How thorough is your recruitment process? Here are our top tips:

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

Step 1 Preparation:

The key is to put together a comprehensive Job analysis, job description and personality specification – why is the role needed what skills, knowledge and experience does your new employee need to have? In addition, conduct salary benchmarking, in the market and internally, to ensure you are attracting the right caliber of candidate.

Step 2: Attracting and selecting the right candidate:

There are many tools at your disposal in this regard – advertising, social media, word of mouth, recruitment agencies, websites, job centre etc. Select the right one/combination to ensure you reach your target audience. Once you have collected CV’s use these to put together a shortlist for interview, this will give a you full picture of the individual and whether or not they are a match for your organisation and the role you are recruiting for. Additionally, you can utilise tools such as psychometric testing and practical exercises to see how the individual performs outside of the formal interview process. Once you have selected the right candidate make them an offer in writing.

Step 3: Legal Compliance

Once you have selected the best candidate for the role there are certain legal requirements you must undertake including discrimination profiling, a medical questionnaire, eligibility to work in the UK and proof of adequate references. In addition dependent on the role you are recruiting for you may also need to ensure you are paying minimum wage, conduct a CRB check and gather the required documentation to confirm that the candidate is eligible to work in the UK.

For more information on how to get the most out of your recruitment process please contact me at sueferguson@optionshr.co.uk . The Options HR team have a vast amount of experience in:

Personality profiling
Helping you to shortlist and interview candidates
Guiding you through the selection process
Preparing, reviewing and amending offer letters and contracts of employment
Developing induction procedures.

Capability vs Disciplinary – Case Study 2 – Suggestions to Combat Underperformance

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

Last week we introduced you to Karen, she has been underperforming for the last eight years with your company. She is unsociable, intimidating, rude and fails to take responsibility for her actions. This has led to numerous complaints from her peers, supervisors and managers, with one colleague threatening to resign as a result of Karen’s behaviour.

What action should you take to deal with Karen? What procedures should you invoke? Here are a few suggestions:

Conduct an informal interview with Karen in the first instance with the aim of getting to the root of the problem. Ask her to explain why she is behaving the way she is – what are the underlying problems from her point of view
Gather evidence from other people – her colleagues, supervisors and managers. In particular talk to the person that has threatened to leave, find out what has been going on and persuade them to stay by reassuring them that you are dealing with the problem
Get input from your HR department and consultants. It can be very valuable to get input from someone who can look at the overall situation and be impartial. The line manager cannot do the investigation and decision making
Don’t let it go on too long – Karen’s manager may need help with performance reviews / dealing with staff issues
If all else fails invoke a formal disciplinary procedure including informal and written warning and dismissal if appropriate.

Capability vs Disciplinary – Case Study 2

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

This week we are bringing you another capability vs. disciplinary case study. Meet Karen!

Karen has been working for your company for eight years and during this time has failed to be a team player which has had a marked effect on both her performance and those working with her. The underlying problem with Karen’s performance is the way in which she interacts with her peers:

Karen will often refuse to speak to her colleagues
Karen fails to take responsibility for her actions and blames her colleagues for problems that she has caused herself
Karen has been known to have threatened and intimidated a number of her colleagues
Karen has singled out one member of staff in particular for not particular reason

Over the eight years you have built up quite a thick file on Karen including complaints from peers, supervisors and managers. Recently you have received two complaints from managers in relation to Karen’s attitude to other members of staff and the upset she has been causing. In addition you have received an email from one of Karen’s colleagues which concludes by saying -…I can’t work with Karen any longer, her petty behaviour is making my work life unbearable, I am going to have to leave?.

What action should you take in this case? What procedures should you invoke? Tune in next week for the answers…

Understanding Capability and Conduct

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

Having clear expectations of employee performance and managing these on a daily basis are critical success factors for every business. A high performing business knows which employees are delivering and which are failing but addressing issues of underperformance is no easy task.

It can be difficult to establish if poor performance is due to inherent incapability or misconduct.

Capability refers to an employee’s skills, ability, aptitude and knowledge in relation to the job that he or she is employed to do. The key feature of lack of capability is that it is not the employee’s fault. Very few employees choose to perform their work badly, make mistakes, fail to complete tasks or have poor relationships with colleagues or customers.

Misconduct refers to any behaviour that falls below that of the standard required by your business or behaviour which fundamentally breaches a contract of employment such as fraud, theft, damage of company property, harassment or bullying. There is no legal definition of misconduct, it is very much dependant on the type of business you operate, the nature of work undertaken by your employees and the risks to your business.

A lack of capability exists where no matter how hard an employee tries, he or she is simply unable to perform the job to the standard required by the employer. If an employee fails to come up to the required standard as a result of his or her own carelessness, negligence or idleness, this will not constitute incapability, but could be regarded as misconduct.

One of the key distinctions between capability and conduct is that lack of capability will usually be outside the employee’s direct control, while the same employee obviously will have control over his or her conduct at work.

To find out more about managing capability and conduct issues and the ways in which these can be dealt with to ensure that employees are treated fairly and reasonably whilst preserving the interests of your business read the latest copy of our Working Together newsletter.

Dealing with Disciplinary and Capability Issues

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

It is a mistake to think that performance problems, whether they be capability or disciplinary in nature, will simply go away or sort themselves out.

Issues such as sickness absence, poor attitudes/behavior, failure to meet objectives and poor general standards of work must be dealt with appropriately and effectively as soon as they occur.

In most instances and informal chat may be enough to solve the problem but if not then you have laid the groundwork for the formal disciplinary process to begin.

What to consider when planning your approach:

Do you want to conduct an initial informal chat or start with a more formal meeting? Is the employee entitled to be accompanied by a representative at the meeting?
What is an appropriate review/warning period?
If dismissal is a possible end result, are there any alternative work options available to the employee?
What acts of poor performance are serious enough to instigate a dismissal procedure?
If the issue involves bad attitude/behaviour ? is this a capability or conduct issue? What are the differences in approach to handling these issues?
What are the legal requirements of a disciplinary procedure? Informal and formal meetings, formal and informal warnings, right to respond, opportunities to improve etc.

On Thursday 21^st June we will be holding a workshop covering the practical aspects of carrying out a capability or disciplinary procedure. We’ll look at what the differences are between capability and disciplinary and how you can handle them with confidence and success.

The workshop will be held at the Hennerton Golf Club from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Please contact Sue for further details or to book your place.

Key steps to great recruitment

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

Recruiting the right people and retaining them for the long term is the goal for every business, big or small, no matter what sector of industry you operate in. If you recruit the wrong people you could pay the price not only in terms of business success but also in costly and often difficult employment disputes. So ask yourself “How thorough is our recruitment process?”

Here are some key steps to great recruitment that can help:

Preparation, Preparation, Preparation. Conduct a job analysis to establish what roles you need to fill. Put together a job description detailing exactly what each candidate needs to be able to do in conjunction with a person specification listing both essential and desirable attributes. Finally, ensure you benchmark the salary for each role correctly, both in terms of the market and internally to ensure you attract the right calibre of individual.
Attracting the Right Candidate. There are many options available to you including advertising (internally and externally), word of mouth, web, agencies and head hunters, job centres, graduate programmes, review of previous applicants etc. Ensure you are using the right method or combination of methods for each job and for the specification of candidate you wish to attract.
CV vs Application form. Both are great tools for ensuring you select the right candidates for interview but both only paint part of the picture. A CV tells you what the individual wishes you to know, but an application form asks information you wish to know. Use them in combination to get the most out of your early selection process.
Selection Process. Once you have narrowed down your candidates there are a number of further activities you can undertake to ensure you choose the right one, these include psychometric testing, and practical exercises to identify key skills sets and personality traits
Legal Compliance. Once you have selected the right person you must ensure you are meeting your legal requirements before any offer of a job can be made. As a guide you must pay attention to discrimination, medical needs, references, eligibility to work in the UK and data protection
Making the Offer. You have ticked all the boxes, dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s and now you are in a position to make an offer. Ensure that any offer in subject to satisfactory completion of the following: reference, CRB checks, medical screening, right to work in UK confirmation and completion of a suitable probationary period.

Happy recruiting!!

Unfair Dismissal ? the latest legal developments

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

On 6^th April a simple but highly controversial change in unfair dismissal law came into force. From this date, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal went up from one year to two years, meaning that until an employee has completed a continuous period of two years in their employment they will not be able to bring a case of unfair dismissal.

However, it is important also to note that this only applies to employees whose contracts commenced on or after 6 April 2012. Anyone employed before that date will qualify for unfair dismissal after a single year of continuous service.

Please update your disciplinary and grievance procedures to reflect these changes.

Top Tips for Conducting a Successful Appraisal

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

Performance appraisals are a fundamental part good performance management. It is important for the success of your business that your employees feel appreciated and that they are progressing in their careers. Likewise, it is important that any issues with performance are managed effectively with the aim of eliminating any long term problem.

Always ensure the conversation is free flowing with views expressed by both parties
Ask open and probing questions
Don’t interrupt or inhibit the flow of conversation
Pay attention to non-verbal communication such as body language
Evaluate performance, not personality
Give feedback based on facts not subjective opinion
Positively reinforce the good
In the case of underperformance discuss corrective action
Tailor your approach to each individual
Be prepared to handle negative or defensive reactions
Set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely objectives
Give deadlines/timelines for improvement
Consider potential development opportunities
Empower employees to come up with solutions for themselves
Document each appraisal whilst it is fresh in your mind.

How to Handle Disciplinary Issues and Help Employees Improve Their Performance

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Sue Ferguson

It is important to handle any disciplinary situation quickly, fairly and appropriately. Small businesses often find it easier to deal with an incidence of misconduct informally particularly when the issue is minor in nature. Hold an informal meeting to ensure that the employee understands why their behaviour has been deemed unsatisfactory and seek agreement/agree steps to ensure that the behaviour does not continue or recur.

If informal warnings have not produced the desired result and the unsatisfactory behaviour continues, the next step is to arrange an investigation by an impartial Manager. An investigation should include review of HR records and any previous warnings/issues that may have occurred, talking to other Managers with knowledge of the misconduct and interviewing any witnesses.

Should the investigation indicate that there is a disciplinary case to answer then you will need to invoke a formal disciplinary procedure. Most companies operate a 3-stage process: (1) written warning, (2) final written warning, (3) Dismissal. There is no legal obligation to start at the beginning of the procedure. The type of warning issued will depend on the seriousness of the offence.

In the event of an act of gross misconduct, i.e. an act of such a serious nature that it fundamentally breaches the contractual relationship between employer and employee then you have the right to dismiss the employee immediately without notice or pay in lieu of notice.

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