Archive
Month: July 2023
Supporting mental fitness at work pt.1 – keeping your finger on the pulse
With a new Bill working through parliament aiming to create a legal requirement for mental health first aid at work, we’re looking at how you can proactively support mental fitness within your business.
In this update, we’re looking at how you keep a pulse of ‘how it’s going’ and support employee well-being where it’s needed.
Taking your teams’ pulse – engagement surveys; simple, but effective. They don’t have to be long or complicated but asking your team ‘how it’s going’ on a regular basis is a great way to identify if someone is struggling and gives you the opportunity to proactively support. We’ve included an engagement survey within our mental health toolkit for employers. Click here for more info.
Don’t rely on self-reporting – make sure well-being is a two-way conversation. Even if a survey is anonymised, employees might not feel able to share how they’re doing. Empower your managers with the tools, skills and training to sensitively approach members of their team in real time and discuss what support is required and how they can help.
Stay connected – whilst we’re definitely seeing more of a shift back to office-based working, we shouldn’t forget the impact of remote working and the barriers it can create to effective communication. Encourage teams to make the most of face-to-face meetings and video calls where possible (stay off emails and the phone if they can).
One size won’t fit all – what worked for one person might not work for another. Actively listening to concerns and caring personally about finding a supportive solution for their needs goes such a long way. Don’t forget to remind employees about any Employee Assistance Programmes you might have or signpost them to external resources that can provide financial, well-being and other support.
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Legal lightbulb – people law, policy and practice
Record long-term sickness absence
2.5 million employees are reported to be on long-term sick leave in the UK. We know statistically and from our own experience that the longer an absence persists, the less likely an employee is to return to work. Simple steps can help support employees back to work:
- A clear absence policy supports managers and employees to understand expectations and when intervention can be expected
- Balanced, proactive communication ensures the employee feels informed and understands next steps
- Welcome back meetings (some call them ‘return to work’) ensure the employee understands the support available and the next steps if there is further absence
- GP or occupational health support provides medical insight and support (provided their involvement is requested appropriately).
It can sometimes be tricky to know what options are open to you when managing long-term absence, we’re here to help.
ACAS guidance on whistleblowing
ACAS recently published new guidance on whistleblowing for employers and employees. It’s not always clear if an employee has ‘blown the whistle’ and can be tricky to understand your options (again, that’s what we’re here for). The new guidance provides a helpful breakdown and practical examples of:
- Who is protected by the law on whistleblowing and when it applies
- Legal protections from detriment
- The type of disclosures protected
- How employees can make a disclosure and how you should respond
- What your whistleblowing policy should cover (we have one on Intelligent Employment here)
People dates for your diary – September 2023
18 | International Equal Pay Day
18-22 | International Week of Happiness at Work
25-29 | National Inclusion Week
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Redundancy – when do you need to pool?
When you have more employees than roles available, you may need to ‘pool’ ‘at-risk’ employees to fairly decide who remains at risk of redundancy.
Be clear on the roles at risk – identifying which roles need to be pooled isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Do you have different job titles or job descriptions for the same roles, have job titles and job descriptions not kept up with the roles individuals are actually doing? This all needs to be considered.
Identify individuals carrying out the pooled roles – do a number of individuals interchange between different roles? In which case would it be reasonable to include those individuals within the pool?
Consider individuals at other sites – where individuals move around sites and all do the role that is at risk, consider whether each of those individuals needs to be pooled.
Bumping – bumping occurs when an ‘at-risk’ employee is retained in favour of an employee who isn’t at risk (usually as they have better skills for the retained role). While there is no obligation to bump, you need to consider whether it’s appropriate to do so and make a note of your thought process.
Consult – once you’ve decided on your pool, you’ll need to ensure that you discuss the pool with ‘at-risk’ individuals before going ahead and applying selection criteria. A fair redundancy process includes giving individuals the right to challenge the pool before scoring ‘at-risk’ individuals.
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
The problem with people policies pt.3
The last but certainly not the least of our ‘3Cs’ – contemporary tone. In this final update, we’re looking at how the tone of your policies will help them remain engaging, relevant and true to your business values.
It’s not what you say but the way that you say it – never truer than in respect of your people policies. Here are my top tips…
Choice of words – straight-talking and plain-English. Engaging and clear language will immediately create a more accessible document and something employees actually want to read. Did you know, around 60% of employees will avoid reading your handbook?
Inclusivity – make sure to drop any-gendered or non-inclusive language so that you’re creating universal appeal.
A feast for the eyes – illustrating processes with flowcharts or getting your message across with images or graphics can really help to break up what are often text-heavy documents.
Layout – setting out your policies so they align with the employment journey will help to make them easier to navigate.
Tech – there are almost endless possibilities with tech to help create something unique. Whether that’s incorporating video-based content to deliver key messages or building something interactive and tactile – the sky’s the limit!
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Changes to flexible working requests
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 was supposed to make requesting flexible working a day one right. We’ve just heard that’s now not the case (yet).
Employees will still need to have 26 weeks’ service before they’re able to make a request. However, the Act does bring in several changes to how you manage requests.
What’s changing?
- Employees can make two flexible working requests each year (instead of just one);
- You have to deal with requests within two months (instead of three);
- You need to ‘consult’ with employees before refusing a request – unhelpfully, no definition of consultation has been provided at this stage;
- When making a request, employees are no longer required to explain how any challenges resulting from their proposed flexible working arrangement should be dealt with.
What’s not changing?
- Employees still need 26 weeks’ service before making a flexible working request. However, we expect the day-one right to come at a later stage through secondary legislation;
- The Act won’t introduce a legal right to appeal if a request is rejected (although ACAS recommend doing so in their Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests).