I’m in love…..

I’m in love….. I’ll admit it: I’m in love with Amazon all over again. It’s my default shop for buying stuff, any stuff, because they make it easy to buy and I know that I will get what I have ordered or can get my money back, without any hassle. Not to mention the fact … Read more

Is ageism alive and kicking?

Is ageism alive and kicking? Research from the Department for Work and Pensions has shown that age discrimination is still a problem in Britain today. The Attitude to Age report showed that one third of those asked said that they had experienced ageism at least once in the last year. I have actually experienced this recently, when helping … Read more

Pretty, but not switched on.

Pretty but not switched on. I was at a charity boxing match on Saturday night. Not my thing usually, but a friend was getting in the ring to raise money so I thought I’d support him. And I loved it! I have always been against blood sports, but I was shocked by how quickly I … Read more

137.3 million days “Off sick”

137.3 million days “Off sick” The Office for National Statistics (ONS), has just released its sickness figures for 2016. And they aren’t as bad as you might think. In 2016 approximately 137.3 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury. Which sounds a lot, but is the same as just 4.3 days per … Read more

If you can’t stay on the fairway, you shouldn’t be playing…..

If you can’t stay on the fairway, you shouldn’t be playing….. You probably saw Rory McIlroy’s less than stellar start at the US Open yesterday, and after his horror show round, he wasn’t making any excuses, admitting that his timing was off and he was a little bit rusty. He also said something else really … Read more

Pregnancy myths shattered with a rant.

Pregnancy myths shattered with a rant. I got an email from a business coach the other day, and halfway through it, I felt like I’d been slapped. In the middle of a perfectly acceptable rant about poor service, the rant segued into saying how no business owner should ever employ a woman of childbearing age, … Read more

What’s your handicap?

What’s your handicap? I’ve been solving staff issues for years, and that combined with bringing up two young kids historically hasn’t left me with much time. These days though, with the business going well and the kids more independent, I now have a small amount of time for myself, and in the last 12 months, … Read more

How the dog throwing up on my camel made me think….

How the dog throwing up on my camel made me think…. I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of Comet the dog throwing up on the bed. The quickest way to get wide awake and out of bed at 7am on a Saturday! Despite my best efforts to stop him throwing up in … Read more

Don’t do this…..recruitment

Don’t do this…..recruitment When you recruit new staff, DON’T: Recruit someone you find attractive (apparently most of us do! You are NOT Hugh Hefner!) Accept their word that they can do something – test them Reject them giving one of the protected characteristics as a reason (unlimited £££ tribunal claim) If you know of a … Read more

What do a pub in Stratford and Mitie have in common?

TUPE problems are like buses. You wait ages for one, and then several arrive at once. (If you don’t know what “TUPE” is, here’s a quick lowdown: TUPE stands for “Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations” and these regs are basically in place to preserve employees’ terms and conditions when a business is transferred to a … Read more

Bag Drop

Bag Drop I’ve just got back from Gran Canaria. It was the holiday I’d been looking forward since the kids went back to school in January. But even though the prospect of the holiday was exciting, I wasn’t looking forward to the Easyjet ‘bag drop’ at Gatwick. The bag drop was brought in to save time, but … Read more

Stress at work is not considered to be a disability.

Stress at work is not considered to be a disability. Case law decisions this year are going really well for employers! Stress at work is not considered to be a disability. Which means if you have any employees who, once you start a disciplinary or redundancy process, go off sick with stress, you no longer … Read more

“Fake news” re employment law in the media

“Fake news” re-employment law in the media Panto now over, I have time to catch up with my television viewing. And my favorite at the moment is the most recent series of “Cold Feet”. Or at least it was until the end of the series. Let me explain. Karen, who has worked in a publishing … Read more

Changing ten-year old girls into rats

Changing ten-year old girls into rats

I am in a bit of a grump.

I feel that I have been conned, shanghaied, yes, even shamelessly lied to, by omission if nothing else.

And it’s all because of a pantomime.

Both my kids are in the local panto at the Corn Exchange, and I thought I’d do my parental bit and be a chaperone this year.

A not insignificant amount of paperwork later, I was in, feeling slightly apprehensive about the prospect of looking after 13 kids, 8 of whom I’d never met.

But it was chaperoning – how hard could it be?

Read more

Final Written Warning

Employers rejoice – the eternal battlefield of employment law has made a small but significant shift in favour of the employer. And it’s in the area of disciplinaries. Some employees are extremely canny when it comes to the disciplinary procedure. They’ll push and push and push until it seems they can push no more, and … Read more

No insurance = no discrimination

No insurance = no discrimination Bit more formal this time, but I felt that it was important to talk about this, having read about employers who had, incorrectly, paid out. Private medical insurance, permanent health insurance (PHI) and life assurance are all insured benefits. This means that it’s the insurance provider who takes the decision … Read more

Squawking about squirrel hair!

Squawking about squirrel hair! I was in London, and my blusher brush had finally died a death after 25 years or so, so I decided to pop over to Selfridges on Oxford Street and grab a new one. (Guys, stick with me here – I’m not asking you for makeup tips!) Now, the last time … Read more

My late Christmas present to you…..

Hope you had a good festive period and you’re feeling well rested? Being back in the office is reminding me of all the things I said I’d do ‘in the new year’, that I have to do now! It’s always the way isn’t it? We’re all masters of procrastination, putting things off until later, because … Read more

AWOL

It seems to be in the air. Employees who either go off sick and then don’t come back, or others that just don’t show up for work one day. Key to dealing with this is to call us immediately you have someone absent and have no information where they are. On the same day ideally. … Read more

Yosemite

I’m “on the road” this month.  And no, I don’t mean driving to Newbury and Basingstoke.  I’m on the road like Jack Kerouac, cruising around America with my kids. I’ve just got to Yosemite, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. If you’ve never been here before, Yosemite is one … Read more

Holidays

Some wise old soul once said: “Take time for quietness and you will free yourself from being influenced by the wrong things” They had a point.  Especially when it comes to the workplace. You see, it’s that time of year again when the employees pour out, slap on their sun tan lotion and head off … Read more

Northern Ireland Comparisons

I was in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago, giving a presentation. Now given that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, you might assume that employment law is the same as it is in Great Britain. You’d be dead wrong. Employment law is different in Northern Ireland.  There are some subtle nuances (and … Read more

Tales of an HR Services Consultant – Day 26: Christmas Decorations are religious discrimination!

Are Christmas decorations religious discrimination? No! Don’t worry, it’s not political correctness gone mad! Religious belief is protected by the Equality Act 2010. It doesn’t stop the display of Christmas decorations in the workplace. In fact, it doesn’t stop any traditional customs under religious discrimination. In any case, the vast majority of Christmas decorations, e.g. … Read more

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 18: Not ugly enough!

Not ugly enough! Conventional wisdom says attractive people are more likely to be hired. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Two Israeli researchers send out CVs with pictures – rated according to attractiveness – for 2,500 different jobs. They found that handsome men were marginally more likely to get an interview, but that … Read more

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 14: Minimum Wage

Doing employees a favour doesn’t always work I was approached by a company to help with a situation that was baffling them. They had employed someone who wasn’t really as experienced as they would have liked, but they liked him and created a job for him. However what they also did was pay him less … Read more

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 8: Autobankruptcy!

Auto-enrolment? No! Auto-bankruptcy! The Government is really serious about auto-enrolment happening and you can tell because they are willing to make companies go bankrupt rather than avoid doing it! Well okay, that isn’t their stated intention, but look at the fines for not doing it. If you thought H&S fines of £20K for infringements were … Read more

Tales of an HR Services Expert – Day 7: He’s pregnant?!

Right to time off for antenatal appointments Under the new shared parental leave it is proposed to allow the husband, civil partner or partner of the pregnant women the right to unpaid time off to attend up to 2 ante-natal appointments. Action: don’t laugh when a man asks for time to go to an antenatal … Read more

Tales of an HR Services expert – Day 2: Recruitment

Don’t do this! Recruit someone you find attractive (apparently most of us do!) Accept their word that they can do something – test them Reject them giving one of the protected characteristics as a reason (unlimited £££ tribunal claim)

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

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 … Read more

The importance of being formal

Many employers don’t like to have formal meetings, i.e. in private, with closed doors, with staff who are not performing. 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. But as this incident that we had to … Read more

The show must go on!

I have had a great summer. It seems like the kids have been off for months! And one of the reasons that it has really felt like a holiday for me is that I have been to London to the theatre four times in the past 4 weeks! That might not seem much to you, … Read more

Discrimination – everybody’s doing it!

We all know that it is the others who are discriminating, we are obviously making rational decisions. However, after reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” on holiday, I am less convinced that it is only the others. So as someone who is in business to make money and not … Read more

Up your game and motivate others to a ‘Triple Win’

Up your game and motivate others to a Triple Win Helen Liddar, business coach, gives us pointers on how to get the most out of our work relationships in the office. In a recent customer survey, a service was ranked ‘average’ for the routine work that it did, and ‘excellent’ whenever an urgent situation arose. … Read more

Women are more expensive than men to employ. Or are they…?

It’s an accepted “fact” of business life – women are more expensive to employ than men. But is it true? Few people like to go on the record about it – largely through fear of getting a knock on the door from politically correct vigilantes, waiting at any opportunity to strike them down for voicing … Read more

Who We Work With