We were all worried about the effects that Brexit would have on our businesses, and now we’ve been blindsided by Covid-19.

Clearly the next few weeks will make running a business and dealing with staff particularly challenging, so I just thought I’d drop you a quick line to say that if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.

I’ve already had a number of people contact me to ask where they stand in terms of staff contracts and reduction of hours, so let me clear a couple of bits up:

You may think you’ve got ‘zero hours workers’, but you only do if your contract is worded in a specific way. If it’s not, then they’re just part time workers.

Which means you can’t reduce them to zero hours, which would have been an immediate and easy cut in payroll costs.

Plus, if you give them their week’s notice, you will have to pay them their average hours over the last 12 weeks. Not zero.

When it comes to layoffs and short time working, unless you have the right in your contract of employment to impose this on the staff, then you have to ask them if they agree to the layoff.

They might, they might not.

Clearly this is not ideal, and some business owners will be wishing they’d sorted their contracts sooner rather than later – again if you need to talk about your contracts, then please get in touch.

But, despite my tendency for rants, I am an optimist.

This WILL pass.

And when it does, you need to be in a situation where you can hit the ground running, safeguarded against events you have no control over.

Until then, you need to make sure your contracts and handbook is up to date and valid for the situation we’re in.

If you’re a client of ours, all of this is included – you have the documentation that enables you to do what you need to do, when you need to do it.

But if you’re not a client, you probably will need to take action – we’re offering a one-off contract and handbook template to help you cope with the current situation:

Our Covid-19 update is £595 + VAT – a £500 discount on the usual investment, to help you in this trying time.

You send us your contracts and handbooks
Our HR gurus will pore over them, and extract the important information, inserting it into our 100% compliant templates
You receive them back, and gain the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can do what you need to do

To take advantage, just give us a call on 01491 598 600.

P.S. If you’re not sure it’s for you, or you need more questions answered first, just email me on cw@gaphr.co.uk and I’ll be happy to help.