Category Archives: Entitlement

How Will Changes to Flexible Working Affect Your Business?

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How Will Changes to Flexible Working Affect Your Business?

In November 2012, the Government published its consultation on modern workplaces and said that from 2014 it would extend the right to request flexible working to all employees. This will have a huge impact on some businesses; do you know how it will affect yours? Do you know how to implement the changes so that you stay on the right side of the law?

Flexible working is seen as a benefit to many people, allowing them to achieve a better work-life balance. For many, this actually makes them more productive at work. Many small businesses have allowed flexible working as it helps them recruit good staff. However, for some businesses, the changes could have different effects. If you don’t fully understand how to use flexible working, your business or your employees could suffer.

The right to request flexible working is currently restricted to parents of children under the age of 17 and carers. This will be extended to all employees from 30 June 2014. It will:

  • remove the requirement for the employee to be a carer to qualify for the right to make a request
  • place a duty on employers to deal with requests in a reasonable manner
  • require you to notify the employee of your decision within three months of the application, or longer if this is agreed with the employee.

The provisions that implement the new rights will get rid of the statutory procedure for considering flexible working requests and replace this with a requirement to “deal with the application in a reasonable manner.”

The 26 week qualifying period for employees to make a request for flexible working will be retained and an employee can still only make one flexible working request in any 12 month period.

Acas has published some guidelines which say that as an employer, you should do the following:

  • Arrange to talk to your employee as soon as possible after receiving his or her written request (unless the intention is to approve the request)
  • Allow your employee to be accompanied by a work colleague at any discussion
  • Discuss you employee’s request with him or her, where possible in private
  • Consider requests “carefully looking at the benefits of the requested changes in working conditions for the employee and the business and weighing these against any adverse business impact of implementing the changes.”
  • Inform your employee of the decision, in writing as soon as possible
  • If your employee’s request is granted, or granted with modifications, discuss with them how and when the changes might best be implemented
  • If your employee’s request is rejected, ensure that the rejection is for one of the business reasons permitted by legislation and allow the employee to appeal it
  • Consider and decide on all requests, including any appeals, within a period of three months from initial receipt, unless an extension is agreed with you employee.

This means that you can’t just deny a request for flexible working because you don’t understand it, or think it will have a negative impact on your business! Acas has produced a guide that provides good practice advice for employers, which you can download by clicking here.

(HR) Human Resources for Small Businesses

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When you run a small business, taking on and managing staff can be one of the hardest things to get your head around. Here are a few of the basics that you need to get right.

Employment contracts – This is the most important HR document you’ll have in your business. You’re legally obliged to provide every employee with a written statement of the terms and conditions of their employment within two months of them starting with you.

National Minimum Wage – Almost all workers in the UK aged 16 or over are legally entitled to be paid a minimum hourly amount. The rate is reviewed every year and usually increases in October. Click here for the current rates.

Holidays – All employees are entitled to a minimum amount of time off per year. For full time employees the maximum is 28 days. You can work out your employee’s holiday entitlement by clicking here. Some companies like to give their staff an extra day off on their birthday, if it falls on a working day.

Pensions – Since July 2012 changes have been brought in. Every business will have to provide eligible employees with a qualifying pension scheme and make minimum levels of contributions into it. Talk to pension providers to find out when you need to set up your scheme.

Statutory Sick Pay – When an employee is absent from work due to sickness for more than three continuous working days, they become entitled by law to receive Statutory Sick Pay.

Discipline and Grievance Process – When dealing with disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace, you should follow the Acas Code of Practice.

Dismissal Procedure and Tribunals – Dismissing an employee is fraught with risk for employers, so you should make sure that you follow the correct procedure and take advice.

These are just a few of the things you need to know. It’s best to deal with issues before they become big problems, so if you need any more advice, please do get in touch.

More Changes to Employment Law – What You Need to Know

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Throughout the year changes are made to employment law. To help keep you up to date, here are some of the more recent changes.

The Right to be Accompanied. Employees have the right to be accompanied at a disciplinary meeting, where they make a reasonable request. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances of each individual case. However, it would not normally be reasonable for workers to insist on being accompanied by a companion whose presence would prejudice the hearing. Nor would it be reasonable for a worker to ask to be accompanied by a companion from a remote geographical location if someone suitable and willing was available on site.

The Acas code is to be amended to “Employees have an absolute right to choose a companion for a grievance meeting.” Click here to visit the Acas website for more information.

Employee Shareholders. From September 2013 employees can become shareholders if both they and the employer agree all the aspects. Employees can receive £2000 worth of shares and in return, give up rights to claim unfair dismissal, a statutory redundancy payment, a statutory right to request flexible working and a statutory request for study or training. They must also give more than usual notice of return from maternity leave. Click here to find out more.

Pensions Auto Enrolment. From April 2014, depending on the size of your business, you will have to provide a workplace pension for your staff. To do this you need to know your ‘staging date’ and make sure you have information on all your employees. Check your payroll system can cope and that you have enough administration support. To find out who will be included and excluded and when you have to set up company pension, take a look at the Gov.UK website.

In April or May 2014 I’ll be running another Employment Law Update workshop. Keep an eye on this blog and the website for the date and online booking.

Scrooge’s Guide to Presents

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In case you missed my December email newsletter, here’s a catch up for you!

The start of a new year is the time when some businesses think about how best to reward their staff for their hard work over the last 12 months. Instead of a one-off ‘thank you’, what about putting a more ongoing, sustainable rewards scheme in place?

Here’s the story of how one Dickensian employer got it right!

Ebenezer Scrooge loved Christmas! He really enjoyed giving his staff time off, to spend with their families over Christmas. He encouraged them to go Christmas shopping and to send cards to all their friends.

Mr Scrooge even loved giving presents to his staff. But he often struggled to find the best gift for each person. So one year, had a great idea. Instead of buying each member of his team a gift at Christmas, Mr Scrooge decided to set up a reward system for all his staff, which would run all through the year, rewarding them on an ongoing basis for their hard work.

Here’s what Ebenezer Scrooge did to create the best Christmas present that lasts for 12 months:

  1. He put a structure in place – just a simple one to begin with
  2. He took the time to identify the things that were really important to his staff – including non-financial benefits – and incorporated them into his strategy
  3. He invested in making his company an interesting and fulfilling place to work. This helped him to attract great people and helped keep overall pay costs down
  4. He created a scheme that was simple to understand, so that his line managers didn’t struggle to explain it. They were key to making his reward structure a success
  5. He didn’t assume that it was just about pay. According to research that Mr Scrooge read, some executives would consider a pay cut of up to 35% in order to get their ideal job.
  6. Then he reviewed the scheme and the effect it had on his staff throughout the year, to make sure he was still getting it right
  7. And finally he enjoyed spreading Christmas cheer amongst his staff all year long and they loved working for him!

 

Think about how you can engage your staff beyond Christmas by setting up a reward scheme this year.

Legal Updates? What You Need to Know Now

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In November 2013 I ran a workshop to share some of the more recent employment law updates. Here are the details of just three of the issues we covered and what you need to know.

Flexible working. At present, parents and carers with at least 26 weeks employment can make one request for flexible working in 12 months and a statutory procedure applies to considering the request. From Spring 2014, all employees with at least 26 weeks continuous employment can make one request for flexible working in 12 months. Requests must be considered in a reasonable manner and within a reasonable period.

ACAS has produced a draft code for you to follow, when considering flexible working requests, which says:

  • Talk to your employee as soon as possible
  • Discuss the request in private but allow your employee to be accompanied
  • Approach requests from the presumption that they will be granted unless there is a business reason for not doing so
  • Inform your employee of your decision in writing as soon as possible
  • If your employee’s request is granted, or granted with modifications, discuss with them how and when the changes might best be implemented
  • If your employee’s request is rejected, ensure that the rejection is for one of the business reasons permitted by legislation and allow the employee to appeal it
  • Consider and decide on all requests, including any appeals, within a period of three months from initial receipt, unless an extension is agreed with the employee.

Shared parental leave. The law currently says that mothers can take 52 weeks maternity leave (39 paid weeks and 13 unpaid weeks) and that fathers or partners can take 2 weeks ordinary paternity leave, with the right to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave. From Spring 2015 you will need to consider shared paternity leave. This gives new parents the possibility of sharing the untaken balance of maternity leave and receiving pay for ‘flexible parental leave’. This is where parents can share 50 weeks leave and the 37 weeks pay due to the mother. Flexible parental leave can be taken in one week blocks interspersed with work and parents can take leave at the same time.

Unpaid parental leave. Currently, an employee with one year’s service and a child under 5 can take 18 weeks unpaid parental leave. This applies to each child and to each parent, with a maximum of 4 weeks unpaid leave allowed in any year. From 2015, the age of the child will increase from 5 to 18 years.

Does all this sound too confusing? If it does or you’re worried about how any of these changes will affect your business, please do get in touch and we can talk about it.

I’ll be running another employment law update in May 2014, after the next round of changes happen in April next year. Keep an eye on this blog for the date and details.

Zero Hour Contracts – What Do You Need to Know about Them?

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Some companies, especially those in retail, have a huge spike in labour needs in November and December. What are the options for dealing with this?

Here are the most common ways of coping with seasonal labour requirements.

Agency workers – where an employment agency deals with the administration involved in fluctuating workforce needs. You can pay the agency for these services, but it can be a cost- and time-effective solution.

Traditional fixed-term contracts – these are not quite as flexible as the other options, but short-notice provisions are often inserted into the contracts.

Zero hours contracts – as the employer you are under no obligation to offer work and (generally, although not always) your employee is under no obligation to accept any work offered. This provides both parties with greater flexibility.

Increased overtime (including weekend work) – the viability of this option depends on how much more labour is needed.

There has been a lot of negative publicity surrounding the use of zero hours contracts. Are they even legal?

Many zero hours contracts do not give workers full employment rights. It is difficult to construe an employment relationship when neither party has to provide and/or undertake work. Seasonal working is a good example of when zero hours contracts can be used effectively. Fluctuations within the busy period mean that the employer may require the flexibility that only zero hours contracts provide (if recruiting direct). Recent bad press surrounding zero hours contracts relates mainly to large organisations using them for their core workforce. While not unlawful, there is a growing belief that having core workforces working zero hours contracts is an attempt to short-circuit employment rights legislation.

One of my employees is underperforming. How long do I give them as a review period?

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The answer to this question is that there’s no statutory time frame for improvements for underperformance.

Timescales for an employee’s improvement must be reasonable and will depend on the circumstances, including the employee’s role and position within your company and his or her length of service and past performance. In some cases, a review period of a few weeks may be sufficient – for tasks that are carried out every day, or for performance that can be seen every day, such as starting work on time. In others cases, a review period of several months may be more appropriate, for longer term activities such as sales.

When you agree to provide your employee with additional training or support, this will need to take place before their performance can sensibly be measured again. You should make sure that you monitor your employee’s performance during the relevant review period. The period should be long enough to allow you to assess whether or not your employee has made and sustained the necessary improvements.

The answer to this question will also be different for each different situation. If you have a member of staff whose performance needs to be reviewed, get in touch and we can talk about the situation, to help you work out the best way forward.

You can also find out more by watching one of my recent videos, by clicking here.

Question: Christmas is coming – Are Employees Who Work on Bank Holidays Entitled To Pay in Lieu or Additional Holidays?

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Answer: This depends on the overall holiday entitlement and the terms of the employment contract. If the entitlement is the statutory minimum (which is 28 days including Bank Holidays) and an employee works on a Bank Holiday, they must have a day off in lieu so that the total paid leave stays at 28 days per year. This is for employees who work five days per week.

What about pay? If an employee is entitled to the day off on a Bank Holiday, then they will be entitled to their normal rate of pay for this, in the same way as they would for any other holiday. Contrary to popular belief, for those working on a Bank Holiday, there is no entitlement to extra pay, unless the terms of the person?s contract state otherwise. However, if employees are normally paid extra for working a Bank Holiday that should apply when additional public holiday days are announced too.

How about part-time employees?

Your obligation to part-time workers is governed by the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favorable Treatment) Regulations 2000. This means that part-time workers are entitled to the same holidays as comparable full-time workers, but on a pro rata basis.

You must make sure that a part-time employee receives his or her pro rated entitlement if bank holidays are included in the employee’s statutory minimum holiday entitlement, or if you grant holiday that exceeds the statutory minimum to your full-time workers.

Because most bank holidays fall on a Monday or Friday, part-time employees who do not work on these days could be entitled to proportionately fewer days off compared with full-time employees.

To avoid a complaint of less favorable many employers provide part-time employees with a pro rated bank holiday entitlement. Te best option is to calculate pro rated bank holiday entitlement according to the number of hours that the part-time employee works, irrespective of whether or not he or she works on the days on which bank holidays fall.

We’re building up a bank of answers to questions we’re frequently asked. Click here to see the questions and answers on our website. If you have a question that you’d like us to answer, email us or give us a call in confidence.