The predictions were right, and the polls were fairly accurate – we’ve woken up to a Labour government.
Understandably, you might be wondering what this means for your organisation—whether there will be any big changes in the world of employment law and whether you’ll need to do anything differently.
First thing to say here is don’t panic about any changes you read or hear about – they will not happen overnight. Laws take time to be changed, and you’ll have enough notice to change your staff strategy if that’s required.
(And as we all know, just because something was in a manifesto, it does not mean that it will be implemented in the form promised, or at all.)
What you can rely on is that there will be a push to improve protection for workers as detailed in the “New Deal for Working People” that Labour launched in April – effectively, Labour want to bring in further protections for employees, including:
- “Deliver a genuine living wage” – the minimum wage will take into account the cost of living, be the same for all adults, and Labour says they’ll properly enforce it to ensure that it’s paid
- “Make work secure” – Labour want to make flexible working the default from day one
- Update and modernise trade union legislation
- “Ban exploitative zero-hour contracts” – everyone will have the right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work
- “End fire and rehire”, stopping the practise of sacking and then re-employing people in order to make contractual changes
All of the above is lifted straight out of the actual Labour document, so don’t shoot the messenger.
Instead, remember that none of this has happened yet, and some of it might not happen.
Whether it does or not is almost immaterial.
Because what matters is how you respond – that’s the only thing you can control.
Your success or failure is not going to be down to which party is in charge, but what YOU do.
Harnessed correctly, I believe that these changes could be positive for business, and could result in stickier, more loyal and more effective employees.
Whether that happens or not is down to you.
We’ll be here every step of the way, helping our clients stay compliant and abiding by any new legislation while also building their businesses in their image.
And if it’s time we had a chat, just book a call with me now.
