Filling the Gap in HR services: She uses the internet too much. Can we fire her? But my client hadn’t spoken to the employee at all! They did have proof (they monitor all their computer and phone activity), but had not had a disciplinary or even an informal chat with the employee. To complicate matters, she had … Read more
Filling the Gap in HR services: A bit like an intern. One of our clients contacted us recently about a “one-week work trial” for a potential new employee. Essentially they wanted the candidate to work for nothing, “a bit like an intern”, and if she was good, then they wanted us to put together a contract … Read more
Filling the Gap in HR services: Unfit to work, but not to meet… There are a lot of myths about sickness absence. One of the most common is the idea that an employee who is signed off sick is unfit to attend any meeting. Especially if they have been signed off for “stress at work”. This … Read more
Filling the Gap in HR Services: It’s like a foreign country….. After Christmas, I went – with the kids – to Berlin and the Christmas markets. It was great have a Gluhwein (okay, a few), and to be back in Germany with the kids again, for the first time since 2011. I’m in Germany most years, … Read more
Filling the GAP in HR expertise: Getting more expensive…. Well, we’ve made it past Christmas and the next significant date in the HR world is the 6 April. That’s when all the Statutory employment entitlements change. There is no legal requirement to inform your staff of the changes BUT we would recommend letting them know the change … Read more
Do I have to pay them during maternity leave? The issue of maternity pay has come up A LOT lately. We’ve had several calls from clients indignant that new staff members have now told them they are pregnant. So here’s the first thing: You can’t fire them for not telling you they are pregnant – they are not legally … Read more
People think I make this stuff up! You couldn’t make it up. Most employers know, for good or bad, that it is tricky to dismiss a pregnant woman. But not impossible. There are ways to part company if performance or attitude is bad, and they involve documenting meetings, setting deadlines etc, so that you can prove that … Read more
He’s pregnant?! Under shared parental leave (introduced 2014) the husband, civil partner or partner of the pregnant women has the right to unpaid time off to attend up to 2 ante-natal appointments. Action: don’t laugh when a man asks for time off to go to an antenatal appointment.
Invasion of the identity snatchers What, an invasion? Well, not that bad, but it is an area that employers need to protect themselves. From what? Identity fraud and unwittingly employing illegal workers. In Terminator they used dogs to sniff out the “intruders”, the robots. We need to use a much more banal way – seeing … Read more
Bye bye, Bob I’m back, with another story about the unbelievable states golf clubs get themselves into! In this particularly story, we’re on the employee’s side of the fence, rather than the Club. “Bob” was supposed to meet up with the chairman on Friday afternoon to have his weekly catch up meeting. However, on this occasion he … Read more
Dress policy is racist by omission When a new client comes on board, we update their handbook and contracts, explaining and agreeing the contents with them. This process can lead to some interesting conversations, with such an example presenting itself this week. While going through one of the contracts, we discussed the dress policy – which is … Read more
You should be Kean for this Usually I steer clear of puns. They’re not my thing. But I couldn’t help it today. You see, in the last few months I’ve come across a lovely lady called Laura Kean, and her surname just lends itself so wonderfully towards positive puns that it almost felt wrong NOT to … Read more
Calories, not bargains We went to our local bonfire night on Saturday. It was a fine evening – not too cold, but cold enough that we wanted some warm nibbles afterward. The fireworks were in a field in Wallingford, a mere 100m from a nice, spacious Waitrose. So, once the final bang had passed, we headed … Read more
Employee horror story As it’s Halloween I thought I’d share a horror story with you, but then I realised that pretty much all of my emails are horror stories about things that employers try and get away with, and I wasn’t sure whether I had anything that could reach new levels of horror. And then … Read more
Trained to ignore My car told me I had a flat tyre the other week. That’s how sophisticated they’ve become – before you’ve even felt anything, the computer explains loudly and clearly that you need to do something about your tyre. And they don’t just tell you once. They tell you again and again. But … Read more
Auto-enrolment pensions are now a requirement for all staff. No excuses. Even in the smallest of companies, the employer AND the employee have to make a percentage contribution to the pension. And I’ve got to be honest – it makes sense. We all know how pensions have taken a battering over the last few years, … Read more
Unsuitable A client got in touch with us last week, and it wasn’t good news. It was from a lady who was off on maternity leave, and she’d discovered that while she was off, the company had created a new role and invited employees in the department to apply. But here’s the problem – they offered out … Read more
When is she coming back? I had a question from a Club last week which left me entirely speechless: “My admin assistant is on maternity leave, has been for about 6 months I think, and is due back soon. How do I work out when she is due back?” The problem with the question is … Read more
Welby weighs in I see Justin Welby has waded into the new cycle of zero hours bashing in the media. But I’m still just as confused as to why zero hours contracts are subject to the vilification they receive. I mean, sure, when Sports Direct was using them to “trap” a bank of tame workers, … Read more
Heavyweight lightweight advice Christopher went on his first D of E hike this . Getting him kitted out for it was a powerful reminder of how far hiking has come in the last 30 years. You see, I did Silver and Gold D of E, in Cyprus and the UK. I walked a lot of … Read more
Not worth the paper? We were setting up a new client last week, and while we were going through the handbook we got the section about company cars. The client was very pleased with themselves as they had a process to take a photocopy of all employees’ driving licences, both the card and the paper … Read more
But you never said Many employers don’t like to have formal meetings, i.e. in private, with closed doors, with staff who are not performing. Instead, they feel that an “informal” comment at their desk or the coffee machine will be enough for the person to understand the feedback and act on it. In an ideal world, … Read more
Blink, pub and tuba Hiring. It’s not an easy thing is it? You’ve got to get your job advert out there, look at some CVs, choose some people to interview and work out whether they’re up to the job. And – not to forget – you’ve got to deal with your inbuilt sense of prejudice. … Read more
My employee resigned, didn’t she? This case was frustrating because my client had really bent over backward 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 … Read more
The wind and the sun – a modern sales tale I was on my first cruise last week, island hopping in Greece. Needless to say, it was beautiful and the weather was even hotter than in the UK! As well as some proper R&R on the beach, we got out on a number of excursions, … Read more
I was speaking to a restaurant owner this week about a shift manager that wasn’t performing. There was a long list of things that this person: Wasn’t doing but should be doing… Was doing but shouldn’t… …plus general comments about him not being ‘proactive’. But the cherry on top? “He has not been doing his … Read more
Not much happening in the hot weather Now that the holiday season is upon us, you might feel that your staff aren’t really working at their “full potential”. But take consolation that they are probably working more than this guy! A Spanish civil servant has been banned from holding public posts, after his bosses found … Read more
Standard practice for you I’m currently working with one of our clients on a professional negligence disciplinary case. The employee going through the disciplinary process is a standalone bookkeeper in the company and he’s been there for over two years. And he’s been making mistakes. A lot of them. He’s been on holiday for the past two … Read more
Grumpy and relaxed Frances has finished her GCSEs now, so she’s hanging around the house. There’s only so much scrolling down her phone she can do though, so I decided to drag her out and do something nice. After chatting it through, we settled on a spa visit, so I jumped straight online to research … Read more
Far more serious One of the things I realized in the midst of the GDPR furor was that most people were only taking action because there was a natural deadline – the 25th May. But as an employment law expert, it all seemed a bit ironic to me. You see, all of these people were moving … Read more
Your card has been declined. I had a call on Saturday from my bank’s fraud department. They were concerned about some transactions on my account. Unfortunately, I couldn’t identify one of them and I couldn’t look it up at the time, as I was out with Comet. So the lady asked me to call back … Read more
What a palaver that was! If you cast your mind back just a couple of weeks, you’ll remember the hoo-haa that preceded the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force. Every Tom, Dick and Henrietta was emailing their list, asking them to ‘opt back in’, and snake oil salespeople galore were making money from the … Read more
Does GDPR mean e-mail marketing is dead? If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ll be familiar with the trends coming round and round again. And often in small business marketing, with marketers trying to sell new initiatives all the time, methods die and then rise from the ashes like a phoenix, only to be pronounced … Read more
he acronym on everyone’s lips…. What’s the acronym you’ve heard most this year? For me, there’s only one answer: GDPR. The whole country’s been swept up into a widespread panic, with all and sundry concerned that they won’t be ‘compliant’. And as an employer you probably won’t be. GDPR for staff is VERY different to … Read more
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ll be familiar with the trends coming round and round again. And often in small business marketing, with marketers trying to sell new initiatives all the time, methods die and then rise from the ashes like a phoenix, only to be pronounced dead again when the marketer … Read more
You won’t guess what my festive ritual is…. I went in for my annual health check this week. The “official” reason I go for a check each year is to ensure there aren’t any “hidden dangers”. Unofficially, I want to see impact my dissolute lifestyle is having on my body, and whether I need to forego … Read more
Poisoning the Greenkeeper. “A Greenkeeper has just accused his colleague of poisoning him. What shall we do now?” This is the absolute corker of a client question this year so far, by miles! And here’s the story… The Greenkeeper in question had decided that all of the drinks he had at the club tasted “funny”. … Read more
There. I’ve said it. Am I allowed – as an employment law expert – to say that? Aren’t I supposed to pretend that this is all perfectly reasonable? I’ll be honest with you, there are some processes in employment law that make me want to bang my head against a brick wall. And I can … Read more
Off on the road again! I am very proud to be sponsoring the prestigious GCMA Team of the Year award this year. And you know what? I get to do a fun road trip as well! Yesterday I went to the very sunny wilds of Wales to assess Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club, finalists in the … Read more
This was mentioned at our recent training session, so I thought you would be interested in this article about how to deal with smelly bods! Bad body odour is the most disliked personal hygiene problem – 70% of employees say it’s their top bugbear. If you receive a complaint about someone’s BO, what’s the … Read more
