1) Pay Review – You know it is coming up. You know that you’re not prepared. You know that every single manager will be telling you why they are an exception. And you know that they’re right. It’s the ultimate annual clusterf**k of a personnel process. And it’s all yours baby. Happy Christmas.

2) Holidays – Where the hell is everyone? Christmas shopping days? School plays? Cheeky drinks with a supplier? Don’t you know we’re against a deadline people? Organising any sort of meeting suddenly becomes a Herculean feat yet everyone is rushing to get things off their desk before the holidays. I mean, seriously….

3) Recruitment – We need that vacancy filled now! But we won’t be able to interview until January. And we have no budget to spend. That’s ok. Right?

4) The Christmas Party – You’re in HR, you can’t enjoy it. You won’t enjoy it. But if you’re not there, then you’re a corporate disgrace. It’s the perfect example of inclusion/exclusion working in harmony. With fancy dress, optional. And….

5) Alcohol – Yeah. You know. You and me both. We’ve all dealt with far too many sad cases. It’s Christmas, it’s time to relax. But that never means forgetting where the line is. Be responsible people, the last thing you want is a grumpy HR Director on your case.