The Equality Act 2010 makes it against the law to discriminate against a person who has a protected characteristic. These characteristics include sex, religion, or age. Discrimination can occur anywhere but as HR consultants, we’re specifically talking about protected characteristics in the workplace. This blog explains the protected characteristics, how discrimination can occur, how employers can avoid discrimination, and how Metis HR can help you stay compliant. Protected Characteristics In The Workplace Formed to replace separate anti-discrimination laws with one easy to understand Act, The Equality Act 2010 provides people with legal protection against discrimination in the workplace and wider society. 9 protective characteristics are set out in the Equality Act 2010. These are: age disability gender reassignment marriage and civil partnership pregnancy and maternity race religion or belief sex sexual orientation Workplace Discrimination As mentioned, the Equality Act protects people at work as well as in society. Workplace discrimination disputes arise when an employer has acted unfairly towards an employee, or potential employee based on a protected characteristic. Discrimination isn’t always intentional, and employers can inadvertently discriminate against employees or potential employees. If this isn’t picked up until it is too late it can sever trust with employees, damage […]
With the growing popularity of using mediation, we are asked is workplace mediation is compulsory. Workplace Mediation is used to deal with conflict between employees. This has grown over the past 20 years or so. However, there has been little attention paid to the variety of approaches That can be used. And whether workplace mediation can be made compulsory or not. What is Problem Solving Mediation? There are various choices of approach within the general style. Before commissioning mediation to resolve a specific conflict, it’s worth considering which approach would be the most suitable for your situation. The aim of problem-solving mediation is simply to help parties reach an agreement by resolving the ‘issues’ that are causing the conflict. Through helping the parties to really ‘listen’. They may come to a better understanding of their own and the other person’s feelings and perceptions. And through such improved communication, resolution of issues may follow. What is Voluntary Workplace Mediation? Voluntary Workplace Mediation involves an impartial mediator assessing the issues. They then evaluate the relative merits of each party’s position. The mediator helps the parties reach agreements or forms of reasoned compromise. The Workplace Mediator is neutral with respect to both the […]
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 […]
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 […]
We’re fascinated each year to reflect on our most popular HR blogs. Every year we learn something new about what people want to read. Our Top 5 most popular HR blogs from 2019 In first place we have a blog on the pension rights of an employee with a terminal illness . This is one of the most difficult conversations for an employer to have with an employee. However, the topic obviously resonated with the 2029 readers . The second of our most popular HR blogs in 2019 advises employers on how to carry out a return to work interview . We’re encouraged that over 1700 people share our opinion that return to work interviews are an essential part of workplace attendance management. The thorny question of “Can I ban employees from eating breakfast at work?” takes third place in our most popular HR blogs of 2019. This was a particular pet hate of our Managing Director, Alison Driver, because she believes that once the start time has passed, employees should be working, not eating their breakfast! In the high tech world operating in today’s workplace we were expecting to see our blog on monitoring employees appear in the list. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s a goal that many organisations have, how to make new employees more productive more quickly. You’ve spent a lot of time, money and energy on recruiting them in the first place. It’s not unreasonable that you now want a quick return on your investment is it? In theory, no, but in practice, probably, yes. There are a number of answers to how to make new employees more productive more quickly. The simple and most straightforward is to design a really thorough induction programme. Just because the new recruit has the skills you were looking for, doesn’t mean they will telepathically know what you want from them as an employee. They need to know “how things work round here”. You have to ensure that they get that information early on, and are monitored to assure them (and you) that they are picking it up correctly. The new recruit, hopefully, will be enthusiastic, keen to learn and keen to make an impression. Your induction programme needs to capitalise on this. How enthusiastic would you be if you spent your first week just following people around, listening to what goes on, reading brochures and watching company videos? Not as enthusiastic at the end […]
