Monday 28 March 2016

Health & wellbeing: are your employees bouncing with Spring energy?


At this time of year, many of us are keen to get our health and fitness back on the right track after all those Easter chocolates and winter sloth. This counts for your team as well.  You need everyone fully energized and firing on all cylinders, so it makes sense to encourage them to take care of themselves and live a healthier and more balanced lifestyle.  

Here are some ideas for positive action:

Help people eat more healthily

Birthday cake and occasional treats are unlikely to do anyone any harm. But when your workplace traditions include fried breakfasts on Monday mornings, pizza during Wednesday meetings, chocolate on sluggish afternoons, and beers on Friday evenings, the health impact can quickly mount up.

The alternatives are simple, low cost, and highly effective. Maybe encourage staff to bring in their own healthy bakes to share? Have fresh fruit available to snacking instead of biscuits? Arrange for local juice providers to supply energy-boosting pick-me-ups during busier periods?

Creating new traditions and having healthy snacks easily available could be just what your employees need. 

Get people moving

Sitting behind a desk all day is a pretty unnatural state for a human being and to a certain extent, most of us are stuck with more sedentary ways of working.

But small changes can make a huge difference.  For example, encourage staff to walk to their colleagues’ workstations instead of sending emails, and set an example yourself by moving around the office every hour.

You might find that some people would be interested in:
  • a cycle to work scheme with secure bicycle parking.
  • exercise during lunch or running/cycling to work – if you could provide lockers for kit.
  • a lunchtime walking club.
  • subsidised membership of the local gym

These are relatively easy, low cost measures to introduce that will improve energy levels.

Consulting with your team

If you’re going to really improve the level of health and wellbeing in your company, changes need to be what matters to your employees, not something that’s done to them.   Ask what activities they want to see happen: it will mean you invest in activities that your staff actually want, not what you think they need. 

These are the sort of ideas that I’ve seen employees come up with:
  • team competitions towards a goal or milestone, and a reward for whichever team gets there first. It could be miles walked, pounds lost, or something entirely different, maybe with charity sponsorship.
  • help to stop smoking
  • on-site vaccination during flu season.
  • lunchtime meditation and mindfulness classes. 

With workers spending more and more time in the office, businesses can make a lot of positive difference to the health and wellbeing of their employees, to ensure that some kind of balance is achieved.   The business benefits can be plentiful when you get it right. Healthier and happier workers are more productive. Fact. 

For more ideas to improve health & wellbeing, or help with consulting employees and implementing changes, contact The Human Resource on enquiries@thehr.co.uk.


Sunday 27 March 2016

Three strategies for managing sickness absence




Most managers have to pick up the phone now and again to be told that one of the team is too ill to make it into the office today. The impact can be a short term nuisance while you rearrange workloads.  Or it can turn into more than that and start to affect the service provided to customers, over-burden others in the team and, if you’re paying for the absence, have a severe impact on your bottom line.

Here are some proven strategies that you can put into action to make sure that absence doesn’t become a real problem for your business.


Clearly outline your expectations

First of all, it’s essential that your staff have clear written guidelines about the process to follow if they aren’t able to come to work because of sickness or injury. 

Do you require them to call in by a certain time?  Do they need to speak to you or is a text or email acceptable?  Do they need to communicate with you personally or someone else in the team?  Do they need to keep in contact with you each day they’re off?  Are you paying Statutory Sick Pay only or more?

Of course, your process won’t be worth the paper it’s written on if it’s only applied sometimes.  In the worst case scenario, if you have a bad apple of an employee who simply disappears for a few days at a time, you need to be able to impose sanctions such as stopping pay, you can only do this if there is a clearly communicated policy consistently applied. 

Hold return-to-work discussions

After any period of sickness absence, whether it’s two days or two months, hold a return-to-work discussion with the individual returning to work, as soon as possible. This is the one single measure that’s been found to have the most effect on reducing absence.

This discussion should cover the reason for the absence, and if was more than 7 days, check whether the Fit for Work certificate from the GP recommends any adjustments.  Check that your reporting in process was followed and give reminders if it wasn’t.  Give the opportunity to say whether anything at work may have contributed to the ill health. 

If it appears that the employee isn’t getting enough support from the NHS, a useful resource to have up your sleeve is recommending the employee to contact the confidential helpline run by occupational health professionals at the Fit for Work service – it’s completely free and confidential.

Make a file note of the conversation in case of later repercussions.

Make reasonable adjustments to ease people back into their roles

If anyone takes more than 2 weeks off for sickness in one block, it’s normally due to a serious health problem and you’ll need to be more proactive and flexible in supporting the person back to work.

For example, if the journey into work is limiting how quickly the person can return, consider organizing for some tasks to be carried out from home.  This is a particularly good remedy if someone has broken a limb and is in a plaster cast – they will probably be bored stiff at home and immobile!

To ease long-term absentees back to their jobs, it’s often helpful to agree a phased return-to-work of shorter working hours, gradually building back up over say 6 weeks as the individual completes their recuperation and re-acclimatizes. 

Talk to the individual in question to establish a way forward that will genuinely help them.




We help businesses to manage sickness absence and advise on policy and on individual cases.  Do you want to discuss your challenges with a professional, and walk away with a manageable action plan so you know exactly what you need to do? Give us a call today on 0784 475303 or email enquiries@thehr.co.uk.



Sunday 20 March 2016

How to avoid costly legal action against your business


As an HR consultant, I often find myself having in-depth conversations about how business owners can avoid legal action. Of course, The Human Resource offers services that go way beyond this. We can help you to boost your profits, create a happier and more productive workforce, and achieve your big strategic goals.

Still though, steering clear of expensive and potentially reputation-damaging legal action is something that many leaders are very keen to do, for obvious reasons. If you’re worried about ending up on the wrong side of the law, then it’s important that you take some positive steps towards minimising the risk.

Let’s take a look at what you can do to keep your business practices compliant, up to date, and above board:

Know the law

As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep up to date with the law. New pieces of legislation are passed on a regular basis, so it’s vital that you stay on the ball. The last thing that you want is to find out that new provisions came into force, rendering your existing policies and procedures unlawful.

This might seem like a huge burden, but it doesn’t have to be. Consider working with us on a retainer basis. This will ensure that you get the information that you need well in advance, and that you’re given useful, practical advice so you can make the necessary changes.  

For example, you need to know about the new National Living Wage because there are hefty fines for non-compliance.

Consistently implement people policies

People policies are there for a very good reason. They outline acceptable standards of behaviour, make your expectations clear, and map out what will happen if a problem occurs. If you decide though that they should only be applied to some staff, some of the time, then you could be accused of discrimination. It will certainly be felt to be unfair by your workforce.

The bottom line here is that your whole workforce should be held to the same standards. They’re there to help you, so use them consistently!  On the other hand, if you don’t have any people policies in place, contact us without delay.

Always keep records

If any problems arise, having a comprehensive paper trail can be extremely useful.  You never know when things might escalate.

Make written notes as you go along to clearly outline the details of each stage of everyday employment situations, such as absences, performance discussions, grievances, and so on.

Your notes should be kept up to date, accurate with the detail, and confidential.


Give your line managers the capability they need

As your business grows, it’s unlikely that you’ll be personally handling all the day-to-day people management. By ensuring your line managers have the HR training that they need, you could avoid finding yourself in a situation whereby your operations aren’t compliant with the law.

It’s down to you to make sure that your managers consistently follow the law. When you invest in your leadership team, you’ll find that many potentially volatile incidents can be quickly defused before they spiral out of control.


Not many business owners would intentionally break the law when it comes to how they treat their greatest asset – their people. But if you aren’t vigilant, you could find yourself in a tricky situation.

If you’ve decided that it’s time to put your niggling worries to bed once and for all when it comes to complying with employment legislation, then get in touch with The Human Resource on enquiries@thehr.co.uk. We’ll be pleased to arrange an initial review of your existing practices.


Tuesday 1 March 2016

Paying £7.20 an hour: only one month to go


Only one month to go before employers must start paying the increased minimum wage of £7.20 an hour to employees age 25 and over.  The National Living Wage comes into force on 1st April 2016. 

For employees age 25+ that you’re currently paying the National Minimum Wage of £6.70 an hour, it’s only an additional 50p an hour.  However if they work full time, the government estimates it will mean a £900 a year pay rise – and £900 per person a year additional cost for you.

The government says it intends to enforce the new National Living Wage as robustly as it has the National Minimum Wage.  This will mean repayment of arrears to the employees, penalties and naming & shaming – so there will be reputational damage.

Employers underpaying the National Minimum Wage now face a maximum £20,000 penalty per person. A selection of the companies – many of them SMEs – that have already been named & shamed for failing to pay the National Minimum Wage include:

·         Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness, failed to pay £13,468 to 13 employees.
·         Richard Lewis Communications plc, Southampton, failed to pay £8,751 to 3 employees.
·         Kiddy Academy Hunts Cross Ltd, Liverpool, failed to pay £8,297 to 2 employees.
·         Oldham Premier Plumbing Supplies Ltd, Oldham failed to pay £6,270 to 1 employee.
·         Matt Jenkins Dressage, Chipping Norton, failed to pay £6,184 to 1 employee.
·         Merritime Nursery, Gosport, failed to pay £5,344 to 1 employee.
·         JG’s Hair & Beauty Ltd, Northallerton, failed to pay £3,427 to 3 employees.
·         Ocean Dental Implant & Aesthetic Clinic, Manchester, failed to pay £2,819 to 2 employees.
·         Woodside Nursery School, Waterlooville, failed to pay £2,799 to 1 employee.
·         Petersfield Joinery Ltd, Petersfield, failed to pay £2,720 to 1 employee.
·         Helping Hands Day Nursery Ltd, Tilbury failed to pay £2,629 to 1 employee.
·         Centra Link Ltd, Calne, failed to pay £1,483 to 1 employee.

The National Minimum Wage is £6.70 an hour and this falls to £5.30 an hour for the development rate for those aged 18-20, £3.87 an hour for the young workers aged 16-17, and to £3.30 an hour as the apprentice rate.

This is what you will need to do:

·         Check age and pay data for your employees to identify whether any will be age 25+ in April and are currently paid below £7.20 an hour.

·         If you will need to increase some individuals’ hourly rate, budget for the increase from April 2016.

·         Consider across-the-board cost of living increases for other low paid employees in order to maintain pay differentials.

Contact The Human Resource on 07884 475303 for help and advice with paying The National Living Wage from 1st April, e.g. calculating additional costs, planning to offset them and the policy implications, plus communicating the change to your employees.