For those who work in HR, finding reassuring voices and support for your biggest concerns can be as challenging as navigating a labyrinth. But amidst the jargon and complexity, certain voices resonate with clarity and wisdom. Lizzie Henson, founder of LinkedIn and Facebook HR community groups ‘HR Ninjas’, has made it her mission to create a community for the many professionals experiencing the same HR challenges. And here, we’re bringing you some of our favourite quotes from Lizzie: some enlightening, some inspiring and some overall reassuring words of encouragement. We hope that you walk away feeling less alone, and reassured that there is a whole community out there on the same journey, ready to share their experiences with you. Communication is key “Having data is one thing, doing something with it is another, but communicating what you have done with it and being transparent about the action you’ve taken is an important way for an organisation to build trust which in turn will mean employees are more likely to share their opinions – so the feedback loop is important.”Breaking the glass ceilings “I often talk to HR leaders that don’t feel that they truly have a seat at the top table. I’m seeing some signs that the situation is improving, but progress is slow. If we as HR Leadership truly want to sit alongside the Finance Director and Sales Director in terms of influence, then we have to get better at objectively demonstrating the value that we have created. We know instinctively that HR strategy has a real and meaningful impact on business performance, however, until we can clearly show how key people metrics directly impact shareholder value we are relying on anecdotal evidence, which, I think, is the reason we are struggling to break the glass ceiling in the first place.”Delve into the data“Employee wellbeing is something that should be up there on the strategic agenda for all organisations. It is important to join the dots between things like your attrition levels, your engagement measures, your absence metrics and your bottom line because then the ROI becomes more apparent. But in addition, detailed data unlocks the prospect of meaningful interventions – all of which can be measured and managed with increasing ease and accuracy.” Education, education, education!“What's the point of having an [employee benefit] if people don't know they've got it? It's probably not a benefit if people don't know that it exists. And your employee benefits [are] such an important part of your total employee offering, so it's really, really important to bring those to life for people. For instance, it's one thing saying: 'You've got group income protection.' But do employees really know what that means, or what that can give them? It's just words, isn't it? You need to actually bring it to life."A culture of honesty“I think if you can create an environment where people can be their true selves and be honest about what's going on, you've got half a chance than of helping them. Even just sharing hints and tips on what you're doing personally to save money – it's free, but it's so massively powerful for those colleagues.”Flexibility“Leaders need to accept that working practices have changed and look to support a more flexible approach.”Focus on the overall Employee Value Proposition “I don’t mean free fruit and a day off on your birthday! Think deeply about the culture and values that you create and the people and teams that you build around you.” Zero tolerance for bad cultural fits“Culture is something that is created, never mandated, so have zero tolerance for those that work outside of the culture – yes, even the high-performers! Trust me, they are doing more damage than good.”Let’s be transparent about salaries“There’s nothing more damaging to culture than unfairness and inequality, so transparency around pay is super important. And this starts right at the beginning of the employee journey on the job advert! “There are still way too many jobs being advertised without salary details. Whilst this in itself is frustrating for job seekers as time can be wasted, more importantly is the reason why salaries can’t be shared – normally because pay inequality already exists in these organisations and employers don’t want employees to know this. If I were a job seeker this would speak to me (not in a good way!) about the culture of the hiring organisation.”Be easy on yourselves: An HR leader’s job isn’t easy“Unfortunately, when you work in HR, you're damned if you do and damned if you don’t. That is the reality of HR professionals' lives because you can't please all the people all the time. There’s no magic fix, but the answer is:: culture, culture, culture.”