Carolyne Wahlen Bye bye, Bob I’m back, with another story about the unbelievable states golf clubs get themselves into! In this particularly story, we’re on the employee’s side of the fence, rather than the Club. “Bob” was supposed to meet up with the chairman on Friday afternoon to have his weekly catch up meeting. However, on this occasion he … Read more
Dress policy is racist by omission When a new client comes on board, we update their handbook and contracts, explaining and agreeing the contents with them. This process can lead to some interesting conversations, with such an example presenting itself this week. While going through one of the contracts, we discussed the dress policy – which is … Read more
You should be Kean for this Usually I steer clear of puns. They’re not my thing. But I couldn’t help it today. You see, in the last few months I’ve come across a lovely lady called Laura Kean, and her surname just lends itself so wonderfully towards positive puns that it almost felt wrong NOT to … Read more
Calories, not bargains We went to our local bonfire night on Saturday. It was a fine evening – not too cold, but cold enough that we wanted some warm nibbles afterward. The fireworks were in a field in Wallingford, a mere 100m from a nice, spacious Waitrose. So, once the final bang had passed, we headed … Read more
Employee horror story As it’s Halloween I thought I’d share a horror story with you, but then I realised that pretty much all of my emails are horror stories about things that employers try and get away with, and I wasn’t sure whether I had anything that could reach new levels of horror. And then … Read more
Trained to ignore My car told me I had a flat tyre the other week. That’s how sophisticated they’ve become – before you’ve even felt anything, the computer explains loudly and clearly that you need to do something about your tyre. And they don’t just tell you once. They tell you again and again. But … Read more
Auto-enrolment pensions are now a requirement for all staff. No excuses. Even in the smallest of companies, the employer AND the employee have to make a percentage contribution to the pension. And I’ve got to be honest – it makes sense. We all know how pensions have taken a battering over the last few years, … Read more
Unsuitable A client got in touch with us last week, and it wasn’t good news. It was from a lady who was off on maternity leave, and she’d discovered that while she was off, the company had created a new role and invited employees in the department to apply. But here’s the problem – they offered out … Read more
When is she coming back? I had a question from a Club last week which left me entirely speechless: “My admin assistant is on maternity leave, has been for about 6 months I think, and is due back soon. How do I work out when she is due back?” The problem with the question is … Read more
Welby weighs in I see Justin Welby has waded into the new cycle of zero hours bashing in the media. But I’m still just as confused as to why zero hours contracts are subject to the vilification they receive. I mean, sure, when Sports Direct was using them to “trap” a bank of tame workers, … Read more
Heavyweight lightweight advice Christopher went on his first D of E hike this . Getting him kitted out for it was a powerful reminder of how far hiking has come in the last 30 years. You see, I did Silver and Gold D of E, in Cyprus and the UK. I walked a lot of … Read more
Not worth the paper? We were setting up a new client last week, and while we were going through the handbook we got the section about company cars. The client was very pleased with themselves as they had a process to take a photocopy of all employees’ driving licences, both the card and the paper … Read more
But you never said Many employers don’t like to have formal meetings, i.e. in private, with closed doors, with staff who are not performing. Instead, they feel that an “informal” comment at their desk or the coffee machine will be enough for the person to understand the feedback and act on it. In an ideal world, … Read more
Blink, pub and tuba Hiring. It’s not an easy thing is it? You’ve got to get your job advert out there, look at some CVs, choose some people to interview and work out whether they’re up to the job. And – not to forget – you’ve got to deal with your inbuilt sense of prejudice. … Read more
My employee resigned, didn’t she? This case was frustrating because my client had really bent over backward to help, and it had backfired badly. The employee had resigned, and then said that as she was intending to move up north, and things hadn’t been finalised, could she stay on till the end of term (this … Read more
The wind and the sun – a modern sales tale I was on my first cruise last week, island hopping in Greece. Needless to say, it was beautiful and the weather was even hotter than in the UK! As well as some proper R&R on the beach, we got out on a number of excursions, … Read more
I was speaking to a restaurant owner this week about a shift manager that wasn’t performing. There was a long list of things that this person: Wasn’t doing but should be doing… Was doing but shouldn’t… …plus general comments about him not being ‘proactive’. But the cherry on top? “He has not been doing his … Read more
Not much happening in the hot weather Now that the holiday season is upon us, you might feel that your staff aren’t really working at their “full potential”. But take consolation that they are probably working more than this guy! A Spanish civil servant has been banned from holding public posts, after his bosses found … Read more
Standard practice for you I’m currently working with one of our clients on a professional negligence disciplinary case. The employee going through the disciplinary process is a standalone bookkeeper in the company and he’s been there for over two years. And he’s been making mistakes. A lot of them. He’s been on holiday for the past two … Read more
Grumpy and relaxed Frances has finished her GCSEs now, so she’s hanging around the house. There’s only so much scrolling down her phone she can do though, so I decided to drag her out and do something nice. After chatting it through, we settled on a spa visit, so I jumped straight online to research … Read more
Far more serious One of the things I realized in the midst of the GDPR furor was that most people were only taking action because there was a natural deadline – the 25th May. But as an employment law expert, it all seemed a bit ironic to me. You see, all of these people were moving … Read more
Your card has been declined. I had a call on Saturday from my bank’s fraud department. They were concerned about some transactions on my account. Unfortunately, I couldn’t identify one of them and I couldn’t look it up at the time, as I was out with Comet. So the lady asked me to call back … Read more
What a palaver that was! If you cast your mind back just a couple of weeks, you’ll remember the hoo-haa that preceded the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force. Every Tom, Dick and Henrietta was emailing their list, asking them to ‘opt back in’, and snake oil salespeople galore were making money from the … Read more
Does GDPR mean e-mail marketing is dead? If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ll be familiar with the trends coming round and round again. And often in small business marketing, with marketers trying to sell new initiatives all the time, methods die and then rise from the ashes like a phoenix, only to be pronounced … Read more
he acronym on everyone’s lips…. What’s the acronym you’ve heard most this year? For me, there’s only one answer: GDPR. The whole country’s been swept up into a widespread panic, with all and sundry concerned that they won’t be ‘compliant’. And as an employer you probably won’t be. GDPR for staff is VERY different to … Read more
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ll be familiar with the trends coming round and round again. And often in small business marketing, with marketers trying to sell new initiatives all the time, methods die and then rise from the ashes like a phoenix, only to be pronounced dead again when the marketer … Read more
Most of us have a non-compete and confidentiality clause in the contract reminding employees that the data they work with is confidential and not to be taken outside of the company (if you don’t, give me a call!). However, if you do have an ex-employee who you discover has taken your client data to a rival … Read more
You won’t guess what my festive ritual is…. I went in for my annual health check this week. The “official” reason I go for a check each year is to ensure there aren’t any “hidden dangers”. Unofficially, I want to see impact my dissolute lifestyle is having on my body, and whether I need to forego … Read more
Poisoning the Greenkeeper. “A Greenkeeper has just accused his colleague of poisoning him. What shall we do now?” This is the absolute corker of a client question this year so far, by miles! And here’s the story… The Greenkeeper in question had decided that all of the drinks he had at the club tasted “funny”. … Read more
There. I’ve said it. Am I allowed – as an employment law expert – to say that? Aren’t I supposed to pretend that this is all perfectly reasonable? I’ll be honest with you, there are some processes in employment law that make me want to bang my head against a brick wall. And I can … Read more
Off on the road again! I am very proud to be sponsoring the prestigious GCMA Team of the Year award this year. And you know what? I get to do a fun road trip as well! Yesterday I went to the very sunny wilds of Wales to assess Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club, finalists in the … Read more
This was mentioned at our recent training session, so I thought you would be interested in this article about how to deal with smelly bods! Bad body odour is the most disliked personal hygiene problem – 70% of employees say it’s their top bugbear. If you receive a complaint about someone’s BO, what’s the … Read more
£1,500 part two Well it’s fair to say I got some interesting responses from Friday’s email. To jog your memory, I told the story of a club who had £1,500 go missing from the safe, with the last person to see it an employee who was cashing up. And the question was: what’s the right … Read more
£1500 missing? What would YOU do? I’ve got to be honest: I love a good whodunnit. And I’ve got one for all the Sherlock Holmes fans out there. Here’s the scenario: You run the bar at a golf club. One week, although the till shows takings are good, there’s actually £1500 less in the safe … Read more
Fixed Term Fired Many employers, particularly those with projects, like to offer employees a fixed term contract because they think it will be easier to get rid of them. Their perception is that the contract will just come to an end and they won’t have to do the awkward bit of “giving notice”. It doesn’t … Read more
NMW how to avoid getting your name in the paper for all the wrong reasons! Thanks to my accountant, Greg at Fizz Accounting, for this timely and helpful guide to a surprisingly tricky area. The National Minimum Wage has been a hot topic recently, with some big-name employers like Argos getting caught out for underpaying … Read more
VW not so much for the “people” after all? I’m after a new car. My lease expires in January, and I’m in the process of using the end of quarter sales targets to get a brilliant deal. And yes, I want ‘brilliant’, not just ‘good’. Last weekend we went round 8 car showrooms, on the … Read more
Summer holidays – Are they over yet? Being a full-time business owner and mum is great. But it takes its toll in the summer. I had a plan to write something about the whole ‘back to school’ period, but then I came across something written by a friend of mine, Sara Southey, which is beautifully … Read more
Committees are like teenagers…. If you’ve dealt with committees before, then this won’t be news to you, but I just felt the need to write this after dealing with several incidents recently made a whole lot worse by committees… A club manager we were helping being told not only NOT to pay for HR advice … Read more
Throwing £360k away…. As adults we learn a few “truths” about life: There’s no such thing as a free lunch Too good to be true usually is Your pay always looks less impressive when it hits your bank account But there are also gender specific “truths” that “everyone knows” and that some people are foolish … Read more
