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. (more…)
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. (more…)
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. (more…)
Major absenteeism review presented to Government this week
On Monday an independent review aimed at reducing the cost of sickness to employers, taxpayers and the economy was 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 about government 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 needless sickness absence in the UK. These are shown below and extracted from a Government announcement published earlier this week
A new Independent Assessment Service (IAS) that employers and GPs can refer long-term sickness absence cases for bespoke advice. Employers stand 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. This will allow those claimants who need support to get it sooner and those that can work help 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. This service 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) 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.”
If the Government accepts the recommendations, GPs will sign people off work for up to four weeks. After that time, the new assessment service will agree the work they should be capable of carrying out. The aim is to prevent employees sliding into a longer-term absence within the first six months of becoming sick. Smaller benefit payments will be made to those signed off sick for the first three months
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.”
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 applying the Companies 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 is unfamiliar of the work environment and individual’s job role but are continuing to sign employees off work too easily.
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…’
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.”
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.
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The proposal to provide employers the freedom to terminate their relationship with underperforming employees will be viewed positively by local businesses.
Here at Triangle HR it is our opinion that if the changes were implemented, employers are more likely to increase their existing workforce if they have the confidence to manage their teams without the threat of receiving a claim for unfair dismissal. (more…)
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.
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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.
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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. (more…)
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.
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Changes to unfair dismissal clams and the Tribunal system
In a bid to improve the quality of unfair dismissal claims and “make it less risky for businesses to employ people”, Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed two key employment changes. From April 2013, an employee wishing to bring a claim to a tribunal must:
• Have worked for the company for two years (an increase in 1 years service from current requirements)
• Pay a £250 tribunal application fee and a further £1,000 if a hearing is granted.
The fee is refunded if the case is successful but not if the employee loses. ‘Poor claimants’ will not have to pay but the qualifying criteria for this has not yet been confirmed.
The Government anticipates that the introduction of a fee-paying system combined with the increased qualifying period, should mean 2,000 fewer tribunals every year, saving businesses £6 million.
Triangle HR perspective
Overall this will no doubt be received as a positive change for employers, however this will have implications and consequences for businesses. With over 100,000 tribunals per year the existing employment tribunal administration system may be unable to cope with the new burden of collecting fees and issuing refunds – as well as working out who has to pay in the first place.
With these changes, employers may feel more confident in getting rid of under-performing employees as they feel an unfair dismissal claim will be less likely than before. However, a larger number of employees could be left potentially more vulnerable in an already unstable work climate.
There is an important point to be considered here, though. There is a current trend of employees bringing claims for unfair dismissal linked with some form of discrimination. Since discrimination claims can be made from the first day of an employee starting work so the extended qualifying period could be irrelevant so employers should not be complacent.
We feel that, to make a significant difference to the employment tribunal system, the Government may need to look at unfair dismissal law itself.
The Government recently confirmed two very significant employment law changes. The unfair dismissal claims qualifying period will increase from one to two years. In addition a fee will be charged for any employee looking to bring an employment tribunal claim.
