Monthly HR Reset Checklist for Small Businesses
60–90 minutes to get your people stuff back under control.
A simple monthly HR checklist for small businesses to keep your team aligned, your priorities clear, and your operations tidy — without turning HR into a second job.
Download the Checklist
Your month ends. Your to-do list doesn't.
If you're running a small business, the month has a habit of ending with a bang. A bit of sickness, a holiday clash, a performance wobble, a “quick question” that turns into a saga… and suddenly you're firefighting again.
Most SMEs don't need more policies. They need a simple rhythm that stops small issues becoming expensive ones.
People
Missed probations and messy handovers create avoidable risk. Small gaps in people processes become expensive problems later.
Priorities
Holiday and absence decisions get harder when you're already behind. Without a clear view, everything feels urgent.
Paperwork
Little issues grow into big employment law risk when nobody spots them early. The admin that lives in your head needs a home.
You don't need an HR team — you need a system.
A monthly reset that keeps you ahead of problems
This checklist gives you a simple end-of-month routine built around three steps: Track what matters, Tweak what's stuck, and Tidy the admin.
You'll quickly spot what's slipping (before it becomes sickness drama or performance management panic), make a few small changes to improve flow, and clear the HR and ops admin that keeps tripping people up.
It's designed for busy owners and managers who need clarity fast, not a 42-page “framework”. This is HR support for SMEs that actually respects your diary.
Use it to build consistency, protect your business, and make day-to-day people decisions feel less like guesswork.
Your top priorities, team temperature, and pinch points
What's slowing you down — meetings, onboarding, early conversations
The admin that creates friction — probations, holidays, templates, handovers
Create a sustainable monthly rhythm that supports HR compliance UK
It's not “corporate HR”. It's HR compliance UK, made doable for real life.
Practical HR, for real-life small businesses
I'm Kate, and I run Kate Underwood HR & Training. We help UK small businesses with HR consultancy, retained HR, training, policies, HR systems, and fractional HRD support — especially when things feel a bit “how did we get here?”
This checklist focuses on what actually trips up SMEs: unclear priorities, missed people processes, and admin that only lives in someone's head. A simple monthly routine can save a lot of stress — and reduce costs — later.
Nina Basset FIH
Owner, Hotel Terravina / A Spot in the Woods
Kate is passionate, conscientious, informed, proactive and responsive. She has a wealth of experience she is happy to share and a great understaning of HR which she imparts in an easy to follow way which makes it seem so much easier to manage a small business.
Andy Heather
Director, Tonic Analytics
Kate Underwood HR ahs proved to be the perfect HR Partner for our rapidly growing HR Business. Whether its been helping to initally stablish our HR processes or policies, selecting and confidering our online tools or providing on going HR advice and Support
Victoria Vickery
Founder & Marketing Director, All Star Marketing Club
I was introduced to the World of HR Systems by Kate and having the team set up on a system makes funning a business sooooo much easier when it comes to managing staff. What Kate doesn't know about HR Tech is probably not worth knowing
Download it. Block the time. Reset the month.
This is designed to be used, not admired. Download the checklist, stick it somewhere visible, and set a recurring calendar block on the last Friday of each month.
Download the checklist
Block 60–90 minutes in your calendar (monthly)
Track: priorities, what's slipping, team temperature
Tweak: pick 3 priorities, shrink a meeting, fix one process
Tidy: probations, holidays, templates, handovers
Calendar block tip
Set a recurring 90-minute block on the last Friday of each month. Protect it like a client meeting — because it is one. With yourself.
Get your Monthly Reset Checklist
Less firefighting. More control. Same team, same business, just… calmer.
Download the checklist and run your first reset this month. You'll immediately see what needs attention and what can wait.
Want help putting this into a simple, workable system? That's exactly what we do. KUHR can support you with HR consultancy, retained HR, manager training, policies, and HR systems that stop things slipping in the first place.
Book a Discovery Call