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The test and trace system is now live. It means anyone with coronavirus symptoms can be tested, the service informs contacts of any need to self-isolate, and requires individuals who test positive to share that fact with close recent contacts.

Here’s what you need to know: 

1. If an employee is notified that they have had contact with an infected person, they will be told to remain at home for 14 days from the most recent contact. They will be eligible for SSP during that period unless they can work from home or take holiday.
2. An employee told by the test and trace service to remain at home will receive a notification which they can show you as evidence of the fact they need to self-isolate (and which can be used by you to claim under the SSP rebate scheme). You should not encourage them back into work until the 14 days has expired.
3. Employees with coronavirus symptoms should be encouraged to alert colleagues they’ve been in contact with within the previous 48 hours. Those colleagues must avoid individuals at high risk of contracting coronavirus, take extra care to socially distance, watch out for symptoms and maintain good hygiene.
4. The test and trace service will ask your employee to share a positive test result with close recent contacts. The service will liaise with particular visited sites including care homes and notify contacts who need to self-isolate.
5. The app is still in testing stage but when available you’ll be able to ask your employees to download it to minimise the risk of them contracting and spreading coronavirus, particularly where they have travelled on public transport.

All of the above should be included within your ‘safe return to work policy’. If you don’t already have one in place, click here to purchase ours.

This update is accurate on the date it was sent (01 June 2020), 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.

When: 3rd June – 9:30am > Click here to register.

Challenging times can result in difficult decisions. When forced to consider redundancies, the impact across all levels of an organisation can be far reaching.

Providing the right support – to ensure that correct processes are followed, that HR teams are properly supported and that affected individuals are given the best possible chance to secure the right next step for them – can have a positive and lasting effect.

This unique webinar explores redundancy from three perspectives:

1. Employment law
2. HR process and communications
3. The people impact

We’ll provide practical tips, guidance and solutions to help you navigate through the current complexity, help you understand where the risks are hiding and help you achieve the best possible outcome for your organisation and the people within it. Here’s a detailed agenda of what we’ll cover.

Click here to register.

Working from home, furlough, unpaid leave – they’ve opened our eyes to the possibility of working differently.

Whether it’s a short term request or a longer term arrangement it’s likely there’ll be plenty of flexible working requests heading your way. Here are our top five suggestions to responding to requests:

1. Be proactive – if you’ve identified opportunities to work differently whilst remaining productive and possibly saving on expense, make the first move.
2. Understand your legal rights – only those employees with 26 weeks’ service at the point of the request have the right to ask for changes (and only if they haven’t already made a request for flexibility in the previous 12 months). You’ll need to comply with the Flexible Working Regulations, in particular by dealing with the request within three months. Click here for guidance on managing a flexible working request.
3. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing – consider with the employee alternatives they may not have thought about, short term and long term options, and trial periods with built in flexibility to give you time to establish whether the new arrangement works for both of you. Whatever you agree, capture it in writing.
4. Up to date policies – think data security, home working, company property to name a few.
5. Employee management – from risk assessments so you can check a home working environment is safe, adjusting targets, challenges around driving performance, and alternatives to usual communication – they’ll all need thinking about carefully if you’re going to make sure that the new flexibility means continued productivity and team commitment.

We’ve created a ‘back to work guidance note’ to support you in comprehensive detail through the employment law issues, considerations and risk factors in returning back to work (including advice on managing flexible working requests). Click here if you’d like to find out more and purchase a copy.

This update is accurate on the date it was sent (27 May 2020), 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.