Carolyne Wahlen

The Wahlen Gauntlet

We’re recruiting again – there seem to be no end to staff issues at the moment, so we’re pretty much at capacity.

And when it comes recruitment, I’m pretty ruthless – after all, I’ve got to be happy with the successful candidate giving out critical HR advice in our name, so they’ve got to know what they’re doing.

Step one of The Wahlen Gauntlet is designed to quickly and painlessly weed out the people who aren’t HR experts – a straightforward 10-question employment law quiz, which requires a minimum of 70% to proceed to the next stage.

You’d think everyone applying for an HR job would ace it, but you’d be wrong – only 20% applicants actually make the grade.

Uniquely portable magic

Stephen King coined the phrase, “Books are a uniquely portable magic”.

I’m in total agreement – books are pretty much my joint favourite thing.

The trouble is, the other thing at the top of the list is travelling, so I really do need my books to be extremely portable.

Enter my Kindle, allowing me to take 300 books on the go.

It’s had more than its fair share of use over the last year or so though and is slowing down as a result, and though I could just go on less holidays, I decided a new Kindle was a better bet – it’d been to five of the seven continents, so a pretty good innings.

Why isn’t this illegal?!

There’s a golf club that’s keen to use us for their HR support, but there’s just one snag:

They’re with Citation.

Having been with them for three years, they’ve decided they’re not getting the bespoke, personalised support they need, and see the value in working with someone that specialises in golf clubs.

Anyway, they’d fulfilled their original three-year contract, and while they didn’t imagine they could leave straight away, they assumed it’d be a case of giving six months’ notice and they’d be free to go.

No dice.

Statutory Sick Pay – what you need to do

There have been thousands of column inches devoted to what Labour is going to do when it comes to employment law – some of it true, some of it less so.

But one thing that seems pretty certain (albeit without a specific time frame) is that they’ll make Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) a day-one right that applies to ALL staff.

What is Statutory Sick Pay?

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) was introduced in 1983. The amount increases every April and is currently £116.75/week.

All workers are entitled to it as long as:

Greenkeeper Bob’s back

Greenkeeper Bob went off sick at a club we work with the other day.

The story goes that he was working alone on the course on a Sunday, picked up a divot box, and put his back out.

You’d assume that that’d be the end of his working day, but apparently he continued to lift another 7 or 8 divot boxes before heading home, freshening up and out to a crowded pub where he stood in the throngs watching England lose the Euros final.

Next morning, he turned up for work at 6am, and by 8:30am his back was hurting too much to continue and he headed off home.

Take it from the coat rack lady

I’ve lived without a coat rack for the last six months.

I know, it’s been quite the hardship.

I had my hallway repainted at the turn of the year – a lovely, dark blue, and once it was done, I decided not to bother putting the coat rack back up; it was worn, old and time for a change.

Fully intending to research and invest immediately, life quickly got in the way, and my coats quickly found alternative places to hang.

Six months flew by, as they tend to.

Leave it to John

I’m no forensic accountant, but I’m currently embroiled in a financial fraud case.

A general manager started a new position at a club and was given the “good news” that he didn’t need to worry about it – “John” had taken care of it for years, so he’d keep doing that.

General managers have got plenty to do, the accounts all seemed to be up to date, so he was happy to leave it to John.

Then the power bill came in, which was a bit of a shock, seeing as it had gone up from £1,500 a quarter to £77,000. It was quite the jump.

Then another demand came in – apparently, the club owed an additional £120,000 and hadn’t paid the energy bill for a long time.

“We need to talk”, says John.

What Labour means for employment law

The predictions were right, and the polls were fairly accurate – we’ve woken up to a Labour government.

Understandably, you might be wondering what this means for your organisation—whether there will be any big changes in the world of employment law and whether you’ll need to do anything differently.

First thing to say here is don’t panic about any changes you read or hear about – they will not happen overnight. Laws take time to be changed, and you’ll have enough notice to change your staff strategy if that’s required.

(And as we all know, just because something was in a manifesto, it does not mean that it will be implemented in the form promised, or at all.)

See you on the other side.

This time next week, we’re going to be waking up on the other side of the General Election – the prime minister for the next few years will be confirmed. There’s been plenty of media hype about what the various different parties might change when it comes to employees and employment law; from the sublime … Read more

Redundancy Consultation Period For 1 Person

Whilst sometimes necessary to secure the future of your business, making employees redundant can be a minefield for employers. If you fail to properly consult with employees during a redundancy process, any subsequent dismissals will likely be unfair and expose you to unfair dismissal claims. There are strict minimum timescales for consultations when the redundancy … Read more

Difference Between Grievance And Disciplinary

The terms ‘grievance’ and ‘disciplinary’ are often grouped together, but in practice, they are very separate issues. As an employer, its crucial to appreciate the difference between grievance and disciplinary to ensure your policies and procedures comply with the relevant laws, regulations, and guidance. Here, our specialist HR advisors explain the difference between grievance and … Read more

Disciplinary And Grievance Procedures

Your people are often your business’s most valuable asset, so it’s vital that you look after them and treat them fairly to improve staff retention. Proper disciplinary and grievance procedures are an essential part of Human Resources (HR). They ensure your workforce understands your stance on disciplinary issues and what you expect of them. Your … Read more

Disciplinary Policy

Your disciplinary policy details how your business deals with employee disciplinary issues. It should ensure all employees are treated fairly, and standardise how to deal with disciplinary issues within your organisation. In turn, these factors can reassure your workforce and avoid you facing legal action for bullying and unfair dismissal. Call us now on 01491 … Read more

Alcohol At Work Disciplinary UK

Alcohol may play a large part in your employees’ social lives. They may drink together socially after work, wine and dine clients, and even head to the pub during their lunch hour. Clearly, you cannot police what employees do in their own time. However, when alcohol use starts to impact their productivity and ability to … Read more

Hide and Seek

“Hide and seek the general manager” – can’t see it usurping the traditional form of the game, but nevertheless, we have plenty of fun playing it in the Gap HR office.

Here’s how it works:

We hear from a client that they are moving. So far, so straightforward.
Obviously, we hope to continue the relationship with that client, but it also presents an opportunity – who has just left, and where are they going?
The search begins. We look on the new website. LinkedIn. The out-of-office messages from our weekly emails.

Sounds easy, and it should be.

Cowardy custard?

We’ve had two new clients sign up on retainer this week, both with really meaty staff issues; the kind we really like to get our teeth into.

There’s something else they have in common – both were already paying retainers to other HR companies when they approached us and asked us to help them with their HR.

And as it turned out, it would have been just as effective for them to set the money on fire as it was to send it to the HR companies in question.

Because when tricky staff issues come along, the pretenders get found out.

The most failed question

We’re recruiting at the moment – a steady stream of new clients over the last few months means we need to grow our team.

Our recruitment process is pretty hardcore: after all, the person we hire will be giving advice to our clients, which means it’s got to be spot on.

As part of the process, we ask a lot of HR questions, and there’s one question that candidates keep failing – when they do, it’s a pretty big red flag.

Do I have to ask before I pat a woman’s bottom?

I’ll be blunt: we have seen a large increase in sexual harassment in golf clubs in recent months.

Not between employees. For the most part, they abide by the rules, and when there is an incident, it’s dealt with quickly, effectively and by the book.

So, what’s the problem?

In a word: the members.

I won’t teach you to suck eggs, but we both know that – for the most part – golf club membership is dominated by white males, from a previous generation.

Chances are you’ve had to deal with your fair share of challenges from this demographic – I’ve had plenty of managers tell me about members who felt they owned the club and had the right to be involved in all decisions, despite not stepping up to take any responsibility.

Talk to your staff!

How about this one.

The scammers targeted a new employee, let’s call her Sarah, less than two weeks in the company.

They sent them an email, allegedly from the managing director, asking Sarah to buy some John Lewis and Apple gift cards to be used as gifts for valued employees. The email asked her to keep it confidential so as not to spoil the surprise for those employees.

As the employee was so new, she somehow did not question why the MD was speaking to her, rather than literally ANYONE else in the office to do this important task. Despite the email address and language of the emails not being at all what the MD would use, because Sarah was so new, she didn’t realise.

They asked her to buy £2000 of gift cards at £500 each. She, and this is so sad, said that she only had £200 in her account, and apologised to the MD/scammers that she could only buy this much.

Fag packet step-up.

A client emailed this week, wanting to issue a final written warning for the chef at his club.

He’d been drunk at work twice now, and they’d had enough.

On the face of it, that all seems sensible – it’s clearly a disciplinary offence; potentially a dismissal.

There was one teeny little snag, though: this was the first time we’d heard about any sort of disciplinary process for this member of staff.

And generally, this means one thing: it hasn’t been carried out correctly.

So it proved, when I started asking general questions – how long had the chef been there for, could they send over the investigation notes, what did the previous warnings say, and so on.

My osmosis failure

We learnt plenty about osmosis during “O” level biology; trouble was that by the time it came to the exams, I’d forgotten it all.

Perhaps I thought the process of osmosis would bail me out – just sleep with the textbook under the pillow, and my brain would be magically instilled with everything I needed to know.

Fanciful and bizarre, maybe, but I’ve noticed a similar approach being adopted by plenty of employers, with one recent story springing to mind.

A client got in touch about an employee being off sick.

They’d not followed the absence reporting procedure, so there was a chance they could be dismissed, which was the employer’s preferred outcome.

I just needed to check one tiny little thing – that the handbook containing the absence reporting procedure HAD been given out to all staff.

The answer wasn’t reassuring:

It IS a word!!!

Words are important. Any serious Scrabble player reaching for the dictionary will tell you that.

And when it comes to employment law, your choice of words couldn’t be more important.

I experienced this recently when a golf club committee member got in touch.

A member of staff at the club had submitted a grievance against the manager, and we’d worked on the response, which was a robust rejection of the grievance claims.

He’d agreed that we should (and must) reject the grievance, but he didn’t like the way the response was worded – too formal, too unemotional.

The Polar plunge

Of all the things I expected to spot in Antarctica, ice swimmers were not one of them.

But I’ve just returned from ticking pretty much my number one item off the list, and there they were, among the penguins, orcas and icebergs.

They weren’t wild, you understand. As it turns out, there’s a global organisation that organises cold water swims, and several of them were on board the ship with a 1km swim planned.

Telephone no longer answered

I was trying to get hold of a potential client this week, as he had said that they would discuss HR support at the board meeting end of last week.

I rang his mobile – went to voicemail. Fair enough, might not be answering because he’s in a meeting.

I went through the telephone system options – chose his extension – went to voicemail (American female voice, not even his)

I rang again and chose “sales” – went to voicemail, again the American female voice, no personalisation for the business.

Employment law changes due in 2024

The government has decided to make a lot of employment law changes this year, so please make sure you are aware of them!

From 1 April 2024:

National minimum wage

The new hourly rates, applicable from 1 April 2024, are as follows:

National living wage (21yrs + ): £11.44 per hour (from £10.42)
18- to 20-year-olds’ rate: £8.60 per hour (from £7.49)
16- to 17-year-olds’ rate: £6.40 per hour (from £5.28)
Apprentice rate: £6.40 per hour (from £5.28)

Rolled-up holiday pay for part-year workers and irregular-hours workers

For those of you that have been around long enough, it will feel like déjà vu. Back before October 2019, we were allowed to pay out zero hours/casual and part year workers their holiday every month. The way we did that was by multiplying the hours worked that month by 12.07% to get the holiday hours to be paid at their normal rate of pay. For leave years from 1 April 2024, we will have gone in a huge circle, and you can now legally go back to using 12.07%.

How to write an ignorable job ad

I was scrolling through job ads on LinkedIn the other day.

No, I’m not “looking for a new role”. Perfectly happy where I am, thank you!

Instead, I was checking out an advert one of our clients put up, to advertise their new position of mechanic.

And my word it was dull.

I save the day (AGAIN)

I’m ticking a seriously big item off my bucket list next week – Antarctica via Buenos Aires; two continents in one fell swoop, and hopefully a (safe) encounter with some killer whales!

As a small business owner, I don’t go anywhere without my laptop, even Antarctica.

I always do my best not to turn it on though, and over the years, I’ve become more and more successful at achieving that aim.

I won’t have much of a choice next week though – during the nine-day Antarctica cruise, there’s NO access to data or WiFi.

How To Dismiss An Employee For Poor Performance

We get it – managing a team comes with its fair share of challenges. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, an employee may not be meeting the performance standards you’ve set. But can you just fire them? Don’t worry, because we’re here to tell you how you can dismiss an employee for poor performance, all while … Read more

How To Dismiss An Employee Fairly: A Guide for UK Business Owners

Introduction Let’s face it – dismissing an employee fairly is never a walk in the park. But as a business owner, it’s crucial to handle the situation fairly and within the bounds of UK employment law. While the process may seem daunting, breaking it down into manageable steps can make it a bit less overwhelming. … Read more

Blacksmith meet cute

I met a blacksmith at a Christmas party the other day.

Not the usual meet cute, I grant you.

His name was Tom, and he’s not just any old blacksmith – he makes customised armour for battle re-enactments.

I’d assumed the armour used for such purposes was plastic, but no, it’s actual armour, manufactured from steel, and making it and selling it is quite the endeavour.

It takes 2-3 months to prepare most orders (with their biggest order taking 18 months to complete).

There’s more demand than supply in the UK, so they get plenty of work, but I wondered whether there might be competition from overseas.

1 Month Notice Period UK

Does a 1 month notice period still apply after 8 years? No, is the quick answer to that. In the first month of employment, notice can be immediate on both sides. Their notice period After the first month, it has to increase to one week on both sides. You can keep the notice period at … Read more

Easter bank holidays 2024 – action required

Some of you need to start thinking about the Easter bank holidays! Keep reading if your holiday year runs from 1 April to 31 March AND you only give the statutory minimum annual leave entitlement (20 days + bank holidays). In 2024, the Easter bank holidays fall on 29 March and 1 April 2024. So, … Read more

The magical 2-year line

Unsurprisingly, we’re still SUPER busy here at Gap HR.

It’s usually when we’re in the middle of discussing staff member issues and that “they need to go”, that the manager pipes up with something along the lines of:

“I don’t need this person anymore. They aren’t performing, their attitude is bad, and frankly, they have been trouble since their first day of employment. Let’s get rid of them now!”.

“How long have they worked for you?”

“2 years and 2 months”

Laying aside the fact that part of a manager’s job is to “manage” poor performance, the most irritating part of this statement is the fact that despite believing that their employee “needs to go”, they’ve allowed them to drag their employment on over the magical 2-year line.

Must be true

Must be true

A haulage company owner got in touch this week.

I’d say he was calling for advice, but actually, he just wanted the green light on his plans!

He had an employee with three years of service, and he wanted to get rid.

And because “it says it on the internet”, he believed that as he’d never given him an employment contract, he could just give him his marching orders.

I must admit to being a little taken aback by this, which may explain my blunt response:

“No, it does not say that on the internet”.

Braving the bauble

Braving the bauble

Sure, ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year’, but in 2023, the festive season now seems beset with danger, with plenty of employers concerned about the repercussions of celebrating Christmas in any way, shape or form.

So if you’re wondering whether you can brave the bauble, here’s the common-sense guide to decking the halls without ending up in tribunal.

Burning business health

Burning business health

I look forward to Christmas every year.

For all the normal reasons, but also because of a massive indulgence I allow myself.

Before the children graced me with their presence (!), I could go out and buy pretty stuff, for me, for the house, and occasionally for others.

And it was in that period that I discovered Crabtree & Evelyn’s Noël range.

Which smells exactly like Christmas. It’s perfection.

Since that moment several years ago, I’ve been as loyal as possible, buying products from the range when I could, and in recent years, I’ve taken to splashing out on candles to burn throughout the entire month of December.

And this year’s been another good one for the business, so I was looking forward to my usual ‘splashing out’ celebration.

Sadly, I was disappointed.

Flabbergasted by Formula 1

Flabbergasted by Formula 1

I’m no Formula 1 super fan – I was dragged to the Dutch Grand Prix a couple of times as a child, and my only abiding memories?

The cars – too loud
Free cigarettes being handed out in the pit lane; those were the days!

Despite my lack of fandom, I sat down to watch some GP highlights earlier this week.

Why?

My daughter is doing ‘Formula Student’ this year at university, where she’s tasked with designing and building a single-seat racing car, and she wanted to get some tips, so I tagged along on the sofa.

I was immediately blown away.

Not by the cars. Or the graphics. Or the colours, noise, cheers from the crowd, or anything like that.

The thing that bowled me over?

Sky Man, Will

Sky Man Will

A year ago, I finally got the dining room sorted.

It had been in my sights for a while, but there were all sorts of other things that needed time and attention first.

Eventually, though, it was the dining room’s turn, and the decorator came over to transform it.

One thing that was definitely on the list was getting rid of as many ugly cables as possible – Sky box, TV, sound system, they all add up.

During the process, a white TV cable with a connector at the end came apart.

Bizarrely, the TV still worked without it – BBC, ITV, and C4 were all there, meaning the white cable was superfluous, a hangover from the original installation.

Carry them for 3 months?

Carry them for 3 months?

We started working with a new client this week – a private sector company with nine employees.

They had an employee that’d been there a year who just wasn’t performing despite being spoken to, offered training and so on and so forth.

We asked the critical questions, checked that the employee had no protected characteristics, and then let them know they could dismiss them.

Turns out we weren’t the only HR provider they’d spoken to about this issue.

They were in contract with Bright HR (a budget online HR service with an advice line attached), and they’d given them very different advice:

3-month performance review, and then make a decision.

Feeling strangely fine

Feeling strangely fine Don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into a song from the 90s band Semisonic (remember them?!). Instead, I’ve got something far less exciting (but no less excruciating) to share with you: What you can and can’t do regarding Covid. We’ve had a lot of questions on the topic again, so I … Read more

It is great having Gap HR working with us for all our HR. Brilliant company.

Nick Jobson

05/12/2023

I absolutely enjoyed my recent experience working with Gap HR. There are several aspects of their service that stood out to me. Firstly, their responsiveness is truly remarkable. Gap HR consistently demonstrated the fastest response time to all our communications, which not only streamlined our processes but also instilled a sense of confidence in their support. Secondly, their expertise in HR solutions for medium and small businesses is unparalleled. Gap HR's in-depth knowledge and experience in this niche are highly valuable. Their ability to navigate the complexities of HR for smaller enterprises is a significant asset and brings peace of mind. Lastly, the team at Gap HR is an absolute pleasure to work with. Their caring and dedicated approach goes beyond the ordinary, making them not just service providers, but trusted partners. They bring a level of commitment that is truly exceptional, and it's evident that they genuinely care about the success and well-being of their clients. In summary, Gap HR has become our first and foremost point of contact for any employment law support. Their combination of responsiveness, expertise, and unwavering dedication makes them an invaluable resource in the realm of HR and employment law.

Alisa Tolmaciova

07/11/2023

I work for a local council and we began working with Gap HR a few months ago. I have found them an absolute pleasure to work with - very responsive, thorough and knowledgeable. Above all I feel that I am working with a friendly and empathic team who understand our needs and are dedicated to helping us achieve what we need to achieve. I am very grateful to have their support.

Claire Bird

11/10/2023

GAP HR has been supporting our business for a while now and they are very helpful and thorough in everything they assist us with, from the small to big issues. Great company to support your business. All staff are friendly and on point with all the knowledge they share. Thank you GAP-HR

Neath Afan Gymnastics And Activities

15/09/2023

It has been great working with Gap HR, their guidance has helped immensely with the day to day running of the business. The whole team are extremely responsive and knowledgeable which makes the experience a pleasurable one.

Will Cairns

27/06/2023

Great support from the whole team. The knowledge, advice and support that Gap HR give is second to none. They give me the confidence to know that i am doing the right thing. 👍

Jeff Wicks

06/06/2023

We are really delighted to have hooked up with Gap HR Services Limited – the team interpreted our brief perfectly and their advice and assistance was delivered in both a pragmatic and professional way. A big THANK YOU to both Carolyne and Cathy who steered us through the legislation with a best practice and smart approach. Gap HR’s sense of urgency in fulfilment and delivery matched our own so we can do nothing but positively recommend the team for your HR needs.

BCAS Ltd

28/04/2023

We receive excellent advice and service from the team at Gap. Professional, but helpful with any question big or small. They save us from many hours of debating if we should do x or y - just email Gap is the answer, which makes it easy for us and minimises mistakes - thank you Gap HR!

Jacqueline Shields

24/04/2023

Brilliant company and I highly recommend their services, professional HR services.

Robert Creer

13/01/2023

I have been using GapHR for many years and find them a great company to work with. All of the team I have worked with are very professional and experienced in many areas. I would highly recommend using GapHR as there services are fantastic.

Tommy Fisher

11/01/2023

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