How to create a Disruptive Recruitment Strategy to hire and retain the best talent!

· by Emma Browning
According to Forbes, there’s a resignation Tsunami about to hit UK shores so you need to make sure you’re a great employer if you want to hold onto your best talent or looking to hire the best talent! When employers talk about the talent shortage in 2021, they typically point to the factors out of their control: such as the Pandemic, the economic recovery and the growing talent shortage across industries. In some ways, they’re not wrong. But in my experience, employers have more control over hiring and retaining talent…

Your Hybrid Working policy as we adapt to the new normal

· by Emma Browning
We all seem to be adjusting to the “new normal”. Many people are now vaccinated, receiving booster jabs and many of our clients seem to be adopting a hybrid working policy, meaning that people can work in the office and from home. We’ve created a standard policy for you which you can access here. Please note that this is a standard policy and may need to be adapted to suit your needs. If this policy doesn’t quite work for you, then why not book a call with us and we…

Your Top 5 HR Questions answered this month

· by Emma Browning
Here’s our round up of the most frequently asked questions from our clients and our advice for you, which we hope you find helpful. If you have a question you’d like answered next month, then just send it to us at hello@merakihr.com and we may include it in next month’s Top 5! 1.My employees are refusing to come back to the office – what should I do? Employees are required to obey their employer’s reasonable instructions, which would normally include attending work where the employer has put in place safe-working…

Lend a hand – why workplace volunteering is a win-win

· by Emma Browning
If I told you that approximately 70% of FTSE 100 companies have a volunteering programme, would you be surprised? Corporate volunteer activity days, giving employees time off to volunteer in their local communities, and sponsorship matching are just three examples of popular schemes adopted by some of the top FTSE companies. Waitrose, for example, donate some 75,000 paid employee hours a year to volunteering. So, there must be a really compelling reason why our biggest and most successful corporates do this . . . After all, they have budgets and…

Exciting news – Meraki HR Partner with OK Positive!

· by Emma Browning
How many times have you seen something on LinkedIn and thought – that looks like a great product or service, got in touch with the company concerned and either been disappointed or let down by their response to your enquiry or the product or service itself? I know I have! However, a short while ago I saw a post on LinkedIn by Charlie Winton the founder of a company called OK Positive. OK Positive is a very clever app that allows your employees to input how they are feeling and…

How Healthy is your HR?

· by Emma Browning
Now is the time to make sure your HR policies and procedures are up to scratch and legally compliant (did you know there is a raft of new employment legislation that came into force on the 6th April?) You need to know whether the documentation you have in place is legally compliant and will support any important business decisions you need to make in the next financial year. For example, this includes people working from home on an ongoing basis, as your policies and employment contracts need to reflect any…

The 10 most common HR Issues facing businesses today

· by Emma Browning
Last year will go down as one of the most infamous years of our lifetime. But we know that when there are tremendous challenges, there is tremendous learning to take from these challenges. In Meraki HR fashion, we set out to understand the biggest learnings from 2020 that will impact HR and Business owners or leaders in 2021 and help them prepare for what’s next. Maintain flexible work  Before, offices played a crucial role in company culture, and for many, productivity was partly measured by how often you were seated…

If you think you’ve got HR issues……………………………….

· by Emma Browning
It has dawned on me in recent years that many experiences I have had over my 21 year career in HR, that I thought were simply part and parcel of being in HR, were highly unusual and unique, some slightly sad and sometimes they were funny, and I often found it difficult to keep a straight face! I realised this when I was delivering a recent workshop on Employment Law for our clients. In many of the workshops I run I share some of my experiences by telling stories, usually…

Our top tips to make sure you are only hiring the best people!

· by Emma Browning
Many of you will have started the year thinking about what new hires you need to make this year to help you achieve your business goals post Covid19. But if any of you have tried to recruit recently, it’s pretty tough isn’t it? I’ve been doing my role for over 20 years and this is certainly the toughest recruitment market that I have ever seen, so you need to be at the top of your game if you want to attract the best people to your business. Here are my…

Job Retention Scheme Extension 1st December 2020 – FAQ’s

· by Emma Browning
Thank you once again to Beverley Sunderland at Crosslands Employment Lawyers for their excellent support and advice during these last 9 months! These FAQs deal with the mechanics of furloughing workers under the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) now in place until the 31st March 2021. The JRS was first put in place to provide employers whose operations had been affected by coronavirus with wage assistance from 1 March 2020. It was originally intended to close on 31 October 2020; however, was extended as a result of the Government’s decision to…