Clients ask Metis, How to deal with persistent lateness. What’s the worst lateness excuse you’ve had from an employee? You may have heard some laughable excuses at times but staff lateness is a big, expensive problem. It costs UK employers an estimated £9 billion a year in lost work time. It doesn’t bear thinking about how much of that lost money was once yours. So what can you do about it? Accept that everyone can be late. It can happen to the best of employees from time to time, it can happen to you when you come across surprise road works that have cropped up over night. Start by recognising that life can stop your staff from getting to work on time. However, you need to be clear and consistent in how your business treats lateness. Include a policy for it in your contract of employment or staff handbook. It’s good practice to make staff tell you they’re running late and it’s up to you to decide whether that’s by phone call, text or email. You may also expect staff to stay behind to make up the lost time. Keeping Records Remember to keep a record of every lateness. That […]
Next week (6th April 2019) New Tax Rates and Minimum Wage Rates come into effect for 2019-2020. Please be aware that as an employer, you will need to make changes to any minimum wage rates, and Income tax payments. The changes are as follows: Personal Income tax bands and rates The bands and rates at which people in England, Northern Ireland, Wales pay income tax will change for 2019/20, but it will be business as usual for taxpayers in Scotland. The following income tax bands and thresholds will be in place from 6 April 2019: Table 1: England, Northern Ireland & Wales Band Taxable income 2019/20 Rate Personal allowance: Up to £12,500 = 0% Basic rate £12,501 to £37,500 = 20% Higher rate* £37,501 to £150,000 = 40% Additional rate* Above £150,000 = 45% Tax on dividends (throughout the UK) Dividend allowance = £2,000 Basic rate = 7.5% Higher rate = 32.5% Additional rate = 38.1% ISAs The £20,000 limit may also be used to invest in a lifetime ISA, which has a maximum allowance in 2019/20 of £4,000. Pensions The lifetime allowance, which is the maximum amount an individual can draw from pensions without incurring extra tax charges, rises […]
One third of UK employees say that they’ve witnessed ageism in the workplace. It takes many forms. Many of use would like to think that we’re sensitive to others and wouldn’t wish to cause offence. Some others don’t seem to have that filter! Take language used. Least likely to cause offence are the terms “older” and “experienced”. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that terms like “sensei” “cougar” “grandma or grandpa” “wet behind the ears” “young whippersnapper” and “fogey” are more likely to cause offence. In 2012 a young worker won an age discrimination claim after showing that her line manager had referred to her as a “kid”, and even described her as a “stroppy teenager”. 88 year old employee Recently an 88 year old medical secretary became the oldest person in the UK to win a claim for ageism in the workplace Because the case has only just been decided we still don’t know how much the case will settle for – we won’t know that until October 2019. You can no longer require people to retire at 65. It’s increasingly likely that employers will have a workforce with older workers who choose to continue to […]
The Senario I’m sure we’ve all experienced that member of staff, who comes in at 8.59am, switches on their computer, and logs in dead on 9.00am. All good so far? Then they go off to the kitchen, say good morning and have a good natter with all their colleagues whilst they make a hot drink and put an instant porridge pot breakfast in the microwave, warm up a bacon sandwich, or make a round of toast. Then they come into the office with hot, smelly food – back to their desk and begin to slurp and chomp their way through their breakfast. Besides dropping crumbs in to the computer keyboard or dripping splodges of porridge onto the floor, they then proceed to leave all their dirty pots and cutlery in the sink for someone else to clean and put away. What Can I Do About It? It’s irritating and frustrating, so the question we get asked is Can I Ban Staff From Eating Breakfast at Work? The Answer is yes, of course you can. Not only is this phenomenon eating into your work time, their behaviour can cause resentment amongst your more conscientious employees, who perhaps may begin to follow […]
Further to the previous blog: 4 Ways Employers Lose Money Through Poor HR Policies, we continue to look at how some Employers lose money unnecessarily because they haven’t followed legislation, or simply do not have the right policies and procedures in place. 1. Health and Safety Make sure you provide the required basic health and safety training when an employee starts. There could be a £20,000 HSE penalty if you don’t. The risk to new employees is doubled in their first 6 months of employment. At the very least new employees should be given information on your fire alarm, evacuation and first aid provisions. What if there is a fire or someone injures them self and does not know what the procedure is? In a serious case this could lead to investigation by the HSE, prohibition order and fines. Make sure you have an adequate induction process in place for new employees especially for young or inexperienced workers. With the introduction of Intervention Costs (where an inspector identifies issues during a visit), can you afford to think Health and Safety is just another burden to be ignored? 2. Staff Motivation Hang onto good staff by providing the motivation good staff […]
No-one wants to be spending more than they need to – especially on fines or investigations. Yet by not having some simple procedures in place, making the right checks, or giving your employees the resources and training they need to become efficient in their jobs, you are potentially wasting hundreds if not thousands of pounds. 1. Check who you are recruiting Recruiting the wrong candidate – possible cost £1000 Many organisations regardless of size can spend hundreds if not many thousands of pounds recruiting a new employee. Some simple checks such as identity, references, and qualifications all go to ensure the person is who they say they are and has a suitable background to work in your business. Not something you want to find out later when you have problems and have spent further resources on them. 2. Check passports You are legally responsible to check these out! Up to £20K fine per illegal employee for failure to check Right to Work eligibility. Do you check the passport or other suitable documentation of all new members of staff and keep a copy? Have you got them for all staff from 1997 onwards? How do you know the documents are correct […]
We have been asked in the past who should pay National Minimum Wage? The answer, quite simply is everyone. Some employers think they are above the law when deciding what they will pay their employees. The National Minimum Wage applies to every employee in the UK regardless of the number of hours they do, what work they perform or even what age or nationality they are. Employees may make a claim against their employer any time with the tribunal service if they believe they are being underpaid the national standards. Those employers who have been questioned and fined by HMRC have come up with some great excuses, here are just a few: Unbelievable Excuses why Employers do not pay National Minimum Wage. The employee wasn’t a good worker so they didn’t deserve to be paid the National Minimum Wage. Offer a performance review meeting, do some training or discipline the employee for poor performance. Don’t under pay them. It’s part of UK culture not to pay young workers for the first three months as they have to prove themselves. No it is not. Although younger workers (under 25) are given a lower wage band, employers still have to adhere these […]
Unconscious bias in the workplace occurs when people favour others who look like them and/or share their values and/or beliefs. For instance, a person may be drawn to someone with a similar educational background, from the same area, or who is the same colour or ethnicity as them. Unconscious bias in the workplace can influence decisions in recruitment, promotion and performance management. It could be discriminatory when the unconscious bias relates to one of the nine protected characteristics. Affinity Bias Affinity bias, is when someone feels an affinity with another person as they have similar life experiences. For example, where an employer meets an employee or potential employee and is reminded of themselves when they were younger because of the employees’ personal circumstance or personality type. For Instance, a manager who worked hard to achieve his position despite never doing very well at school may treat an employee who left school without qualifications more favourable than the other staff. This could be because, subconsciously, they are reminded of their younger self. The same can be true of a manager who is educated to degree level, favouring employees who have also been to university. The Halo Affect Another form of unconscious […]
As an employer you may have looked at monitoring staff at work for various reasons. The Data Protection Act doesn’t prevent employers from monitoring workers, but you must remember that workers are entitled to some privacy at work. You must tell your employees about any monitoring arrangements and the reason for it. Why Monitor? It is advisable to have written policies and procedures in place regarding monitoring at work. Monitoring shouldn’t be excessive and should be justified. Staff should be told what information will be recorded and how long it will be kept. However, if you want to monitor workers by collecting or using information, the Data Protection Act will apply. Therefore, Any information collected through monitoring should be kept secure. Monitoring staff at work may be needed for a variety of reasons. It can be used to safeguard employees, for example to ensure workers aren’t at risk from unsafe working practices. In some sectors you may have a legal or regulatory need to carry out some monitoring. The information gathered through monitoring should only be used for the purpose it was carried out for. Unless it leads to the discovery of other things such as a breach of health […]
We are asked regularly, how do you get good managers? There are many ways to get good managers and get the best from them. Communicating Communicating clear expectations mean that both managers and employees understand the role of organisational leaders. Certainly, the best leaders find a way to thrive within an organisation. However, they also need effective organisational support to fulfil their true potential. Therefore, given the right tools and a proper support network, there’s no reason why your managers can’t become the influential people you need to lead your business to success. Strategising Great leaders are brave enough to make sweeping changes and need a range of skills. However, one of the most important traits in any leader is knowing when something is or isn’t working. Some managers can get caught in a loop of reactive activities, like solving functional problems or achieving short-term objectives. Great leaders need to be strategic in nature. Therefore, they need to meet operational goals whilst planning for future success. Analysing Good managers can see how their decisions will affect the organisation. Therefore, their decisions can be interpreted by everyone from employees, to competitors, and to the media. So, this involves different levels of […]
