As a business owner and employer, you have a number of HR responsibilities with which you are under a legal duty to comply. Our HR consultancy services are designed to ensure our clients fulfil their HR responsibilities and avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of an employee making an employment tribunal claim against them.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or Click Here to Make An Enquiry and we will be delighted to help you.
What Are Your HR Responsibilities?
An employer’s HR responsibilities are vast. They are intended to ensure that all employees are provided with a safe place to work, paid fairly, and treated with respect and dignity.
Some of an employer’s HR responsibilities are detailed in the Code of Practice developed by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, better known as ‘ACAS’. The ACAS Code of Practice details what are considered to be fair standards of behaviour that employers should follow when dealing with HR issues. The Code covers five core employment practice areas, namely, disclosure of information to trade unions, discipline and grievance, settlement agreements, time off for trade unions, and requests to work flexibly.
Just a few examples of an employer’s HR responsibilities as detailed in the ACAS Code of Practice are as follows:
• Managing Redundancies Fairly
Unfortunately, making redundancies is sometimes unavoidable to safeguard the continued success of your organisation. Your HR responsibilities when managing redundancies depend on the number of staff members affected by your proposals.
In all redundancy situations, you should consult with the affected employees. Your consultation should cover a few key issues, including why the redundancies might be needed, how you propose making the redundancies, and whether there is anything you could do to avoid making redundancies or to reduce the number of staff members you need to make redundant.
When 20 or more staff members are affected, you must hold a ‘collective consultation’. In brief, ‘collective consultation’ involves consulting with a trade union or elected employee representatives about your proposals. Failing to collectively consult in situations when you should exposes you to a tribunal claim.
• Managing Disciplinaries Fairly
Disciplinaries are a way for employers to address issues relating to an employee’s misconduct or capability. It is essential that you follow a fair procedure when handling disciplinaries. If you fail to do so, an affected employee may have cause to bring a tribunal claim against you for unfair or wrongful dismissal.
According to the ACAS Code of Practice, a fair procedure in the context of disciplinary action involves, in brief, informing the employee of the issue in writing, investigating the matter, holding a disciplinary meeting with the employee, deciding on the outcome in light of your findings, what is fair and reasonable, and the outcome of previous similar cases, and offering the employee a right of appeal.
• Considering Requests For Flexible Working Fairly
Anyone who is legally classed as an employee has a statutory right to request flexible working. Flexible working comes in a number of different guises, including part-time hours, remote working, job sharing, hybrid working, compressed hours, and staggered hours.
If one of your employees makes a flexible working request, you are legally obliged to accept the request unless you have a genuine business reason for not doing so. Examples of genuine business reasons include the burden of additional costs, the potential for the arrangement to have a detrimental effect on the employee’s quality or performance, and your inability to reorganise work among other staff members.
If you do not accept the request outright, you must consult with the employee on the issue. During the consultation, you should discuss whether some of the benefits the employee hopes to gain might be gleaned by an alternative arrangement. You might also discuss the possibility of a trial period to assess how the arrangement works in practice.
You should make your decision about the employee’s flexible working request (including any appeal) within two months. If you decide to reject the request, you should explain your business reason for doing so in writing.
Crucially, you must not treat an employee any differently for having made a flexible working request.
How Can You Ensure You Fulfil Your HR Responsibilities?
Fulfilling your HR responsibilities requires a comprehensive understanding of employment law and HR practice, which few small businesses possess in-house. At GAP HR, we fill the gap by providing pragmatic HR support to small businesses around the UK.
Our flexible, affordable monthly packages provide the support and guidance you need to understand and fulfil your HR responsibilities. If an issue arises, our expert HR consultants are your go-to advisors for addressing it swiftly and fairly.
Call us now on 01491 598 600 or Click Here to Make An Enquiry and we will be delighted to help you.
