HR challenges and opportunities for SMEs
The 5.9 million small to medium sized enterprises (SME) in the UK, face challenges including managing cash flow, generating new business, creating an effective marketing strategy and effectively managing HR issues. Current concerns about the Brexit transition, a national skills shortage and uncertainty over employee status are all added pressures for small business owners and […]
Absence Management Strategy: A Focus on Mental Health
Balancing both compliance with employment law, and effective absence management at work can be a minefield for managers. Absence and employee mental health With the number of reported mental health problems increasing year on year it’s vital for businesses to consider employee mental health in the same bracket as employee physical health. This includes removing […]
UK businesses lose £195 million on job-hopping workers
Half of British workers are looking to change jobs in the next year, leading to employers finding themselves significantly out of pocket as they face the reality of managing an unproductive workforce. Research by UK job board Totaljobs and employer brand specialists Universum has revealed that the cost to businesses of workers hunting for new […]
How to deal with bullying in the workplace
A survey of over 2,000 UK employees found that more than a third (37%) have been victim to bullying in the workplace. While it’s a challenge to find up to date statistics on the state of bullying in the workplace in the UK, there is an interesting survey that was conducted for solicitors Slater and […]
Employment tribunal awards 2019
In an employment tribunal case, a Claimant (i.e. employee or worker) is the person who brings the claim against the Respondent (the individual or organisation responding to the claim i.e. the employer). If the Claimant is successful in his or her claim, the Employment Judge has the power to make a financial award to the […]
Personal relationships at work
Personal relationships at work which may affect employers can include those between spouses, civil partners, common-law partners, family members (fathers, sons, sisters, brothers) and others. The type of relationship can include very close friendships, sexual relationships, close family members and commercial relationships. Many organisations employ staff with family connections. Also, as we spend more time […]
Case Law: Mulberry wins discrimination claim
Mulberry wins discrimination claim as copyright protection is found not to be a philosophical belief Gray v Mulberry (EWCA) The employee was a Marketing Support Assistant for Mulberry, the luxury goods company. In this role she had access to Mulberry’s designs before they were launched. She signed an employment contract but refused to sign an additional […]
Brexit HR and Employment Law – Where Are We Now?!
31 October 2019: Brexit Day? It’s October 2019 and Brexit is still in progress. On the 10 April 2019, at a meeting of the European Council, the UK and EU27 agreed to extend Article 50 until 31 October 2019. The House Of Commons briefing paper ‘Brexit Timeline: events leading to the UK’s exit from […]
Voluntary overtime and holiday pay calculations
Regular voluntary overtime should be included in holiday pay calculations. In the case ‘East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Flowers EWCA’, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision that for the purposes of calculating holiday pay, under the Working Time Directive (WTD), voluntary overtime pay should have been taken into account. The Working […]
Could employers be fined for unfair or sexist dress codes?
Flip flops or no flip flops?! Do you think shorts and flip flops are acceptable to wear in the office during hot weather? In a recent radio interview, with BBC Radio Northampton, our HR Knowledge Manager discussed whether it is ever OK to wear flipflops at work. Click on the play icon below to listen […]
Right to Work Checks and EU Nationals
UK employers have a responsibility to prevent illegal working, and in order to do so, they should conduct right to work checks before employing someone. Preventing illegal working helps to deter tax evasion, malpractices with the National Minimum Wage and exploitative working conditions, including modern slavery. Guidance from the Home Office states that by conducting […]
Interesting HR Statistics: Pay and Benefits
Gender Pay Gap The Royal Statistical Society has made 10 gender pay gap recommendations to improve the current reporting system, which it considers to be flawed in a number of ways. For example, many of the first round of reports contained figures that were self-evidently wrong, such as one employer who stated that the gender pay gap […]
Brexit for Employers: Practical HR Strategies
What are your Brexit hopes and fears? Get essential and practical HR strategies to help safeguard your business against challenging times. Join us for an interactive workshop in London or Kettering where we will consider the impact of Brexit on small to medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) and provide guidance on how HR can manage the issues […]
A Strategic Partnership Providing HR and Legal Expertise
HR Solutions and Wilson Browne Solicitors are pleased to announce their strategic business partnership that offers a complete solution for businesses, providing them with HR and legal expertise, transparent costs and great client service. HR Solutions offers additional HR support to Wilson Browne’s clients to support their employment law services. Wilson Browne Solicitors offer commercial law expertise […]
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act
The death of a child is one of the worst experiences a person could go through. Most employers are compassionate and flexible at such a devastating time, but sadly this is not always the case. In other situations, some employers are simply unsure of what they should, or can, offer to support their employee. Currently, […]
Childcare Vouchers Scheme Closure – Employment News Update
From the 4th October 2018, Childcare Vouchers schemes are closed to new entrants. The impact on employees who are already scheme members is that existing members can continue with this salary sacrifice benefit, but cannot leave the scheme and re-enrol, and cannot enrol on a new scheme with a different company. Any employees who ask […]
Employment Newsflash – Substantial Rise in Tribunal Claims
It has now been a full year since tribunal fees were abolished by the Supreme Court after it was found that they were a barrier to justice and were in fact, indirectly discriminatory towards women. Refund application scheme When the tribunal claim fees were abolished, a refund application scheme was launched. So far 14,500 applications […]
Recruitment and modern data protection
GDPR and discrimination In this HR article, we provide some guidance to help make recruitment practices safer and to improve legal compliance. Questions around how employment law affects recruitment and selection, are common. There are a few key areas to be mindful of. The main ones are contract law, employment law, data protection and discrimination. The […]
HR e-learning system launched to help businesses comply with employment legislation
To complement our outsourced HR support to businesses, HR Solutions are delighted to announce the launch of the new e-Learning and Policy Compliance system. E-Learning and Compliance The online training portal enables organisations to train staff, stay up to date with employment legislation and document compliance. We developed the e-learning service after feedback from several clients on how best […]
How to minimise risk: safer recruitment
Questions around how employment law affects recruitment and selection, are common. Safer recruitment checklists The key areas to be mindful of in relation to safer recruitment, are discrimination and data protection. Legislation relating to equality should inform all safe recruitment practices. The GDPR puts a fresh angle and tighter controls in legislation relating to confidentiality […]