Nearly 500 local newspapers across the country are joining forces to find the nation’s most promising young businesses and help them accelerate their success with top professional advice from local business mentors.

Triangle HR has been selected by the Shropshire Star as one of four business mentors in the ‘Local Business Accelerators Campaign’, an initiative spearheaded by The Newspaper Society.

The campaign’s national ambassador is Deborah Meaden from Dragon’s Den who will become a consultant and mentor to the winning business for a year.

• Three Shropshire businesses have been chosen to receive a day’s mentoring each month during January February and March.
• The mentors will then select one business to go forward to a regional event followed by the national final to be held in June.
• The businesses will also receive an allocation of free advertising in the local newspaper along with PR advice from the business editor.

Prime Minister David Cameron has given his backing to the campaign “The Local Business Accelerators campaign will help provide the boost that our smaller British businesses need right now.”

At Triangle HR, we are delighted to be so actively involved in such a worthwhile initiative. Having set up her own business, Justine knows first-hand the issues that new businesses can face and, with a broad client base, Triangle HR has a wealth of practical experience that we are ready to share with the mentees.

We are also thrilled to be working with the other business mentors:

• Thom Kennedy (Business Editor of the Shropshire Star) who will be providing PR advice,
• Turner Peachey Accountants (financial expertise), and
• Chris Jones (Shropshire Chamber) who will be mentoring in the fields of Sales and Marketing.

With the use of social media on the increase and the vast number of communication channels and methods available, employers must carefully consider how they manage this within their organisations.

Our advice is to ensure that a policy exists in the first place and that the business has taken appropriate measures to ensure that it has been communicated to all employees.

The policy should specify the firm’s position on the use of such media, and have a key focus on what information their staff can communicate within their profiles in relation to information about the organisation and any clients that they represent. Consideration and clarity must also be provided about what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable for publishing in the public domain.

Check that your IT policy covers employees use of Facebook and Twitter and make sure you address it before you have a problem. Our ‘one size fits all’ wording and procedures can be easily integrated into your Contracts of Employment.

For your copy and to help protect your business please call Triangle HR on 01743 453170. Alternatively you can email info@trianglehr.co.uk

There are five key areas where significant changes to employment legislation have been confirmed for 2012. These fall into the categories of pay for authorised leave (e.g sick leave and maternity/paternity/adoption leave), pensions, redundancy payments, tribunals and unfair dismissal.

1) Increase in statutory redundancy payments and guarantee payments from 1st February 2012

Key changes:

• The maximum amount of a week’s pay used to calculate a statutory redundancy payment and the basic and additional awards for unfair dismissal will increase from £400 to £430.
• The maximum guaranteed payment payable to an employee in respect of any day will increase from £22.20 to £23.50.
• The maximum award for compensation for unfair dismissal will increase from £68,400 to £72,300.

2) Increases in statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay from April 2012

Key changes:

• 1st April: Standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £128.73 to £135.45 per week.
• 6th April: Statutory sick pay will increase from £81.60 to £85.85 per week.

3) Increase in qualifying period for unfair dismissal from 6th April 2012

Key changes:

• The qualifying period for an employee to bring an unfair dismissal claim will increase from one year to two years.

4) Changes to employment tribunal procedures from 6th April 2012

Key changes:

• Employment judges will hear unfair dismissal cases alone in the tribunal, unless they direct otherwise.
• The maximum amount of a deposit order to continue with tribunal proceedings will increase from £500 to £1,000.
• The maximum amount of a costs order will increase from £10,000 to £20,000.
• Witness statements must be taken “as read” unless a tribunal directs otherwise.

5) Automatic enrolment in pensions from 1st October 2012

Key changes:

• From 1st October 2012, employers with 50 or more employees must automatically enrol eligible employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme or the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest).
• Payment of employer contributions will be mandatory.

Specific dates for other changes have not yet been published but proposals in the pipeline include:

• the introduction of employment tribunal fees
• the introduction of “protected conversations” in the workplace
• debate around the law on TUPE
• possible amendments to laws surrounding collective redundancy consultation

Consultations will also take place on reforming the law on employment disputes and removing the third-party harassment provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Triangle HR can help you keep up to date with developments in employment legislation. Call Justine on 01743 453170 or email info@trianglehr.co.uk

Monday 21st November saw an independent review aimed at reducing the cost of sickness to employers, taxpayers and the economy presented to the Government. 140 million days lost to sickness absence every year, 11 million employees take sick leave and 300,000 people go on to claim health-related benefits – these are big numbers and one the biggest HR issues for employers.

Find out more below about the recommendations and Triangle HR’s opinion and experience from working in the local the business community.
 


The review contains a number of recommendations which aim to reduce the human and financial cost of sickness absence in the UK. These are shown below and extracted from a Government announcement published earlier this week.

The Government wants to tackle this via two routes.

• The first is by giving employers an independent appeals process so that they can test whether sick notes given in the main have been granted for the right reasons. A more independent assessment may differ. Within the first four weeks of an employee being “signed off”, a business will have to pay a fee for the service. After that, it can appeal at no cost. The decision of the independent group of GPs, who will be an expert in work related health issues, may provide an alternative diagnosis.
• The second route is by over-hauling the employment support allowance. The current benefits kick in after the 28 week statutory sick pay period has been exhausted. The problem with the employment support allowance is that people are assessed as to their eligibility only after they have been on the allowance for 13 weeks.

Therefore one aim of this process would be to help reduce the number of employees who remain off work for long periods of time. The assessment is expected to reveal that approximately 6% may be deemed fit for work with half being able to return to work earlier than the 13 week period.

The Government, quite rightly, is seeking to move the assessment process to the beginning of the 13 weeks and therefore encourage people who can go back to work to do so.

With a new Independent Assessment Service (IAS), both employers and GPs can refer long-term sickness absence cases for bespoke advice – with employers standing to gain around £100m a year from reductions to sick pay bills from using this service.

• Removal of the assessment phase for claimants of Employment and Support Allowance will allow those claimants who need support to get it sooner and those that can work access to find a job more quickly. It will also save the taxpayer £100m each year.
• Introducing a new job brokering service for employees on long-term sickness absence who are unable to return to their current employer could save the State up to £300m a year by reducing the benefits bill.

The review was led by Professor Dame Carol Black (the Government’s director for health and work) and David Frost (former head of the British Chambers of Commerce), who claims that the proposed changes “could save employers £100 million per year from reductions to sick pay bills”.

The Government response, reported in Personnel Today by Edward Davey, minister for employment relations, said that the Government would be looking at the proposals “with interest”. “Sickness absence is an issue that affects everybody. The current system lets down individuals, businesses and taxpayers, which is why this review is such an important piece of work.”

The British Chambers of Commerce backed the recommendations and called on the Government to introduce them “without delay”. Director-general John Longworth said: “Sickness absence and the rules that surround it are a big problem for UK firms – 70% of businesses believe that the rules on how to handle sickness absence are burdensome. On that basis, we welcome the deregulatory measures recommended in this review.”

Our perspective and advice on this announcement

Triangle HR supports a variety of business sectors throughout Shropshire and surrounding counties and is regularly advising business owners/managers when it comes to managing sickness absence. And whilst sickness absence is a huge concern, often managers lack the confidence or the capability when it comes to handling sickness absence, particularly if the employee is claiming stress or anxiety.

• Our advice is to act upon sickness related absences immediately. It is imperative that the process is handled appropriately and that managers communicate with their employees as quickly as possible, and of course are applying their internal sickness absence policy.
• We have seen a significant increase in the number of people being signed off work for prolonged periods, and in many cases the GP has no understanding of their work environment and job role before signing them off work.

We are in favour of this proposal and believe that this process will enable employers to manage sickness absence more effectively. Additionally we believe that this policy would encourage employees to think twice about their reasons for being signed off work in the first place.

Other viewpoints

Locally The Shropshire Star reported ‘In Shropshire, several of the county’s biggest employers have reported a rise in long-term sickness absence this year…’

Finally, reported in The Independent was the response from the British Medical Association welcoming the proposed changes “GPs have a long-term relationship with their patients and it puts them in a difficult situation if they are being asked to tell a patient that they’re wrong and are fit to work,” it said. “GPs are often not best placed to assess what someone can and cannot do. It is far better if a trained occupational health doctor does that.”

A recent article in The Daily Telegraph highlighted the issues surrounding older employees. We’ve a constructive look at the prejudices and issues surrounding staff believed to be not as productive as their younger counterparts.

The article stated  “Hundreds of thousands more people will be forced to work longer before collecting their state pension, and yet employers appear reluctant to accept the change… Prejudices remain that the over-65s will take more sick leave than younger staff, be slower to adapt to new ways of working and be more difficult to manage than younger members of staff.”

The challenges for employers are considered to be –

• How to manage the performance for workers that they consider to be slowing down?
• How will formal management processes be received by an employee that may have been working for over 50 years?
• What risks exist for the employers in relation to age discrimination and can they prove consistency across all employee capability and performance management issues?
• How can the employer be confident that they are going to get the maximum performance and productivity by hiring a worker that would have previously been considered at retirement age?
• What measure / assessments can be implemented to assist with performance management?

We believe that employers are increasingly concerned about hiring ‘older workers’ since the abolition of the retirement age, despite the fact that older workers offer a wealth of experience and knowledge. Employers are concerned about managing their capability and performance through formal processes.

Age discrimination claims have risen sharply over the past couple of years: up by 31% on 2009-10. Average settlement amounts for such claims are now £30,289 – more than two to three times those for other discrimination awards. See below for a look the settlement figures and issues for employers to be aware of.

• Employment tribunal claim settlement amounts are declining – but age discrimination claims are up by 177% and religious discrimination claims by 74% (1)
• SMEs are spending £259 million per year on cases associated with dismissals/redundancies and £333 million on disciplinary issues (2)
• 1 in 5 businesses settle claims in advance due to not having appropriate policies and procedures in place
• The average tribunal costs for employers is £8,500, with an average settlement of £5,400
• Successful discrimination claims resulted in an average payout of £30,2891

In any relationship there is potential for conflict and, in that respect, working relationships are no different. Conflicts between individual colleagues or between employee(s) and employer can escalate to more serious disputes if left unchecked.

Indeed, the significant increase in claims brought before employment tribunals over the past few years bears testament to this. And, during a recession – when jobs are harder to find and more people face the prospect of redundancy – the likelihood of disputes is higher as more employees are prepared to pursue a claim through the courts to seek recompense for treatment at work that they feel is unfair.

The maximum tribunal compensation award for unfair dismissal is £68,400. There is currently no cap for discrimination Awards and there have been some high profile massive payments of six figure sums. However, in most discrimination cases, any Award is unlikely to exceed £10,000.

Dealing with workplace disputes can become costly and time-consuming if the end result is an employment tribunal and, with this in mind, almost half (45% (1)) of employers involved in disputes currently tend to opt for settling out of court. Employers also have legal obligations to fulfil regarding how they treat their employees and, if challenged in court, will need to demonstrate they have behaved appropriately in handling a complaint.

Given all this, it is in the interests of any employer to aim to resolve any conflict at work as quickly and effectively as possible.

Employee grievances must be taken seriously and investigated within the guidelines set out in the Employment Act 2008.

All employers have a responsibility to:

• Recognise when an employee has a concern, problem or complaint and respond quickly
• Attempt to resolve the situation informally or through mediation in the first instance.

Appropriate grievance and disciplinary procedures that are accessible, well-communicated and supported by the training and development culture of the company will provide a clear and transparent framework to help either party deal with difficulties in their working relationship.

The Average Awards at Employment Tribunals (1)

• Disability discrimination £14,137
• Sexual orientation discrimination £11,671
• Sex discrimination £13,911
• Race discrimination £12,108
• Age discrimination £30,289
• Unfair dismissal £8,924
• Religious discrimination £8,515

A generous employer who joined in the festive excitement by providing a free bar had risks and life-changing consequences. The outcomes can often be disastrous but we had experience of an employer who misjudged a situation but had an expensive, but very positive outcome.

The prospect of a free bar may be received positively by staff, but we have in the past been requested by employers to manage issues that have arisen as a result of an employee’s subsequent inappropriate behaviour and party conduct.

At the Christmas party in this situation, the employer provided unlimited quantities of alcohol and things got seriously out of hand. The behaviour and conduct of one employee was particularly inappropriate and it was subsequently discovered that she was an alcoholic.

It was considered that the employer ultimately encouraged her behaviour because they had provided the alcohol. Therefore, what could have potentially been considered gross misconduct resulted in the Company funding her to attend alcoholism counselling at The Priory.

A huge cost to the business but extremely rewarding, as the end result was very positive.

What can be done to minimise potential party problems?

In advance of your party, think about these potential issues:

• How do you manage employees who cannot manage their drink?
• How do you/they know their limits, who is responsible for their behaviour after them having a few too many (provided by the Company)?
• What about their inappropriate behaviour towards work colleagues or bosses?
• Are you encouraging staff to drink more?
• Could you be held responsible by providing the booze?
• What are the implications for employers?

To discuss any specific HR issues that you may have regarding your Christmas party please call Triangle HR on 01743 453170 or email info@trianglehr.co.uk

Age discrimination claims have risen sharply over the past couple of years: up by 31% on 2009-10. In addition, average settlement amounts for such claims are now £30,289, more than two to three times those for other discrimination awards. Below is an analysis of this trend and recommended good practice to help your business avoid costly claims.

Protection against discrimination is provided under The Equality Act 2010, which, among other measures, prohibits either harassment or discrimination (direct or indirect) on the basis of age. This year, the Government also abolished the default retirement age as at 1st October 2011 (with transitional provisions from 6th April 2011).

Whilst overall, the number of tribunal claims has declined by 8%, age discrimination claims have risen sharply over the past couple of years: up by 31% on 2009-10 figures and 79% higher than in 2008-9. In addition, average settlement amounts for such claims are now £30,289, more than two to three times those for other discrimination awards.

Under the new tribunal regulations, many informed employees are expected to be looking towards a discrimination claim if the unfair dismissal claim route is closed off to them for financial reasons.

Given the current economic climate where both unemployment and redundancies remain considerably high and workers who would have previously retired exercise their rights to remain at work, experts are predicting that this trend is likely to continue.

It is also worth bearing in mind that any employee can potentially bring a claim for age discrimination whether they are young or old so employers would be wise to avoid complacency and consider the following good practice.

• Issue clear job descriptions so employees understand what is expected of them.
• Train and support line managers in helping their staff to achieve the required standards of performance.
• Put effective disciplinary, grievance and dismissal procedures in place.
• Keep up to date with relevant employment legislation.
• Explore informal options of addressing capability and performance issues.
• Train and support line managers to handle disciplinary meetings and interviews.
• Ensure clear communication with employees when making workforce changes and give reasons for decisions. Ambiguity can potentially leave the door open for a discrimination claim.
• Keep meticulous records of anything relevant to a grievance or disciplinary e.g. minutes of meetings, emails, notes of attendance etc

Triangle HR perspective