30/04/2020

Remember Brexit?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses, and particularly HR professionals were pre-occupied with sorting Brexit and grappling with the new points–based system on immigration.  While there are rumours that Brexit deadline of January 2021 might be delayed, HR cannot rely on any further hold ups, and will need to prepare and act, even if for one hire from the EU or beyond next year.

On the positive side it gives organisations, and particularly HR, the opportunity to design agile and flexible work approaches around the needs of its employees.  The focus will need to be on workforce planning.

Under the proposed scheme overseas workers who want to come to the UK after free movement ends on 31 December 2020 will have to meet certain criteria (or 70 points).

Here are the two tests which are set out below:-

There will, of course, be some winners and losers in the economy.  For example, the IT industry is likely to be one of the ‘winners’ with their higher paid roles which require specific specialised skills.  Other sectors such as hospitality, social care, food production and agriculture may now face further problems with their lower paid workforce.

So what can you do to prepare?  If you haven’t done so already the first step will be to confirm who in your workforce will need settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme.  You might want to support them by contributing all, or some of the cost.

In the longer term ensuring you have a good pipeline of talented and engaged staff it will be of vital importance. Have you done any analysis to identify the skills you will need in the future?  Can you re-deploy some of your employees to other areas of your business?

If you would like to have a confidential chat or have any immediate questions please get in touch with Hafton by giving us a call or emailing us at info@haftonconsultancy.com.

04/08/2020

Back to work we go?

Since Boris Johnson outlined his plans in early May to kick start the economy and get people back to work, there have been anecdotal stories and examples of how organisations have made a decision to return to work and then had to back-track.

Dyson, for example, faced a staff revolt when they sent an email to all staff, including those who could work from home, announcing that all employees should return to its work sites.

Hafton did a survey amongst several of its clients in the first month of lockdown to find out how staff were coping at home, what additional support they needed and what aspects of their roles were more difficult to carry out from home.  Surprising the majority of junior staff members said they were most productive and were happiest to continue in this vein.  Should you just leave them to it if they are hitting their objectives?   Unfortunately, it isn’t a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

Firstly, risk assessments will be an essential aspect of the return to work as well as considering the mental welfare of staff with any return to the workplace.   Businesses will need to make sure the return is mutually agreed with staff and this points to the need for an honest, face-to-face (over camera) discussion.

Businesses will need to decide:

  1. What are the circumstances of people working remotely and coming in occasionally?
  2. Are staff and customers safe to come in?
  3. When staff work from home, do they have the right resources?
  4. Have they had a DSE (Display Equipment) assessment?  Do they need to adjust their equipment?

What should you do, as an employer, if an employee refuses to return to work?  Each situation needs to be addressed on a case by case basis.  The refusal could be for reason of shielding, or underlying health conditions or maybe issues of childcare because school and nursery facilities are remaining closed.  However, if an employee doesn’t wish to return just because they prefer working at home, it could ultimately end in disciplinary action.

In larger organisations and businesses, HR must be the lead on these matters making sure that the organisation has fair criteria and is not discriminating against a certain group of employees.  Getting people back to work after lockdown is an enormous task and having a company stance on what is acceptable will be important because what some employees might think is safe, will not be seen as safe by others.

01/10/2020

Why is Employee Engagement Important to Company Success?

So, here are our five top tips to help you create the perfect virtual welcome for your new joiners and strengthen your staff engagement from day one!

That’s why it’s important for the new joiner to feel at home, whilst working from home. The virtual onboarding really kicks in on the new recruit’s first day, and it is key that you have a clear plan for not only day one, but also the first week.

This plan should involve the whole team at various points so your new joiner has a chance to get to know everyone they’re going to be working with.

The whole process of onboarding has been thrown a curve ball by COVID-19. Where remote onboarding used to be rare, many companies now have to do it. In a post-COVID environment virtual onboarding will become a permanent fixture in the employee lifecycle.

But is it possible to deliver the same level of welcome remotely as you would in a physical environment?

There’s no doubt that getting the onboarding of new joiners ‘right’ is incredibly important. It plays a key role not only in welcoming, but also retaining them.

According to data from the Human Capital Institute, 20% of new hires leave a job within the first 45 days after a bad onboarding experience. So, here are our five top tips to help you create the perfect virtual welcome for your new joiners.

Get to know them before they arrive:  A thorough pre-boarding process will not only help you find out more about the new joiner, enabling you to prepare more effectively for their arrival, but will also act as a good icebreaker.

By the time they begin working they will be familiar with at least one or two of their new colleagues and also have had some insight into how the organisation operates.

Have a welcome pack delivered to their door:  Starting a new job is often daunting and even more so when done remotely.  The sense of detachment and remoteness can seem odd at first. That’s why it’s important for the new joiner to feel at home, whilst working from home.

A great way to do that is to provide a welcome pack that is delivered to their door, either before their first day or on the day itself.

Create a first day agenda :  The virtual onboarding really kicks in on the new recruit’s first day.  It is key that you have a clear plan for not only day one, but also the first week. This plan should involve the whole team at various points so your new joiner has a chance to get to know everyone they’re going to be working with.

In a physical setting these interactions would happen naturally, however, when working remotely these need to be consciously planned.

Make their first week a collaborative experience:  There’s always a lot to take in when starting a new job, and when doing this remotely it’s even more crucial that the new recruit doesn’t feel overwhelmed or suffer from information overload.

Whilst it’s important that they get up to speed on critical projects and learn about systems and processes, it is also key to leave space in the first week agenda for them to absorb the content and formulate some questions themselves.

This works even better if you can make it a collaborative process, enabling them to input when they are ready for more content.

Make it an ongoing welcome: The perfect welcome shouldn’t just be limited to the first day or week. During their first quarter, you should start to see relationships and collaborations develop with team members.

To ensure this happens and things are continually moving in the right direction, their line manager will need to take an active role. This includes conducting regular virtual check-ins to gain insight into how your new joiner is feeling and offering support where required.

17/07/2019

Allergies at work – are you in the clear?

Rates of allergies have risen sharply in the last 20 years. According to Allergy UK, apparently 44 per cent of adults in the UK suffer from one or more types of allergy. As a result, it is now increasingly likely that employers will need to support staff within the workplace who suffer from allergies. For those at greatest risk, the tiniest trace of an allergen can trigger severe symptoms and, in some cases, cause a fatal or near-fatal reaction.

Pret a Manger had two cases; one in 2016 and another in 2017. In one case, Pret blamed, its supplier Co Yo, who has denied responsibility. While Pret has apologised for the deaths, it still begs a question about who is responsible. Pret has agreed to better labelling of its products in the future.

So, what are the areas of concern for employers?

Firstly, if an allergy amounts to a disability under the Equality Act 2010, the employer will have a duty to make reasonable adjustments, and the employee will be protected against less favourable treatment. For allergies which are serious, it is highly likely that the definition of disability will be met.

Employers have legal obligations under health and safety legislation, so far as is reasonably practicable, to protect employees by removing or reducing workplace risks. Some allergy-related incidents will need to be reported under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 2003 (RIDDOR).

You might also think about seeking advice from your employers’ liability insurer, who may recommend steps to take, including potentially a disclaimer.

Care should be taken when trying to ascertain information regarding prospective employees’ medical conditions, especially prior to offering a role, to avoid potential discrimination. However, you may need to make some enquiries to deal with the issue of reasonable adjustments.

Maintaining confidentiality about employees’ medical conditions ought to be considered, for example, when seeking to ensure colleagues are adequately trained to deal with the needs of specific allergy sufferers. It is a good idea to speak to the employee who suffers from the allergy to get their guidance on the support they may need, alongside taking medical advice.

If other employees breach express instructions related to protecting colleagues with allergies (e.g. no consumption of nuts in the office), you may need to consider taking disciplinary action.

So, what steps can you take, as the employer?

  • Make sure you communicate effectively with employees with allergies to ascertain the severity of their allergies and what the potential known triggers are. This will also apply if someone develops an allergy during their employment.
  • Encourage employees to formally declare their allergies so that adjustments can be made if required.   Asking health questions pre-employment can sometimes be unlawful, but there are exceptions, such as if they are necessary for the purposes of establishing whether the applicant will be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the work concerned.
  • Seek to identify reasonable adjustments where the allergy could be a disability, for example: relocating an employee’s workstation; looking for an alternative role; providing specific equipment or materials for an allergy sufferer to use; and a policy to help prevent contamination or triggers.
  • First-aid training may be important in ensuring legal obligations are met, such as supporting first aiders in the use of life-saving equipment.
  • It may be worth considering a general policy relating to allergens and/or clauses in the allergy sufferer’s contract, to outline the obligations on the employee to look after their health and safety too.

If you believe your organisation would find some guidance about allergies useful please get in touch with Hafton by giving us a call or email us at info@haftonconsultancy.com.

20/04/2021

What are the lessons for employers from the pandemic?

The CIPD has published a guide based on an employers’ survey that asked about all types of flexible working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly drawing the distinction between ‘flexibility of location’ (tasks that can be done anywhere and those that need to be done a specific location) and ‘flexibility of hours’, ie tasks that can be done anytime and those that are required to be done at a specific time).

Managers play a vital role in determining the health, well-being and engagement of their teams.   The old adage that ‘you join an organisation, but leave a manager’ could never be more true.  This is especially the case where line managers or indeed HR professionals do not pay attention to mental health.  The report emphasises that a line manager’s behaviour and the culture they create in their team is the biggest influence on an employee’s work experience.

The report suggests seven strategies for hybrid working where the work location can be flexible:

  1. Develop the skills and culture need for open conversations about well-being
  2. Encourage boundary-setting and routines to improve well-being and prevent overwork
  3. Ensure effective co-ordination of tasks and task-related communication
  4. Pay special attention to creativity, brainstorming and problem-solving tasks
  5. Build in time, including face-to-face time, for team cohesion and organisational belonging:
  6. Facilitate networking and inter-team relationships
  7. Organise a wider support network to compensate for the loss of informal learning

When it comes to ‘flexibility of hours’, employers who have some staff able to work flexibility and those who have fixed times and location must consider fairness across the teams to avoid risk of resentment or conflict.   It is also worth embracing a team-based approach to designing work, co-ordinating patterns of availability between team members to cover the required time slots.

In summary line managers would benefit from analysing work tasks in terms of ‘flexibility of location’ and ‘flexibility of hours’ and review the seven strategies outlined above.

If you would like to know more about creating excellent line management practice and culture, please get in touch with Hafton by emailing us at info@haftonconsultancy.com.