Your employees, however, well you get on with them, are there to earn money. Never forget this. So many small business owners make the mistake of treating employees like family or buddies. This is all well and good when things are going smoothly. But what happens when a downturn in business means you have to … Read more
One of the golf clubs we look after received a grievance letter from a staff member recently. It started off with the claim that he was being “harassed, bullied and victimised” under the Equality Act 2010 (Which is always fun!). Wow, all of those things at the same time?! But the most telling part of it … Read more
One of our clients averted disaster recently, with just one push of a button. They’d received a grievance letter from an employee about one of their colleagues making rude and nasty comments about them. We held the grievance meeting, and the employee gave plenty of detail, and provided witnesses, making it a pretty cut and … Read more
Are Christmas decorations religious discrimination? No! Don’t worry, it’s not political correctness gone mad! Religious belief is protected by the Equality Act 2010. It doesn’t stop the display of Christmas decorations in the workplace. In fact, it doesn’t stop any traditional customs under religious discrimination. In any case, the vast majority of Christmas decorations, e.g. … Read more
When can they bring a solicitor to a disciplinary meeting? When the consequences of them being dismissed would mean that they could never work in their profession again. Ever. The best example of this is a real case where a secondary school teacher was being investigated for inappropriate behavior with a pupil. If the teacher … Read more
How much would you have to pay if you lost a discrimination case at tribunal – what is it capped at? Bad news – it is unlimited! Which is why all those female city bankers can claim millions of pounds in compensation. What irritates me more is when the NHS, who should know better, do … Read more
So. You’re a small business with just a few employees, and managing them is one job you have to do yourself. And do it well. Learn from the costly traps that other employers have fallen into, with this free guide on the pitfalls you simply must avoid. Remember these are the seven biggest mistakes that … Read more
I went on a conflict management workshop recently. Which you might think is a bit strange, considering that a lot of my business comes from when conflict doesn’t get resolved. But believe me, I would have enough to do without sorting out playground fights! That became clear when Marc went through the amount of time … Read more
Over 76% of new businesses fail in the first 5 years of life. One of the major reasons for this is that once sole traders start employing staff, any number of mistakes can be made which hobble the business. These management mistakes stop it from growing and maybe even destroying it! From my 14 years … Read more
