HR Advice For Small Businesses
A golf club contacted me this week after admitting a new member with visible face tattoos.
They had clearly seen the tattoos at the time of joining and had no issue—until another member complained. Not about the content of the tattoos, just the fact that they were on his face.
The club wanted to know whether they were now stuck with this decision, or if revoking his membership would amount to discrimination. Specifically, they asked: Are tattoos a protected characteristic?
Running a small business comes with a set of unique challenges, one of which is staying up to date with your obligations under employment law. At GAP HR, we offer specialist human resource consulting services to small, owner-managed businesses throughout the UK. Our expert HR consultants will work closely with you to ensure you comply … Read more
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I may be betraying my age, but when it comes to clothes shopping, there’s one retailer that sits right at the top of the tree: Marks and Spencer.
(Or at least it did…)
I bought a load of clothes from a store recently and brought them home to try them on in comfort and privacy.
They were all lovely, but most of them were a bit too big.
No problem, I thought, I can just scan the barcode of the item and order the next size down.
Here’s the key thing: under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, employees now have a day one right to request flexible working. And as employers, you’re legally required to give the request proper and reasonable consideration. That doesn’t mean you have to say yes – but it does mean you need a solid business reason to say no.
Let’s be really clear on what DOESN’T count as a solid reason:
We recently had to investigate a bullying claim, with a twist.
The claim was brought by a number of greenkeepers against the Head Greenkeeper, and the thing that made it all come to a head?
Turns out the Head Greenkeeper had taken the door off their one standalone toilet and insisted on holding team meetings – whilst he was sitting on the loo!
It had taken months for the greenkeepers to tell anyone outside of the team about this.
Months!
We’ve found another “protected characteristic” that employers of all sizes need to be aware of.
Last week, we were advising a golf club that wanted to dismiss an employee with under two years’ service. There were personality clashes. He was 39 years old, white, male – no obvious protected characteristics which could lead to a tribunal claim – so we gave the green light to proceed with termination.
Then came the curveball: a claim from the employee seeking £28,000 in compensation, alleging he was dismissed because of his union membership.
Union membership? In our world, that’s extremely rare. Honestly, we assumed he’d made it up.
So we double-checked with the client: “Did you know anything about him joining a union?”
Cue the bone-chilling reply:
Developing and implementing an effective sexual harassment policy is a crucial step in complying with your legal obligation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Our HR specialists, with our decades of experience in employment law and practice, can provide the advice and guidance you need to produce an effective sexual harassment policy tailored to … Read more
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At GAP HR, we offer a specialist HR consultancy tailored to your organisation’s individual needs and priorities. With over 20 years of experience in the field, we have a proven track record of keeping small businesses like yours legally compliant and Tribunal free. Why Are Human Resources So Important? Your employees are your most important … Read more
Employers have strict legal duties when it comes to dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Everyone within your organisation has their part to play to assist you in ensuring you adhere to those duties. Managers, in particular, are at the forefront of fostering a culture in which sexual harassment is deemed unacceptable, identifying any … Read more
A crucial aspect of your role as an employer is understanding how to deal with sexual harassment at work. Under new laws, if you fail to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, you run the risk of paying a higher amount of compensation to employees who bring successful Tribunal proceedings. At … Read more
It’s that time of year again – the skeleton crew is in operation, staff disappear for weeks at a time, and you silently curse yourself for approving the holiday in the first place.
Before we get into the silly season, let’s answer some of the key questions we get around holiday:
How much holiday entitlement do my employees get?
“It depends” is the short answer.
We’ve had a bit of a lucky streak lately when it comes to problematic employees moving on. While we haven’t quite mastered the art of telepathy, a surprising number have chosen to resign just as things were coming to a head. Often, it’s because they realise their employer is getting proper HR advice – and the days of coasting without consequences are rapidly coming to an end.
A resignation, especially one submitted without drama or grievances, is often the ideal outcome. If they leave with immediate effect, that’s even better – no notice to pay (just accrued holiday), and a clean break for everyone.
However, we’ve had two recent cases where employers were so wound up and ready to dismiss that they couldn’t quite let go of the idea – even after the employee resigned.
I’ve never been slow when it comes to buying shiny things online through social media. Most of my purchases have turned out just fine, and for those that didn’t, I either chalked it up to experience or got my money back via PayPal!
But this week, I had a realisation: the tried-and-tested marketing strategies still work brilliantly on social media. You don’t have to go “full American” with dramatic countdowns, flashing discounts, or the desperate “BUY NOW OR YOUR LIFE WILL END” tactics. There’s a much smarter way to do it.
If you’re thinking about parting ways with an employee, chances are you’ve thought about how you’re going to justify the decision.
And in my experience, a line that’s trotted out more often than most as justification?
“There’s been a loss of trust and confidence”
If you’re thinking about using a similar line, I’ve got two words for you:
Please don’t.
The acronym PIP has been in the news a lot recently, as a result of the Government’s proposed changes to the benefits system. But it’s a different PIP I want to talk to you about today – the Performance Improvement Plan, which is used to help employees address problems in their performance When to Use … Read more
I’ve been on the hunt for a new bookkeeper.
First and foremost on the shopping list is someone who knows their numbers, but inevitably, something else comes first:
Marketing.
You see, it’s no good being the best bookkeeper since sliced bread if you can’t get yourself in front of any prospective clients, and my experience so far has left rather a lot to be desired.
I don’t know whether there’s something in the water in 2025, but we’ve had a lot of emails from people requesting the same thing:
“Can you send me a template to give a verbal warning to an employee?”
We always say no.
Because, more often than not, warnings are being used incorrectly.
Warnings have their place, but this isn’t it
Like it or not, from an employee rights perspective, 2025 is going to be a big year, and if you haven’t done anything to prepare for the changes coming your way, I’d strongly recommend it. Before you get there though, it’s worth highlighting that lots of employers aren’t even getting the basics right now, even … Read more
I don’t know about you, but these early months are hibernation time in the Wahlen household, as we hide away from the wind and rain and catch up on some TV drama.
And recently – between dog walks – I’ve been diving into Death in Paradise; the sun and beaches are always welcome visuals when it’s beating it down outside.
Until they drop a clanger. From an HR perspective that is.
On one particular episode the murderer is revealed, and his motive?
“Well, you see I worked for his company for 30 years and then they made me redundant and I got nothing!”
I’ve got an announcement: I’m officially old.
This realisation has little to do with the page turning on another year, and everything to do with my internal thermostat.
I’m officially old because I’m ALWAYS cold.
Being increasingly sensitive to the temperature comes with its fair share of challenges – the simplest way to counteract the cold is to whack the heating up, but the evil smart meter in the corner of the room blinks red at me far too often for this to be the complete solution.
I know that in the doom and gloom of January, harking back to the festivity and frivolity of Christmas isn’t exactly a popular move.
But I hope you’ll forgive me for doing exactly that today – there is a good reason!
The Christmas Day just gone was the best one I’ve had for decades, despite returning from Thailand cursing the weather and feeling very “bah humbug” about the whole thing in the run-up to it.
So, why was it the best?
I’ve been here, there, and everywhere these last few weeks, delivering employment law talks to the great and good.
Which means a lot of miles on the road and plenty of hotel rooms, too.
I’ve always found hotels fascinating. The fact that you can pay roughly the same and yet have an entirely different experience from place to place is bizarre and interesting in equal measure.
The last hotel I stayed in was a case in point: staff were friendly, they upgraded my room, but when I got upstairs, there were two rather weird elements.
First, the (seemingly now) standard freezing cold room and incorrect thermostat – I had to crank it to 25 degrees just to get 21 degrees on the bedside table.
Second, slightly rarer: the WiFi code was nowhere to be seen.
I’ve recently ticked something very special off my bucket list – polar bears, in the wild, in Canada.
Jaw-dropping. And rather cold.
Sometimes ticking something off your list can be a bit underwhelming: you’ve built it up so much in your head that the reality doesn’t match the vision.
This was absolutely not one of those occasions.
Everything was perfect, from first to last, and there were a couple of nice little touches that I thought were worth highlighting – inspiration for anyone in business.
I had a fantastic time at a recent conference, in no small part down to the emphasis on building the right team and looking after the staff that make our organisations great.
(Long overdue, in my opinion!)
If you were there, you’d know “Employee Assistance Programmes” (EAP) were mentioned quite a lot.
What is an Employee Assistance Programme?
A confidential helpline dedicated to helping your employees smooth out personal and work-related problems.
Yes, it might seem a bit touchy-feely, but the reality is that it really does make a difference and can help you keep your team together, turning up and functioning as you need them to.
Two things are about to intertwine, and I’m fearing the worst: The new sexual harassment laws, which came into effect in October 2024 Christmas The festive season has long been a hotbed for sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, so before silly season arrives, I thought it best just to drop you some information to help … Read more
I’ve always loved buying things, from when I was a little girl, counting out the pennies for a paper bag of cola bottles, right through to now, when everything is available with the click of a button, or swipe of an iPhone.
The internet really has reduced purchasing friction, and I’m regularly finding myself drawn to products advertised to me on Instagram and buying them before I’ve even thought twice about it.
And – philanthropist that I am – in the last couple of years, most of those products aren’t even for me, but for our beloved miniature schnauzer.
I’ve been trying to sell my son’s moped for 18 months now.
Why the delay?
A combination of my lack of motivation, paired with a significant lack of understanding of the second-hand moped market.
I started off by putting ads out at a sales price I considered eminently reasonable.
The prospective buyers did not agree. Zero enquiries.
It’s rapidly approaching that time of year again – the skeleton crew is in operation, staff disappear to make merry, and you lose half of December to run your business!
Before we get into the silly season, let’s answer some of the key questions we get around holiday:
How much holiday entitlement do my employees get?
“It depends” is the short answer.
Normally, this would be specified in their contract of employment.
I’ve stayed in a lot of different hotels this year, from humble hostels to five-star specials.
But regardless of the brand or quality, they’ve ALL had one thing in common: a woefully inaccurate thermostat in the bedroom.
The one that really took the biscuit was the Hotel Adlon in Berlin – a beautiful hotel, but with a thermostat that swore blind that it was 18 degrees in the room.
And having set my home thermostat at that temperature to keep costs down, I can tell you one thing: I KNOW what 18 degrees feels like.
As I’ve experienced over many months now, 18 degrees means warm socks, a woolly jumper, and a blanket if I’m watching TV.
“18 degrees” at the Adlon? A different temperature entirely – the kind you could sit in wearing a summer dress and still feel pleasantly warm.
As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours, and in the last month, we’ve had a particularly dense deluge of “employee incidents” to deal with:
Yep, as I mentioned, it’s been busy.
It’s finally here: the widely trailed Employment Rights Bill, which most employers have been anticipating since Labour came into power at the beginning of July, has been unveiled in the House of Commons today. No doubt you’ve seen some of the details covered by the media – giving employees “day one rights” to protection from … Read more
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…
So I am sure that you can see how committees are like teenagers now:
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.
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.
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.
