Russell HR Consulting

Whether you want to hear about it or not, Showbiz news, football frenzy and the life of the British WAG fills our newspapers and television screens on a constant basis. The most recent red card has been given to Ashley Cole, whose famous and “successful” (and I use that in the loosest term) ex-wife, Cheryl Cole, has recently announced their divorce. Cheryl’s publicist made a short statement asserting the fact that the media respect her privacy and personal life during such difficult circumstances.

Some avid football supporters are angry with Cheryl for publically announcing her divorce from Ashley – a key player for the England team – so close to the World Cup. Others (and I have to agree on this) would say that we’re all entitled to a yellow card in life and work, but there comes a point when those who are not team players need to be sent off to play for another club!

We find that one of the commonest problems relating to managing employment issues is that managers just out off the evil day for as long as they can… the worst case I ever came across was a business owner who was sounding off about a member of staff and how awful he had been ever since he started. So I asked “How long has he been with you?” and just couldn’t believe when the reply was “fifteen years.”  Fifteen years – good grief!

When we deliver employment law training we recommend nipping problems in the bud.  As one of my colleagues wisely remarks, “It’s so much easier to blow out a match than put out a forest fire.”

So if you know you have a problem – it might be poor work performance or misconduct -  deal with it promptly. Discipline is about providing guidance and encouragement, not punishment, so it is to be hoped that a timely word will do the trick. And if it doesn’t, don’t keep having little chats. If you’ve had 28 little chats and there’s still no improvement – wake up! It’s not going to get better and you’re wasting your time. One or two informal chats is enough. Then make it a formal matter and start the formal disciplinary procedure.

The interesting thing is that I almost never have to dismiss. Where people have no intention of shaping up they usually get another job and leave or ask to go on terms. Job done…

All employers at some stage of their career will have to deal with the disciplinary procedure with one or more of their employees. It can be a difficult and time-consuming experience and can cause quite a headache. For absolute beginners, take a look at our free email workshop which provide a guide to the disciplinary process. Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/ or call a member of the team on 0845 644 8955.

Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, including Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Banbury, Northampton, Towcester and surrounding areas ), Nottinghamshire (covering Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Sheffield, Worksop and surrounding areas.) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton and surrounding areas.).

By Darry Khajehpour and The HR Headmistress

People are very keen on communicating things these days aren’t they?  This week the Government announced its intentions to cut £6 billion from the deficit and the Queen told us about the Coalition’s legislative plans. 

Generally speaking, industry has been receptive to the proposals.  We know that the next year or two (maybe more, who knows?) is going to be extremely demanding.  That means that employers must make sure that their operations are working at an optimum. 

Most people want to do a good job, but they lack the understanding of running a business.  Even senior people in companies have no idea what it’s like to walk the daily tightrope over a big black hole.  It’s not been uncommon in recent months for business owners to sacrifice their own drawings in order to keep the business afloat. 

The CIPD exhort employers to communicate with their employees.  A recent factsheet contains the following information.

Mutual trust is very much a feature of the good psychological contract.  Implicit in this is helping people to work together by means of shared information.  So good communication is not simply about passing information down; it is also about sharing information, trusting people to interpret that information, and listening to what people say (and then, if necessary, acting upon what has been said or explaining why no action has been taken).

I think I might be getting a bit cynical.  This is all good stuff in theory, but quite often it seems that employees, like many children, seem to be selectively deaf.  Here’s an example.  I had a conversation with an employer at Christmas who said that he was worried to death over the non-payment of a large invoice where one of his clients had gone into administration.  The deficit threatened the continued existence of his company and he was lying awake half the night wondering how he was going to get through the next few months.  It is a small company and his employees were well aware of the magnitude of the problem.  They had even commented upon how grey and worried he was as a result.  The company had already arranged and paid for a modest Christmas lunch and although he felt like the spectre at the feast he decided it should go ahead.  He said he felt positively murderous when one of his employees started twittering on about whether they should have Christmas crackers and if so, what the colour should be.  Quite extraordinary lack of sensitivity by the employee, who is otherwise an extremely nice woman.  Bizarrely, this sort of thing is extremely common and it frustrates the heck out of employers.

Back to the CIPD’s communication plan, there are 13 points which may help us struggling employers to get our strategy right:

1.   Convince top management of the importance of communication.

2.  Build alliances across the organisation to support initiatives.

3.  Recognise that no single method will be effective.

4.  Use a mix of approaches and use all available channels where relevant (written, face-to-face, web-based, moving images).

5.  Target the form(s) of communication to the audience; for example, it may well be appropriate to use different methods for shop floor employees and senior managers.

6.  Respect cultural diversity and vary approaches accordingly.  This is particularly important in a multi-national context, but bear in mind the UK’s cultural diversity as well (for more on diversity, see our factsheet on that subject).

7.  Make sure that messages are consistent, over time and between audiences.

8.   Ensure clarity of message and keep things as simple as possible.  For example, in written communication,s use short, sharp sentences or phrases.  Sometimes even without verbs.

9.   Train managers in communication skills and ensure that they understand the importance of communication.

10.   Seek wherever possible to develop and sustain two-way communication, dialogue and feedback.

11.   Ask yourself whether employees feel that the culture of the organisation is such that they can say what they think without discomfort; and if they can’t, think about how that culture can be changed.

12.   Consider whether communication is built into the planning stages of all activities.

13.  Review communication initiatives to check what has worked, what hasn’t, and why.

It can be quite difficult, as an employer, to meet all that is required of you to ensure that your business is running smoothly, efficiently and within the boundaries of employment law. If you have any concerns, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955. Alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, including Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Bletchley, Milton Keynes etc.), Nottinghamshire (covering Carlton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Worksop etc.) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton etc.).

They say that August is a wicked month.  I can’t really comment on that, but I can say that Mondays don’t always bring out the best of me.  Not today anyway.   Don’t worry.  I’m not going to “shoot the whole day down” a la Bob Geldorf and the Boom Town Rats but this morning we tackled stage one of changing the office round ready for a rationalisation.  After an hour spent lifting things up and putting them elsewhere, discovering missing items behind the back of filing cabinets (“I knew I’d left my staple unpicker in here somewhere!”, and shunting heavy desks round in this heat, we are all reduced to a state of considerable grumpiness by elevenses. 

So I had a great sense of empathy with deputy director-general of the CBI John Cridland’s sentiment that public sector employers should learn from the private sector’s handling of the recession to avoid a “bloodbath in change”.

The CBI/Harvey Nash Picking up the Pace survey has gathered data from 666 firms, which employ more than 10% of the UK workforce.  The survey found 91% communicated the impact of the recession to their staff, and as a result 87% said staff better understood the need to change working patterns, while 56% showed a flexible attitude to change. Nine out of 10 firms changed working patterns, with 58% implementing a pay freeze and 54% implementing a recruitment freeze. A further 35% enhanced flexible working opportunities.

A significant focus for employers is engagement, with 67% citing this as their focus. Seven out of 10 said employee engagement would play a vital role in their business’ recovery.

Other survey findings:

5% of firms are now operating a recruitment freeze, compared to 37% six months ago

48% said reducing labour costs was their priority, while 42% said retaining staff and recruiting to key vacancies

16% are still operating a pay freeze, compared to 47% six months ago

20% plan to increase pay in line with inflation

6% plan a graduate recruitment freeze, compared to 38% a year ago.

+14% was the balance between employers looking to increase and decrease their graduate intake, compared to -31% six months ago.

It’s good to hear some encouraging news.

Meanwhile, stage 2 of the office rationalisation will be later this week………  Wish us well!

In times of change it can be difficult to know what is required of you as an employer and how to put new changes to best practice. If you have any concerns, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955. Alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

Earlier this year John Terry lost the England captaincy after his affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge, was made public. Although the affair did not relate to the workplace, his employers still intervened. An employer may also be able to instigate disciplinary action on the basis that the employee had breached an express contractual provision (e.g. not to bring the employer into disrepute).

Depending on the nature and severity of the misbehaviour, an employer may be able to impose a disciplinary sanction including dismissal on the grounds of misconduct outside work. In determining whether disciplinary action is appropriate following disciplinary proceedings, key points to consider may include:

•  The severity of the misbehaviour;

•  Whether the misbehaviour impacts on the employee’s ability to do his work;

•  The extent to which the misbehaviour interferes with or damages (or has the potential to interfere with or damage) the employer’s reputation or legitimate business interests;

•  Any mitigating circumstances.

The case of Kiernan v A Wear Limited shows how carefully employers must act. Emma Kiernan posted negative and derogatory comments about her manager on her BEBO website. These were reported to the company by a client. The matter was investigated and Ms Kiernan was subsequently dismissed. The court found that A Wear had acted disproportionately in dismissing the claimant and that while its disciplinary procedures were fair, the sanction imposed was not.

The EAT also held that while Ms Kiernan’s comments deserved strong censure and possible disciplinary action, they did not constitute gross misconduct in the circumstances.

Ensuring that your staff follow correct procedure and maintain an acceptable standard in your company can be difficult at the best of times; sometimes, you may find yourself having to take one of your employees through a disciplinary process. If you are concerned with this or any other issues, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955. Alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg have just unveiled the full details of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat deal.  Mr Clegg said they had agreed a five-year programme of “partnership” government.

These are the key implications for employers:

·         Existing welfare-to-work programmes will go and be replaced by a single welfare-to-work programme to help all unemployed people get back into work.

·         The Government will commit to establishing an independent commission to review the long-term affordability of public sector pensions, while protecting accrued rights.

·         The government will “phase out” the default retirement age, currently 65.  It will carry out consultations, to set the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66.  It will not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.

·         There will be an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work.

·         The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees.  Businesses will be consulted on how best to approach the matter.

·         A  fair pay review will be undertaken in the public sector to implement the proposed ‘20 times’ pay multiple – ensuring that no public sector worker can earn over 20 times more than the lowest-paid person in their organisation

·         Gender equality will be promoted on the boards of listed companies.

The Government also promises to review employment and workplace laws for employers and employees, to ensure they maximise flexibility for both parties while protecting fairness and providing the competitive environment required for enterprise to thrive. 

With the Government set to make all these changes, it can be difficult to know what is required of you as an employer and how to put these new changes to best practice. If you have any concerns, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955. Alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

The extraordinary case of Peace Sandberg has been reported recently.  Mrs Sandberg, formerly a housing officer who worked with the elderly in Ealing, was imprisoned after being convicted of bringing a non-EU citizen into Britain.

She had been living in temporary accommodation provided by Ealing council in west London, to which she was entitled because she had a 12-year-old daughter. However, when council officials discovered that the girl was living in Sweden with her father, Mrs Sandberg was told she would have to leave the flat.  She set out to get another child and flew to Nigeria.  She arrived back in London with a baby boy.

On her return to London, she contacted the council’s housing department to get accommodation telling the staff that the child was hers.  They became suspicious as they had seen her only two months before and she wasn’t pregnant at the time; so she changed her story and said she had adopted the baby.

At her trial, the jury were told that Mrs Sandberg had arrived at the British High Commission claiming that she had given birth and that she needed a visa for her child to get back to Britain.  Later, Mrs Sandberg claimed the boy was the son of a cousin who had died, that she was looking after him and so had added his details to her passport. The jury didn’t believe her and she was convicted.

A receipt had been found in Mrs Sandberg’s belongings from a woman in Nigeria for 90,000 naira (£390), which is believed to be what she paid for the baby.

After serving her sentence, she was deported and refused entry to Britain for ten years.   However, ignoring the prohibition, Mrs Sandberg recently flew back to the country and walked straight through immigration at Heathrow Airport. 

She had returned to Britain to sue her former employers, the Peabody Trust, for race and sex discrimination and unfair dismissal, by whom she was employed in 2007.  Mrs Sandberg was caught after the lawyer representing the Trust raised the alarm and she was arrested and taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the Peabody Trust said: ‘Mrs Sandberg’s employment with Peabody was ended following an extension in her probationary period to eight months.  The decision to end her employment within the probationary period went to internal appeal and was turned down at the end of January 2008.  She then applied for the case to go to the employment tribunal for consideration.”

The saddest thing in the whole affair is that police and social services have not been able to find the child’s family.

This is an extreme case, but it really does cause the mind to boggle… if you require help to pick your way through the minefield with HR support or employment law training, give us a call and we’ll be happy to lend you a hand.  For more information, visit http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/ or to speak to a member of our team, call 0845 644 8955.

Research carried out at Sheffield indicates that one in five teenagers lacks the English and maths skills needed for everyday life. 

The study concluded that 17 per cent of school leavers are illiterate. They are unlikely to be able to understand inferences and forms of indirect meaning, for example, allusion and irony.  One of the authors Dr Greg Brooks said, “This is less than the functional literacy needed to partake in employment, family life and citizenship and to enjoy reading for its own sake.”

22 per cent of 16 - to 19-year-olds are now functionally innumerate. This means they have very basic competence in maths, mainly limited to arithmetical computations and some ability to comprehend and use other forms of mathematical information.

The research findings raise significant doubts over Labour’s claims that school standards have risen dramatically in the last 13 years.

The disclosure comes amid continuing concerns over the number of 16- to 19-year-olds classed as “Neet” – not in education, employment or training. A study last year from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that some 10.7 per cent of school leavers were Neet in 2007. This was higher than every country except Turkey, Israel, Spain and Brazil, the OECD said. The international average was 7.2 per cent.

This report does echo our experience at work.  We regularly work with young people – school leavers, undergraduates and graduates - and find that some can barely string a sentence together.  With that level of comprehension how can they ever hope to understand, never mind participate in, the highly technical and complex world of work? 

Not only is it worrying, but extremely sad.  One of the great pleasures of life is

reading, though a fair bit of time these days is dedicated to reading IDS Briefs to keep up with the latest shenanigans in employment law.  But even those are so well written (by comparison with many legal and HR meanderings) that it is a pleasure to browse through them.

The team at Russell HR Consulting can help you with all of your employment law and HR needs. For full details of our products and services click here – or why not sign up for our free monthly newsletter to keep you abreast of all the latest developments. Contact us on  0845 644 8955 or email info@russellhrconsulting.co.uk.

Many years ago, I realised that nearly all my clients came to me for the first time because they had a problem with an employee.  So the opening query was almost always “Can I sack the b*****d?”  Eventually, I wrote a book with the spoof title “Can I Sack the B*****d?”, but with serious content on how to manage conduct and performance correctly.  One of my clients said he wore out two copies just carrying them around, cover side out.  He said a hush descended over the workshop and he hardly ever had to actually open the book because they were all good as gold!

We were talking about this at a managing attendance workshop I ran recently.  The delegates were all given a copy of my book “Off the Sick List!” to take home.  One of the delegates called to say that she had propped it up in her office and it was having much the same effect as “Can I sack the B*****d?” on an employee with chronic Monday-itis. She called it “doing a Wal.” 

I passed her comment on to him, and this afternoon, I received the following:

Hello Kate,

I’m so glad that Helen has taken my advice!! Although if you send me her email address I will send her a photo copy of the front page of “Can I sack the B*****d” so she can glue it on to “Off the Sick List”, it carries much more clout!!!!!!!!!

Interestingly, I have also found that a copy fixed to the back of my computer monitor works equally as well as this is the first thing that any offending employee see’s when they walk into my office!!!!!

You think I’m joking don’t you!?!?!?!

Best Regards,

Wal

Managing employees is about compliance, good practice and good tactics.  For employment law training with a difference and really robust HR support and advice, get in touch with a member of the team at Russell HR Consulting. For more information, call 0845 644 8955 or alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition seems to have already rubbed some of the working British public up the wrong way with its announcement yesterday that it plans to gradually “phase out” the Default Retirement Age (DRA). This is very much the flavour of the month among the politically correct, but I have yet to meet an employer who agrees. However, just to show how difficult it is to please anyone, it seems that the Employers Forum on Age is not happy with the new Government’s decision. The EFA wants to put an end to the DRA immediately, and not wait for a transition over a number of years.

The DRA was introduced in October 2006. Mandatory retirement before the age of 65 is unlawful, unless there is sufficient evidence to support the decision or the lower age can be objectively justified. As the employer you can chose to have no retirement age at all, or set it at 65+.

Whatever decisions you make with regards to your company’s retirement age, employees have the right to be informed of any changes and of their right to request to work longer. There are a number of steps you must take as the employer, to ensure that you are acting fairly and lawfully:

• When informing an employee of any changes to his retirement age or his right to request to work for a longer period, you should do so in writing at least six months – but not more than 12 months – in advance of the planned date of retirement; failing this…
• … there is a continuing duty upon you to notify up to two weeks before the retirement date. The retirement date will not be deferred because of your failure to communicate this with the employee.
• As part of the communication process, you must advise your employee that, if he wishes to work beyond the age of retirement, he must adhere to a formal request procedure; this is similar to that used in the event of an employee requesting flexible working hours in order to look after a child.
• If you fail to do any of the above, it results in the dismissal automatically being unfair.

Employers are under no obligation to give the employee the right to work beyond his retirement age or indeed, provide any reason why the request has been rejected as the presumed reason will be retirement. However, if you attempt to dismiss for retirement under any other circumstances and the case is later brought to tribunal or court, the onus will be on you to prove that there is a genuine retirement reason. This can be astonishingly difficult.

For employers who do decide to extend the right to work beyond retirement age, The HR Headmistress has a little employment law tip for you all… it’s sensible to agree to extend the right to work using a fixed term contract, which ensures that you have a built in review date. If a fixed term contract is agreed upon, the “right to request” and “duty to consider” will remain in place when retirement is next considered. Simply put, the right to request to work flexibly will be offered to the employee again.

Picking your way through the employment law maze can be bewildering, and employers may find it difficult at times to follow all that is required of them and do so in an effective and lawful manner. If you have any concerns, Russell HR Consulting provides expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955. Alternatively, you can visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/.

By Darry Khajehpour and The HR Headmistress

Over the past month, the focus of the media has been firmly fixed on the general election and the battle between the political leaders; David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg have appeared on our screens since the election race began. Do you feel like you know these guys, almost as well as your work colleagues? Every little thing has been caught on camera or mic, including what we might term Gordon’s Gaffes.  Remember the recent “bigot” remark? Whoops!

As an employer, you may often have to perform interviews for recruiting new staff into the company and redeploying existing staff into new roles. That means using that short space of time to assess an applicant and gather as much relevant, factual information as possible, so that you can create as accurate a picture as you can of the person in front of you.

The old Scouts motto comes into play here… be prepared; interviews carried out by untrained interviewers are one of the least reliable ways of predicting future success in a job. However, if you have created a job description, proper person specification and have prepared a list of questions focussing on an applicant’s competencies and behaviours, the reliability improves significantly. If you add in suitable testing, the process can be as accurate as 70%.

As the interviewer, you should aim to speak for no more than 40% of the time throughout the entire interview. An interview should progress through the following four stages:

1. Introduce yourself and give a brief outline of the format of the interview by informing the applicant what he should expect, how long the interview is expected to last, what you want from him and what information you will give.
2. Be systematic in gathering your information; question your applicant in a methodical way and be certain that you have thoroughly probed the competencies and personal traits you set out to explore. Ensure that you are steering the interview and keeping it on course, and do not stop asking questions until you are happy that you have got all the information you need.
3. Check that you have asked all that you wanted to. Avoid making judgements on your immediate impressions or “gut feeling”; the most important thing to take into consideration is the evidence that confirms or denies whether or not the applicant has the appropriate skills set. Answer the applicant’s questions.
4. Inform the applicant of the next stage should he be (un)successful, and allow him to ask any questions before extending your thanks and farewells.

Following the completion of all the interviews, send out courteous letters of regret to those who are unsuccessful as soon as possible; arrange second (if appropriate) interviews with applicants or contact the successful applicant(s) to make a verbal offer, followed by a written offer. Make sure that you inform the successful applicant(s) that the offer is conditional upon the receipt of satisfactory references.

Going through an application process from start to finish can be a daunting process for any employer. Here at Russell HR Consulting, we believe that you should always be prepared and confident in dealing with all aspects of running a successful business. We provide expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law. We can also help with employment law training and general HR support. For further details please visit our website at http://www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk/ or contact a member of our team on 0845 644 8955

In the meantime, we’ll all be hearing more about the new coalition Government.

Back to the King and I … all together:

“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me …”

By Darry Khajehpour and The HR Headmistress