Is Your Staff Handbook Up To Date for 2019/20?

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Sue Ferguson

Is Your Staff Handbook Up To Date for 2019/20?

Every time Employment Law changes, your staff handbook will become more out of date. Changes are made to Employment Law at least twice a year – usually around April and October. If you haven’t checked your Staff Handbook in the last three years, it will be very out of date by now. This means that some of your employee policies could be very out of date and no longer legal.

Why do you need a Staff Handbook?

A Staff Handbook lets you tell your employees about your workplace rules in an efficient, uniform way. Your employees will know what is expected of them and what they can expect of you. A Staff Handbook can provide your company with valuable legal protections, when employees understand the rules of your organisation. It also gives you a good place to collect policies that must be in writing, such as policies on smoking, social media use, or family and medical leave.

How do you keep your Handbook up to date?

To help you bring your Handbook up to date and in line with current legislation, we can review it for you and make recommendations on what needs to be changed. Send us your Staff Handbook as a Word file and we will read through it – confidentially, of course. We will then send you a list of recommended changes that need to be made. The cost for this review is just £250 +VAT.

Once you have our recommendations, you can make the changes yourself. Or we can do them for you – just ask for a quote for bringing your Handbook fully up to date. Call 0118 940 3032 for more details or click here to email your Staff Handbook to us.

Dealing with Bullying or Harassment at Work

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

Recently we looked at the case of one of my clients who had learnt about sexual harassment happening within their company. Click here to see that blog again, or if you missed it. Fortunately that case was successfully resolved, but if ever you need to go to the next stage with such a case, here is how you should deal with it.

Following investigatory meetings, which you must carry out, and assuming that you decide that there is a case to be answered, a formal disciplinary interview should be set up with the person accused of bullying or harassment. This should be done in writing, with your employee being given a full written account of the evidence gathered against them, including the evidence reported by any witnesses. Whether or not it will be appropriate to state the names of any witnesses will depend on the circumstances.

At the same time, the employee should be given notice to attend the interview and informed of their right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official. It is essential to provide the accused employee with all the relevant facts at this stage, so that they have a proper opportunity to defend themselves when the interview takes place.

Ask and Listen

At the interview, you should ask open questions, i.e. those beginning with “what”, “which”, “why”, “how”, “where”, “when” and “who”, in order to get the employee’s side of the story. You should listen carefully to what they have to say, and take on board their explanations and any mitigating factors.

The purpose of the interview will be to establish whether or not there are proper grounds for taking disciplinary action against the employee and, if there are, what level of disciplinary action would be appropriate. This will depend on whether or not, following the interview, you have reasonable grounds for forming a genuine belief that incidents of harassment or bullying did in fact occur.

There is no need for you to have absolute proof of the employee’s ‘guilt’ in order to proceed with disciplinary action or dismissal, as long as you have, following a thorough investigation, formed a genuine and reasonable belief that incidents of bullying or harassment took place.

Deal with it Promptly

Depending on the seriousness of the behaviour, disciplinary action may range from a verbal warning to summary dismissal. In cases of mild harassment, for example a single incident that was based on a misunderstanding, or a series of minor incidents where an employee genuinely did not realise that there were causing offence, a sincere apology, together with an undertaking not to repeat the offending behaviour, may be appropriate.

If the outcome is a formal warning or dismissal, the employee should be granted the right of appeal against that decision, to someone who was not involved in either the investigation or the decision to impose the disciplinary sanction. If a warning is given, it should make it very clear that any further incidents of bullying or harassment of any kind will be viewed very seriously and will lead to further formal disciplinary action.

Both the employee who raised the complaint and the employee accused of bullying or harassment should be given written feedback on the outcome and any actions agreed once the proceedings have been concluded. Full confidential records should be kept of all complaints, all interviews conducted and the outcome of the proceedings.

The main aim of any formal action will be to make sure that the harassment or bullying stops immediately and does not recur. This means that you should treat any report of harassment or bullying seriously and deal with it immediately.

I hope that you never have to deal with a situation like this in your business. However, if you are worried about harassment or bullying – either a case that needs to be dealt with, or how to prevent it from happening – please contact me straight away by calling 0118 940 3032 or by clicking here to email me.

10 Reasons Not to Have Staff!

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

I know this might sound strange coming from an HR Consultant, but do you really need staff? Will they actually help your business to grow, or are they more hassle than they’re worth? This blog takes a tongue in cheek look at why you might actually be better off without them!

Reason One – If you don’t have staff, you know when something has been done, because you’ve done it. You don’t have to keep looking over someone’s shoulder, to see what they’re up to, and annoying and demotivating them in the process.

Reason Two – You don’t have to be worried about being bowled over by someone’s CV, which is possibly full of exaggerations. You don’t have to think about how many white lies they tell you, as they try to sell themselves in an interview. No staff means no need to waste time on recruitment.

Reason Three – Giving a job to a friend or a member of your family is never a good idea. If you don’t have staff, you’ll never have to upset anyone you know by not giving them the job. Just tell them that you don’t need staff and that you’d rather keep them as a great friend, or supportive member of the family. No need to fall out with them!

Reason Four – If you set up and run your own business, staff will never quite see your vision. It will be difficult to get them to see what you want from the businesses. If you don’t have staff, you can just focus on working on your vision yourself, rather than worrying about getting them to understand it.

Reason Five – No annoying processes to follow! Without staff, you don’t need to spend time putting together a Staff Handbook, or processes on everything from holidays, to maternity leave, to what they can say on social media (see Reason number Nine for more on this!)

Reason Six – You don’t have to pay anyone if you don’t have staff – you can keep all the money for yourself! After all, you earned it, so why shouldn’t you keep it all?

Reason Seven – Problems relating to harassment, bullying or stealing can’t rear their ugly heads if you don’t have staff to harass or bully each other (or you) or to steal from your business.

Reason Eight – Want to take a day off just because you feel like it? Want to turn up late for work, or not turn up all? Without staff, you can do it without having to justify your actions to them. And you don’t have to worry about them taking time off sick when really the problem is just a hangover!

Reason Nine – With no staff, you don’t need a social media policy and you don’t have to check what your staff are saying about your business on Twitter. They can’t waste company time on Facebook either, if they don’t work for you.

Reason Ten – There’s no need for an expensive Christmas party! Instead, go out for a meal with some friends, treat your spouse to a night at a nice hotel or go and see your favourite band in concert!

So have I put you off having staff, or taking on any more? If so, please don’t just sack all the staff you have now so you can enjoy the benefits of not having any. You’ll need a proper process for that!

Your Clients vs Your Employees – Whose Side Do You Take?

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

When your important client refuses to have one of your employees back at its office, as the employer, you naturally have to take steps to protect the commercial interests of your company and maintain a good business relationship with your client. At the same time, you have to balance the employment rights of your employee.

What are the legal issues?

If your first response is to dismiss your employee, without taking any steps to find a solution or take account of any injustice to the employee, there will be a substantial risk of a successful unfair dismissal claim. However, the tribunals recognise the difficulties for employers where there is third-party pressure to dismiss, coming from an important client. You must act reasonably before reaching a decision to dismiss.

What’s the nature of the problem?

The first step is for you to find out the reason why the client has objected to your employee, to see if the problem can be resolved. In some instances the reason may be perfectly clear. For example, there may have been an incident of misconduct at the client’s office, or an argument between the employee and senior personnel at the client’s workplace. In other instances it may be less clear: the client might disapprove of a particular working practice, which the employee could be asked to modify or correct to the client’s satisfaction.

Even where the situation is serious, a tribunal is likely to want to know that, as the employer, you have taken steps to resolve the issue. You will therefore need to have a written record of your discussions with your client. If possible, you should also have in writing from the client, their objections to your employee. Even though you may not be in a position to establish the truth of the client’s allegations, and you may not agree with the client’s actions, the commercial pressure may still provide sufficient grounds for a fair dismissal on grounds of some other substantial reason.

What about injustice to your employee?

If your client is adamant that they will have nothing further to do with your employee, you must consider what injustice might be caused to the employee when deciding whether or not to dismiss. Factors to take into consideration would include length of service and how satisfactory that service has been to date.

Alternatives to dismissal should be explored as this will help to address any injustice to the employee. If there has been a conduct issue at the client’s workplace, you will need to follow its disciplinary procedure. Clearly, where gross misconduct is proved within those disciplinary proceedings, you will have conduct as the reason for dismissal and need not rely on some other substantial reason.

Check your employee’s contract

You have more chance of a fair dismissal due to client pressure if the employee has been warned that the client may intervene to have him or her removed. It is not unusual for commercial contracts to include a clause that says that a client may ask a supplier to remove any employee whom the client considers unsuitable. On induction, employees should be informed of the importance of maintaining good working relations with the client and of the client’s right to insist on removal of employees, if it says so in their contract.

So whose side do you take? It will depend on each individual situation, which you must handle carefully, considering all the specific details, before you reach any decision. Listen to both sides of the case and seek to find a solution that suits all the parties – you as the employer, your employee and your client.

The Tricky Situation of Investigating Sexual Harassment

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

Dealing with sexual harassment at work is not something that you have to deal with everyday. Hopefully it is something that you will never have to worry about. However, since one of my clients asked me to investigate allegations of harassment in their business recently, I thought I would write about it here, just in case you ever need to know how to handle it.

My client told me that one of their female members of staff reported a male colleague to her line manager. The two people work closely together, in a small office that is separate from the main business. They spend most of their working hours together, with no one else around. They have worked together for a long time.

As soon as the harassment was reported, I advised my client to ask the female member of staff to provide him with a statement, describing the situation that she believed to be harassment. She listed a large number of conversations, actions and text messages which she believed to be harassment, in great detail, along with the dates and times that they had occurred.

Once he had this, my client then had to carry out a misconduct investigation with the male member of staff. This should always be done by someone who is impartial to the situation and who can see both sides of the case. The manager should remain open minded when looking into the substance of the employee’s complaint. An employee who is being harassed or bullied at work will be upset and the natural emotional reactions caused by bullying or harassment may in some cases lead to exaggeration or distortion of the facts reported. I wrote in detail about how to carry out any staff investigation in this blog earlier this year and all the information is here.

The aim of an investigation is to establish, so far as possible, the facts. Carrying out a full investigation was essential for my client, to help him decide if his female member of staff had made up her allegations, or if there was a case to answer.

So how do you deal with someone who is bullying or harassing a fellow member of staff? We’ll look at that in a future blog. In the meantime, if you are at all worried about possible harassment or bullying amongst your employees, please get in touch now so that we can deal with it promptly. Call us on 0118 940 3032 or click here to email me.

Long-Service Awards – The Best Reward?

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

Many employers use long-service awards to reward staff loyalty and encourage retention according to a recent XpertHR survey. The awards vary from small tokens of appreciation to significant enhancements to the employee’s pay and benefits package. They are particularly common in the manufacturing and production sector, where 81.6% of employers offer them. Many companies have a series of awards at 5, 10 and 15 or more years’ service.

Awards usually take the form of a cash payment or vouchers, although gifts such as champagne, plaques, a hotel stay or flowers are among the ways in which employers show recognition for service. Another approach is to give an additional day of annual leave either for that year only or from that point forward, which can be worth considerably more than the cash awards listed below. Typical key intervals and cash values of long-service awards are as follows:

Awards following one year’s service are rare, but firms often celebrate the occasion with cake. Some employers also mark years two and three of service.
The reward for five years’ service is commonly cash or vouchers. The median cash payment, from an extremely wide range from £10 to £3,500, is around £140.
After 10 years’ service, the range of cash payments is again very wide, with the median payment standing at £200 from a range stretching from £10 to £7,000.
At 15 years, cash payments range in value from £10 to £10,500 with the median at £300. Payments of £300 are also recorded at both the 20 and 25 year mark, although more generous leave entitlement awards are also common at these stages.

Only a small minority of employers make long-service awards at 30, 35, 40 or 50 years’ service.

Staff Discount Schemes

One in three employers offer staff a discount on their internal products or services, particularly in larger firms. Firms typically provide a discount of between 15% and 50%, with the median discount standing at 30%. Reductions to the costs of both goods and various services can have great value for employees while at the same time benefitting the company.

Some companies offer a combination of perks and regular discounts. For example, at one shoe retailer, employees get a free pair of shoes each season and a 50% discount on other purchases. At one law firm, employees receive free legal services up to a point and discounted services thereafter.

First-aid Payments

Around one in four employers pay an annual allowance to staff who train and take on the important role of a first-aider in their workplace. The median payment is £150 a year.

How do you thank your staff for their long term loyalty? If you’d like to talk about the best ways to reward your staff, call us on 0118 940 3032 or click here to email us.

The Latest News on Zero Hours Contracts

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

The Government has banned the right to include an exclusivity clause in Zero Hours contracts. This means that you can’t employ someone on a Zero Hours contract and then try to prevent that person from doing other work, or stop them from working without your consent.

The clause is now illegal, so if any of your employees have this clause in their contract, as their employer, you can no longer enforce it. The ban became legal on 26 May 2015.

Zero Hours contracts, when used correctly, are very effective, e.g. for students during holiday periods or seasonal work. These casual contracts allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work. They mean employees work only when they are needed by employers, often at short notice. Their pay depends on how many hours they work. A Zero Hours contract is generally understood to be a contract between an employer and a worker where the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum working hours, and the worker is not obliged to accept any work offered. Zero hours workers have the same employment rights as regular workers, although they may have breaks in their contracts, which affect rights that accrue over time. They are also entitled to annual leave, the National Minimum Wage and pay for work-related travel in the same way as regular workers.

Zero hours contracts can be used to provide a flexible workforce to meet a temporary or changeable need for staff.

Examples may include a need for workers to cover:

unexpected or last-minute events (e.g. a restaurant needs extra staff to cater for a wedding party whose original venue cancelled)
temporary staff shortages (e.g. an office loses an essential specialist worker for a few weeks due to bereavement)
on-call/bank work (e.g. one of the clients of a care-worker company requires extra care for a short period of time).

If you have staff with Zero Hours contracts and you’re not sure if you have the exclusivity clause in those contracts, contact us on 0118 940 3032 or click here to email us and we’ll talk you through it.

How NOT to Interview Your Next Employee

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

Your business is growing and you’re looking to expand your team and take on a new member of staff. How hard can it be? Once you’ve advertised the position and collected all the CVs from the applicants, all you have to do is carry out a few interviews. But if you’ve never interviewed before, or you’ve had no formal training in how to do it, you need to be careful. These days there are many things that can trip you up during an interview. You can be sued by someone before they even start working for you, so this issue of Working Together looks at what you should not ask in an interview and what you can ask.

The key purpose of an interview is to assess the skills, experience and general background of a candidate, to help you make a decision on whether that person is the best person for the job you’re looking to fill. Interviewing is the most commonly used method of assessing prospective employees and it should be a two way process. An interview should be a forum through which each candidate can obtain information about your business and the job.

Here are some topics you should NOT ask about in interviews:

Marital status or marriage plans
Childcare arrangements
General family commitments or domestic arrangements
Actual or potential pregnancy or maternity leave
Their partner’s occupation and mobility
Any actual or potential absences from work for family reasons.

Employment tribunals take the view that these questions, if asked of a female candidate, indicate an intention to discriminate. Instead, you should ask questions that explore the ability to perform the job and they should be asked of all your candidates.

So what can you ask?

Your questions should check facts about background, test achievement and assess aptitude and potential
Ask specific questions on work experience, qualifications, skills, abilities, ambitions and strengths or weaknesses
Ask open questions, “what”, “which”, “why”, “how”, “where”, “when” and “who”, rather than closed questions
Ask questions that are challenging, but never in a way that may be intimidating
Ask questions that require examples of real situations that the candidate has experienced
Ask factual questions about past experience and behaviour.

Once you have gathered all the information you need, through open questioning, you should be in a good position to make a decision. Make sure your questioning covers work experience, qualifications, skills, abilities, knowledge, ambitions and strengths and weaknesses. Don’t allow gut feeling alone to determine the selection decision, because gut feelings are inevitably influenced by personal attitudes, and may result in unlawful discrimination. Focus on the requirements of the job and the extent to which each applicant’s background matches these.

I recently ran an interviewing skills workshop for one of my clients and some of their staff. If you’d like me to deliver the same thing for you, do get in touch by calling 0118 940 3032 or clicking here.

Are You Allowed to Use an E-Cigarette at Work?

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Sue Ferguson

A smoking ban has been in place in the UK since July 2007, preventing anyone from smoking indoors at work premises and other enclosed spaces. The ban applies to all substances that can be smoked, including cigarettes, herbal cigarettes, cigars and pipes – involving the burning of any substance.

Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes give off a vaporised water-based mist, but do not burn any substances. This means that, strictly speaking, they’re not covered by the smoking ban. The increased use of e-cigarettes has prompted a government debate, and it seems that there are now plans to make it illegal to sell them to under 18s, or to adults on their behalf. With the growing use of e-cigarettes, this could be a good time to re-assess your workplace rules on smoking.

Here we’ll give you our answers to some of the common questions we’re currently being asked.

Do we have to provide a separate area for e-smokers?

Employees who want to stop smoking by using e-cigarettes may complain about having to use the same designated smoking area as those smoking tobacco cigarettes. However, the law does not require you to provide any smoking area for your staff.

If you choose to designate an area for tobacco smokers, as most employers do, you must make sure that it is legally compliant. It can’t be enclosed and the smoke must not be able to enter the rest of the workplace. The same rules do not apply if you decide to provide an area for the use of e-cigarettes. You will just need to consider where you site this area in relation to any smoking area.

One particularly robust option is to prohibit any type of smoking altogether in your workplace.

Non-smokers are complaining about the vapour from e-cigarettes in the office – what should we do?

The law does not stop you from banning the use of e-cigarettes at work. If you want to do this, it is best to have a written policy in place, so that there is no confusion over what is, and what is not, allowed. Any smoke-free policy, whether it extends to e-cigarettes or not, should apply to staff of all levels without exception and even to third parties such as customers, visitors and contractors.

Some of my e-smoking staff have complained that they don’t get as many breaks as tobacco smokers. What should I do?

As an employer, you are not obliged to allow smoking breaks in addition to the usual work-day breaks, and there is increasing evidence that they disrupt productivity and hinder performance.

If this is a problem for your business, you might wish to implement a policy that prohibits additional smoking breaks during the working day. This means that employees can only use e-cigarettes or smoke during their usual breaks and outside working hours. Some employers ask e-smokers and smokers to make up any time spent on additional breaks during work hours, but the success of this very much depends on the workplace environment, industry and culture.

If you would like to implement a policy for dealing with e-cigarettes in your business, get in touch and we’ll talk about how to build it into your employment contracts. Call us on 0118 940 3032 or email sueferguson@optionshr.co.uk.

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