprenticeship and it was explained to me almost as non optional, when I queried this I was informed I could keep the layout I was using. The rest of the programme was enjoyable however, I think the interactive tutor meetings were very informative and really helped me increase my understanding and confidence. My manager supported me with anything I needed and I was able to plan and schedule my work effectively most of the time (back from COVID couple of months being the exception)

My employer was fantastic, I have two immediate line managers, one a general operations manager and one a people officer, both ensured I was confident I had the support and time to complete the work. My People Officer offered her time when ever I needed this and phoned me for updates if she hadn't heard from me in a few weeks regarding the work. I felt very supported.

I felt the support was good, I had monthly meetings with my Avado tutor and I ensured to attend the online meetings that were 1 - 2 times per section of the work. The meetings were informative and with the exception of my avado tutor informing me 'things have changed, what will be accepted has changed, the layout has changed, I have just been told...' which was slightly frustrating, overall the support was great.

I feel it has helped me greatly, not long after learning about different types of leave I had queries come up in the workplace regarding dependant leave and emergency leave and I felt very confident to be able to answer these queries. I had grievances I needed to manage where I had just learnt about some of the details involved and legalities surrounding employment contracts and this new knowledge benefitted me. I also learnt about SWOT analysis and how to use them effectively and a couple of months after the apprenticeship this became something the restaurants needed to start doing on a quarterly basis - so having already done some of these was a great help.

I have two children who both have multiple extra curricular actives. I offer to help support with class trips, with my sons scouts trips and actives, my daughters cubs group. My son also takes part in rugby and I have been put forward as a first aider for the team to be able to provide support.

Yes

It is very flexible and can be adapted around peoples personal circumstances. There is a lot of support and training opportunities provided by them as an employer and it is great to be able to meet and work with different people. The employment practices ensure diversity and inclusivity and it is great that people can just be themselves.

Always be honest, it is best to ensure you provide availability that really suits you, when you apply for a role you can ensure that you are applying for the right position. If you are open and honest is helps the recruiter to be able to identify which areas of the restaurant you would be best suited to and the hours that you work. Don't be afraid to ask questions, as a team we are always happy to answer them and we are eager to help people develop and increase their knowledge and training.