What does the Job Support Scheme really mean for employers? Having read the detail of Chancellor’s announcement yesterday we’ve put together the main points for your information. The Job Support Scheme is potentially not as helpful to employers as it first sounded. The main pointers of the scheme are The government have said that further guidance “will be published shortly”· The Scheme opens on 1 November 2020 and closes in April 2021 (no specific date given)· You can use this Scheme even if you as the employer or the employee concerned have not previously used the furlough scheme (Job Retention Scheme)· The Scheme is only open to those businesses where turnover is lower now than before experiencing difficulties from COVID19· Employees must have been on your payroll on or before 23 September 2020 (so a Real Time Information (RTI) submission must have been made before 23 September 2020.· Employees will be paid for 77% of their contracted hours· The Government will pay a third of the hours not worked by an employee up to a cap of £697.92 per month· […]
We were asked today how to manage employees as they return to work from Lockdown. As this might apply to a lot of employers, we thought we’d make it the subject of a blog. You’ll already have done the things that the Government’s advising you to do to create a COVID safe workplace. You’ll have completed your COVID 19 risk assessments, you’ll have put up the signs reminding people to wash their hand and you’ve likely bought hand sanitiser. But there are some practical things to think about how people behave at work. Our ten tips to manage employees as they return to work from Lockdown Touching colleagues. It should go without saying but some returning workers will need reminding what your policy on touching. What’s your policy on whether your employees should shake hands with visitors. The more informal supportive slap on the shoulder or the high fives when someone signs a big deal are no longer welcome. Facemasks at work. At the time of writing it’s not always necessary to wear a mask all day. But it will depend on your workplace and your risk assessment. But each worker should at least have a mask on their person […]
Dr Tok Hussain (Consultant Occupational Physician) from Healthwork Ltd writes a guest blog for us this week discussing the benefits of Occupational Health to employers. Occupational health (OH) is a service that many employers value in looking after their employees as well as managing health related and corporate risk. Occupational health is a specialist branch of medicine concerned with the effects of work on health and health on work. So, for example, an occupational health nurse or doctor might be carrying out hearing tests to ensure workers don’t develop deafness as a result of their work. The nurse or doctor might also be seeing someone who has had a heart attack or is suffering with anxiety and then advising about how that worker can safely return to work. Occupational health focuses on providing the best possible advice in relation to health and work. Occupational Health focuses on: maximising people’s opportunities to benefit from healthy and rewarding work while not putting themselves or others at risk of harm; the elimination of preventable illness caused or aggravated by work; advising about workplace health matters; helping to rehabilitate those who have suffered injury or sickness back into work; helping support those who because […]
Working out how to cope with COVID at work this winter isn’t easy because the data is conflicting. Are we going to have more deaths? More illness but fewer deaths? More flu and less COVID or more COVID and less flu? With more local lockdowns happening and more schools shutting temporarily one thing’s for sure, no one knows what is going to happen. If you’re planning how to cope with COVID at work this winter, we have some tips that might help. If you have 25% absenteeism, can you still operate? What about 50%? If nothing else, the last six months have shown us some new ways of dealing with a lack of people in the workplace. Some of these plans will still work as we approach winter, some won’t. Have you done as much as you can to cross-train people to carry out multiple roles? Test this cross training by rotating people now, rather than waiting for a crisis. Because you’ll find wrinkles in the process that need sorting out and this way you’ve got time. Are your IT systems up to the job? Can people easily access the information they need to do their job and the work […]
Workplace stress has a significant impact on employee wellbeing and, consequently, on productivity. Employee wellbeing is an HR issue, because, without it, long-term issues can develop in the workplace, which ultimately undermines a business or organisation. A key function of human resources is to provide a resilient people-management framework for the workplace. Increasingly, there is a recognition that employee wellbeing should be part of this framework. What Makes Wellbeing Important? Burnout is bad news for productivity. Work-life imbalances, increased workloads, staff shortages and unexpected changes can all contribute to stress that culminates in burnout. Furthermore, even in times of rising unemployment, businesses must compete for the exceptional talent they need, and must also ensure they retain this talent once they have got it. Therefore, as employers face the implications of a recession, and the difficulties of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, they must look to how they can maintain a healthy, happy workforce. There are many factors that can affect employee wellbeing, and some of these may be personal factors that are out of the employer’s control But there are plenty of factors that are within the employer’s control, mostly centred around job roles, job satisfaction and how people conduct their […]
Today marks World Suicide Awareness Day and there is a desperate need for more mental health and suicide awareness in the workplace. Every year between 5,500 and 6,000 people in Britain end their own lives. This is more than three times the number of people who die on our roads. Suicide is the leading cause of deaths in men under the age of 50 and men are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than women. Women in their early twenties are more likely to try and end their lives than other female age groups. And anyone who falls into a protected characteristic group (such as race, religion, sexual orientation etc) are also more susceptible to suicide due to possible previous experiences of bullying and harassment because of discrimination. Fortunately, this is something that most employers will never encounter. However, the potential risk of suicide is an important one and can often be linked to issues such as workplace stress, bullying or harassment. Suicide and work is a growing public health concern. There are a number of things that employers can do to try to prevent any employee feeling that they need to end their own lives. There are plenty […]
More information on the Government’s new Kick Start Scheme initiative has been launched. By offering grants, the Government’s Kick Start Scheme aims to support 16-24 year olds to gain employment experience and learn new skills. Who is eligible for the Kick Start Scheme? The 6 month placements are open to those aged 16-24 who are claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long term unemployment. They will be available across a range of different sectors in England, Scotland and Wales. The first placements are likely to be available from November. There will also be extra funding to support young people to build their experience and help them move into sustained employment after they’ve completed their Kick Start funded job. What funding will employers get? Employers will receive funding for 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week. They’ll also get employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum auto-enrolment pension contributions. There’s also £1,500 per job placement available for setup costs, support and training. Funding is available following a successful application process. What restrictions are there on the Scheme? Applications must be for a minimum of 30 job placements. If you’re unable to offer this many job […]
Seriously considering the question how to conduct an exit interview improves the usefulness of the process. They help your business out with real feedback from a departing employee to reduce future employee retention. Exit interviews bring to light the specifics about why an employee is leaving. They help identify organisational issues which are contributing to the turnover rate. By using this information, leaders can make real changes to reduce the drain of talent from the organisation. What’s the benefit of having low employee turnover? Organisations with low turnover rates spend less on recruitment costs and see increased productivity. All this embeds the organisation’s culture because those employees staying already know the core mission and the organisational norms. How should an exit interview be conducted? When you’re inviting the employee to the exit interview, tell them what you want to gain from the conversation. Include in the invitation your expectations around confidentiality. Scheduling interviews with the employee giving them ample time to prepare for the conversation is an important part of how to conduct an exit interview. Arrange the meeting close to their last working day. If you’re serious about how to conduct an exit interview meaningfully, give the employee a […]
Alison Driver shares her opinion about what are the roles and responsibilities of an HR Consultant. What are the roles and responsibilities of an HR Consultant? The role of an HR Consultant is one of trusted advisor. An experienced professional who is able to talk with employers about their people related problems. HR consultants are professionals hired from outside a business or organisation tasked with solving or meeting a human resources-related need. Often they are hired to provide high-level solutions and recommendations to employers. Specialist or Generalist HR? HR is a broad professional discipline. There are HR Consultants who are specialists and HR Consultants who are generalists. Specialists are experts in specific areas of work. Generalists are broadly experienced in a number of aspects of HR. An HR consultant asks enough questions of a potential client to know that they have the right experience for that client. An HR Consultant is responsible for not taking assignments where the skill set lies outside their own. Advice An HR consultant delivers high quality support and advice to their clients. They must be able to think across the breadth of the organisation and consider the direction that the organisation is going. Advice from […]
Data security and the pandemic meant that back in March 2020 IT support teams had to quickly move systems from data accessed mainly from within the office to almost exclusively from outside of the office. The perfect scenario for this would have been months of planning and testing – obviously, this wasn’t the case. The hunt for laptops for home working resulted in highly inflated prices due to basic supply and demand principles. Because of this lots of users were asked to use their own PC’s and laptops at home – a nightmare scenario for employers and IT Support alike. Whatever devices are being used, company owned or personal, the best solution for home workers is for these devices to simply act as terminals so that all data is accessed from within the business network using a VPN (virtual private network). However, with the growing significance of the cloud this isn’t always possible or the most efficient use of staff resources. This also takes time, a luxury that data security and the pandemic didn’t give us. What should Employers do as a minimum for when staff have to work from home? Ensure all devices are protected by end point tools […]
