Staff Management
As an employer, one of the biggest challenges you may face is dealing with a difficult employee who is resistant to feedback: whether it’s due to their personality or past experiences, some employees can be extremely stubborn when it comes to receiving criticism or suggestions for improvement, even on relatively small or simple matters. However, as someone responsible for maintaining a positive and productive work environment, it’s your duty to find ways to address this issue. In this article, we…
It may not seem like it just yet, but already the days are getting shorter and the nights longer, and soon enough, the spectre of year-end will once again rear its head. For employers, this means that now is a pertinent time to remind staff that once their holiday days for the year have passed, they won’t be coming back. For any business owner, ensuring the productivity and wellbeing of staff is paramount. Allowing employees to take time off from…
Effective employee performance evaluation is absolutely vital for any organisation striving for success. After all, without them, how are you supposed to track progress? However, nowadays there is much debate over the latest intriguing method: Management by Objectives or MBOs. This article will discuss how it fares versus the more traditional performance appraisal, and aims to shed light on how each approach can contribute to achieving organisational goals and improving overall employee performance. What is Management by Objectives (MBO)? Management…
We’ve all encountered one or two, and, unfortunately, they tend to pervade the modern workplace: an individual who seems relentlessly negative, no matter the situation. It can take the form of cynicism, apathy, a resistance to change, or even outright disruptive behaviour; but what unites these symptoms is an overall sense of pessimism that tends to bring everyone down. Effectively managing such a person is a difficult task. Often, it’s important to examine the underlying reasons for their negativity, why…
Resignations aren’t always a smooth process. On occasion, employees may quit on the spot, refuse to comply with regulations, cause drama, or even spread false information that may harm your business. These types of resignations are what we would consider contentious resignations, and they need to be handled with extraordinary care. As an employer, you’ll need to take specific steps to ensure that this process goes as smoothly as possible. So today, we’ll share ten top tips to help you…
Sometimes, the basics can be the most difficult – at least for some. Turning up to work each day can be a difficult task for many people, and there comes a point when regular absenteeism becomes a real problem. Deadlines have to be met, tasks completed and targets met, but, more than anything else, the absentee can cause disruption and a lack of motivation to pervade the rest of the workplace. This article will examine the key signs that an…
“I think the reason that swearing is both so offensive and so attractive is that it is a way to push people’s emotional buttons, and especially their negative emotional buttons. It has shock value, because taboo words soak up emotional connotations and are processed involuntarily by the listener; you can’t will yourself not to treat the word in terms of what it means.” · Stephen Pinker Dealing with profane language in the workplace is largely subjective. Such language is a sensitive…
The Rugby World Cup is set to kick off on Friday, 8th September with hosts France set to face New Zealand’s All Blacks at 8.15pm. However, not all of the kick-off times are quite so accessible, and many games will take place during normal working hours. As such, we ask a question that is going to be on the mind of many of the millions of rugby fans across the country: is it okay to watch the world cup at work?…
To follow on from our detailed newsletter article on the nature of how sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, HR:4UK are now producing a series of top tips to help employers who are worried about instances of sexual harassment in their place of work What can Employers do to Prevent Sexual Harassment at Work? ACAS advisor Gary Wedderburn made it very clear in his discussion with Glamour Magazine1: “Employers should take steps such as explain what sexual harassment is, what types…
Starting a new job can be a daunting undertaking. As an extension of our ‘Employee Onboarding: What to do – and what not to do’, we’re creating a series of guides on how to keep talented employees and avoid that dreaded staff turnover. For this issue, we’re taking a look at mentorship programs, what they are and how they can help new staff feel part of the team and, above all, improve that all-important ‘time to competency’. According to Forbes,…
Over 12.8 million working adults in the UK suffer from chronic disease1. That’s over 30% of the working population. Persistent ill health represents a significant economic burden for society due to the heightened pressure on the healthcare system, the increased sickness absence and the amount of productivity lost. Current research suggests that those with chronic health conditions are better served at work, yet the demands of modern employment can often contribute to the continued development of chronic diseases. As a…
Only the luckiest of us have never experienced them, but those who have tend to say one thing: avoid toxic workplace cultures like the proverbial plague. For others still, they may not even realise that their workplace is toxic at all. At HR:4UK, we’re on hand to help you spot the signs, and what employers and employees can do to combat the onset of toxicity. What is a ‘Toxic Workplace Culture’? Company’s cultures can be their greatest strength or, when…
We’ve all had those moments that might push you over the edge, when a word or two said in anger or frustration slips out. However, sometimes swear words are not used just used in a state of annoyance, but are aimed towards colleagues or others with the intention to offend and hurt. Every instance is context-dependant. Therefore, it can be tricky to know exactly when swearing at work becomes gross misconduct, and when it doesn’t. This article aims to give…
The extraordinary level of sudden heat this June is causing concern for many businesses; so much so that the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has encouraged employers to take action to ensure that their staff our protected during the periods of extreme hot weather that we are now facing. Much like in July 2022, this June we are experiencing quite the rise in temperature. The UK is ill-equipped for it: unlike other places where we might venture on holiday, Britain’s…
Workplace fertility challenges affect millions of people in the UK, and yet this issue is largely overlooked within working environments. With as many as one in seven couples suffering fertility difficulties, it’s important to ensure that business owners are aware of what their employees may be going through and that they provide appropriate support when needed1. Currently, there is no statutory time off for fertility treatment. This article outlines the proposals in The Fertility Treatment (Employment Rights) Bill 2022-2023, a…
Did you know that around 80% of women with menopause will experience symptoms such as hot flushes, sleeping problems and mood changes! This has a drastic effect on their day to day lives and can last four years on average (although many women say they have had symptoms for a lot longer). The way in which a lot of women cope with the menopause is with HRT – Hormone Replacement Therapy. HRT helps around one million people in the UK…
With the month of May seeming to have more 4-day weeks than 5-day weeks we thought it would be a good time to update you on the 4-day working week trial. Long-awaited data from this pilot arrived in February – and results were overwhelmingly positive. Between June and December 2022, workers at more than 60 UK companies with more than 3,300 employees tested a four-day working week. As a result of this trial, more than 90% of participating businesses have…
In recent weeks we have seen an increase in call volumes from clients who have employees on long-term sick leave. Long-term sickness is classed as a period of continuous absence from work lasting four weeks or more. We understand that dealing with employees on long-term sick leave can be stressful and difficult for employers, but our advice would always be to deal with it sensitively and proactively, not allowing the situation to get out of control. Your sickness policy will…