Resignation Archives

What P&O did wrong

There’s one employment law story dominating the headlines this week, and it’s P&O’s decision to sack 800 staff with zero notice.

And in case you’re wondering what P&O did wrong, it’s NOT the fact that they made a business decision that they needed to let all of those staff members go – P&O have likely struggled as much as anyone during the last two years, and it’s no surprise they’re having to turn to redundancy to keep going.

So what’s the problem?

Simple, a complete failure to follow a proper process – they seem to have just told everyone, with no warning, “You are redundant”.

A lot of the businesses we speak to feel that this is the “best way” to deal with a situation like this, akin to “ripping the plaster off”, as if getting it done quickly is best for all parties.

They’re wrong.

It might be best for THEM, in the short term, but it’s quite clearly NOT best for the employees, who have zero time to adjust to the new reality and suddenly lose their livelihood in one fell swoop.

And in case you’re wondering, employment law is firmly on the side of the employees in this.

[Read more…]

Can I make them work their notice?

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

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 financial incentives. But a court won’t make them work their notice period, as it considers your relationship “broken” (so don’t waste your breath threatening to sue).

You won’t have to pay them though, as they are refusing to work their notice period.

And if you have a clause in your contract (like we do, of course), your can in addition reclaim one day’s pay for every day of their notice period not worked. Which is not meant as a penalty, oh no, just a realistic evaluation of the loss and costs we would have if they walked out and we had to find a short term replacement.

NB if you say that they don’t have to work their notice period, then you DO have to pay them!

If you know of an organisation that could do with our help, please let us know – we always reward referrals with chocolate!

Have a Question? Get in touch below...

Heat of the moment resignations

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

My employee gave me their verbal resignation yesterday and wants to come back today – do I have to let them?

If it was a “heat of the moment” resignation, usually yes.

Resignation is unilateral, in that you don’t need to “accept” it for it to be valid.

That said, if there has been a discussion, tempers got frayed, and your employee storms out saying “you can stuff your job!”, then you should give them the chance to cool down.

[Read more…]

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 9: Avoiding expensive mistakes

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

So. You’re a small business with just a few employees, and managing them is one job you have to do yourself. And do it well.

Learn from the costly traps that other employers have fallen into, with this free guide on the pitfalls you simply must avoid. Remember these are the seven biggest mistakes that employers make which lead straight to a tribunal and cost them their personal cash – so beware!

[Read more…]

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 1: they do resign!

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

Just to let you know, that sometimes problem staff really do resign without us having to follow the long process to fire them!

The employee in question was approaching the end of her maternity leave. As she normally worked at a third-party site, we informed them that she would be back on site in the next couple of weeks. Whereupon the third-party client informed us that they didn’t want her back at all, but they would take another cleaner.

[Read more…]

My employee resigned, didn’t she?!

Written by Carolyne Wahlen

This case was frustrating because my client had really bent over backwards 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 was in a preschool). My client agreed (this was before I was advising her, I hasten to add) because she was having trouble finding a replacement. This continued for the next year. The employee kept saying she was leaving, even had a leaving party that all the parents came to, but kept delaying because her house wasn’t ready or she didn’t want to move her son before the end of the school year.

[Read more…]