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How to deal with an office romance gone bad. Love and marriage may "go together like a horse and carriage," but the question for employers is, "Do they go together in today's business environment, especially when things go wrong?"

Tags: HR Consultant Lancashire, HR Consultant Rossendale, HR Consultant, office flings, dating in the office, office romance advice, office dating advice, office romance gone sour, ofice romance gone bad, dealing with staff problems

It's never pleasant to have to break bad news to staff but there are ways in which you can improve your chances of them receiving the news more calmly and reduce your own stress levels.

1. practise the key message before you go into the meeting
2. avoid cliches and try and have one sentence that sums up the main point of your message
3. don't "pussy-foot" around, engaging in lots of small talk at the beginning of the meeting will make it harder for you to turn the conversation round to where you need it to go
4. when you've delivered the message ask how the other person feels
5. if the person becomes emotional recognise it and allow them to express how they feel before you carry on
6. if it's appropriate, arrange to speak with them at a later time or the next day to check on them and answer any questions they may have once the news has sunk in
7. afterwards, reflect on how you feel you did and what you would do differently if you'd to deliver that message again so that you can learn whilst it's still fresh in your mind

Don't want to break bad news yourself? Wish someone else would do it for you? Contact Metis HR on 0844 249 1133 and we'll talk to you about how we can do this for you.

 

Tags: how to break bad news, telling someone they are redundant, breaking bad news, telling someone they smell, giving bad news, HR Consultant, HR Consultant Lancashire, HR Consultant Rossendale, dealing with staff problems

A recent tribunal decision has judged that a dismissal was unfair because

 

1. the employee did not receive the required notice of his disciplinary hearing
2. the employee didn't have access to the same documents as his manager at the hearing
3. the employee's line manager was not the appropriate person to deal with the disciplinary matter because he had been involved with the investigation at an earlier stage
4. dismissal was outside the range of reasonable responses because the respondent had not properly gone into the question of whether the claimant had received an electric shock, which the claimant had denied, and there was evidence that the faulty switch had been left in a dangerous position by another colleague but he had not been disciplined. The respondent appealed.

 

This decision reminds employers about the importance of following sound processes when following formal disciplinary procedures. Decisions taken early on are clearly key considerations, not just the decision at the end of the hearing about what penalty to impose.

 

For advice and support in employee disciplinary situations contact Metis HR on 0844 249 1133 or fill in the contact form

Tags: chairing a disciplinary hearing, unfair dismissal, HR Consultant Rossendale, HR Consultant Lancashire, problems in the workplace, dealing with difficult employees, disciplinary decisions, employee disciplinary hearing, notice of disciplinary hearing, who should chair a disciplinary hearing, disciplinary procedure, HR services, HR websites, Human Resources Policies and Procedures, human resources problems, Human Resources documents, human resources help, Human Resource Management Policies, Human Resource Issues, Human Resource Information, Human Resource Consultants, disciplinary action at work, disciplinary action, disciplinary investigations

Thanks to Andrew Moore Employment Law Specialist at Clough and Willis Solicitors for providing latest information on the goings on at the Employment Tribunals from April 2011 to March 2012.

 

• There was a 15% fall in the number of claims;
• Only 12% of claims submitted end up in success;
• Only 8% of Unfair dismissal claims submitted led to a finding in favour the Claimant/ex employee;
• The median award in unfair dismissal is £4560 (the average award being £9133);
• Only 2% of successful unfair dismissal claims led to an award of over £50,000;
• Costs were awarded against Claimants in 1295 cases.

It would seem that employment law is not getting in the way of a manager's right to manage.

Tags: HR Consultant Rossendale, HR Consultant Lancashire, employment tribunal claim, tribunal claims, tribunals, employment tribunal, unfair dismissal awards

So March marked my one year anniversary of setting up Metis HR.

Looking back over the year has made me realise how incredible it’s been and what a long way I’ve come. In the last year I’ve got 24 clients, won a business award, been interviewed on two radio programmes, been in the newspaper, developed relationships with Pannone Solicitors and AXA insurance and moved into new premises.

I’ve done the usual ‘setting up a business’ type things - Companies House, banks, accountants, landlords, networking and even got to grips with this new-fangled social media stuff ..…….. and I’ve done your average personal things too; made new friends, drifted from old work colleagues, slipped a disc, got lost visiting clients, bought a sat nav, broken a sat nav, bought another sat nav (not because I got lost, I promise!).

Working for myself was never a long term career goal for me but I feel like I’ve embraced it fully. It’s been an exhilarating journey discovering all the lumps, bumps and warts of self-employment. I can’t wait to discover what year 2 has in store for me. I look forward to having you as a companion on the next phase of the Metis HR odyssey.

Alison

Tags: Pannone, AXA, HR Consultant Lancashire, Alison Driver, Metis HR, employment law, help for employers, HR Consultant Haslingden, HR Consultant Rossendale

Tags: disciplinary procedure, disciplinary policy, disciplinary process, unfair dismissal, sacking employees, disciplinary action at work, disciplinary investigations, disciplinary decisions, fair decisions, HR Consultant Rossendale, HR Consultant Haslingden, HR in Rossendale