HR Advice For Small Businesses

What makes you want to stay in a hotel?

Is it the promise of a beautiful room with a super comfortable bed?

Or is it the facilities – an infinity pool, spa, gym or garden?

Or perhaps it’s the food and drink. 

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I had a call with someone the other day.

He’s a brand-new business owner and wants to start offering a service which is complementary to ours.

I’d never met him before, but his message popped up on LinkedIn, and in the spirit of helping someone get started, I thought I’d take the call.

It was a perfectly pleasant chat, but what was striking was how quickly he moved onto the topic of me sending him business, bearing in mind that I’d:

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From 6 April this year, the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules are changing.

The main changes are:

1. You’ll need to pay SSP from the first day of absence
2. There are no ‘waiting days’
3. There’s no minimum earning level to qualify (previously it was £129 a week – no longer)
4. If they earn under the Lowing Earning Limit, you need to pay them 80% of their average weekly earnings. If they earn more, then it’s £123.25.

All financial details should be handled by your payroll software, which should automatically pay staff the correct amount.

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I had a call with someone the other day.

He’s a brand-new business owner and wants to start offering a service which is complementary to ours.

I’d never met him before, but his message popped up on LinkedIn, and in the spirit of helping someone get started, I thought I’d take the call.

It was a perfectly pleasant chat, but what was striking was how quickly he moved onto the topic of me sending him business, bearing in mind that I’d:

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Usually, something lighting up like a Christmas tree would be seen as a net positive.

Festive, aesthetically pleasing, emotive, so on and so forth.

Not when it’s your car dashboard.

After enduring the twinkling lights for longer than is likely advisable, I decided enough was enough, and dropped my car off at the local garage for some diagnostic tests, and – hopefully – to get everything reset.

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We’re recruiting again.

The demand for genuine HR expertise has grown considerably over the last year and shows no sign of slowing down, so our recruitment must keep up.

 But, if you’ve been reading my emails for a while now, you’ll know that we don’t just hire any old Thomasina, Dick or Harriet.

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Let’s be honest—no one loves talking about absence procedures. But if you’ve ever been left guessing whether someone’s off sick, overslept, or has simply been abducted by aliens, you’ll know why a proper reporting process is essential.

Consistency is key. Every employee, every time.
You can’t expect some employees to follow the absence procedure and let others slide. You can’t discipline certain people for ignoring it while turning a blind eye to the rest. And you definitely can’t enforce the rules only on Mondays or when you’re in the mood.

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The text came in from my daughter Frances, and I immediately did a doubletake:

““hey mum, my screen is shattered so im borrowing my friends old phone for now…”

Yes, that is word-for-word, and no Frances’ grammar is not that poor, despite the language of the “youff”!

It’s a spam message, which I spotted a mile off, and not just because I know that Frances knows her “SPAG”.

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Chances are you’ve heard that it’s ‘tough out there’ for job seekers.

It’s undoubtedly true, which makes it even more important for candidates to ensure that they’re doing the very best they possibly can.

And in our attempt to hire an Executive Assistant, I’ve seen plenty of them not just failing to do their best, but actively shooting themselves in the foot.

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Running a small organisation is tough enough — you’re juggling budgets, staff, customers, volunteers, and the occasional crisis about who drank the last bit of milk. The last thing you need is a disciplinary going pear-shaped because of a technicality.

But that’s exactly what happens. Employers often think they’re handling things “about right”, only to discover (usually at tribunal) that they weren’t. The good news? Most of these slip-ups are avoidable with a bit of process and common sense.

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Last week, I set off on a dog walk — fresh air, soggy shoes, and those delightful “free deluge showers” courtesy of Mother Nature. Halfway down a muddy path, my phone rang—unknown number. Normally, I’d ignore it, but because I get random calls all the time from people needing help with their staff, I answered.

How bad could it be?

Pretty bad for my bank balance, it turned out!

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Now that the days are turning colder and darker, my morning coffee feels more essential than ever — and in our office, that means the Nespresso machine. We’ve got two coffee machines (and a kettle), but the Nespresso is our pride and joy. Sleek, stylish, and a little indulgent — it’s not just coffee, it’s a ritual.

We joined the Nespresso coffee club when they offered us a free machine in exchange for a newsletter subscription. A no-brainer!

But of course, a machine needs pods. So last weekend I went onto the Nespresso website — and was instantly hooked.

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All of my clients know that if they come up with a staff issue we’ve never seen before, they get chocolates.

It is with deepest regret (and some disbelief) that I have to announce: the 2025 award has already been won.

A client, a manufacturing company, rang with what they thought was a simple query:

“Can we issue a warning without doing a disciplinary meeting?”

“Why don’t you want to do the meeting?”

“He has mental health issues, and we don’t want to push him over the edge.”

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You need to know exactly who has access to your email.

Not a spy.

Not a cybercriminal.

Someone much closer to home – your own team.

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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?

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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.

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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:

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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!

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We’ve found another “protected characteristic” that employers of all sizes need to be aware of.

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:

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