Whilst employees helping themselves to a little stationery or turning up a little late sometimes does not feel like a massive workplace concern. Turning a blind eye to employee misconduct could potentially lead to real HR trouble. With appropriate workplace guidelines in place, as the employer, you can take immediate legal action to combat them. Here are 5 workplace behaviours that are actually employee misconduct: Persistent Lateness Employees who consistently come to work past the time they are expected to arrive can be dismissed for continued lateness. Moreover, their behaviour can impact upon the work being done. For example, an employee who is expected to open up a retail outlet by a certain time or attend a morning meeting. Chronic lateness can impair the day-to-day operations of the business. It can also affect the performance of co-workers. The expectations must be clearly written in company guidelines. That way there is no doubt as to what time employees are expected to arrive and what behaviour is deemed as misconduct. Unwanted Gift Giving Giving gifts to another co-worker, subordinate or manager can be deemed as employee misconduct. In particular, if the gifts are unwanted, but the employee giving the gifts persists. This behaviour can be a form of harassment, even sexual harassment. It is imperative […]
First of all, what is an organisational structure? It is a fairly regular occurrence to begin working with a company and find out there is no organisational structure. Sometimes, business owners don’t understand what one is. Organisational structure is a family tree. It’s a pictorial representation of reporting relationships, who manages who and who reports to who. Company growth and organisational structure A structure diagram helps you establish the reporting relationships that govern the workflow of an organisation. Therefore, a formal organisational structure diagram makes it easier to add new positions in the company. It can also identify which team the new post fits most closely with. As well as who will take responsibility for the new post. A formal organisational structure makes it easier to understand where your salary costs lie and when do you stop recruiting? Being able to take a helicopter view of the company and the posts within it allow you to ask questions. Such as, which posts are fully utilised and where there may be spare capacity to absorb additional responsibilities. Conversely, where there is headcount which is not fully utilised and where savings can be made. Significance for employees of having an organisational structure As a business owner, you may know how all your […]
Are you paying the correct national minimum wage rates to your employees? 37 employers were recently publicly named by the Government for failing to pay national minimum wage rates. Between them they owed workers a total of over £177,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £51,000. The Government has increased HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) National Minimum Wage enforcement budget by a further £3 million in financial year 2015 to 2016 – taking the total to £12.2 million. The extra money will go towards increasing the number of HMRC compliance officers to identify businesses that exploit their workers by paying them below the National Minimum Wage rates. Employers have a duty to be aware of the different legal National Minimum Wage Rates. The current National Minimum Wage Rates are: Adult rate (21 and over) – £6.50 per hour 18 to 20 year olds – £5.13 per hour 16 to 17 year olds – £3.79 per hour Apprentice rate – £2.73 per hour The apprentice rate applies to apprentices aged 16 to 18 years old and those aged 19 and over who are in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage rate […]
Aren’t you glad you’re not trying to manage a business in India? An executive engineer, who was last in work in December 1990, a 25 year absence, has finally been dismissed in 2015!! The Engineer worked for the Indian government which had found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992. However, only now, after a 25 year absence, has the employee finally been dismissed. Even then it took the involvement of a cabinet minister to achieve the dismissal. According to a government statement the employee ‘went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned and defied directions to report to work’. According to the World Bank, India’s labour laws make it difficult to dismiss staff for any reason other than that of criminal misconduct. I’d say they’re right if a 25 year absence is anything to go by! Some states have recently made changes to the law that will make it easier for employers to recruit and dismiss staff going forward. What Next? If you want to find out more about your obligations as an employer. Or if you have employee absentee trouble, give us a call – 01706 565332 Metis HR is a professional HR Consultancy based in the North West […]
The Chair of any Disciplinary Hearing should be taxed by the question, “How do you make sure disciplinary action is fair?”. You must be able to demonstrate that any formal disciplinary action you have taken was reasonable, justified and proportionate. There is no hard and fast rule on how you should do this. It will depend on the circumstances of individual cases. Your disciplinary action should, where possible, be guided by the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary Procedures. If you are a small employer, an Employment Tribunal will take into account the resources that were available to you. This is when deciding whether it was practical for you to follow all the steps set out in the Code. However, regardless of the size of your organisation, there are a number of essential elements to ensure fairness with disciplinaries. Employers must: act consistently. raise and deal with issues promptly. You should not unreasonably delay meetings, decisions or confirmation of those decisions. carry out an investigation thorough enough that the facts of each case can be established. inform employees of the basis of the problem. Also, you must give employees an opportunity to put in their response before decisions are made. This means that a formal disciplinary hearing should be held. […]
How many workers smell in the UK? The stats from the research by the University of Bristol into body odour helps us. 0.5% of the working population in the UK smell. That’s 109 500 UK employees should use deodorants, but don’t! The study also tells us that a lucky 1 in 50 people have a gene that means they don’t produce body odour at all. The fact that they’ve got dry ear wax is an indication that they carry this gene! Now there’s something to think about asking on your application forms! 1 in every 200 British employees has a body odour problem which means that 6% of UK employers are likely to have an employee who smells. That’s 1 in every 17 workplaces! It’s a problem nobody likes talking about, and even fewer like working with, but it’s a problem that employers need to address tactfully rather than leave it to their less tactful employees. A survey by Australian Recruitment Employment Office found that 75% of people find it difficult to work alongside someone with bad body odour. What causes workers to smell? There’s the obvious things Not washing/showering often enough. A survey by Laterooms.com polled 2 000 adults found that on […]
How to tell someone they smell How to tell someone they smell is probably the job dreaded most by managers, even more so than telling people that they are redundant. Body odour or bad breath is a sensitive subject, challenging to address. It’s just as challenging for those individuals that have to work with the employee who smells. A survey by the Australian Recruitment Employment Office found that 75% of people find it difficult to work alongside someone with bad body odour, and 64% struggle to work with someone with bad breath. Remember you do need to be sensitive to the different cooking and eating traditions of different cultures which can affect body odour and the impact of fasting which can cause bad breath. An employer telling someone they smell is far less likely to back fire than leaving it to work colleagues who may be less tactful about how they deliver the message. For example, the man who took his colleague into a side room and told him that there were two people in the room, one smelled and it “isn’t me”! Or there were the colleagues who filled an employee’s locker with bottles of anti-perspirant. This approach can easily escalate into allegations […]
Can you sack someone for smelling? The short answer is yes you can sack someone for smelling. However, there are some sensible precautions you can take as an employer to avoid looking unreasonable. Talk to your employee. Tell them directly what the problem is and what the impact of their body odour is. As you perceive it, on the team, on clients or some other business issue. Make sure they understand what you are talking about. Sometimes our embarrassment can mean we avoid being specific about issues we find difficult to address. Establish if the employee has any underlying medical condition which may mean you need to make reasonable adjustments. For instance, Hyperhidrosis is a condition typified by heavy sweating. Fish Odour Syndrome (Trimethylaminuria) is a genetic condition that makes the individual’s sweat smell like fish. Set out your expectations Set a review date Talk to the employee at least once more before commencing formal proceedings against the individual. If the employee’s odour doesn’t improve, stick to your disciplinary procedure and take the matter through formal process. Each time consider the appropriateness of a more severe penalty, the explanation given by the employee, and the impact on the business. Each […]
Redunancy during maternity leave – Can you make a woman who is on maternity leave redundant? The short answer is yes. However, do it properly or you risk facing claims for either unlawful discrimination or automatically unfair dismissal. Maternity Leave is classed as a “protected period”. Unfavourable treatment of a woman who is on maternity leave is unlawful. Selecting a woman for redundancy during maternity leave may be interpreted as because of her pregnancy. Maternity leave or a related reason is automatically unfair dismissal and quite likely to be unlawful discrimination. A woman on maternity leave has the right to return to the same job that she had before she started her maternity leave. Although, even if you think that the temporary person you’ve used to cover her leave is a better worker. If you’re satisfied that you have a genuine redundancy situation, make sure that you consult with the employee on maternity leave. Remember, if she’s at risk of redundancy during maternity leave she must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy that you have. You must also be aware that she doesn’t have to apply for it. Contact Us: I f you are considering redundancies and want to do the job fairly and lawfully, […]
