Culture and change
Every day we speak to clients that are trying to decide what they can do to attract and retain staff in the current economic crisis. With their employees feeling the financial pinch, the increases in the minimum wage announced, the huge real living wage hike in October last year plus the cost of fuel and food increasing regularly, most organisations are trying to find a way forward that is sustainable but will also help their staff.
With a rising cost of living and energy bills, households are strained beyond their…
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Culture and change
Never mind e=mc2. Employee Wellbeing2=profits10
What do we actually mean by employee wellbeing?
To this day, wellbeing remains a contested word, with various definitions and spellings and still remains “conceptually muddy”. What I can assure you though – it definitely isn’t ‘wellness’.
“Workplace wellness” is usually linked with the word “health” and unsurprisingly the focus is mostly on employee physical health such as being at a healthy weight, looking at your nutrition, exercise, and stopping smoking etc. All extremely worthwhile and creditable for sure, but they alone, will not drive increased employee engagement or add…
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17th May 2023
Development
Some top tips to retain your talent in challenging times
A recent study from DocuSign showed that, alongside recruitment, talent management was the main priority for 56% of UK firms this year, and it’s not hard to see why. While rising costs are, of course, a pressing issue, there are so many challenges for firms that come from the underlying issue of retaining your best talent.
So, whether it’s attracting great talent to join you, or the retention of your great performers or getting the best performance from your existing team, almost every challenge that business owners currently face falls…
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25th April 2023
Development
Manager’s Checklist for Employee Check-Ins
We are often asked to discuss the topic of employee ‘check-ins’ (or one-on-one meetings, progress meetings, sit-downs, etc.) with our clients when we meet with them or visit them. Why is this you may ask? Well, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, many managers don’t enjoy doing them, don’t feel they have good meetings with their team members, or simply dread all the paperwork that goes with them!
No matter what you call them, increasing the frequency and quality of employee performance conversations remains a priority for many companies…
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25th April 2023
Q. Should I deal with my employee’s poor performance via the disciplinary procedure or the capability procedure?
When deciding whether performance issues should be dealt with through a capability procedure or a disciplinary procedure, you need to decide whether the poor performance amounts to misconduct or is indeed best placed as capability matter.
There is a difference between a capability procedure and a disciplinary procedure, and both capability and conduct are potentially fair reasons for dismissing an employee. However, whether it’s a disciplinary or a capability matter, it’s important that a fair procedure is followed for those with over 2 years’ service to reduce the risk of…
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25th April 2023
Employment law
Sending our love to you with our special Valentine’s Introductory Retainer Offer
If you are an ambitious SME, looking to grow your business in 2023, then doing so without HR expertise will be challenging! If you’ve ever had to tackle a people issue on your own, you’ll also know just how tough and stressful it can be.
Between trying to manage your business, look after your clients or suppliers, your financial and legal obligations, as well as meeting your operational requirements, it can all be a bit too much! Feeling overwhelmed with all that you have to do and firefighting can become…
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2nd February 2023
Q. How do I make someone redundant?
This depends on a number of factors:
Whether they have been with you for 2 or more years.
Whether they have been with you for less than 2 years
Whether they are in a stand-alone role
Or a role that other people perform.
Depending on the factors above, will depend on the advice we give you and whether you can deal with this in one meeting or with a more formal consultation process. Therefore with any potential redundancy, its best to talk it through with an HR professional or Employment…
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2nd February 2023
Culture and change
High Performing Teams
What does 2023 have in store for your business?
If we believe all the doom and gloom on the news then it could be a tough year! All I know is that personally, it’s a time for me and our team to be setting our specific goals for 2023 – once you have written them down and committed to them, the more likely you are to achieve them!
Whatever your goals are, you won’t achieve them without having a great team to help you achieve them, and that’s where we…
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31st January 2023
Employment law
Q. Should we fight or settle a claim against us?
The cost to employers of defending an employment tribunal claim was highlighted when Times Higher Education reported that a university had spent more than £200,000 defending an unfair dismissal claim that could, it said, have been settled for much less.
We are often asked by our clients, should we fight or settle a claim and this case highlights the need to think very carefully about how you respond to an employment tribunal claim. Here’s our thoughts on what you should consider.
Controlling legal costs
Extensive legal costs are not inevitable.…
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7th November 2022
Policies and procedures
Could this approach solve your recruitment problems?
With the ‘Great Resignation’ raging on, employers are going to have to get more creative in looking for talent!
One solution is looking at retired workers – although new ONS data shows they’re leaving the workforce faster than ever. So, what do you, as an employer, need to do to attract older people, with their wisdom and experience, out of early retirement or retirement and back into your employment?
The UK is experiencing an early retirement boom, with a whopping three in five people aged over 50 choosing to leave…
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31st October 2022