Sustainability or Stability for growth?

Recently, whenever I’ve spoken to Business Owners, it would seem there has been a general increase in business confidence; indeed, the vast majority of our clients are really busy, which is great news.

This got me thinking, when I was out walking the dog on Sunday afternoon, how for the past five years or so businesses have been concentrating on survival, but now need to shift their thinking again. 
 
When the recession hit the UK it took out businesses both large and small, and over the past few years there has been a steady trickle of casualties to recession; you don’t need me to remind you!

Business owners had to change their way of thinking in order to survive.  For many, long term plans became a thing of the past, and all efforts were concentrated on short term survival, or ‘sustainability’.  In HR terms, this meant restructuring, reducing terms and conditions, redundancies.  It also meant changing the culture of organisations and the way they do things, and encouraging staff to work more flexibly; hence the rise of zero hour contracts.

However, my thought is this; with the economy now showing signs of increasing improvement, business confidence is clearly on its way up.  This means there needs to be a further shift in thinking and planning; for the past five years we’ve been concentrating on surviving the worst recession in decades, but now is the time to stabilise our businesses and make long term plans for growth. 

We have already seen this start to happen.  There are potential new opportunities on the horizon, and businesses need to differentiate themselves from their competitors more than ever to stand out from the crowd.  From the HR perspective, Companies are starting to look at performance more closely, with a view to improving or adding to skills and competence levels (which in themselves are changing and becoming more customer focussed), designing and implementing fit for purpose appraisal systems and measuring output.  The reason for this? Performance intelligence.  If you know where the starting blocks are, you can build on these which will in turn support business growth. 

So, back to my thought; sustainability or stability for growth.  Sustainability is about ‘levelling off’ or ‘survival’, while stability for growth is about getting your house in order, on all fronts, so you are ready for implementing your plan for growth.   Therefore business owners/leaders need to shift their thinking or their approach to their business if they are going to stabilise and grow in the future.
 
And all this from an hour’s walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Which Contract?

It would be hard to ignore the recent hype regarding zero hours contracts and their use in the workplace, with a large interest in the way Sports Direct have been managing their staff contracts. The issue isn't going to go away easily, with it being a primary discussion point with Unions, and all political parties. 

Zero hours contracts are a useful way of setting on employees when you are either unsure about the amount of work being available, or where there are seasonal or project related adjustments in the amount of work available.

A zero hours contract means that although the person has gained employment, there is no guarantee regarding the number of hours they are required to work, although they are expected to be available to carry out that work when required. It is worth remembering that once someone has a contract of employment with you, they are employed by you; therefore they should receive the same benefits, terms and conditions as if they were working full time or part time etc, but on a pro rata basis. This means they can accrue holiday pay, and they are also accruing length of service.

Used in the right way, zero hours contracts give both the employee and employer a greater level of flexibility they wouldn't normally have on a standard contract, which is incredibly important to businesses that are trying to expand, or to supply increased demand when it is uncertain how long increased demand will last.  Although reports on the UK economy are positive, we all know the economy is still fragile and confidence in some areas still low.  Zero hours contracts work for some, but maybe not for others so it is about personal circumstance and whether this type of contract is suited to both parties.

There are other types of contract, if there is a requirement to move away from the standard full or part time contracts, that employers should also consider as an alternative:

• Annualised hours contracts; where the agreement is that an employee works X number of hours during the course of a 12 month period
• Flexible hours contracts; where the agreement is that an employee works X number of hours per week/month but these may not be carried out on the same days/weeks each week/month.
• Minimum hours contracts; where the agreement is that an employee works a minimum of X number of hours per week but may also have opportunity to work longer hours

In all the above contracts, including zero hours contracts, it is possible to stipulate the maximum number of hours you would require someone to work per week/month. You can also set out in the contract how other terms and conditions such as holiday entitlement will be calculated; for example, holiday can be accrued per hour worked, or calculated in blocks based on the average working hours during the preceding 12 weeks. 

To completely outlaw the use of zero hours contracts could have a huge impact on organisations’ ability to meet fluctuations in demand, and therefore stifle growth in some industries.  However, employers do need to be educated as to the appropriateness of their use in workplace and whether they are relevant to their specific circumstance.  Legislation that targets a particular type of employment contract would, in our view, be disastrous for the small business as it further removes flexibility, which is often an absolute necessity if businesses are to flourish. 

HR Training Workshop

A little about us
We have provided strategic and operational HR Management solutions to small and medium sized businesses for just over a decade. Having expanded our workforce and currently celebrating our 10th anniversary, we are proud of our success. We understand the difficulties that most businesses face when managing people, so, we are confident that our resources, experience and knowledge will meet your needs for HR support.

Are you a business owner or a line manager?

If so, HR Response Ltd are hosting six training workshops addressing important elements of managing employees. To see in more depth what is covered on each training program please click here and watch our video.

What to expect
Our training workshops take you through processes step-by-step looking at what makes good practice. The workshops are supported by case studies and interaction to identify a suitable outcome for each area. Lunch, and refreshments throughout the day are included in the cost. You will also be given a resource pack to take away, so that you can refer back to the details after the training.

How to Manage Absence – Wednesday 11th September   

How to Manage Performance – Wednesday 2nd October
How to Manage Disciplinary Matters – Wednesday 23rd October
How to Manage Workplace Grievances – Wednesday 13th November
How to Manage Recruitment - Wednesday 27th November

How to Manage Poor Performance – Wednesday 11th December

Fees:
Each workshop costs £75 + VAT, to be invoiced on booking
OR
Book all 6 workshops for just £405 + VAT with a 10% saving. 

For more information or to book your place, please contact;
Email: charlotte@hrresponse.co.uk   Tel: 0115 9728708           

Law Update

We hope you have been enjoying the hot summer. Summer has also been a particularly hot time for us HR professionals keeping ourselves up to date with a number of key employment legislation changes which you can find in the summaries below;

 

Compromise Agreements change to Settlement Agreements
Under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, (ERRA), Compromise Agreements changed their name to Settlement Agreements effective 29th July 2013.

The main difference that previously there had to be a dispute between the employer and employee, this will no longer apply and parties may initiate, offer and discuss a Settlement Agreement even without a dispute arising.

ACAS have issued an accompanying code of practice for use of future Settlement Agreements. When offering a Settlement Agreement to an employee, they must be given a minimum of 10 calendar days to consider the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed with the employer. Settlement Agreements will not be disclosable in employment tribunals unless improper behaviour has taken place, i.e. harassment, discrimination or victimisation.

Changes to Whistleblowing Legislation
Effective 25th June 2013, a disclosure under the Whistleblowing legislation will not be protected unless it is, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, "in the public interest". Accordingly, an employee who "blows the whistle" about breaches to his or her own employment contract will not normally be protected. The requirement that a protected disclosure must be made in good faith is removed from the same date. However, if it appears to an employment tribunal that a protected disclosure was not made in good faith, the tribunal may reduce a worker's compensation by up to 25%.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Update
Effective 17th June 2013, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) will allow employers to check the status of criminal record checks online. 

Tribunal fee changes
Effective 29th July, tribunals will be will charging fees for bringing or continuing a claim in an employment tribunal. There will be two stages of payment as follows:

payment at the time of issuing a claim
payment before the tribunal hearing

Fee Levels
Level 1 – fee of £160 on issue and a further £250 at the hearing stage
Level 2 – fee of £230 on issue and a further £950 at the hearing stage
Fee level 2 claims will involve more complex issues including unfair dismissal and discrimination claims. 

The fee structure for multiple claims and at the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT), will have an appeal fee of £400 and a hearing fee of £1,200.

Low earners and individuals in receipt of state benefits such as jobseekers allowance will be able to take advantage of the Civil fee remission scheme in obtaining full or partial waiver of fees of their tribunal proceedings.

Employment Tribunals will however have the power to order the unsuccessful party to reimburse the fee of the successful party.

Under the Employment Tribunals (constitution and rules of procedure) Regulations 2013 there will be an initial sift whereby every case will be reviewed on paper by an employment judge to confirm if there is an arguable case and defence. This will happen once the employer has responded to a claim. 
 

Changes to the role of ACAS
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA) contains proposals concerning changes to the role of ACAS which are expected to come into force from April 2014, by the introduction of a new Early Conciliation Scheme. In essence this will mean that any individual wishing to bring a claim against their employer (prospective claimant) will be required to contact ACAS prior to contacting the Tribunals Service. ACAS will have a short window of opportunity of up to a month to offer early conciliation to try and resolve the workplace dispute quickly and cost effectively.  

Share offers to new employees
Effective September 2013, employers will be permitted to give shares in their business to new employees, who in return will be expected to give up some fundamental employment rights. However, employees will not lose the right to make claims for a dismissal relating to discrimination, whistleblowing or any other automatically unfair reason. In return, the employer must give the employee fully paid up shares worth a minimum of £2,000 in either the employing company or its parent. 

Any employer offering shares will have a duty to protect an employee’s interests, which will include; providing details of the shares offered; explaining the employment rights that the employee will be giving up; giving employees a seven day cooling off period and ensuring employees are given the right to independent legal advice (the cost of which will be paid by the employer). 

Advantages of the scheme include generous tax reliefs and the first £2,000 can be given to an employee free from tax and NI. Disadvantages of the scheme include high administration costs of implementing the scheme and whether increasing share ownership could raise other issues, such as consideration as to whether, and for how much, individuals' shares can be bought back on termination of their employment.


If you would like any further information, or how to contact HR Response Ltd please go to our website or call 0115 9728708.  

Flexible Contracts and Holiday Entitlement

With so many different types of employment contracts now being negotiated it is no wonder some businesses struggle when working out sick pay and holiday entitlement.  It is widely reported that part time working has significantly increased since the recession.  There has also been an increase in ‘zero hours’ contracts.  This means that a worker is ‘available’ to work on an as and when needed basis and could work anything from no hours to full time hours for their employer.  These contracts are specifically attractive in the hospitality and retail industries.

In general, for straight forward part time working, entitlements are relatively easy to calculate; e.g. if someone works the same 3 days per week, every week, with the same number of hours per day, the calculation for pro rata’d entitlement is a straight 3/5ths of the full time equivalent. 

However, a typical question I’m often asked is “what happens with Bank Holidays?” Following the example above, they would be entitled to 3/5ths of the bank holiday entitlement (usually 8 days per annum).  Your employee will need to book these days in the normal way, ensuring they have sufficient holiday to cover the bank holidays they would normally work, any remaining entitlement can be used at any other time.

The above calculations apply to Company Sick Pay too.  For example, if your contract states 4 weeks full pay, your employee’s ‘week’ will be 3 days each week.  However, if your contract states 20 days Company Sick Pay, you will need to pro rata this for part time employees; i.e. 3/5ths of 20 (12 days).

The more complex calculation of holiday/company sick pay occurs when staff work ‘flexible’ hours each week, or are employed on a ‘zero hours’ contract. In these situations you need to calculate entitlement on an hourly basis.  However, you must remember that holiday entitlement must be paid at the time your employee takes their holiday leave; it cannot be included in their weekly or monthly salary.

So, for example; you have an employee who works 20 hours per week on a ‘flexible’ basis; i.e. the actual hours/days your employee works may differ from week to week.  Assuming the full time equivalent holiday entitlement is 28 days (5.6 weeks per annum) inclusive of bank holidays, the calculation you need to use is:

5.6 weeks divided by 46.4 (the actual number of working weeks per year) = 12.07%
12.07/100 x 20 hours = 2.42 hours (145.26 minutes holiday for each period of 20 hours worked)

If you need to break this down further, such as working out how much holiday entitlement is earned per hour worked because they are on a ‘zero hours’ contract, divide 145.26 minutes by 20, (which is 7.26 minutes holiday pay per hour worked).

The other question I frequently get asked is, “what happens when someone leaves their employment?”  If your employee has taken, and has been paid for holiday before it has been accrued, you can claw this back from their final salary payment.  If you owe your employee accrued holiday entitlement, you can either pay this in their final salary payment or, if they need to work a month’s notice, stipulate that their outstanding leave is taken during their notice period (you do need to give 2 weeks’ notice that you intend managing outstanding leave in this way).

With the complexities of applying pro rata Holiday and Company Sick Pay entitlement, it is worth ensuring you have a policy outlining how you intend managing these areas, refer to entitlements in their contract of employment, and communicate this policy to your staff so they are fully aware.

Should you require any help on managing holiday or sick pay entitlements, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sarah Daniels

HR Consultant

HR Response Ltd Summer Bootcamp

Are you a business owner and/or manager with line management responsibilities?

 

 

If so, HR Response LTD is hosting a ‘Summer Bootcamp’ in July 2013 addressing important elements of how to manage employees.

 

What to expect

Our Bootcamp takes you through processes step-by-step looking at what makes good practice. The workshops are supported by case studies and interaction to identify a suitable outcome for each area. Lunch and refreshments throughout the day are included in the cost. You will also be given a resource pack to take away so that you can refer back to the details after the training.

Please click on each heading below for a short video introduction:
1) How to Manage Recruitment – Tuesday 9th July

2) How to Manage Absence – Thursday 11th July

3) How to Manage Performance – Tuesday 16th July

4) How to Manage Discipline – Thursday 18th July

5) How to Manage Workplace Grievances – Tuesday 23rd July

6) How to Manage Poor Performance – Thursday 25th July

Fees:

Each workshop is priced at £75 + VAT
 OR

Book all 6 for just £405 + VAT (a saving of %10)

For more information or to book your place, please contact;

E: Charlotte@hrresponse.co.uk Tel: 0115 9728708

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Young Apprentice: You’re Hired!

What is an apprenticeship? To put it simply, an apprenticeship allows on the job experience while synonymously working towards a qualification.

As exam season is upon us, it is the time of year when many young people are weighing up their options and considering their future careers. Due to the increase in university fees, the option of enrolling on an apprenticeship is getting more and more popular among school leavers. With UK 16-24 year old unemployment rates averaging at around 20.7%, the apprenticeship scheme is a great way for companies to do their bit in helping to lower youth unemployment, and as we have experienced this isn't the only benefit;

·     Grant – You are able to get the government Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), this has a value of £1500 for up to 10 apprentices.

·    Additional Grant – If the apprentice lives in the Nottingham area you are able to receive between £1000 and £2300 for each apprentice you employ. There may be similar grants available in your area, so it is worth a quick check if you are interested in employing an apprentice. 

·     Training Costs – As part of the AGE the government will pay the apprentices training costs as follows; aged 16-18 are given in full and for those aged 19-24 50% of the costs are given.

 Wages – SMEs often do not have the spare cash to employ a full qualified person, compared with the national minimum wage the apprenticeship wage is much more achievable for smaller businesses.

	Apprenticeship wage per hour	Minimum wage per hour
Aged 19 or under and in their 1st year of training,	£2.65	Under 18 - £3.68 Between 18 and 20 - £4.98
Aged over 19 or past their 1st year of training,	£4.98	Over 20 - £6.19

·     Ability - You are able to mould your apprentice to work exactly how you want them to. It’s a given that this takes time but, once they are with you for a couple of months they should be able to get on with tasks you set without a massive amount of assistance.

At HR Response Ltd, we recognised the benefits and value of hiring an apprentice. Yet, while our selection process differed slightly from that of Lord Sugar’s, we recruited sixteen year old (now seventeen) Megan Hodgkinson (pictured front left) as our Business Administrator In November 2012. Since joining, Megan has developed and honed her skills becoming a great asset to the business.

We asked our apprentice: 

“Why did you decide to go down the apprenticeship route and what do you enjoy most?”  

Megan responded with “The reason I chose to do an apprenticeship is because it lets me gain a qualification as well as experience and knowledge from working. The thing I enjoy most about working at HR Response Ltd is that I get to learn new things every day and every day is never the same, each day is different and varied.” 

If you would like any information about the legalities and procedures involved in hiring an apprentice, please contact HRResponse Ltd on 0115 972 8708

 Alternatively you can email: charlotte@hrresponse.co.uk

 Twitter @HRRESPONSE

HR Response Ltd's First Video Blog!

First Ever Video Blog!

This week we have done something a little bit different than our usual style blog. With the month of May signalling HR Response Ltd’s 10^th Anniversary of being in business, we thought that we would celebrate by setting up our own video blog channel.

Having recently joined HR Response Ltd, I wanted to get to know a little more about the company in general and ask Sarah Daniels (MD) a few questions about her recipe for success given the volatility of the economic climate over the past decade. Sarah touches upon a range of subjects, from choosing the right talent in a recruitment drive to the benefits of hiring an apprentice.

We will be releasing some videos to do with our HR Management Training Bootcamp shortly as well as some clips with handy tips and advice to do with HR matters.

We hope that you enjoy our first ever video blog!

For information about the services we offer, please contact HR Response Ltd:

E: Charlotte@hrresponse.co.uk

Tel: (0115) 972 8708

T: @HRRESPONSE

The Digital Footprint: Considerations for Employers and Employees in Regard to Social Media

The recent controversy surrounding Young Crime Commissioner Paris Brown’s tweets, is only a recent example of job-loss related to ill-judged comments in cyber-space. Even though the tweets are not recent (they were tweeted 2/3 years ago) her digital footprint has been uncovered and subsequently led to her resignation. With social media being instantaneous, it is easy to fall into the trap of using it as a vehicle for stream-of-consciousness and to forget that Social Networking sites are public arenas and should be treated as such. With the increasing integration of the likes of Twitter and Facebook into our lives, what are the implications in the real world to what we say online?

In the Preece vs JD Wetherspoon tribunal, Ms. KC Preece lost her job as Pub Manager at JD Wetherspoon in 2011 following posting derogatory Facebook comments about two customers she had encountered. Her privacy settings meant that anyone could see the comments and therefore was potentially damaging to the company’s reputation. Consequently the company dismissed Ms. Preece for Gross Mis-conduct. One argument is that we should be allowed freedom of speech on our own social networking profiles, however employees should be careful that their privacy settings and content fall in line with the clear guidelines set out by employers to avoid potential damage.

On the other hand, it is not just employees who need to be aware of the importance of setting out clear social media policy. In 2012, the human resources executive John Flexman found grounds to claim constructive dismissal against his employers when challenged over ticking a box on his LinkedIn profile which gave recruiters the ability to contact him for “career opportunities”. Claiming that he felt as though he was forced into resignation, Mr. Flexman went on to win the case against his former company with the tribunal finding that they were guilty of a “serious breach” of contract.

With the above examples it is clear to see the importance of a clear social media policy to protect all parties and avoid expensive repercussions. Quality HR Docs has set out clear advice guidelines for both employees and employers to consider when creating a social media policy to avoid anyone ‘putting their foot in it’ when leaving behind a digital footprint:

• Changing the privacy settings on your profile so that only people you have accepted as friends can see your content.
•  Reviewing who is on your ‘friends list’ on your personal profile.  In most situations you should not accept friend requests on your personal profile from ‘clients’ you work with. 
•   Ensuring personal blogs have clear disclaimers that the views expressed by the author are theirs alone and do not represent the views of the Company.  Make your writing clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of your company.
•    Ensuring information published on the Internet complies with the Company’s confidentiality and data protection policies. 

For the full Social Media Policy document, please visit: qualityhrdocs.co.uk

For more information on social media policy, please contact HR Response Ltd on 0115 9728708 or email info@hrresponse.co.uk                                                                                                                                      

Short term sickness, what do you do?

What do you do when an employee is off on short term sickness? Do you just say “OK, see you when you are back,” Then, when they come back let them just slip straight back in to their role where they left off? If you do, you might not be keeping the records that will prove helpful in the future.

When an employee returns to work you should complete a return to work interview and form so that you get specific details of their illness. By doing this, you, the manager, will be able to look at past absences and track/discover any patterns with the employee’s absence. You may also find inconsistencies such as; someone having the same illness every other week or once a month, which may mean they could be avoiding work.  There may be issues the employee is facing either at home or at work and without a sit down, face to face conversation problems may not be shared with you.

By ensuring you carry out back to work interviews you should reduce your total number of absences. One reason for this may be that your employees don’t want to go through the whole process of coming back to work and attending the back to work interview and therefore avoid having the absence in the first place. Another reason could be that it discourages employees from taking time off for reasons that may not be genuine, as they may find it difficult not to be truthful in the face to face interview.

If you would like any more information please call 0115 9726708 or to download a copy of the documents used in this process go to www.qualityhrdocs.co.uk