Challenge Blog

From February 2010, the maximum compensatory award made by an Employment Tribunal will be £65,300 for a successful unfair dismissal claim whilst awards made in cases of unlawful discrimination can be unlimited.  In 2007/08 nearly 190,000 claims were made and data suggests that this figure has increased to the end of 2009 as the recession has impacted on employment.

For an SME this kind of payout, not to mention the legal fees, disruption to work and bad publicity, could irreparably damage a business.  Falling foul of other Employment Legislation can be costly too.  So what can you do to minimise your risks? 

1.       At a minimum provide all employees with a Written Statement of the Terms and Conditions of Employment within 8 weeks of their start date – this is a legal requirement.

2.       Preferably provide all employees with a more comprehensive Employment Contract that includes key rights and requirements associated with being employed by your business; provide this prior to employment commencing or as soon as possible after the start date. 

3.       Maintain comprehensive employee records that evidence your correct and fair treatment of employees; ensure that these records comply with Data Protection requirements

4.       Check your employees – always obtain references, request medical reports if you have any concerns, complete CRB checks if required, and ask to see proof of qualifications and driving licence if appropriate to the job.

5.       Check eligibility to work in the UK whenever you take on a new employee – the fine for not doing so is £10,000 per employee who is not entitled to work in the UK and you could face 2 years in prison.

6.       Proactively establish a company culture of respect and value for people, that promotes fairness and does not tolerate prejudice, discrimination, harassment or bullying.

7.       Ensure that all matters relating to Health, Safety and Welfare of employees are managed by a competent person who fully understands their responsibilities.

8.       Set clear workplace policies, rules and issue guidelines for conduct and performance; consider training for employees to ensure that these are understood and followed by everyone. 

9.       Outline the consequences for failure to adhere to these rules in a Disciplinary Policy that complies with the ACAS Code of Practice – this is a legal requirement.

10.   Set out a formal Grievance Policy that complies with the ACAS Code of Practice to deal with concerns or complaints raised by employees – this is a legal requirement.

11.   Deal with problems and issues as they arise; deal with matters immediately, fairly and consistently. In the first instance aim to deal with matters informally, however if matters are significant enough to warrant formal action, do so in accordance with your Disciplinary or Grievance Policies as appropriate.

12.   If in doubt seek the advice of an expert!  HR Consultants are an invaluable service to your business that can save you time, money and help you avoid costly mistakes, whilst legal advice through an expert employment law solicitor is advisable in circumstances of a complex nature.

Challenge Manager offer a FREE HR AUDIT for a review to ensure you are legally compliant and following best practice so that you avoid potentially costly tribunal claims.  Contact Us Today.

At the start of the year I met a business owner who told me “Most importantly, I just want to be sure that we’re getting the ‘people bit’ of this business right”.

What a great way to approach business; after all it really is all about the people…the people you employ, the people you buy from, the people you sell to, the people you enter into agreements (or disagreements!) with….

Its a big step for many business owners to take the leap into becoming an employer.  There are fundamental questions to ask and answer: what / who do I need, who would be the best type of person to work here, what do I want them to do, how am I going to find them, how will I know they are the right person, how can I trust them, if they are as good as I hope how do I keep them and how do I deal with any problems along the way?

I have heard many business owners say they would rather not grow the business if it  means taking on staff and if people have had bad experiences with poor employees I can understand why they might feel that way, but it isn’t going to help generate the kind of success or wealth that many of those same business owners aspire to.

So what to do?  Well be like my client who wants to get the “people bit right” and focus on answering those questions before you even place a card in the window to say “staff wanted”. 

Get the fundamentals sorted first - once you have a clear vision for employing staff, a solid objective about who to employ, a robust set of policies and procedures to manage those employees, strong leadership to ensure those employees are working towards your business success and the desire to really grow your business, then you stand a pretty good chance of getting the people bit right!

As for my business owner client - he’s doing a great job!

Well I go to a lot of networking events and I like to offer something a bit different when I’m telling people about the HR side of our business

So I’ve introduced people to my little green pal Marvin the Martian

Marvin is a model employee on his planet

He works a long week and never complains about needing rest breaks or wanting to exert his rights under the Working Time Directive.  He doesn’t take time off sick and never complains of back ache or stress!

He plans to works until he is 80 and has no thoughts that his employer needs to provide him with health care or a pension.

His wife wouldn’t dream of expecting maternity benefits and paternity leave is unheard of.

Marvin does everything that is asked of him, he would dream of behaving inappropriately at work and he never questions the bosses as he knows that disciplinary matters are dealt with quite simply…..by laser gun!

Sadly for businesses here on earth Marvin can’t survive outside of his own planet.  So if you need to employ staff they will have to be of the human variety with all the variations, complications, rights and issues that brings.

That’s why you need Challenge Manager to help you deal with all HUMAN resources matters - we’ll ensure you have the best people working for you and achieving the successes your business wants.

CHALLENGE MANAGER - PROVIDING GREAT HUMAN RESOURCES SUPPORT!

Tune in to hear more about Marvin’s successes in the New Year.

I’m really enjoying being part of 4Networking - if you haven’t gone to a 4N breakfast yet you are missing out on the fun!

Not only that but we cannow proudly say we have clients that were referred to us through 4N - and we’re really pleased about that!  We met someone at a breakfast who liked the sound of what we do and how we do it.  He put us in touch with a business looking for HR Support and we made an apointment to carry out a FREE HR Audit. 

This impressed our pootential client who has contracted us to provide ongong outsourced HR Support from November.

The 4N philosophy meet like know trust works for us!

We are pleased to post our six-monthly HR & Employment Law Update containing current rates of statutory payments and other useful information that you need if you employ people.  If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch and if you need any further support with any aspect of employing people then we’d be delighted to help.

STATUTORY PAYMENTS FROM 1^st OCTOBER

·         National Minimum Wage (NMW) rises to £5.80 an hour for workers aged 22 and over / £4.83 an hour for workers aged 18 to 21 / £3.57 an hour for workers under 18 but above compulsory school age

·         Tips paid to a worker through the employer’s payroll will no longer count towards calculating NMW

·         Statutory Redundancy Pay maximum limit increases to £380 per week – however employers should note that this increase only brings forward the annual increase so there will not be a further increase when it is usually due in February 2010

·         Statutory Sick Pay (SSP ) is £79.15 per week up to a maximum of 28 weeks

·         Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP ) is £123.06 per week (or 90% of average weekly pay if this is less) for 33 weeks following an initial 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly pay (39 weeks maternity or adoption pay in total)

·         Plans to extend SMP to one year have been delayed and this has been largely attributed to the current economic state and the additional costs of increasing this benefit

·         Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) is £123.06 per week (or 90% of average weekly pay if this is less) for 2 weeks

There have been a number of rulings and decisions made that will impact on employers now and in the next two years; we have outlined them in brief and would be pleased to help if you require any further information.

SWINE FLU

At Challenge Manager we have been working with employers who have had outbreaks of Swine Flu in the workplace, to help contain infection and manage employee anxieties about the illness and possible effects for pregnant or other physically vulnerable staff.  Whilst currently the outbreak seems contained, we are warned that increases in infection could be seen as we move in to the winter months so we would suggest that you consider drafting a swine flu policy & procedure in preparation.    This should include business continuity plans in the event of a major outbreak in your workplace.

SICKNESS & HOLIDAY ABSENCE

On a related subject, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently ruled that workers who are sick whilst on annual leave are now entitled to request that they are given this leave back to ensure that they get their full 5.6 weeks rest entitlement per year, and the argument has been made that workers are not getting this rest if they are in fact sick.   Just to remind you, 5.6 weeks is of course currently the statutory minimum leave inclusive of bank & public holidays that all workers are entitled to. 

Generally speaking employees are required to take this “reimbursed” leave in the same leave year unless this is not possible in which case it can be carried over.

It is worth noting that if a worker requests this additional annual leave and is therefore requesting that you treat the originally booked period of leave as sickness absence, employers are not required to pay holiday pay for both periods.  Sick pay (SSP or company sick pay subject to your policy) should be paid for the period now being claimed as sickness absence.

There are concerns being raised about how this right could be open to abuse by employees so we advise that employers review absence and holiday policies to ensure they clearly outline the company procedures for requesting annual leave and reporting sickness absence, as well as identifying the eligibility criteria for both company and statutory sick pay.

RETIREMENT AT 65

Following a lengthy action brought by Age UK against the default retirement age of 65, the High Court have ruled that this is lawful , providing employers have followed the correct notification procedures with employees who are approaching this retirement age.  Employers are advised to ensure they have a correct procedure for communicating with employees approaching the age of 65 in place and published.

EMPLOYING FOREIGN WORKERS

From 2010, new rules will be in force to attempt to ensure that British workers are first in line for job opportunities. The changes see employers required to advertise vacancies for skilled workers in the job centre before looking elsewhere for workers.  Businesses are advised to review recruitment policies where this new ruling may have an impact.

EXTENSION TO PATERNITY LEAVE

Proposals to extend paternity leave are due to come into force for families with children due in or after April 2011; these changes will entitle fathers to take up to six months paternity leave by giving families the right to transfer the last six months of maternity leave to the father on the mother’s return to work  Fathers would then receive paternity pay for three months of this time at the current rate of SMP (Statutory Maternity Pay) and the remainder would be unpaid.

Whilst this proposal is being hailed as increasing flexibility  for families, there are concerns raised about how this will work in practice for businesses and the research undertaken so far indicates that the take up by families for such a scheme will be very low.  Businesses however will need to ensure that maternity and paternity leave policies are updated by 2011 to reflect these changes once they are formally introduced.

RETIREMENT PENSION CHANGES

From 2012 it is planned that all eligible workers, who are not already in a good quality workplace scheme, will be automatically enrolled into either their employers’ pension scheme or a personal account scheme.  For the first time all employers will be required to contribute a minimum of 3 percent to an eligible employee’s workplace pension scheme. This will supplement the 4 percent contribution from the employee and around 1 percent from the Government in the form of tax relief.  Businesses are advised to begin considering how they will meet these costs now and to seek full guidance from an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA).

Contact us if we can help you with any of these areas of employing staff.

We’re really excited that our blog is now part of our website - we hope you enjoy reading it and we’d welcome your comments

This is also just a place to chat - not necessarily about HR or Training and Development - just to post things we like or want to share with others - enjoy!

My favourite quote for example:

“Wouldn’t it be a shame if you had a really wonderful life and you didn’t notice?”

I am sitting here at my desk today enjoying catching up on so many tasks that have had to wait until the kids went back to school today after the Easter Break - I’m sure I’m not the only one who enjoys the opportunity of a rare uninterrupted day to blast through a list of jobs - so satisfying to feel on top of things! So I wonder - how up to date are you right now? This blog is a bit of a checklist but I hope it is a useful recap on things that you might want or need to do: 1) If you employ staff have you updated policies and procedures in line with new legislation - holiday entitlement, flexible working and disciplinary procedures are just three areas that you may need to review since the changes that came into force earlier this month. If your handbook has not been reviewed in the last year or so then there may be other changes that are required too. 2) Are you up to date with current SSP / SMP / SAP / SPP allowances (so many acronyms!)? 3) Have you had planned to do something fantastic, exciting, motivating and rewarding with your employees for Learning at Work Day? 4) Don’t forget to book to meet your Train to Gain Skills Broker to find out what training you can access for free - both for yourself & your staff. 5) Are you up to date on knowing about changes in Pensions that might impact on your business over the next few years - we’re being advised that wise businesses will be putting plans in place by 2010 so that they are prepared for the changes when they come into force. We’d be delighted to give you more information about any of these matters - just get in touch.

As promised - here is our latest article on flexible working - I hope it is useful & please do contact me if you want any further help or advice on this subject. Flexible Working Makes Great Business Sense Flexible working enables you to employ the best people for the job, to work at times when you most need them as well as in ways that meet their needs. It promotes equal opportunities and helps to broaden the diversity of your workforce. It results in motivated, satisfied, loyal and skilled employees, minimised staff costs and maximised productivity, which all leads to reduced costs and increased profitability for your business. It makes great business sense to provide flexible working, but what does it mean in practice? - part-time hours - a flexi-time system - annualised hours - hours are worked out over a year - term time only working - compressed hours - weekly hours are worked over fewer days - varied hours - different start, break and finish times - job sharing - home working / remote working - holiday purchase schemes - salary sacrifices in return for increased annual leave - a flexible approach to allowing unpaid leave Anyone can request flexible working but from the 6th April 2009, the following employees have a statutory right to make such requests: Any employee has worked continuously for you for 26 weeks and - has a child under 16 or a disabled child under 18 who receives Disability Living Allowance (DLA) - is responsible for the child as a parent / guardian / foster parent - are the spouse, partner or civil partner of one of these and care for the child - are a carer who cares, or expects to be caring, for an adult who is a spouse, partner, civil partner or relative or a person who lives at the same address as you As an employer you are legally required to consider any flexible working requests from the above, and to only reject it if there are good business reasons for doing so. It makes business sense to consider flexible working for all employees, not just those who have a statutory right to request. In tough times when pay rises or bonuses may not be affordable, looking for other ways to motivate and satisfy your staff can help you to attract and retain the people you need for your business to succeed. The war for talent is ongoing and a strong workforce has never been more essential! Also introducing flexible working that could enable some staff to reduce their working hours may be a cost cutting exercise that prevents or reduces a need for redundancies. As an employer you also need to take the following into consideration when considering your flexibility of approach in the ways that you employ staff: Parental Leave: employees in the following circumstances can request to book blocks of unpaid leave: - parents can take up to a total of 13 weeks leave until their child is 5 - adoptive parents can take this leave up to the 5th anniversary of the placement or until the child is 18, whichever is sooner - parents of a disabled child who receives DLA can take up to a total of 18 weeks leave until their child is 18 Time off for dependants: employees are entitled to unpaid time off work to deal with emergencies involving a dependant. This may be a spouse, partner, child, parent, anyone else living in the household as a member of the family, or anyone who reasonably relies on you for help in an emergency which might include a neighbour or friend. Employers can reap the benefits of getting it right when employees make such requests, and well established flexible working processes means that this needn’t be a high cost to the business. Challenge Manager can support you in introducing cost effective Flexible Working Practices that help you attract and retain the best employees, and that maximise productivity and profitability in your business.