7 Tips to be more effective as a manager

 

Ineffective managers can have a negative effect on a business. Their actions and attitude towards their team will influence and effect the way that each individual operates and the focus must be on how to achieve results and motivate the team working with you.

 

1) Be proactive

 

Many managers take a reactive approach to dealing with issues and will leave situations until boiling point before taking action to resolve a matter. An effective manager will be able to identify when tensions are rising and often intervening at any early stage can defuse a situation and allow you to take control.

 

2) Acknowledge the positive

 

Make sure that you see the positives in your staff and their work. By only focusing on the negative aspects of each individual, you risk demoralising people and decreasing their productivity. I’m sure you have heard the term ‘positivity breeds positivity’, and you may be surprised how far genuine and meaningful praise can go. Obviously things don’t always go right or according to plan during the working day, but by giving clear instruction and praise when things are put right, your team will be encouraged and remain motivated to complete their tasks.  Adopt an approach which is focussed on continuous learning, particularly if mistakes or errors are made.  It is fine for managers to hold others to account for the work they produce, this can help to create the right performance culture based on high quality and achieving good business outcomes.

 

3) Lead by example

 

If you want your team to behave in a certain way, then lead by example. It’s not fair to expect your employees to do something if you are not doing this yourself.  It is important to model good effective behaviour to staff.  Anyone in a management role knows that they are constantly in the spotlight and other team members will look for your lead, particularly during periods of significant challenge or adversity.  Many managers find it helpful to ‘walk the floor’ by being close to the front end operations of the business, seeking feedback from those at the sharp end who are delivering services or providing products for the end consumer. 

 

4) Select the best people

A manager is only as good as the team around them. Give yourself a better chance to succeed by carefully selecting the right people for the job when recruiting, having a positive induction process to ensure the new employee is up to speed quickly and effectively performance managing the team that you inherit so they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.  If any individuals are under performing, adopt a fair and consistent approach in line with your internal policies to encourage and support improvement.

 

5) Communicate

Communication may be the most important aspect of effective management. Without effective communication, you can’t motivate or lead your team and they won’t understand the goal that you are working towards. Your team will depend on your communication so it’s worth investing the time to ensure that this is being achieved. Effective communication comes with practice, so keep at it and you will find the best method that works for you and your team.  Team engagement should be a regular two way process, enabling all staff to feel valued and make a contribution towards team success.  Consider if your staff engagement processes are working effectively in the minds of those you are managing.

 

6) Improve yourself

Ensure that you make time to reflect on your own development needs yourself. If you focus too much on the development of your team and forget about yourself, people will not feel like they are able to progress working under you. Keep your own development plan interesting and varied and take advice from those who can share the necessary knowledge to help you succeed.  Identify areas in which you need to develop and work to improve them to keep yourself motivated and ahead of the game.

 

7) Take a break

Excessive amounts of stress means you are likely to less effective as a manager. Give yourself a chance to relax and recharge your batteries, so that you can remain sharp and keep the momentum of your productivity. It’s a fact that you are likely to be less tolerant when stressed, so ensure that you make the time to have a good work-life balance.  Think about your own health and wellbeing, as well as that of your team.  Businesses that adopt a supportive and positive approach to proactive wellbeing are likely to have less stress related absence, lower staff turnover and higher levels of productivity and output.

 

If you would like to discuss how your business can develop its approach to leadership and management, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

Smoking in the Workplace

New research by the British Heart Foundation has revealed that the average smoker takes four, 10 minutes breaks during each working day, costing British Businesses £8.4bn a year in lost productivity.

 

It’s estimated that one in five workers in the UK is a smoker and the research also showed that the average smoker will take almost a day (0.7) more sick leave compared to a non-smoking colleague.

 

It’s been almost 7 years since the workplace smoking ban came into force in the UK, which made it illegal to smoke in all enclosed workplaces including vehicles. Whilst most employers encourage breaks and rest periods, it’s important to ensure that all of your employees are being treated fairly regardless of whether they smoke or not. If the smokers in your workforce are taking additional break periods, then you should also consider whether other members of your team are given the same additional break periods during the working day. The thought of giving all your staff additional break periods may leave employers thinking about their smoking policies and procedures and if they are taking the right approach.

 

There is no employee right to allow additional smoking breaks outside of an employee’s normal break periods and it’s important that managers and business owners set a consistent standard around break periods to ensure that members of the team do not abuse the rules. Often employers will include a smoking policy in the company handbook or team guide that will reinforce the break periods each employee is entitled to during the working day.

 

The research conducted by the British Heart Foundation also highlighted that 7 out of 10 smokers would welcome the support of their employer to help them give up smoking all together. There are many services available to assist with this and often there is no cost to the business. Taking a pro-active approach to your employee’s health and wellbeing can be beneficial to the worker but also for the wider business. Increased staff morale and improved sickness absence levels are just some of the areas that could benefit..

 

Services available

 

Smokefree – www.nhs.uk/smokefree

 

Quit – www.quit.org.uk

 

Electronic Cigarettes

 

In recent years different forms of electronic cigarettes have become popular. These can either be an alternative to smoking or as nicotine replacement, but many questions have been asked about how employers should treat this form of smoking.

 

Currently there is a lack of regulation surrounding electronic cigarettes, although it has been recently announced that they will be licenced as a medicine in the UK from 2016. This leaves an employer to decide on an appropriate policy for the business. There has been little evidence on the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes to date and the British Medical Association have questioned the safety of the chemicals which are used in the devices. Further research is needed to establish the long term safety of these devices and we anticipate further guidelines in the near future.

 

Our view is that business should consider electronic cigarettes within their smoking policy, as part of a wider view about supporting staff wellbeing.  Clearly businesses should respect the rights of individuals who choose to smoke, but also offer alternatives to those who may wish to consider giving up.  If you would like any further advice on smoking in the workplace or how to update your policy, please don’t hesitate to speak to one of the team at Tamar HR.

Auto-enrolment Seminars

Some of the biggest UK employers have been automatically enrolling their employees into workplace pension schemes since October 2012. So far the changes to workplace pensions have been very successful with less than 10% of employees opting out of a scheme and many people joining a pension scheme for the first time. By 2018 all UK employers will have to go through the auto-enrolment process and ensure that they comply with the new rules.

Although your staging date may be well into the future, many employers are unaware of the time needed to prepare for auto-enrolment with some companies needing more than a year to put everything in place.

To help you think about how a workplace pension will work for your company Tamar HR have teamed up with Peter Lee, Independent Financial Advisor from DFP Solutions to offer a short seminar focusing on the key facts of auto-enrolment and what employers need to think about before their staging date comes around.

The seminar will focus on the following areas:

·         Why auto-enrolment is happening

·         Employers duties

·         Assessing your workforce

·         Communication with staff

·         The process

·         Investment solutions

·         Challenges & risks

·         Advisor services

 
To bring this event to as many of our clients as possible, we will be running the seminar in both Devon and Cornwall on the following dates:

Wednesday 5^th February 2014

Plymouth Science Park, Derriford, Plymouth: 12.30pm – 2pm

Wednesday 26^th February 2014

Epiphany House, Truro : 13.30pm – 2pm

If you would like further information or to book your free place, call Tamar HR today on 01579 343700.

5 Employment Law Changes coming up in 2014

2013 saw a number of significant changes in employment law. We saw the introduction of tribunal fees for the first time in the UK, reduced consultation periods for collective redundancies and changes in criminal record checks, including the introduction of the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check.

1) Changes to TUPE will come into force

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has now confirmed that the changes to TUPE will take effect as from 31^st January 2014. The changes aim to help employers and staff in a business that is changing ownership, go through a process that is easy, effective and fair. TUPE can be a complex area, so if your business is planning to buy or sell aspects of the operation that will involve employees transferring their employment, you can seek advice from the Tamar HR team at an early stage so that we can assist you through the process.

2) Early Conciliation to be introduced

You may already be aware that employment tribunal fees were introduced in 2013. The next stage to these reforms is the introduction of early conciliation from ACAS. This will mean that any individual wishing to make a claim to the employment tribunal will need to notify ACAS before they do so. At this point ACAS will offer conciliation to try and resolve the dispute between the employee and employer without the need for going to a full Tribunal hearing. The Government hope that this change along with the introduction of tribunal fees will ease some of the £80 million pound cost to run employment tribunal service each year.

3) The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees

From Spring 2014, all employees will have the right to request flexible working. As an employer, you don’t have to accept every request that is made, but you do have a duty to consider requests and take a consistent approach when deciding if the request can be accommodated. Flexible working can have many benefits, with increased commitment from staff, increased productivity and may open up a role to a wider talent pool when recruiting. The impact on the business should also be fully considered before responding to the employee. 

4) Sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase

On 6^th April 2014 many statutory payments that employers make will have their rates increased. Please see the table below for the current rates and the new rates that will apply. We may also see a national minimum wage increase in October 2014, although the rate has not yet been confirmed.

	2013 Rate (current)	2014 Rate (from 6th April)
Statutory Sick Pay	£86.70	£87.55
Statutory Maternity Pay	£136.78	£138.18
Statutory Paternity Pay	£136.78	£138.18
Statutory Adoption Pay	£136.78	£138.18

 

5) Employers with over 60 staff will have to automatically enrol workers onto a pension scheme

You will be aware that Auto enrolment requires all employers to offer employees access to a workplace pension scheme.  The timing of this depends on number of employees and the size of the payroll.  All UK businesses will have to comply by 2018 and this year will focus on employers with staff between 50 and 500. We recommend that you act now even if you do not have to comply this year, as the process to get a scheme up and running and communicate this to your staff can take significant time. If you would like to know your staging date, contact us with your company PAYE payroll details and we will be able to assist you in your preparations.

If you would like to know more about any of the changes expected in 2014, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

How Effective is your Appraisal System?

A new challenge is upon us now that we are in 2014 and it’s the time of year when many organisations decide to complete their staff appraisals to help them prepare for the year ahead. But how effective is your company’s appraisal system?

For many businesses appraisals have become a paper exercise that result in the same process being completed without reviewing or developing the system. Many appraisal systems are overcomplicated and rely on the same questions asked each year even though the business and its employees have developed significantly. 

Over the past year the team at Tamar HR have been working with our clients to develop their appraisal and performance review systems. The most important thing is that the system needs to work for your business and it should be used as an opportunity to plan, develop and resolve the issues that are raised. An effective appraisal should be a 2 way process with feedback from each party to recognise good work and identify any short comings before working together to plan how to move forward.

Many of our clients have taken a new approach that we have developed known as a ‘Job Chat’ system. This is a streamlined and simple mechanism for recording key outcomes with your staff, which takes away a more rigid and prescriptive annual approach.  A Job Chat encourages regular engagement between managers and their team. It works by having a manager meet with each employee for a structured conversation that focuses on the key issues. The precise duration and timing of the Job Chat can be flexible depending on the needs of the business.  The Job Chat invites feedback from the employee about their job, the support they have received and their aspirations for the future. The manager also gets an opportunity to give feedback by recognising good work and identifying areas for improvement as required. It’s also a chance to share relevant information about future changes within the company if needed. The manager and employee then discuss and agree on an action plan focusing on what can be achieved before the next Job Chat. The benefit of this is that there is a shorter monitoring period before meeting up again to see how well things are progressing or if targets need to be amended.  It is designed to be a fluid system which supports positive action aligned to business priorities and objectives.

An effective appraisal system can help you to target support, training and challenge your team which could increase productivity and may also reduce your staff turnover in the process.  The benefit of good communication and engagement will help managers to understand the challenges staff face and how to maximise their contribution to the business. If you would like to take a different approach to your appraisal system this year, don’t hesitate to contact one of the team at Tamar HR to help you find a solution that works for your business.

HR Guidance on Christmas/Office Parties – Do’s and Don’ts!!

With the festive season rapidly approaching, we know that many of our clients are shortly holding their Christmas/office parties.

Here is some Christmas party etiquette designed to ensure you navigate through the party unscathed, make the right impression and keep your dignity intact!

5 things you shouldn’t do

1. Talk shop all evening – it will bore people

2. Attempt to dance like David Brent
 
3. Dress inappropriately
 
4. Engage in unorthodox use of the office photocopier
 
5. Leave the party too soon, unless you have made a complete fool of yourself

 

5 things you should do

1. Remember that the only reason you are there is because you have a job – and you want to keep it
 
2. Attend – it's good to show you’re part of the team

3. Engage in some shameless chit chat. This is a good time to talk to a range of people and, of course, the boss. This could help you in the long term in terms of forging alliances, helping to get things done or just raising your profile

4. Drink in moderation. Remember that excessive drinking is the number one cause of office party 'incidents'.

5. Keep the conversation light and interesting, it’s Christmas and no one wants to talk about the global financial crisis or global warming!

We are always delighted to hear from you but January calls to Tamar HR can be particularly ‘lively’ following the Christmas party season. We hope you have a brilliant time at any office parties being held.

Shared Parental Leave

How will the new rules work?

It has now been confirmed that from April 2015, new mothers will be able to share leave arrangements with their partner to care for a new born child. In order to do this, new mothers will need to end their maternity leave early and will be able to convert the balance of that leave into shared parental leave (SPL). This will allow families much more flexibility to take leave from work in the early part of their child’s life.

Shared parental leave will allow eligible partners to be absent from work to care for a child for a maximum of 52 weeks. Whilst new mothers will still be entitled to two weeks off after giving birth, the remaining 50 weeks of paid maternity leave can be split between both parents in order to share the responsibilities for the upbringing of the child.

A couple will be able to take leave together, the mother could return to work and transfer the balance of her maternity leave to her partner or the couple could even take leave in turns during block periods, if their employer will agree to this. As an employer you will not be able to refuse leave, but you will be able to refuse discontinuous blocks of leave if they will not be suitable for the business. For instance if an employee requests two four week periods, you can insist that they are taken together as one eight week period to minimise disruption to your organisation.

New parents will need to be upfront with employers if they decide to opt in to SPL. They will need to inform their employer how they intend to use their leave and although this will not be binding, it should make employers initially aware of the situation. They will be required to give eight weeks’ notice to take specific periods of leave or make changes to previous arrangements. They will also only be entitled to make 3 requests for SPL or changes to the leave.

 Won’t this be confusing for employers?

There are notice periods built in so that employers can plan. The rules state that workers have to give a non-binding indication of when they expect to take their allocated leave when they initially inform their employer that they intend to take shared parental leave.

With any maternity and paternity leave, they will have to give notice at the end of the 15^th week before the expected week of child birth, or within seven days of a child being matched if they are adopting.

Within the 52-week period, workers will have to give at least eight weeks notice of the start date of their leave.

They will only be able to take three separate sets of leave, or make three changes to the dates they plan to do so, during the 52 weeks, unless otherwise agreed with their Employer.

 Keeping In Touch (KIT) Days
Each parent will be entitled to have up to 20 ‘Keeping in Touch Days’ whilst on shared parental leave and it’s important to note that this is in addition to the 10 KIT days that a new mother is entitled to during her maternity leave.

 Return to Work

Any employee returning to work after maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave will have the right to return to the same job providing that the leave totals 26 weeks or less. This applies to workers that have taken leave in discontinuous blocks.

 Why is this happening?

The change is designed to‘challenge the old-fashioned assumption that women will always be the parent that stays at home’.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “Women deserve the right to pursue their goals and not feel they have to choose between having a successful career or having a baby. They should be supported by their employers, rather than being made to feel less employable or under pressure to take unchallenging jobs.”

“It is already illegal to sack a woman because she is pregnant or on maternity leave, but we want to go further than that. We want to create a fairer society that gives parents the flexibility to choose how they share care for their child in the first year after birth.”

 Business Reaction to shared parental leave plans

There has been a mixed response from industry and business leaders to the Government proposals:

Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser at the CIPD, said the proposals will allow mothers and fathers “significant flexibility to come up with arrangements for shared parental leave that match their particular circumstances”.

Neil Carberry, director of employment and skills at the CBI, said: “We are pleased that the Government has listened to firms’ concerns about being able to plan effectively around parental leave”.

“Businesses want to support parents and need a workable and straightforward system so they can do so.”

Tim Thomas, head of employment and skills policy at the manufacturers’ organisation EEF, said: “Limiting the number of change requests, encouraging employees to give upfront notification of their leave plans and giving employers the option to ask for leave to be taken in a continuous block will ensure that shared parental leave works for both businesses and parents.”

“However, we are still concerned by proposals on the right to return to the same job, as employees’ roles can change frequently when companies need to make significant changes to their business.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Unless it is backed up with better pay, many couples simply won’t be able to afford to take it. The Government’s own estimates suggest that just one in 20 dads would be able to afford to take shared parental leave if it was paid at the current statutory rate of just £137 per week.”

“By failing to give parents the right to return to the same job after six months, the Government has also missed an opportunity to prevent a constant source of pregnancy discrimination, where mums returning to work find that their job has changed.”

“The proposal will create confusion for employers and be a source of anxiety for women who decide to take more than six months of pregnancy leave.”

The Tamar HR View

We look forward to receiving further detail about these proposals so that we can help clients plan and implement the changes in 2015. Further information is due to be published in early 2014 and we can then begin thinking in more detail about how these changes will be implemented in your company.

In our experience working with clients, there is already a progressive and positive range of practice to support working parents with their caring responsibilities outside of work. This enables business to retain essential skills and talent which might otherwise be lost if such flexibility did not exist. Of course, any system needs to carefully balance the needs of the working parents with that of the wider business.

We believe the early ‘up front’ notification requirements are a positive step so that businesses can plan in plenty of time for Shared Parental Leave requests. Limiting the number of change requests, and requiring any leave to be taken in continuous blocks should assist employers in covering for workers who are absent, having exercised their right to take Shared Parental Leave.

If you would like to know more about shared parental leave, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.