Employment Law Update

As we are rapidly speeding through 2014 we are looking forward at Law changes expected in 2015

Parental Leave

The right to unpaid parental leave will be extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years. Currently this leave can only be taken up to a child’s 5^th birthday unless a child has a disability.

Surrogate parents eligible for adoption leave.

Currently the law does not allow intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement the right to adoption leave or pay but they may qualify for parental leave. It does however permit that the surrogate, full maternity leave and pay as according to UK law what a mother does after a child is born has no impact on her right to maternity leave. 

In 2015 the law is due to change and provided they meet the criteria, intended parents who have a child through surrogacy will be entitled to paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay and shared parental leave and pay. Furthermore both intended parents will be allowed to take unpaid time off to attend 2 antenatal classes with the woman carrying the child.

School leave age rises to 18

During 2015 the school leave age will rise to 18. Children born on or after 1 September 1997 can leave school on the last Friday in June as long as they are 16 by the end of that year’s summer school holiday but will have to stay in some form of education or training until their 18^th Birthday.

The options are:

• full-time education - e.g. at a school or college
• an apprenticeship or traineeship
• part-time education or training - as well as being employed, self-employed or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week

All of the above updates are subject to change, please speak to a member of the Tamar HR team to discuss any updates that might affect your business.

Notifying Unsuccessful Candidates & the Importance of Providing Feedback

Providing Applicant Feedback

Once applications have been shortlisted and the selected candidates have been invited to interview the next step is to inform unsuccessful candidates that their applications will not be progressed.

Unsuccessful applicants can challenge the basis for their applications being rejected. Only objective criteria should be used to assess the applications using job related criterion which clearly demonstrates why certain individuals were not shortlisted.

It is good practice to provide feedback to candidates and there are benefits to doing so, however there is no legal obligation to tell an applicant why they have been rejected for a role. It is good practice to provide honest and constructive feedback to candidates. Any information may be sought informally or retrieved via the questionnaire procedure provided for under the Equality Act 2010.

 

The Importance of Providing Feedback

It is important for businesses to evaluate their recruitment process, both for the successful and unsuccessful candidates. Candidates may go ‘the extra mile’ to participate in the process, such as taking annual leave to attend an interview and also incurring travel costs, but ultimately end up being unsuccessful. A professional and courteous approach can enhance the reputation as an employer. In many cases providing valuable feedback will be seen as a return on the time invested by the candidate. There are clear business advantages to provide feedback, it is not only a good PR opportunity but also objectively justifying a decision to not appoint someone reduces the risk that decisions will be challenged.

The value in the feedback comes from the individual’s own ideas about how they are perceived and how they are actually perceived in an interview and closing the gap between the two. One of the key aspects of the feedback is providing a detailed assessment of the candidates performance, drawing on any notes and records from the selection process.

Feedback should be provided as soon as reasonably possible while the process is still fresh in everyone’s mind, keeping candidates waiting should be avoided.

Content

The feedback itself should be constructive, objective and balanced. Praise is just as important as constructive criticism as it enforces good behaviours. It is important to establish what quantifies as helpful feedback and what doesn’t, for example ‘when people were talking to you, you interrupted several times, which gave the impression that you weren’t listening’, is constructive feedback, whilst on the other hand ‘ you were rude and did not listen to others’ does not explain things adequately.

In some cases, the applicant may have met all of the essential criteria for the role and could have been appointed, but another applicant had more relevant strengths or experience. In these circumstances it is suitable to explain that ‘although you did meet the essential criteria for the post, on this occasion another applicant demonstrated a higher level of skills/knowledge/experience than was required’. In these situations it is best to be open and transparent and detail the reasons why they were not offered the role.

Following the feedback, always finish by thanking an applicant for their interest in the role and that being unsuccessful on this occasion should not deter them from applying for other suitable positions that may arise.

Feedback should:

·       Be related directly to the selection criteria, and in what aspects the candidate did not match it.

·       Include supporting information – if the candidate has provided statements without any supporting evidence to back this up then you may want to highlight this to them.

·       Be specific rather than general –provide examples – only use evidence gathered during the selection process (application form/interviews answers)

·       Be focused on the behaviours which the applicant can actively improve on.

·       Be focussed and clear about the main reasons for non selection

·       Ensure the applicant understands the feedback by asking questions.

·       Be sensitively delivered – pick out strengths and areas for development, alternating between points so you are not focusing on delivering just negative news for too long.

·       Be backed up by the selection records such as the sifting matrix and interview records.

How to contact

It's never easy breaking the news to a candidate that they haven’t been successful but the aim is to make the process as constructive as possible. Wherever possible, direct feedback over the phone should be provided. This reinforces the personable nature of the business and that all candidates are treated equally. Other methods can be email, or post. The application stage is the most appropriate for notifying candidates via email as you may have a high volume of interested candidates and individually replying to all of them is time consuming and inefficient.

However, those that have attended interviews should receive more detailed feedback wherever possible, and notifying via a mass email can be seen as being impersonal and discourteous. Sometimes you may need to use email or a letter to notify candidates that have not reached the interview stage in the interest of efficiency. At the very least be sure to reference the person by their name and it is also good practice to offer a contact number so they are able to contact you to obtain feedback

Candidates tend to prefer to be notified or given feedback through a phone call as this will give them the opportunity to ask questions and it will feel much more personal and helpful from the candidate’s point of view.

7 Ways to Improve Staff Retention

1) Recruit the right people

Staff management starts at the recruitment stage. It’s important to develop robust recruitment systems to ensure that you are employing the right people and selecting the best match against the job criteria you have defined. Potential candidates need to be given a realistic idea of what the job will entails to avoid surprises once they start and expectations should be managed from the moment an applicant reviews your advert. References are also an  indicator of the abilities and character of your new employee, so it is good practie  follow these through to highlight any concerns at the earliest opportunity.

2) Effective policies and procedures

Effective policies and procedures are the foundations for any employment relationship. Staff will need to understand company standards and what is expected of them in their day to day working life. Your team will want to know that your policies are in place and enforced if they are to respect and follow them. Make sure that your team understand how you deal with disagreements in the workplace and make them aware that issues will be dealt with promptly and in a fair manner.

3) Develop your team

Why do people leave? On a whim? Probably not. Employees may decide to leave for all different types of reasons.  Sometimes it may be that they feel that they are no longer developing their skills and see no long term future from them within the business. Develop your team and they can help develop your business. Spending time on meaningful job conversations to understand what drives your employees and how to can get the best out of them can help to boost morale and retention.

4) Spend a day in their shoes

Senior managers in many businesses routinely spend a day ‘on the shop floor’ and this can have a number of benefits.   Engaging with staff and listening to the views of those ‘on the front line’ can help to develop understanding of their roles and the day to day challenges and opportunities which are presented.   

5) Empower your team

People like to feel valued. Create an environment that aims to have continuous improvement practiced by staff at all levels of the organisation. Creating the conditions which enable individuals to take ownership of their roles, be creative and put forward ideas will hopefully lead to improved productivity for the business. Engaged and motivated staff are likely to feel more confident in asking questions and challenging their peers in a positive manner.

6) Find out why staff leave

Obtaining feedback from ‘exit interviews’ can be a good way to understand the reasons why employees wish to leave.   If you understand the reason people decide to move on, it may help you to identify ways that you can retain your talented staff.  There may be things you can learn from these discussions which can help the business moving forward.

7) Learn from mistakes

As with anything in life, mistakes can happen. Rather than looking at a mistake as a bad thing, think about what you can learn from it and what you can do to ensure that the same situation does not happen again. If you find that there is a pattern behind the reasons employees are leaving, it is important to analyse this to see what can be learnt.  Understanding the reasons will help you to put improved systems and processes in place which reduce staff turnover and improve retention. 

The Right to Request Flexible Working

What is flexible working?

 

Flexibility in the workplace is about developing modern working practices to fit the needs of the business and their employees. Both employers and employees can gain from flexible working opportunities as both parties have the flexibility to organise their working arrangements in a way that suits them.

 

This can enable business to adapt to changing conditions and individual employees to better balance their work and family life. For businesses, flexible working can help retain staff – and holding onto experienced and skilled staff is important in maintaining quality and controlling costs. Offering flexible hours widens the talent pool, so employers should be able to recruit people with more skills; it can also increase commitment and loyalty of staff members. This can in turn translate into improved productivity and by extension improved profitability. For employees, flexible working allows them to better balance their home life with their responsibilities at work. In today’s society, both men and women want to find a balance between work, family and caring responsibilities which are shared more equally than ever before.

What are the different types of flexible working?

Part-time working – Some staff may choose to work a reduced number of hours, for example to balance caring responsibilities they may have outside of work

Flexi-time– Although certain staff members may be required to work onsite at core times for your business, there may be some flexibility in how the overall hours under the contract are worked. 

Job-sharing– A job share arrangement involves employment of two people to share a work load that would normally be completed by one employee.

Working from home – With advances in modern technology , you may be able to  offer home working rather than require employees to attend the office every day.

Annualised hours – This is an agreed  number of hours to be worked annually under a contract of employment but with flexibility about the days and times that these hours are completed. Annualised hours are normally spread across a regular pattern of work during each year.  This does  provide flexibility to adjust the number of hours worked each week, for example when there is extra demand on your business.

 

Who can apply for flexible working?

 

Currently flexible working requests are limited to employees that have parental or caring responsibilities and meet the following criteria:

 

·         Have a child that is 16 or under or a disabled child that is under 18.

 

·         Are caring for an adult that is a partner, relative or lives at the same address as them.

 

·         Have worked for the company for 26 weeks continuously at the time of application.

 

·         Has not made another application for flexible working in the past 12 months.

 

What changes are being introduced in Spring 2014?

The proposed in the Spring 2014 aim to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees. Businesses will need to follow a fair process when considering requests for flexible working, in order to avoid decisions being challenged and potential claims of discrimination being made by the employee.

Do I have to agree to flexible working if I receive a request?

 

At present employers have a statutory duty to consider any application they are presented with as long as the employee meets the criteria mentioned above. A meeting must be arranged within 28 days of the request being received and a decision within 14 days of the meeting to meet the statutory requirements. The new guidelines state that employers will have a duty to consider all requests in a ‘reasonable’ manner and within a ‘reasonable’ time frame. The reality of this means that when you receive a request, you will need to begin a similar procedure to demonstrate that a fair process has been completed and any decision is justified. You will have the discretion  to refuse requests on business grounds. The employee will  have the right to appeal if the request for flexible working is refused.

 

Will flexible working benefit our company?

Flexible working is not suitable for every business; however it is becoming more accessible for many companies with the range of modern technology that is being made available. The use of laptops, mobile phones, emails and web hosting has opened up a lot of opportunities. If managed effectively flexible working can have a positive effect on your team by boosting staff morale, increasing productivity and improving staff retention. It has also been known to reduce levels of sickness absence, which could ultimately save the business money in the long term.

If you require any further information on the upcoming changes to flexible working, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Tamar HR team

Employment Law Update

April 2014

• Early conciliation to come into force

Anyone wishing to lodge a tribunal claim will need to notify ACAS first, where early conciliation will be offered. There will be a certain period for a settlement to be agreed before the claim can be considered by the Tribunal.

Spring 2014

• Flexible working

The right to request flexible working may be made available to all employees and the current statutory procedure for considering requests may be removed. Instead employers will have a duty to consider all requests in a reasonable manner.

§  Managing sickness absence

A health and work assessment and advisory service is to be introduced, offering fee occupational health assistance for employees, employers and GPs. The service can provide an occupational health assessment after four weeks of sickness absence.

2015

• Flexible parental leave

New parents will be able to choose how they share the care of their new born child for the first year after birth. New mothers will still have to take at least 2 weeks off after the birth but the rest of the leave can be shared by both parents as ‘shared parental leave’ (SPL), if they meet certain criteria with their employment.

• Parental leave extended to children aged 18

The right for employees to take unpaid parental leave will be extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years.

• Surrogate parents will be eligible for adoption leave

Provided employees meet the eligibility criteria, parents who have a child through surrogacy will be permitted to take adoption leave and pay and also shared parental leave and pay.

• The school leaving age will rise to 18 years
 

 

All of the above updates are subject to change; please speak to a member of the Tamar HR team to discuss any updates that might affect your business.

7 HR Tips to Manage Your Staff

 

1) Issuing an employment contract and employee handbook

Many businesses that employ staff do not provide employment terms and conditions within eight weeks of a new employee starting in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996. A contract (employment terms and conditions) can contain basic policies such as grievance and discipline so an employee handbook may not always be necessary if there are only one or two members of staff. However if there are five or more employees it might be a good idea to develop a small employee handbook to provide guidance on various HR procedures. It is important to remember that if an employer ends up in an employment tribunal and has not issued a contract, then should the employee win their case, an award can be made of up to four weeks’ pay.

 

2) Undertaking a thorough investigation

With many HR issues it is really important to do a thorough investigation in order to establish the facts. An investigation may be necessary in relation to disciplinary matters, capability, bullying & harassment and sickness absence. An investigation should uncover the full facts that will inform a decision of whether to take action against the employee or not. Employment Tribunals place significant emphasis on the fairness and quality of the investigation process when considering claims.

3) Take action with bullying and harassment

Let's face it, dealing with bullying and harassment in the workplace is both sensitive and challenging. Having a clear dignity at work policy is a good starting point, training should be provided for the workforce to raise awareness of dignity at work issues. If any complaints for example, of bullying and harassment are received they should be carefully and fairly investigated so the facts can be established. If the evidence suggests bullying and harassment has occured this may give rise to disciplinary action. 

 

4) Managing poor performance

Dealing with performance issues can be challenging and can lead to potential conflict. People are not very comfortable with challenging feedback. However, poor performance is a financial cost to businesses - direct costs are loss of productivity and profit and this can impact on team morale.

5) Manage sickness absence

Intermittent or long term sickness absence is not easy to deal with. With intermittent absence it is important to watch out for trends and take swift action. By having an informal conversation about the problem, it starts the ball rolling for dealing with the issue. With long term absence many employers don't think they can intervene when their employee sends in a sick note confirming their absence. However it is important to deal with the situation as soon as possible by meeting with the employee to find out what is happening. An employer needs to know the prognosis for the future and how to support the employee to return to work at an appropriate time. They may need the support of an occupational health advisor preparing a report that will help an employer manage the situation.

 

6) Manage a disciplinary situation

Disciplinary situations in the workplace can range from misconduct to gross misconduct and need to be carefully handled. If there is the potential for gross misconduct the employer may consider a period of suspension to enable a fair and objective investigation. A thorough investigation should then be completed without undue delay followed by a fair hearing allowing the employee to have their say. The employee also needs to be provided with the right of representation. The outcome should be confirmed in writing with the right to appeal. The disciplinary process needs to be fair and reasonable to avoid a compensation award in an employment tribunal.

7) Always consult in relation to a redundancy situation

Meaningful consultation should take place with the aim of avoiding compulsory redundancy where ever possible. The number of staff at risk of redundancy will dictate how long the consultation period should be. If there are 100+ staff, the consultation period shall be 45 days. With 20-99 staff the consultation period is 30 days and less than 20 employees there is no set time frame. However with the latter the consultation period needs to be reasonable and good practice would allow at least a week between the last consultation meeting and notification of dismissal (if applicable) depending on the number of staff to be consulted with. Failing to consult will attract a protective award in an employment tribunal.

 

* Disclaimer
 

This guidance is intended to cover general situations which may be encountered.  More specific or complex queries may require more detailed assessment.  You should consider taking specialist professional advice from Tamar HR if a situation arises which falls outside the scope of this general guidance document.

Employment Tribunal Fees

As you may or may not be aware, on 29th July 2013 we saw the introduction of employment tribunal fees for the first time in the UK.  The fees introduced by the coalition government aim to pay for some of the £74 million that it costs to run the service each year.  The ministry of justice argue that this cost should not be the responsibility of the UK tax payer, as it has been in the past.

 

Although the fees are subject to different challenges that are due to be heard at the end of September and late October the fee system is up and running.  There is a chance that individuals who pay the fees will get their money back, should the challenges be upheld.

The new fee system places a claim in one of two categories.  Type A is for the more straightforward cases such as notice pay or holiday entitlement.  The cases that fall under Type B are deemed to be more serious, for example discrimination or unfair dismissal. The fee payable will depend on which type of claim is to be made. A claimant will not only have to pay to issue the claim but also a hearing fee will be applicable should the case be taken to court.

 

See the table below for the cost of the new fees:

 

Fee Type	Type A Claims	Type B Claims
Issue Fee	£160	£250
Hearing Fee	£230	£950

The build up to the introduction of the fee system saw an increase of 10% in employment tribunal claims being made, from April to June 2013, compared to the previous year.  Only time will tell how the new fees impact on the levels of claims made, but early indications show that we expect to see a substantial drop between July – September this year.  We will keep you posted when the figures are in.

So what’s next?
 

From 1^st April 2014 a new step will be introduced in the process of making an Employment Tribunal claim.  Anyone who wishes to make a claim will need to contact ACAS first, regardless of the type of claim.  ACAS will require any claimant to complete an ‘Early Conciliation’ form, in which they will list basic details about themselves and their employer.  The form will not require them to list details about the dispute; however ACAS will make contact with them to offer conciliation services.  If the claimant accepts, ACAS will have one calendar month to negotiate a settlement.  Only if early conciliation is refused or fails during the time period, will the claimant be able to submit the claim to the Employment Tribunal.

What does this mean for employers?

The aim of early conciliation along with the introduction of tribunal fees is to reduce the number of cases that make it to the Employment Tribunal.  Previously employers have only been notified of a claim when they receive the letter informing them of the details.  The hope of the new system is that, employers will have the opportunity to resolve matters without the need for a tribunal hearing, saving them time and money.  Employers who are involved in a dispute with an employee will often sit tight and wait to see if a claim comes in.  However under the new system it will be important that employers take a view on the situation much earlier, as to whether they are prepared to negotiate a solution outside of a tribunal hearing.  Early conciliators are aiming to make contact with both the claimant and employer within one day of a claim being submitted, so be prepared as if this is the case, we can expect things to happen quickly!

If you require any further information on Employment Tribunal Fees, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Tamar HR team.