Do zero hours and casual workers need holiday pay?-Do zero hours workers need holiday pay? Yes! All employees earn holiday pay. It is also important to remember that part time employees cannot be discriminated against, which means that you cannot give them less holiday (pro rata) than full time workers. The reason for this is that the majority of zero hours or casual ... Read more
Can I just fire zero hours and casual workers?-Can I just fire zero hours and casual workers? No! You can never “just fire” any employee. As an employer, you have a duty to make sure that you follow a fair and legal process when dealing with any employee. The easiest employees to dismiss are those under two years. If an employee has been ... Read more
What is the notice period for a zero hours or casual worker?-What is the notice period for a zero hours or casual worker? As the employment term for a zero-hours or casual worker feels different to that of a full-time worker, most employers feel as though their notice period too should differ from that of a regular employee. Because zero hours or casual workers have the ... Read more
What constitutes a zero hours or casual worker?-What constitutes a zero hours or casual worker? Unsurprisingly, just like with all other employees, there is a formal process you must follow whilst employing a zero hours or casual worker. They must have a contract when working for you, and if not – then they don’t count as a zero hours or casual worker. ... Read more
Sickness absence with a silver lining-Sickness absence with a silver lining The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just released its sickness figures for 2021. And they aren’t as bad as you might think. In 2021 approximately 149.3 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury. Which sounds a lot but is the same as just 4.6 days ... Read more
Optional auto enrolment?-Optional auto-enrolment? I was talking to a club the other week that’d got themselves in a sticky situation, pension-wise. An employee had left them back in February and had come back to them to let them know that his pensions was now “set up” and ready for them to make payments. Got the foggiest? No, ... Read more
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
