SCVO's HR Service: Two years on

SCVO’s HR Service first launched back in 2020 with funding from the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland as a direct response to the pandemic. Organisations needed support with furlough, redundancies and all things people, and we quickly learned that this wasn’t a temporary need. I think it’s safe to say that over four years later, the turbulence hasn’t eased, it’s evolved. Our sector continues to find challenges and more than ever, we’re realising that the only certainty is uncertainty. This is why I’m so proud of the HR service and the support we’ve offered every day since re-launching in 2022 as a self-sustaining, subscription-based service.  We have gone from strength to strength ever since. We now support over 140 organisations across Scotland and can safely say that no one day is the same.   

Monday might start off with a conversation about becoming an employer for the first time, so we supply employment policies, advise on recruitment best practice and talk about the onboarding process. Then we’re straight into a video call about a long-term absence issue, or a chat via email about how to introduce a new policy to staff. Through the week we’re supporting an investigating manager with a grievance or talking to prospective subscribers about the benefits of joining the service. We’ll end the week advising on how to evaluate a newly created job or supporting a CEO go through the redundancy process with their staff.  

In the thousands of cases we’ve had over the past few years, the thing that sticks out is the overwhelming desire from compassionate employers to do the right thing by their staff. With limited resources, this isn’t always easy, but the intentions are always to be supportive. A recurring theme has been looking after the wellbeing of employees, workers and freelance staff and it’s a topic we’ve stayed close to at SCVO this year.   

Our experience in the HR service tells us that short-term funding, job insecurity, the pressure to deliver ‘more for less’ and a general lack of resources are impacting on people’s wellbeing. Add to this a tendency in our sector for people to go above and beyond, and feel guilty about prioritising their own wellbeing, and from the employer perspective, wanting to do more than stretched resources allow to support staff, it’s no wonder our collective wellbeing is feeling the strain. 

Our SCVO colleagues Jason Railton and Maddie Stark met with a group of organisations earlier this year to take a closer look at this.  They found that the approach to wellbeing varies across our sector.  Smaller organisations might offer a more close-knit working environment where it’s easier for people to be honest about their wellbeing but lack resources, while larger ones might have good HR functions, but struggle with the balance of wellbeing of frontline workers versus home working desk-based staff. Hybrid working helps many people manage wellbeing, but lone working and remote meetings can lead to feelings of isolation.  There’s not a one size fits all solution.   

Which brings us to another theme we have picked up on this year.  We’ve noticed more and more organisations are turning to mediation and the coaching approach as alternatives to formal HR policies.  The formal policies still have their place of course, but we are very supportive of finding new ways to navigate difficult situations at work.  Internally at SCVO we’ve recently introduced coaching cafes, where we’ve been learning about restorative practice and active listening, tools that we recommend to anyone avoiding a difficult conversation at work or at home. 

As we look ahead to 2025, SCVO’s HR Service team remains committed to supporting our subscribers through every HR challenge and change. The resilience and dedication of the organisations we work with inspires us daily. Together, we are not just navigating uncertainty; we are shaping a future where compassionate, well-supported workplaces are the norm. Thank you to our subscribers for being part of this journey with us. Here’s to many more years of growth, learning, and making a difference together.