Labour Law Consultant Provides insight into her typical day
A Day in the Life of an outsourced HR Manager: Behind the Scenes of People Management
Author: Marike Wessels
Experienced labour law specialist, holding both an LLB and an LLM in Labour Law. As an admitted attorney, she brings a high level of expertise to her practice. Marike places a strong emphasis on building personalized relationships with clients, which she believes is essential for providing effective and tailored labour advice.
Marike provides us with some labour law insights when acting as an outsourced HR Manager as a labour consultant.
In this article, I’ll walk you through what a typical day might look like in an outsourced HR Specialist’s shoes – covering the pressures, the problem-solving, the wins, and the moments that make you question your career choice.
The role of an outsourced HR Manager is often seen as a blend of administrative tasks, people management, drafting hearing outcomes, drafting contracts, ensuring that clients are compliant with the current labour laws or chairing disciplinary hearings, but the reality is far more complex.
A is unpredictable, emotionally taxing, and often feels like walking a tightrope between time management, clients’ demands, legislation and employee satisfaction.
As someone who has been in the role, there are days where you leave feeling accomplished and others where you feel drained like you’ve spent more energy managing crises than positively impacting on people and businesses.
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On any given day, I might be out of the office the entire day – chairing disciplinary hearings, meeting with clients and rushing from one appointment to another; All whilst keeping track of time (as you have more appointments scheduled for the day) knowing that by the time you walk out of the meeting your emails would be flooded waiting for a response, deadlines are creeping up and the missed calls on your phone.
On your way to the next appointment, you try to catch up on missed calls and messages.
It can be a constant rush and crisis management for an entire day, not getting to the actual tasks that you had planned for the day. Naturally, you want to resolve every client’s problem as soon as possible but circumstances just sometimes make it impossible to deal with issues immediately, being stuck in a hearing or meeting or rushing to get to the next client.
Conflict resolution isn’t just about addressing the immediate issue; it’s about being proactive. It’s exhausting work, but it is also rewarding at the same time.
7:00 AM: Prepping for the Day
The workday typically starts before you even get to the office. I’d scan through emails while having my first cup of coffee, noting any urgent messages that would require immediate attention. The tone of these emails often sets the pace for the day. A staff’s misconduct? An urgent suspension? Or maybe a compliance issue?
One memorable morning, I arrived at work to stressed out colleagues. A crisis occurred at a client, and everyone was rushing to get the necessary documents drafted, putting heads together to determine the best way to deal with the incident. Something we call, divide and conquer. As HR, it’s my job to manage the pre-, during and post incident processes, but this meant my to-do list would have to be completely reorganized, and crisis management would become my priority for the day. Such is the life of an outsourced HR Manager – plans often fly out the window when an unexpected issue arises.
8:00 AM: At the office
Arriving at the office, the first thing on the agenda is often to respond to emails, answering messages and having a brief meeting with colleagues to see if there is anything urgent that requires attention. These meetings can range from efficient, collaborative discussions to tense exchanges depending on the queries from clients.
By mid-morning, I’m often knee-deep in conflict resolution. One of the hardest, yet most crucial parts of HR is trying to mitigate risks, explaining labour laws, balancing clients’ demands, trying to maintain company culture and fairness towards employees. The challenge isn’t necessarily in solving the problem, though that can be difficult too, but in managing the emotions involved.
9:30 AM: Managing a Conflict (Or two)
14:00 PM: A Working Lunch
More often than not, lunch is eaten at my desk while multitasking or not eating at all as you are rushing between clients and meetings. You can’t afford to slow down, especially when you’re the go-to person. Drafting new company policies, contracts, chairing a disciplinary hearing, being a mediator or giving advice on difficult situations.
During one particularly hectic week, a new client was preparing for a Labour audit. I had to ensure that all employee files were up to date, including training records, tax forms, contracts and compliance documents/files. A working lunch that day consisted of flipping through file after file, drafting last minute documents, ensuring everything was in order. It was tedious, mentally draining work, but absolutely necessary. I remember thinking how HR work swings back and forth between managing issues, finding solutions and administrative work. All are equally important, but only one gets recognition.
By mid-afternoon, there’s usually a fresh set of “fires” to put out—anything from last-minute errors to policy violations. HR touches every detail in a company and all of your clients’ employment issues can end up on your desk.
On one particular afternoon, I had to deal with a heavy and emotional situation that required extreme care. My job wasn’t just to follow the formal procedures, but also to provide emotional support. The legal aspect of these cases is clear-cut, document everything, investigate thoroughly, and follow due process. But emotionally? It’s a different beast. There’s no handbook on how to make someone feel heard while staying neutral.
The hardest part was knowing that no matter how carefully we handled the investigation, the workplace relationship was likely damaged beyond repair. Even when you resolve the issue on paper, the emotional fallout can linger for years.
3:30 PM: Firefighting and Compliance
5:00 PM: Wrapping Up? Not Quite
By the time late afternoon rolls around, most people are wrapping up their day. For HR, however, this is when some of the most important- or urgent work happens. Employees feel overwhelmed or frustrated near the end of the day and make mistakes, clients need urgent advice on difficult workplace incidents, all whilst catching you as you walk out the door.
In HR, there’s an unspoken rule – be ready for anything at any time. These conversations can be the most meaningful part of the job, but they’re also emotionally draining.
By the time I finally leave the office, the day’s events are often replaying in my mind. What could I have done differently? What is the best recommendation? How do I deal with the difficult matter? Which deadlines are coming up?
After dinner and taking a shower, it’s time to start catching up on admin which you never got to during working hours as the day did not turn out the way you would have wanted to. But, on the other hand, you know well that you need some rest before the unknown day of tomorrow…. You know you won’t be able to sleep if you leave the tasks, you had planned for the day, for the following day… Then you find yourself in front of the laptop drafting the outcome and answer those emails that came through whilst I was chairing the hearing.
6:00 PM: Home time
Reflecting and Recharging
In HR, you’re never really “done.” Even after you clock out, you’re thinking about the next day—how to improve company culture, how to resolve ongoing conflicts, or how to better service clients. This constant state of reflection can make the job mentally exhausting, especially when you’re tasked with making decisions that affect people’s livelihoods.
It’s not always about fixing work problems; it’s also caring about the business, the client and the person behind the job.
Despite the challenges, there’s also an incredible sense of purpose in HR. You’re shaping workplace environments, helping people and businesses grow, resolving conflicts that others shy away from and creating solutions for difficult workplace situations. While it’s not always rewarding in the moment, the cumulative impact of these efforts builds over time. When clients start to see the culture change and employees start to work as a team, that’s when you know you’ve made a difference.
Being an HR Manager isn’t glamorous, and it’s not always rewarding, at least not in the traditional sense. There are no clear-cut successes or failures. You’re dealing with people—real, flawed, emotional people—and every decision carry weight.
It’s also incredibly fulfilling to see employees grow, conflicts resolved, and to know that you played a part in creating an environment where people can thrive.
At the end of the day, the role of an HR Specialist is less about conflict, policy, disciplinary sanctions but more about people and time management. If you’re able to balance this, while maintaining your sanity, you’re doing something right.
Consider acquiring the services of LabourExcel and our labour law experts.