Sickness absence – too much?!-Sickness absence – too much?! In the past few months, we have been asked by 6 separate clients (different industries and locations) to help them deal with sickness absence. Before that, we hadn’t had to do any GP reports for almost a year. What is going on out there??!! The situation could be long-term sickness ... Read more
How to turn raving fans into vocal critics-How to turn raving fans into vocal critics Cast your mind back to July last year. We’d just come out of Lockdown 3, and although life in the UK was returning to normality, it was still super difficult to get on a plane, or travel to other countries. And there I was looking at holidays ... Read more
Settlement agreements and redundancy- A settlement agreement is where an employee gives up their right to bring legal action against their employer at the end of their employment, usually in exchange for payment. Once an agreement has been reached, the employee has officially given up their right to bring a case against you in an employment tribunal. It’s ... Read more
Hiring your first employee- Hiring my first employee was scary for me, because I really did know all the horror stories about staff behaving badly from my work advising clients. But I realised that I could not move the business forward without hiring my first employee. I had tried freelancers and it worked, to a point. But there ... Read more
Modernism lessons from the Guides-Modernism lessons from the Guides By September, both of my children will have flown the nest (at least for a while). Which means that for the first time in about 20 years, I’ll have ALL of my waking hours free of commitments. It sounds fantastic, but I’m under no illusions that I could get a ... Read more
Statutory entitlements-Statutory entitlements The beginning of April is one of the most significant times in the annual HR calendar. Because that is when all the statutory employment entitlements change. There is no legal requirement to inform your staff of the changes to the statutory payments other than the minimum wage. Statutory payments (per hour) From 1 ... Read more
Bet you can’t get 10-Bet you can’t get 10 Disciplinaries. Every employer’s heard of them, maybe some have even used them as part of their “process”. But do you actually know how to conduct a disciplinary in a way that moves you closer to your desired outcome, without falling foul of the long arm of the law? The truth ... Read more
Book promotion-Book promotion As a regular reader of this blog, you’ll already know that working in HR is very much like working on the submissions team in the creative writing department at Random House. Every day brings a selection of new short stories, each one packed full of unforgettable characters and unexpected plot twists. So many ... Read more
Plan B rules – how much will they affect your business-Plan B rules how much will they affect your business We are back in the delightful place of doing regular updates to Coronavirus guidance for employers. These rules are correct as of today, but please be aware that things may change. If they do, we will update the guidance. Remember – we do a weekly ... Read more
A tour of central London-A tour of central London I like to think I’ve got pretty good geographical awareness. Turns out I really don’t. I was down at Chislehurst Golf Club the other day, giving a talk for the GCMA South East. I finished at 5:30pm, popped my home address into the satnav, selected “fastest” and set off, joking ... Read more
Not worth the paper it’s written on-Not worth the paper it’s written on We recently had a situation at a client who had been “too nice” to a new employee. You might think it’s impossible to be “too nice”, but hear me out: The client had employed his first female in his fairly new business. In her first week of work, ... Read more
Brownie Campfires – the perfect stress release!-Brownie Campfires – the perfect stress release! I used to be Brown Owl. Not a surprise to most of you, I would imagine! And before that a Rainbow leader and a Guide leader. I did enjoy every aspect of Guiding, but my favourite bit by miles has always been the campfire. And it turns out ... Read more
“Looking After” tips-“Looking After” tips I was on holiday over half term, in Gran Canaria and it was GLORIOUS – sun, sea, sand, and all the food you could dream of. Seriously, one of the perks of holidays and staying in a hotel is that you can’t cook, even if you want to, which means the hardship ... Read more
No I dumped HIM!-No, I dumped HIM! One of our clients recently had a troublesome greenkeeper. As each week ticked by, new troubles presented themselves – absences, poor performances, you name it, it happened. And, because we were advising them, they went through the proper disciplinary process, and the greenkeeper ended up on a final written warning. Then ... Read more
The empty nest blues-The empty nest blues It’s now less than a year until – fingers crossed – my youngest child will be leaving home for university. And as much as I love to faux-moan about him, I also love having him around, and everyone’s been telling me how much I’m going to miss having children in the ... Read more
Easy way to lose a “customer”…-Easy way to lose a “customer”… I was chatting to my favourite golf club the other day (the identity of the club will remain a secret!). And they had good news – they’re at full membership AND they’ve got a 100-strong waiting list. A position they haven’t been in for over a decade. I congratulated ... Read more
Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it?-Overtime doesn’t count towards holiday entitlement – or does it? The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided in 2014 that any overtime worked does count towards an employee’s holiday entitlement. Yikes! What does that actually mean? It means that if you have in their contracts that they work 20 hours a week, and they work 10 ... Read more
Contract Information Center-Read through all of Gap HR’s documents about contracts. When issuing a contract, it is important to always remember that you cannot make an employee sign away their rights. A contract is a document designed to let employees know what they are entitled to, but not to change their statutory rights. You can schedule a ... Read more
You MUST understand-You MUST understand I have a SEAT Ateca. It’s not the most fashionable car in the world, but I’ve had it for a few years, and it’s served me well. SEATs come with a three-year warranty, which I’ve been keen to keep it alive, so I’ve headed to the local dealer each year for the ... Read more
Treasurer says zero hours workers have no rights-Treasurer says zero hours workers have no rights It’s the consultant’s curse – people value your advice enough to ask for it, but try everything they can to avoid paying for it. But this week, we experienced the complete opposite. A golf club client of ours point blank refused to take the advice we gave ... Read more
