Carolyne Wahlen 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
As adults, we learn a few “truths” about life:
But there are also gender specific “truths” that “everyone knows” and that some people are foolish enough to say out loud.
BAE Systems has found this to its cost.
I was speaking to a company the other day and they asked a worrying question. “We’ve had an account manager on light duties since December last year because he has shoulder problems. When can we reduce his salary?” I almost fell off my chair. They had continued to pay full salary for someone only doing … Read more
I’m in love….. I’ll admit it: I’m in love with Amazon all over again. It’s my default shop for buying stuff, any stuff, because they make it easy to buy and I know that I will get what I have ordered or can get my money back, without any hassle. Not to mention the fact … Read more
Is ageism alive and kicking? Research from the Department for Work and Pensions has shown that age discrimination is still a problem in Britain today. The Attitude to Age report showed that one third of those asked said that they had experienced ageism at least once in the last year. I have actually experienced this recently, when helping … Read more
Pretty but not switched on. I was at a charity boxing match on Saturday night. Not my thing usually, but a friend was getting in the ring to raise money so I thought I’d support him. And I loved it! I have always been against blood sports, but I was shocked by how quickly I … Read more
137.3 million days “Off sick” The Office for National Statistics (ONS), has just released its sickness figures for 2016. And they aren’t as bad as you might think. In 2016 approximately 137.3 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury. Which sounds a lot, but is the same as just 4.3 days per … Read more
If you can’t stay on the fairway, you shouldn’t be playing….. You probably saw Rory McIlroy’s less than stellar start at the US Open yesterday, and after his horror show round, he wasn’t making any excuses, admitting that his timing was off and he was a little bit rusty. He also said something else really … Read more
Solicitors in redundancy are always a hot topic – but you’re probably wondering where the law stands about this.. Can they bring a solicitor to the redundancy meeting? As you’d expect, we’re having a lot of conversations about redundancy at the moment, and if you’re sadly having to consider redundancy, then here are some must … Read more
Pregnancy myths shattered with a rant. I got an email from a business coach the other day, and halfway through it, I felt like I’d been slapped. In the middle of a perfectly acceptable rant about poor service, the rant segued into saying how no business owner should ever employ a woman of childbearing age, … Read more
What’s your handicap? I’ve been solving staff issues for years, and that combined with bringing up two young kids historically hasn’t left me with much time. These days though, with the business going well and the kids more independent, I now have a small amount of time for myself, and in the last 12 months, … Read more
How the dog throwing up on my camel made me think…. I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of Comet the dog throwing up on the bed. The quickest way to get wide awake and out of bed at 7am on a Saturday! Despite my best efforts to stop him throwing up in … Read more
Don’t do this…..recruitment When you recruit new staff, DON’T: Recruit someone you find attractive (apparently most of us do! You are NOT Hugh Hefner!) Accept their word that they can do something – test them Reject them giving one of the protected characteristics as a reason (unlimited £££ tribunal claim) If you know of a … Read more
Short answer to this is no (sorry, know you didn’t want to hear that!). They may have stormed out after a row. They may have calmly handed in their notice once their pay was on their bank account. But as far as they’re concerned, it’s over. You could try and get them to stay with … Read more
TUPE problems are like buses. You wait ages for one, and then several arrive at once. (If you don’t know what “TUPE” is, here’s a quick lowdown: TUPE stands for “Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations” and these regs are basically in place to preserve employees’ terms and conditions when a business is transferred to a … Read more
The Campfire Lady, Stress Release and the Avoidance of Smoke Inhalation I used to be Brown Owl. And before that a Rainbow leader and a Guide leader. (Those who know me well are NOT surprised when they hear that!) My favorite bit by miles has always been the campfire. And it turns out that I have … Read more
Bag Drop I’ve just got back from Gran Canaria. It was the holiday I’d been looking forward since the kids went back to school in January. But even though the prospect of the holiday was exciting, I wasn’t looking forward to the Easyjet ‘bag drop’ at Gatwick. The bag drop was brought in to save time, but … Read more
Stress at work is not considered to be a disability. Case law decisions this year are going really well for employers! Stress at work is not considered to be a disability. Which means if you have any employees who, once you start a disciplinary or redundancy process, go off sick with stress, you no longer … Read more
“Fake news” re-employment law in the media Panto now over, I have time to catch up with my television viewing. And my favorite at the moment is the most recent series of “Cold Feet”. Or at least it was until the end of the series. Let me explain. Karen, who has worked in a publishing … Read more
I am in a bit of a grump.
I feel that I have been conned, shanghaied, yes, even shamelessly lied to, by omission if nothing else.
And it’s all because of a pantomime.
Both my kids are in the local panto at the Corn Exchange, and I thought I’d do my parental bit and be a chaperone this year.
A not insignificant amount of paperwork later, I was in, feeling slightly apprehensive about the prospect of looking after 13 kids, 8 of whom I’d never met.
But it was chaperoning – how hard could it be?
Employers rejoice – the eternal battlefield of employment law has made a small but significant shift in favour of the employer. And it’s in the area of disciplinaries. Some employees are extremely canny when it comes to the disciplinary procedure. They’ll push and push and push until it seems they can push no more, and … Read more
No insurance = no discrimination Bit more formal this time, but I felt that it was important to talk about this, having read about employers who had, incorrectly, paid out. Private medical insurance, permanent health insurance (PHI) and life assurance are all insured benefits. This means that it’s the insurance provider who takes the decision … Read more
I was in London, and my blusher brush had finally died a death after 25 years or so, so I decided to pop over to Selfridges on Oxford Street and grab a new one. (Guys, stick with me here – I’m not asking you for makeup tips!) Now, the last time I bought a brush, … Read more
Hope you had a good festive period and you’re feeling well rested? Being back in the office is reminding me of all the things I said I’d do ‘in the new year’, that I have to do now! It’s always the way isn’t it? We’re all masters of procrastination, putting things off until later, because … Read more
I’m “on the road” this month. And no, I don’t mean driving to Newbury and Basingstoke. I’m on the road like Jack Kerouac, cruising around America with my kids. I’ve just got to Yosemite, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. If you’ve never been here before, Yosemite is one … Read more
Some wise old soul once said: “Take time for quietness and you will free yourself from being influenced by the wrong things” They had a point. Especially when it comes to the workplace. You see, it’s that time of year again when the employees pour out, slap on their sun tan lotion and head off … Read more
The silent business killer threatening us all.
I was in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago, giving a presentation.
Now, given that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, you might assume that employment law is the same as it is in Great Britain.
You’d be dead wrong.
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 you employ a new person, it is important to check references. All you are looking for is confirmation that they really did work for that company as stated on their CV. More than that is unrealistic to expect nowadays. But what else do you need to have? In addition to the usual references, sometimes … Read more
I do tribunal audits on employment contracts and handbooks so that the company knows what needs to be updated, how much risk they are at, and whether the documents are really “fit for purpose”. Once they have that knowledge, they can make an informed decision about whether they will be updating their paperwork themselves or … Read more
Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it? The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided on 4 November 2014 that any overtime worked does count towards an employee’s holiday entitlement. Yikes! What does that actually mean? It means that if you have in their contracts that they work 20 hours a week, and they … Read more
