There are some common HR issues that most businesses with staff will face. Many businesses trust these issues to an HR professional, either in-house or outsourced. And that is often the right approach.
Discrimination at work is unlawful, yet unfortunately, it still happens. Everyone has the right to be treated fairly at work and HR plays an important role in ensuring that. Often this is done by making sure fair practices are embedded into the business and upholding them. Occasionally, HR must step in to investigate wrongdoing or support disciplinary proceedings. In this blog, we will examine the ways outsourced HR can help you prevent discrimination at work. Types Of Discrimination At Work Broadly speaking there are four types of discrimination at work; Direct Discrimination, Indirect Discrimination, Harassment, and Victimisation. Direct Discrimination is treating someone differently because of a protected characteristic. This might be overlooking someone for a promotion because they are too old, for example. The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Indirect Discrimination is when a rule, policy, or practice applied to everyone puts one group at a disadvantage or treats them unfairly. For example, insisting all staff work a Sunday could indirectly discriminate against practising Christians for whom Sunday is a religious day. Harassment is unwanted behaviour towards a person to humiliate or intimidate […]
HR issues in British Manufacturing are looming large. Britain’s manufacturers are facing the biggest shortage of skilled workers since 1989. The UK has record levels of employment and falling numbers of EU nationals coming to the country to work since the Brexit vote. The recruitment difficulties come as the UK employment rate stands at the highest level since 1971, while unemployment is at its lowest since 1975, making it harder for companies to hire new workers without offering higher wages. A massive 80% of manufacturers struggled to hire the right employees in the final months of 2018. This shortage isn’t restricted to manufacturing with 70% of service sector firms reporting similar difficulties finding employees with the right qualifications and experience. Net migration from the rest of EU to the UK has slumped to a 6 year low. The weaker pound has made it less attractive for foreign nationals to come to Britain to work, while Brexit has also raised the prospect of tougher immigration rules in future. Production in the manufacturing sector hit its fastest pace of growth in six months in December as firms stockpiled in preparation for potential border holdups in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Create a […]
Most work places are beginning to think about the office Christmas party that’s coming up rather than thinking of recruiting this side of Christmas. However, December is actually a prime time for snapping up talented staff. Despite the general perception that January is when everyone starts looking for new jobs, December is far more ideal. Planning Ahead If you’re planning to recruit more staff, it would be logical to think that January is the time to start looking. It’s true that many people will return to work after a Christmas break and make a New Year’s resolution to find a new challenge. There will always be plenty of candidates available in January. Equally, there’s likely to be plenty of jobs on offer too. Companies also see the New Year as a fresh start and the right time to recruit too. Therefore, competition will be high in the New Year. If you get ahead of the opposition, you have the advantage of offering an individual a job instead of having to negotiate. Especially if they have been offered alternative employment elsewhere. You may end up having to offer a higher salary than you’d planned in order to secure the person you […]
Improve Recruitment and Retention of Staff in the Care Industry. Since the Care Act was passed in 2014 we have needed to look at how to improve recruitment and retention of staff in the care industry. It is estimated that by 2030 the number of people aged over 85 will have doubled. Advances in healthcare mean people with disabilities and long-term health conditions are living longer. This means in future, care services will be an important part of more peoples’ lives. Effective recruitment and retention of a caring and skilled adult social care workforce is needed. It has a central role to play in delivering high quality care and support to people who need it. The Care Act 2014 has created a need for a refreshed recruitment and retention strategy. This will take into account many of the changes the Act will bring in. Without the right workforce, employers cannot deliver the promise of the Act. (Norman Lamb MP, Skills For Care) Recruiting the right people is key to the success of receiving ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ ratings. Dropping recruitment standards to fill vacancies, potentially changes a ‘person-centred’ culture. It may create a short term solution to staffing problems. However, it may create bigger problems for the Registered Manager and […]
Many of us are aware that there are Job Interview questions we shouldn’t ask, but many of us are not aware of what NOT to write in a job advertisement. If a job advertisement is worded incorrectly, it could be disastrous for you and your company if a potential job applicant made a complaint about the potentially discriminative advert, even if posted quite innocently with no discrimination intended you could find yourself in a legal pickle. If you look at the general guidance coming out of the Equalities Act this will give you some legal grounding. The focus is to be purely on the advert referring to essential skills and knowledge, and don’t forget a posting on facebook is still a legal job advert and we are increasingly seeing companies leaving themselves vulnerable to discrimination claims. Discrimination in job adverts You must not state or imply in a job advert that you’ll discriminate against anyone. Only use phrases like ‘recent graduate’ or ‘highly experienced’ when these are actual defendable requirements of the job. Otherwise you may be implying you are discriminating against younger or older people who might not have had the opportunity to get qualifications or experience. Where you […]
Many of us are unaware that there are job interview questions you shouldn’t ask, legally. As an employer and interviewer, it’s crucial that you understand parts of Employment Law. You need to know your interviewees rights. Job interviews can be a stressful situation at the best of times. Attempting to articulate whilst under pressure is difficult even if you are naturally a confident person. However, asking inappropriate and illegal questions, could be disastrous for you and your company. Even if it’s the wording of the question that has made them illegal rather than it was your intention. If an interviewee feels that you have asked inappropriate questions and they haven’t been offered the job, you may find yourself facing a claim for discrimination. Here are 9 interview questions that are illegal under existing employments laws: – How old are you? Perhaps the most common of the job interview questions you shouldn’t ask that does get asked. Although you may keen to determine your candidate’s age, the person conducting the interview doesn’t have the right to directly or indirectly ask a candidate their age during the process. As an employer you can only reference age if it is to guarantee that […]
Are you still asking health related questions on job application forms? If you are, have you thought this through? Is the reason you ask health related questions on job application forms because you want to judge if someone is going to be able to attend work regularly? You’ve probably heard of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). However, have you heard of The Equality Act 2010 (EqA)? If you haven’t, you need to learn more about it and how it has superseded the DDA. The EqA lists a number of ‘protected characteristics’. One of the ‘protected characteristics’ in the legislation is disability. Disability is defined as a ‘physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on that person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. You probably know that it’s is against the law to discriminate against someone who has a disability. You probably wouldn’t dream of directly discriminating against a candidate for a job with a disability. If you are still asking health related questions on job application forms, you probably don’t realise that you may receive claims against you for discrimination. Asking health related questions on job application forms allows you to be challenged. It maybe claimed that […]
Safeguarding in recruitment for many organisations that are dealing with children and vulnerable adults, is a key challenge. When recruiting for posts working with vulnerable young people and adults the interviewing and selection process is critical. Having a clear process that adds extra rigour to the selection process. This can be done by identifying negative behavioural indicators. Which is vital to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. A group of key managers involved in recruitment and selection were asked to review the existing selection processes. Information was gathered on the number of interviewees and the number of appointments. Then the reasons why panels recommended not offering a post because the applicant was deemed ‘not safe’ were collated. Using this data, a range of questions were designed to gather information about behavioural traits. It looked at the impact on safeguarding in recruitment. Specific Outcomes Existing practise using behavioural interviews showed that: They were carried out on two or three preferred candidates following the completion of ‘traditional’ interview and assessments. Depending on how many candidates are taken through and how long the interview lasts, this could create an additional 2 – 24 hours of management time. They were conducted by 2 managers using 6 sets of questions. Some of the questions […]
