Employment Practice

For all employers, it is important to try and establish sustainable differentials between jobs - possibly by a process of job grading. The problem with differentials is that there is a dual perspective and the old joke is perhaps apposite: 'if I am paid more than you - that is a differential, but if you are paid more than me, that is a discrepancy.' A pay/benefits chart may also be helpful. Factors Unless there is a demonstrable process of job worth assessment, the 'seems about right ' method of determining a package may create problems. It may be difficult to substantiate differentials generated without, at least, an awareness of a number of factors. All employers should continually review their reward package which is determined by a number of factors. 1. The market rate - what other employers are paying for similar jobs in the locale. This can be determined from checking with the media, job centres, local employers' information exchange, industry wide information...

Where an employer does not wish a leaving employee to work the notice period required under their contract (irrespective of which party has initiated termination), a payment in lieu of notice (PILON) in respect of the time and benefits of the notice period can be paid. Definition PILONs can either be contractual or ad hoc. A PILON becomes contractual where the right is specified in the CONTRACT or other contract documentation - the employer takes the right to make such a payment, rather than allowing the employee to work the notice period. The alternative is an ad hoc PILON, where the decision is made without pre-meditation and is non-contractual. Where the right is contractual, exercising the right does not breach the contract and thus all the contract terms (e.g. non-competition clauses) are still operative. Where the right is exercised in an ad hoc manner and there is no contractual right, the employer can exercise the right but, in that case, this destroys the contract and other cl...

As employee rights proliferated, some employers negated their impact by restricting the numbers of employees entitled to such protection. To offset the impact of such action, legislation gives people working under 'non-standard' contracts the same or similar rights to permanent employees. There are currently two classes of workers protected by this 'comparability' legislation - Part-Time and Fixed Term employees. Commentary Under The Part Time Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 those part timers who perform comparable work to their full-time colleagues are entitled to the same rights and benefits unless the difference can be objectively justified. In this context, what constitutes 'full-time' is for each individual employer to determine, but anyone who works fewer hours than whatever is full-time is regarded as a parttimer. Thus part-time employees doing comparable work to full-timers - should, for example, be advised of vacanci...

Redundancy is a dismissal but unlike other dismissals it is one for which the employee was in no way responsible or culpable. The employer bears the responsibility since they have too much productive capacity for the current demand for products or services. There is at the very least a moral responsibility placed on the employer when dispensing with employees in this situation to try to find, or assist them in finding, alternative work. Employer Assistance Having determined who is to be made REDUNDANT a responsible employer should at least consider if there are ways in which support and assistance can be provided for those forced out of a job. This could include: Paper assistance guiding those seeking jobs. Administrative internal assistance. Contacting local employers, obtaining vacancy lists for leavers. Career counselling. Encouraging, possibly with offers of short-term contracts, redundant employees to set up their own businesses. Guidance for Those Leaving This following chec...

It is often difficult for employees, particularly newcomers, to understand where their department fits within the whole Organisation and their departmental relationships, even though such knowledge may be essential to understand priorities and procedures. One way of overcoming this problem is to publish charts showing such relationships. Format In the two examples shown below, the same structure has been depicted. The 'vertical levels of authority' are widely used but this suffers from two drawbacks. It is usually shown (as here) as a pyramid, with the chairman/chief executive at the 'top' and the ordinary employees at the 'bottom' - an inference which maybe against the ethos of the Organisation. This can be overcome by simply inverting the pyramid - the relationships do not alter, but the psychological overtones of being at the 'top' and 'bottom' are at least blurred. The other disadvantage is that being drawn in vertical levels it implies that ...

Most organisations use notices and notice boards to convey much of the information that they feel their employees should have, in order to keep them informed. Unfortunately, very often there is no control over the issuing of notices and many notice boards become swamped, with the effectiveness of new material impaired by numerous old notices, many of which may be well past their effective date. The challenge is to keep notices fresh and uncluttered so that notice boards are read, rather than passed by. This may be easier with electronic notice boards operated via an intranet but research indicates that most people do not like reading on-screen text. Procedure Whether traditional or electronic notice boards are used, the following guidance may be helpful in attempting to keep the messages required to be displayed, fresh and pertinent. Suggested Checklist 1. To be effective, data for display must be written in the language and for the understanding of the recipient, and be presented in a...

Until the early 1990s, wage rates for many industries were set by industry-specific Wages Councils most of which have been abolished. The introduction of a National Minimum Wage (NMW) returns employers to the type of controls set out above but with one marked difference. Wages Councils operated within each industry and could reflect the terms of business of those industries. The NMW applies across the UK and has severe implications in industries which operate on low margins. It also ignores the lower cost of living in parts of the UK. Implementation The NMW is currently £4.85 per hour (October 2004) and is reviewed annually. This rate paid cannot be varied on any basis (e.g. area, region, business size, occupation) except age (as set out below). No doubt the rate will continue to rise but no commitment (e.g. to link it with the Retail Price Index or any other index) has been given. There is no requirement to pay NMW when the worker is taking part in industrial action - this is regarded...

Employees who are called up for active service in the Armed Forces, under the Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985, are entitled to resume their employment on their return - effectively their contract continues during their service. Obligations Most employees protected by the law covered by this section are volunteers. However, recently whenever there has been a need to use such volunteers, their participation in active service has been made compulsory by the State so that it is clear that their rights are protected under the above Act. There is no obligation on the employer to pay for the time away from work - the reservist will be paid by the State during that period. On returning from service, a reservist must re-apply to his or her employer in writing by the third Monday after the end of the service, giving a date within the period ending with the sixth Monday after the end of the service for return to their previous job. The reservist must be taken back on terms no le...

Traditionally there has been no requirement to allow employees to see the records that the employer generates concerning them - although this has been changed by the passing of the DATA PROTECTION Act 1998. However, for some time legislation has governed the provision of medical records and reports, and grants to employees rights of access to them. Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 This Act primarily covers reports originated prior to employment - for example, where an employer asks a prospective employee to undergo a medical examination. A person has a right of access to any medical report concerning him which is prepared by his own doctor. If the subject requests access to the report then the doctor may not send the report to the company for 21 days which gives time for the subject to inspect the report. If the subject disagrees with anything in the report then (s)he has a right to request alteration or, should the doctor refuse, to attach their objections or alterations to the repo...

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work (Amendment) Regulations 1994, employers are required in anticipation of a woman of child-bearing age entering their employ to carry out a pregnancy risk assessment. The risk assessment process (which covers those who have recently given birth and are breastfeeding, as well as pregnant women) requires employers: a. to assess all risks to which such employees might be exposed; b. to ensure they are not exposed to those risks; and c. if a risk remains despite preventative and other actions, terms of work (hours, place, etc.), to offer such employees alternative work or grant them paid leave if this is not available. The Equal Opportunities Commission recently noted that in 2001 there were 1,387 maternity related discrimination claims regarding breaches of Health and Safety legislation (96% of the discrimination claims). The average compensation claim paid was £9,871. The HSE identify 5 general risks that there are to pregnant women in the ...

Female employees are entitled to a range of rights before and after giving birth. Close attention to the rules is needed since breach could generate a claim for sex discrimination. Leave and Pay: Evidence A woman must produce form MATB1 to her employer. This form is available from the 20th week before her EWC (Expected Week of Childbirth). A woman wishing to exercise her entitlements must notify her employer in or by the 15th week before her EWC, giving the employer a copy of the MATB1 if the employer requires this. She must also state to her employer when she wishes her maternity leave (and her Maternity Pay - if she is eligible) to commence. She must give 28 days notice of the leave/pay start date. Within a further 28 days her employer must confirm to her, in writing, her rights to: i. pay; ii. preservation of contract; and iii. return (see below). If the baby is born before the expiry of the woman's 28 day notice period the leave (and pay if applicable) commences at the date of ...

Whilst the majority of employers avoid granting loans to their employees, many will be asked at some time or another to assist employees. The rules regarding the granting of authority, as well as the purposes for which loans will be granted, need to be carefully laid down and controlled. As far as ad hoc loans are concerned, some employers may prefer not to advertise the fact that the Organisation is prepared to assist, fearing this could encourage additional applications. Ideally, this type of loan should be the exception. In addition to ad hoc loans, an increasing number of employers make loans to assist employees with travel costs - e.g. season ticket loans. These would normally be dealt with in a far less investigative manner, although a repayment authority, such as that set out below should be completed in each case. Example of Policy Whilst [the employer] believes that employees can and should manage their personal finances successfully, it recognises that at times short-term fin...

Until fairly recently the number of instances in which an employer was liable to pay an employee when he was not working were few - e.g. time off to seek other work and/or be trained when redundant was virtually the only instance for many years. Since then a whole range of rights to both paid and unpaid leave have been introduced. Holidays All employees are entitled to receive 4 weeks paid holiday within their employers holiday year. This statutory holiday must be taken within the holiday year to which it relates and can neither be carried forward, nor be paid in lieu (except where the employees leaves during the holiday year with unused entitlement). Statutory holiday can be offset against paid contractual holiday to which an employee is entitled. Sickness Subject to the production of an acceptable self-certificate for the first seven days (and the production of certificates from a medical practitioner for periods in excess), employers are responsible for paying Statutory Sick Pay for...

The Challenge? A quote from the CIPD's report 'Impact of People Management Practices on Business Performance' neatly summarises the challenge for the Board: 'If managers wish to influence the performance of their companies the most important area they should emphasise is the management of people. This is ironic, given that our research demonstrates that emphasis on human resource management is one of the most neglected areas of managerial practice.' As American management guru, Stephen Covey, comments: 'management is about doing things right but leadership is about doing the right things'; whilst in his 'Seven habits for highly effective people' he suggests that: 'Management without leadership is like arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.' Practical Means of Retaining People If there is inspiring leadership once a team has been created its members are more likely to stay together since most people wish to be associated with success, and ma...

Reworking the phrase 'the best way to make more money is to stop losing it', the easiest way to ensure we have a good team working for us is to stop losing them. In the UK we have a shrinking working population, a growing skills shortage and a tendency on the part of many employers to assume they will always be able to fill vacancies. Competition for the above average or 'best' employees is likely to become increasingly fierce. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) 'Annual Labour Turnover Survey' discloses that over 50% of all recruits leave within 2 years and 75% leave within 6 years of joining.' The Hay Group's research in 'The Retention Dilemma' indicates that: employee turnover has increased by 25% since 1996; the main causes of voluntary termination of employment are a lack of leadership and a lack of a career path; and the cost of labour turnover can equate to 40% of an employer's annual profit. Many personne...

When it is necessary to conduct an interview to discover facts affecting an event concerning an employee (e.g. for the proposed application of DISCIPLINE , CAPABILITY, counselling etc.) it is safest before making any decision to ensure a proper and full investigation of the reasons is undertaken, in order to discover the background,. With most investigations the ultimate aim is to attempt to find a solution - to do this, information is essential, as is keeping any meeting as informal as possible. Suggested Checklist 1. Find as many facts as possible before the meeting, including as many personal details as possible. Knowing these may aid rapport and encourage a feeling that here is someone who understands and cares. 2. Although a one-to-one meeting is helpful, this may be impractical if the two parties are of different sexes and the subject matter is personal. The intervention of any third party should not, however, be forced on the subject who may resent it. If the subject is directly...