If you are soon to be reopening your business after lockdown or bringing back your staff, you are likely to have a huge number of questions. As HR experts we are used to helping our clients navigate the myriad of employment legal aspects to the Covid 19 crisis. We have taken the five questions we are asked most often and compiled them for your convenience. All the information in this blog is correct at the time of writing. However, the state of affairs around COVID 19 in the UK and the world is moving very quickly. Please be sure to check gov.uk for the most up to date information. When Can I Reopen My Business Premises? That depends on the type of business you run, how the premises are set up and how customers interact with your products or services. There are some businesses that can open if they can operate with no contact, such as takeaways, or are providing essential services, such as food supermarkets. However, there are some businesses that must remain closed without exceptions. These include hair and beauty salons, funfairs, bowling alleys, soft play centres, cinemas, museums, and nightclubs. The full list of businesses that […]
The area of holidays and furlough has been clarified by the Government. So what do you do if you’re asked by an employee? Does annual leave accrue during furlough? Yes, employment rights continue including the right to accrue leave. Can you make an employee take annual leave during furlough? Yes you can make someone take annual leave during furlough. If you want to put people on leave whilst they are on furlough, you must give them the required notice to take leave pay them 100% of their normal pay If an employee has pre-booked holiday and now wants to cancel do I have to agree? No you don’t have to agree to this. If you require them to still take their leave you should pay them 100%. The legislation around carry over of leave has been relaxed. Employees are allowed to carry over 20 days of their entitlement from this year if they have been unable to use it. Employees have two years to use this leave that they have carried over. Can I make an employee take paid leave? This has been an employer’s right since the Working Time Regulations came into force in the UK. You have to […]
Clients regularly ask us how can workplace mediation help? Conflict is almost inevitable in most work relationships. Some conflict arises over technical issues – such as what tasks to do and how to do them. This can be helpful at times as it drives a company forward to make improvements to processes and policies. However, interpersonal tension can easily damage relationships and lead to wider discord and malfunctioning teams. 3 in 4 UK workers report good relationships with their line managers. Almost 9 in 10 say they have good relationships with colleagues in their teams. By contrast, 1 in 10 reports a poor relationship with their line manager and 1 in 20 reports poor relationships with team colleagues. Despite this, a number of employees may experience flashpoints of conflict or unfair treatment at work. 3 in 10 workers report at least one form of bullying or harassment in the last year. 1 in 5 UK workers points to a blame culture among their managers and 1 in 5 also point to a lack of an inclusive culture in their teams. The organisational costs of conflict Costs can include management time being diverted to deal with the conflict instead of focusing […]
Employers need to know the answer to the question of what kinds of work can children do to avoid being challenged by the authorities.
At Metis HR, we regularly receive enquiries about many HR issues and one question asked is ‘What is Workplace Mediation? Workplace Mediation is defined by ACAS as ‘a completely voluntary and confidential form of resolving workplace disputes between people’. It involves an independent third party considering an employment problem and working with those concerned to try and seek an amicable resolution for everyone. Both ACAS and tribunals actively encourage parties to engage in Workplace Mediation. A methodical approach to Workplace Mediation may help resolve conflicts, improve communication, restore trust and allow the parties to move forward. When is Workplace Mediation Appropriate? Workplace Mediation can be used to resolve a variety of workplace disputes. It can be helpful in cases where there is a dispute between employees who are both willing to resolve their differences. Workplace Mediation can also be used in the early stages of an employee’s grievance or potential disciplinaries to help promote resolutions without the need for formal action. It can also be used as a formal follow-up to formal proceedings. There is no set form to mediation and mediators can be flexible as to how the parties approach it. They can sit around a table and discuss […]
Before coronavirus, we were all discussing Brexit and Post Brexit Immigration was the hot topic. Details of the UK’s proposed post Brexit immigration regime has been announced. This is a guide to the new points system and how you can begin to prepare for workforce planning. The implementation of the new legislation is planned for January 2021. It was announced by the government that there would be a new points-based scheme. It has caused concern in some sectors the government terms as employing ‘low-skill, low-paid’ workers. However, you will be able to put plans in place for non-UK workers you wish to retain. And begin exploring how your workforce and talent pipeline may be arranged in the future. Companies may want to look at internal development through schemes such as apprenticeships, which will help to retain staff. But you may also want to think about flexible working or making roles more attractive to existing employees. However, with just nine months remaining before the introduction of the new restrictions, you will need to familiarise yourself with the new system. And perhaps adapt your workforce planning strategies accordingly. The Proposed Scheme Under the proposed scheme, overseas workers who want to come to […]
With all the news of Coronavirus and Furloughing, it may have passed some employers attention that there is new maternity and paternity legislation for employees in place. The chancellor has announced in the recent budget that extra maternity and paternity pay will be made to parents of premature babies. They will be given extra paid leave on top of the current allowance. The policy will see parents of sick children given statutory paid leave of around £160 a week while a child is in neonatal care for up to 12 weeks, in addition to standard maternity or paternity allowance. The new leave will be available to all parents with a newborn child in care for more than a week. Currently, parents of premature children are not entitled to any extra leave, and can often spend the majority of their statutory maternity or paternity leave with their child in hospital. The government estimates around 40,000 children spend more than a week in neonatal care. Bereaved parents will also be entitled to get two weeks’ paid leave. Kemi Badenoch, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said the government would “incur almost all the cost” of the new policy. It is thought that a […]
The area of holidays and furlough is still unclear. Government guidance doesn’t specifically address what happens with holidays and furlough. So what do you do if you’re asked by an employee? Does annual leave accrue during furlough? Yes, employment rights continue including the right to accrue leave. Can you make an employee take annual leave during furlough? We don’t know the answer to this because the Government haven’t answered the question. In all other areas of leave it isn’t possible for someone to have two statuses eg you can’t be on holiday and off sick, you can’t be at work and on holiday. On that basis we are finding it difficult to imagine that we will be able to put people on leave when on furlough. If you want to put people on leave whilst they are on furlough, the least you should do is pay them 100% of their normal pay give them the required notice to take leave If an employee has pre-booked holiday and now wants to cancel do I have to agree? No you don’t have to agree to this, but, see above, we think that you should pay them 100%. The legislation around carry over […]
Many Clients have asked what the difference between furlough, redundancy and lay off is because at different times you may want to be aware of your options. Furlough The majority of employers are beginning to understand what furlough is and how it works. These are the important aspects of furlough. Furloughed employees: remain employed by you, they continue to accrue service and they continue to accrue annual leave entitlement must agree to any reduction in pay from their normal pay. If you don’t get their agreement potentially you have breached the contract and made an unauthorised deduction from wages are furloughed for a minimum of three weeks but there is no maximum period of furlough return to their normal terms of employment at the end of furlough from 1 July 2020 flexible furlough is available but we won’t know the details of this until 10 June 2020 There is no criteria for selecting those who are furloughed, other than you have no work for them and they do no work for you whilst they are furloughed. Beware of making arbitrary decisions about who is furloughed if you have some work but not enough for everyone. Redundancy Redundancy terminates the employee’s […]
