There are times in life where less is more.

For example, after you’ve said something nice like “I really enjoy your sense of humour” it’s probably best not to follow it with “…I don’t care what anyone else says about you!”.

The same goes for unpleasant conversations like firing an employee for poor performance.

One of our clients had an employee who was under 2 years’ service.

In fact, he had only been there for 4 months.

His performance wasn’t great, and demand for the company’s product had dropped off, so it was a straightforward decision to let him go.

And if an employee has been with you for less than two years, they don’t have any legal protection from unfair dismissal.

Which means that as long as they are dismissed for a reason that is not a “protected characteristic” then they have no claim against you.

All you have to do is say:

 “Dave, really sorry, but it is not working out, your performance is not where we would like it to be and we have had a downturn in sales, so I am really sorry but we are giving you your notice”

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I don’t have a sales or marketing manager here at Gap HR.

I do it all myself, and there’s a simple reason why: I love it.

But this summer, a vital part of marketing (the follow up) went a bit pear-shaped.

We moved office and the kids were off so there was a bit of disruption, so with the best will in the world, I haven’t been following up as often as I should, or even at all.

Not good.

I have a long list of potentials that I haven’t spoken to since May or June, which is pretty much criminal.

One redeeming aspect is that they are all on my weekly email list, so they have been hearing from me, but not in a sales context.

Now things have settled down at work, I am back on it, chasing them for a decision.

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I was in London recently, to see Hamilton, which is my son’s favourite play/soundtrack at the moment.

He has listened to it hundreds of times and knows all the lyrics.

So, for his birthday, which was in June, I booked tickets for as soon as they were affordable, which was September.

Rather than rushing back down to Goring after the show, I decided we would stay overnight in the city and found a lovely hotel, Kimpton Fitzroy in Russell Square.

At some point in the booking process I obviously told them that we were coming to London for my son’s belated birthday present.

I say obviously because I had forgotten I had done so until we checked in on the Friday and the receptionist wished my son a belated “happy birthday”.

He looked shocked and then pleased and then a bit embarrassed (he is 15, after all).

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Over the years, I’ve had A LOT of questions related to the world of employment, but this week I had a question I’d never, ever had before:

What to do when staff go on strike.

The reason we’ve never had that question is because none of our clients recognise a trade union, and generally they don’t have any union members on their team.

But the question wasn’t about any old strikers, but rather climate strikers.

Our client wanted to know “what if” they walk out.

It’s a good question, so I thought it was worth sharing with everyone.

Clearly, caring deeply about climate change is a noble thing, but the issue is that despite the strike potentially being a “good cause”, your business could well suffer as a direct result of the action.

So, while the sentiment is definitely admirable, whatever striking action that takes place has to be managed, to minimise disruption and harm to your business.

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I almost can’t believe I’m typing this, but I was at Warwick University at the weekend, looking around it with my daughter Frances.

Honestly, the idea that she’s nearly at university age is slightly terrifying, but I’m doing my best to put that to the back of my mind.

Unlike lots of us, Frances is super clear about what she wants to do – she’s hoping to study mechanical engineering with automotive.

And Warwick looks a fine place to study it.

The campus is lovely, but what really blew us away was their engineering department and their commitment to equality.

They’ve already secured the Bronze Swan award which means that 30% of the students in Engineering are women, and one of people showing us around told us that they were close to the Silver Award (40%), and wouldn’t be happy until they get to Gold (50%).

The best other university we found with female to male ratio was Bath, with 17%, so I asked one of the Engineering ambassadors at Warwick what they do to get the ratios so high.

What’s clear is that it’s not accidental.
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I came across an interesting article on the BBC website.

It is about an app “what3words”.

The team behind it have divided the whole planet into 57 trillion boxes, each of them 3 metres by 3 metres.

Each box has a been given a unique 3 word reference. Much more exact than a postcode, which of course only works if you are somewhere the postal service will deliver to.

If you are up a mountain, or along a canal, or just lost, then you won’t be able to find out your postcode, but this app will tell you exactly where you are, and, more importantly, help other people to find you.

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