Staff Management

When you’re reviewing your workplace health and safety policies, do you also look at those that relate specifically to your premises? According to highly experienced health & safety, quality and environmental professional Lucy Walsh, businesses often fail to include bricks and mortar when considering their health and safety responsibilities. Lucy, who has recently come on board with HR:4UK to strengthen our health and safety consultancy, said: “While most employers are aware that they need to look after their people, all…

This October, businesses up and down the UK will be getting involved in supporting fundraising events as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, so sadly there is every chance that someone in your workplace, or somebody close to them, has personal experience of the disease. There are many things businesses can do to help support vital medical research, including asking staff to dress in pink on Friday 18 October for…

We all know that managing employee administration can be tedious and time‐consuming, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Brixton based charity, Young Lambeth Co-op, is one of the many UK businesses and organisations to benefit from eConnect – HR:4UK’s efficient and effective cloud-based employee management system. Adopting e-Connect, has said the charity, brought many advantages – not just in terms of reducing its administrative burden but also regarding its legal compliance. Young Lambeth Co-op CEO Ellie Johnson said: “Before…

HR consultancy is an invaluable service, but do you know what it is and how it works? Were you aware, for example, that HR:4UK can come to your premises and deal with your HR issue on-site and in some cases resolve it in just one day? Small to mid-size business owners do not always have the time to handle the day-to-day tasks – or indeed the expertise to manage complex HR matters.  Often, they haven’t got their own HR department…

Menopause and its impact on women’s daily lives is receiving a lot more attention these days. With prominent journalists, including TV presenter Mariella Frostrup and BBC Breakfast’s Louise Minchin recently sharing their menopause journeys with viewers, there is now greater openness and understanding of what was once a taboo subject. And, with women in their 50s and 60s now making up more than a quarter of the UK workforce, employers need to educate themselves on how they can help female…

Holidays give us a chance to recharge our batteries and take a well‐earned break from our usual day to day responsibilities. And, in an ideal world, we’d all return from a summer break raring to go, full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm. However, after days relaxing on a beach and getting up and going to bed whenever we want, it’s no fun having to set the alarm clock and do battle with commuter transport. Unsurprisingly, punctuality can be a problem as…

At HR:4UK we’ve strengthened our growing team with the recent appointment of Operations Manager Katie Price. Katie, joins us from Midlands‐based UK energy broker, Nationwide Energy Consultants, where she worked as an account manager. Prior to that she was a manager of a contact centre for online retail business, Range. Katie’s role with HR:4UK is a newly created one which sees her looking after the operational aspects of everything we do. She said: “As operations manager I’m involved in the…

To give clients a greater insight into what we do, we regularly feature interviews with members of the HR:4UK team. This month we catch up with Sales and Marketing Co‐ordinator Amanda Matthews who will be celebrating 10 years with the firm next year. Sales and Marketing Co‐ordinator Amanda Matthews loves the variety her job brings – and that includes leaving the office occasionally and spending time with the people we look after. Amanda’s time is taken up with marketing and…

With Easter just around the corner, now is the ideal time to look at religion and belief in the workplace – and explore exactly what employers can do to prevent discrimination. Diversity in all its various guises enriches a workforce, but to promote inclusivity, avoid misunderstandings, and stay within the law, it’s advisable to have a policy dealing specifically with religious matters at work. If you’re not clear on the legislation and where your obligations lie, you run the risk…

Members of staff are never too old to be discriminated against, as the recent case of an 88‐year‐old former medical secretary clearly shows. A Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust employee has become the oldest person in Britain to win an age discrimination case after a Tribunal found she had been treated less favourably than a younger person. The employee, Mrs Jolly – who has a heart condition and arthritis – also successfully won a disability discrimination claim against her employer.…

Forget online dating apps. The chances are that one in four couples sharing a romantic candle‐lit dinner this St Valentine’s Day will have met at work. According to recruitment surveys, more than half of us have dated a colleague at some point, with many a romance in the workplace leading to long‐term commitment – including marriage and civil partnerships. There is no law against having an office relationship. Everyone is entitled to a private life as part of their human…

It is not uncommon for employees to struggle with productivity in the winter months for a number of reasons.   One of the key reasons why productivity is affected by office temperatures is simply because when we are cold, we are not just uncomfortable, we are distracted.   When our body temperature drops, we automatically expend more energy to keep warm, which leaves less energy and brainpower for the tasks at hand. When we are cold, we tend to be more grumpy and…

Thousands of passengers stranded, mass pilot desertions, a huge public outcry and headlines across all media channels – because of what? It is hard to believe that this was all down to a monumental failure by Ryanair to monitor and manage holiday requests submitted by their flight crews.   This demonstrates how failing to manage your staff leave can, as in the case of Ryanair, totally disrupt your ability to manage and run your business. Monitoring leave and having appropriate policies…

Social media is now a part of everyday life, both for businesses and individuals.  It is estimated that on average people have five social media accounts and spend one and a half hours per day browsing their accounts. The impact of staff being distracted by constantly viewing and updating their social mobile accounts or surfing the web, is now becoming a real issue in the workplace with over 30% of employees recently surveyed admitted that they were distracted by accessing…

You may think that the reply is obvious, but you may be surprised that sometimes you are.  If an employee causes damage or is injured during the course of their employment, then the employer is jointly liable to pay for any claims arising.  The employee must be acting in the course of their employment and not to have “metaphorically taken off his uniform” An example of this would be the plumber who floods a house while at work or doing…

Many employers are not aware that they can be responsible for the actions of their employees conduct at work. The legal term is vicarious liability and refers to a situation where someone is held responsible for the actions or omissions of another person. If this act is one of discrimination, then the employer could find themselves facing an award by an employment tribunal but how much? Tribunals can make awards if there has been a constructive dismissal or unfair dismissal if an…

A recent tribunal case provides a stark lesson for all employers who fail to have appropriate HR Policies and Procedures in place, particularly when dealing with an employee dispute. The case involved a butcher who was dismissed by his employer for posting another butcher’s ‘meat deal’ on social media, to his then girlfriend. The employee, Michael Hayward, had worked for Noel Chadwick, butchers based in Wigan for seven and half years. The Tribunal were highly critical of the employer, as…