Statutory Leave and UK Businesses

Directors and managers in UK businesses are well aware of the difficulties in dealing with the requirements in UK law to allow their employees to take statutory leave under certain circumstances. For example women are entitled to take maternity / adoption leave; those with over a years service can take up to 52 weeks […]

10 Reasons why you don’t need an HR Consultant!

If you own or manage a small or medium-sized business you no doubt feel that your knowledge of HR issues such as employment law, equality and diversity, HR policies, employment contracts etc. is very limited. This probably causes you a high level of anxiety in case you get something wrong which might have a major […]

You Can Dismiss Staff!

There is a feeling out there noticeable in my work particularly with small and medium sized employers that it is just about impossible to dismiss staff if they are not working out for whatever reason. This is really not the case, and as long as this is done in a fair and justifiable way you […]

13 Suggestions to Create a More Flexible Workforce

In the current economic climate, one of the biggest challenges for small and medium sized businesses is ensuring you create a flexible workforce which can be utilised in as cost effective a way as possible. This generally means ensuring that you can deploy your staff flexibly to where they are needed at a time and […]

8 tips to avoid large volumes of unsuitable job applicants in a recession..

In the March 2018 UK Labour Market Statistics, the Office of National Statistics reported the unemployment levels in the UK at 1.45 million people actively seeking work.

The upshot of this is that every job you advertise is likely to generate dozens and potentially hundreds of applications especially if you are not asking for […]

How Should I Employ My First Member of Staff?

Hey, it’s great news! Your business is doing well and it’s now more than you can handle on your own or by calling on favours from friends and family. It’s time now to dip your toes in the water of becoming an employer! One of the questions we are most often asked by small businesses […]

5 Key Tips for Dealing with Staff who Keep Taking Days Off Sick

Every organisation has them.

Members of staff who frequently claim they are sick and can’t come to work; this is often on an intermittent basis involving one or two days at a time which is impossible to plan for. On examination, there is a frequently a pattern to this absence which makes it even more […]

Agency Workers Regulations: your agency staff and the law..

Employing temp staff through an agency is a good way to meet the peaks of demand in your business; as a result you dont need to employ permanent staff who might not be fully utilised during dips in workload. However from 1st October 2011 the new Agency Workers Regulations gave agency workers, once they have […]

Bribery Act (2010) – don’t get caught out!

The provisions of the Bribery Act (2010) may well affect your business.

The Act provides for four bribery offences:

Bribing – the offering, promising or giving of an advantage. Being bribed – requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting an advantage. Bribing a foreign public official. The “corporate offence” where a commercial organisation fails to […]

Staff requests for flexible working – Template Procedure for Requesting Flexible Working

Requests from staff to work flexibly can involve changing their contractual terms to such things as: part-time working, term-time working (don’t work during school holidays), flexitime, job sharing, compressed hours (work same hours but in longer blocks e.g. 9 working days per fortnight), homeworking or a number of other such arrangements.

In April 2003 the […]