Peas in a Podcast®

Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
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Before starting our own People and Culture business, we were managers on the other side of the table — held accountable for performance and results, but without the HR advice we actually needed to achieve them. So we became the people we needed. We built Peas in a Pod from scratch and went on to work with hundreds of small business owners, seeing just about every workplace drama you can imagine (and some you probably shouldn’t). We don’t sugar-coat, we don’t sit on the fence, and we don’t just hand you a process and tell you to get on with it. This podcast is candid chats between two female founders — who know exactly what leadership looks like when there’s nowhere to hide and no one coming to do it for you. We’re passionate about people, serious about results, and the ones you want in your corner when shit’s hitting the fan. Peas a Podcast® is a registered trademark owned by Peas in a Pod Consulting Limited. All rights reserved.

  1. 4h ago

    Third-Party Harassment & the Law: What 'All Reasonable Steps' Actually Means | Peas in a Podcast

    Welcome back to Season 3 of Peas in a Podcast! Refreshed, rearing to go, and diving straight into one of the most vital workplace topics facing business owners today: sexual harassment and third-party harassment. Employment law has undergone a massive shift. It is no longer enough to simply have an anti-harassment policy sitting in a drawer and investigate complaints after they happen. Employers now have a proactive, legal duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment before it occurs. Furthermore, this duty extends to third parties: customers, clients, suppliers, service users, sub-contractors, and the general public. In this episode, Kay and Rebecca unpack what these legal changes mean for small business owners and leaders. They tackle the uncomfortable realities of workplace banter, explain why intention is not a legal defence, and break down practical ways to protect your team in environments outside your direct control. In this episode, we cover: The legal shift from taking "reasonable steps" to "all reasonable steps". What third-party harassment actually includes (from client dinners to house visits). The definition of harassment and why "unwanted conduct" is the key phrase. Why a 20-minute tick-box e-learning module will not protect your business or your staff. How to conduct practical risk assessments for high-risk scenarios involving alcohol, networking, and external client events. How to frame zero-tolerance expectations in client onboarding and commercial contracts. Building a genuine culture of care and psychological safety where employees feel empowered to speak up. If you want to ensure your business stays compliant while fostering a culture where your people feel safe and valued, this episode is essential listening. Want to explore this further? Get free access to our recorded employer webinar on preventing sexual harassment, with practical guidance to help you understand your responsibilities and where to start. Watch the free webinar here. For more practical support, look out for our upcoming Harassment: Risk & Readiness working session, where we’ll help you assess your organisation’s risks and turn the guidance into a practical action plan.

  2. Sep 8

    Burning HR Questions: Redundancy, Monday Sickies & Dismissals | Peas in a Podcast

    Welcome to the Season 2 finale of Peas in a Podcast! In this episode, Kay and Rebecca (Directors of Peas in a Pod Consulting) sit down to tackle the burning HR, management, and people management questions submitted directly by small business owners and founders. We strip away the corporate wank to give you commercial, candid, and human answers to the questions keeping you up at night. What we cover in this episode: Immediate Dismissals: Can you make an employee leave straight away when you sack them? We break down Garden Leave, Pay in Lieu of Notice (PILON), and gross misconduct.Redundancy vs Performance: Why using redundancy to offload an underperforming employee is a dangerous avoidance strategy.Managing Feedback Resistance: How to handle team members who react defensively or emotionally to constructive feedback.Sick Pay & Absenteeism: Understanding day-one Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules, contractual sick pay traps, and how to tackle recurring Monday absences.Managing Friends: Practical tactics for handling tough performance reviews with employees you are close with without destroying the personal relationship.Dismissal Warnings: Debunking the "three strikes and you are out" myth and understanding proper disciplinary versus capability processes. Whether you are scaling a business or managing a growing team, this Q&A offers zero-fluff, real-world advice to help you protect your business and build a healthy culture. Subscribe to our channel so you never miss an episode, and join us when we return for Season 3!

  3. Sep 1

    Trade Union Access Rights: What Small Businesses Need to Know | Peas in a Podcast

    Trade union access rights are changing at the end of October 2026 under the new Employment Rights Act, and it is set to hit small businesses like a ton of bricks. If you employ 21 or more people, trade unions will soon have a statutory right to request physical and digital access to your team and facilities to recruit and support members. In this episode of Peas in a Podcast, Kay and Rebecca break down the dry legal jargon into plain, actionable advice. From understanding access agreements and strict 15 day response windows to avoiding fines starting at £75,000, we cover everything small business owners need to know before October. In this episode, we cover: Who this law actually applies to (the 21-employee threshold across all sites). What an access agreement looks like and why you cannot ignore it.How to negotiate and compromise on reasonable room access and meeting timings.The severe financial penalties for failing to engage (fines from £75k up to £500k).Why company culture is your best defence and why culture work is no longer pink and fluffy.Practical HR steps to prepare, including contract updates and staff written statements. Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting Subscribe for weekly HR and leadership advice without the corporate wank!

  4. Aug 25

    Accidental Managers: The 5 Responsibilities You Weren't Told About | Peas in a Podcast

    Did you know that 82% of managers are appointed without any formal management training? They are "accidental managers", promoted because they were great at their technical job, but suddenly expected to lead people without a roadmap. Expecting a top technical performer to manage people without development is like telling a brilliant chef, "You're cracking with knives, why don't you have a go at open heart surgery?" In this episode of Peas in a Podcast, Rebecca and Kay break down the five core areas of responsibility you actually take on when you step into management. From holding the line on team performance to managing frontline legal risks, we strip away the corporate wank to give you an honest blueprint for real-world leadership. In this episode, we cover: The 82% statistic and the trap of the accidental manager.Why employee underperformance is often a direct reflection of management capability.Mastering difficult conversations, from performance feedback to unpopular leadership decisions.Frontline decisions and legal risks: How casual habits create costly precedents.Psychological safety: Why tiny daily actions build or destroy workplace trust.Role modelling and credibility: Why your behaviour is always under the microscope. Level up your leadership with BossMode® Bootcamp Managing people is hard, but you do not have to figure it out alone. BossMode® Bootcamp is our signature 8 week management programme for founders, team leaders, and new managers who want practical, no-nonsense tools to build high-performing teams with clarity and control. 👉 Explore BossMode® Bootcamp details and enrolment: https://peasinapodconsulting.org.uk/courses/ Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk facebook.com/piapconsulting instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting Subscribe for weekly HR and leadership advice without the corporate wank!

  5. Aug 18

    From Fish & Chip Shops to Founder Therapy: Our 10-Year Journey | Peas in a Podcast

    Have you ever wondered why you started your business in the first place, especially on the days when managing people makes you want to pull your hair out? You are not alone. This week on Peas in a Podcast, Rebecca and Kay strip back the corporate front to share their own founding story as Peas in a Pod Consulting turns 10. From 15-year-old Rebecca demanding her £60 holiday pay in a Reading chip shop, to Kay growing up in a vicarage learning servant leadership, this episode is an honest peek behind the curtain at what truly drives our business. We unpack why every business owner needs to reconnect with their original "why", how personal values shape company culture, and why neither of us ever set out to run a traditional HR firm. Plus, we share a few of our most embarrassing early-day c**k-ups (including a website that looked suspiciously like Asda and 17 printed forms for phone calls that never came!). Subscribe for weekly zero-fluff leadership advice!

  6. Aug 12

    Managing Planned Absence: You Have More Control Than You Think | Peas in a Podcast

    When an employee requests time off or drops a sudden absence notification on your desk, your first instinct as a manager might be to panic or assume you simply have to say yes. But employers actually hold far more control over planned absences than most realise. With Kay away on holiday, Rebecca is joined by senior consultant Natalie Close to break down the human and legal realities of managing planned leave without destroying team culture or operational output. In this episode, we unpack: The Legal Truth About Annual Leave: Why it’s a health and safety right (not a benefit) and how employers can legally dictate holiday timing, impose blackouts, or shut down for peak periods.Family Leave & Antenatal Surprises: Handling antenatal appointment proof, managing paternity notifications given at the eleventh hour, and drawing the line between antenatal leave and sickness.Cosmetic vs. Medical Surgery: How to handle requests for elective procedures (from turkey teeth to aesthetic tweaks) versus essential operations like hip replacements or hysterectomies.Jury Service Deferrals: What rights you have as a business when a court summons threatens your busiest operational period.The 2 Core Questions: The essential framework every employer needs when evaluating any time-off request. Stop running your business on fear and guesswork. Tune in for practical, zero-fluff HR advice to help you manage your workforce with confidence. Don't forget to Subscribe, hit the notification bell, and leave a comment with your biggest absence management headache!

  7. Aug 10

    Stop Having Meetings That Could Have Been an Email | Peas in a Podcast

    If you have ever sat in a team meeting thinking "why are we here?", you are not alone. Unstructured, meandering team meetings are one of the biggest drains on time, energy, and money in scaling businesses. In this episode of Peas in a Podcast, Kay and Rebecca (Directors of Peas in a Pod Consulting) unpack the human mechanics behind running genuinely effective team meetings. From six-hour marathon sessions to round-robins that descend into chat about the office coffee, we break down why meetings go wrong and how managers can get them right. Stop letting meetings become expensive talking shops. Learn how to create structure, drive accountability, and get your team performing collectively. Subscribe to the channel so you never miss an episode, share with a fellow leader, and leave us a comment with your biggest meeting pet peeves! Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk facebook.com/piapconsulting instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting

  8. Jul 28

    Psychological Safety: Building Teams That Actually Talk | Peas in a Podcast

    This week, Rebecca and Kay tackle a term that sounds like pure corporate fluff but directly impacts your bottom line: Psychological Safety. A lack of psychological safety costs UK small businesses an estimated £15.7 billion a year. It does not show up as a line item on your balance sheet; it hides behind high staff turnover, low productivity, absenteeism, and silence. The moment your employees go quiet is the exact moment you have something to worry about. Passionate disruption means your team still cares, whereas silence means they have checked out completely. In this episode, we strip away the HR buzzwords to discuss what it actually looks like to lead without the corporate guff. We break down our new favourite mantra, "When you're furious, get curious," and share exactly how to stop focusing on the symptoms of underperformance so you can address the root cause. Plus, we share our own spectacular project failures to explain the three practical leadership pillars you need to role-model every day: Clarity, Vulnerability, and Fallibility. Remember, people problems don’t fix themselves, and healthy cultures never happen by accident. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and share this with a fellow founder who needs to hear it!

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About

Before starting our own People and Culture business, we were managers on the other side of the table — held accountable for performance and results, but without the HR advice we actually needed to achieve them. So we became the people we needed. We built Peas in a Pod from scratch and went on to work with hundreds of small business owners, seeing just about every workplace drama you can imagine (and some you probably shouldn’t). We don’t sugar-coat, we don’t sit on the fence, and we don’t just hand you a process and tell you to get on with it. This podcast is candid chats between two female founders — who know exactly what leadership looks like when there’s nowhere to hide and no one coming to do it for you. We’re passionate about people, serious about results, and the ones you want in your corner when shit’s hitting the fan. Peas a Podcast® is a registered trademark owned by Peas in a Pod Consulting Limited. All rights reserved.

Information

  • Creator
    Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
  • Show Website
    Peas in a Podcast®