The simple things...

I am constantly reminded how the simple things, or rather the failure to deal with the simple things, can get an employer into hot water.

The simplest thing when you take on a new employee, be it on a permanent or temporary basis, is to give them written terms and conditions. It is so simple in fact, that the law says you have to do this within 8 weeks of an employee starting work. The danger of not giving an employee such a letter is that an employee could take issue with this and bring a claim to a Tribunal. An Employment Tribunal has the power to award between 2 - 4 weeks salary for a failure to provide an employee with their written particulars. A harsh slap on the wrist for something which is seemingly so simple!

It does not need to be a fancy contract, drafted by a snazzy lawyer, costing you a lot of money to prepare, and does not need to be printed on watermarked paper. It need only be a single page setting out the basic "who, where, what, why, when and how much".

It is surprising how many employers following recruitment fail to put this in place. This can be for a number of reasons and usually it has to do with time. Recruitment is often usually done out of need and sometimes has to be done quickly. Another reason is that it is a job that has been delegated to "someone else" and "someone else" has failed to carry out that task. Oops.

The easiest way is to have a template letter pre-prepared on the office computer and ready to print out to give to a new starter so they know the terms that they are working under. The template could even be printed out and the gaps filled in by hand if there is any technophobia or simply no one to delegate the task to.

If you want to be able to delegate all HR tasks to an effective and efficient "someone else" who knows about HR, but you cannot justify employing an HR manager within your business - consider outsourcing this job. Don't forget that our outsourcing packages start for as little as £50 per month!

If you have read this and thought, "I need to get my hands on a template like that and pronto!" Drop me an e-mail and I will send you a template free of charge.

emma@effective-hrm.co.uk

working into our 70s and beyond...

Employees will need to continue to eat their apples in order to keep healthy and work longer.


On 6 April 2011 the default retirement age of 65 was abolished. This means that employers can no longer simply retire an employee on the basis that they have reached the age of 65.

What does the law say?

Unless employees who are already 65 or over or who will be 65 on or before 6 October 2011 have been given the requisite notice before 6 April 2011, it will be unlawful for employers to retire those employees for reaching the default retirement age of 65.

The law refers to ‘transitional provisions’, which mean that certain retirements will still be lawful, but the conditions of this are that (i) that the notice of intended retirement has to be issued on or before 5 April 2011, (ii) the employee to be retired has to have reached the age of 65 on or by 30 September 2011 and (iii) the statutory retirement procedure needs to have been followed.

What is ‘objective justification’?

Employers intending to retire an employee must be able to justify the reason for the retirement.  Potential reasons would be succession planning or for health & safety reasons. The downside of getting rid of the default retirement age is that employers may well need to turn more to capability procedures when considering how to fairly dismiss employees who might not be able to carry out their role.

What does this mean for in practice for employers?

For employers it means that there is a risk that any dismissals made from 6 April 2011 onwards will constitute direct age discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010).

This essentially means that where employers have given correct notification to employees due to turn 65 or who are already 65 within 6 months from 6 April 2011, the transitional provisions will apply.

During the last three years of the current recession the Employment Tribunals have seen a huge increase in claims to the Tribunal for unfair dismissal arising out of redundancy. No doubt the statistics are largely attributable to the economic climate and the sheer numbers of redundancies that businesses have had to make, however, more employees are aware of their rights and there is also an increase of “no win no fee” businesses offering to conduct Tribunal claims for dismissed employees. It is likely that there will be a rise in age discrimination claims brought to Tribunal.  

How can employers try to safeguard against potential Employment Tribunal claims?

With a growing awareness and increased claims culture, it is even more important for employers to have really good Human Resource management systems in place. Simply put - aggrieved employees bring claims. Employees handled well are less likely to bring a claim.

Many claims can be avoided by ensuring that the policies and procedures in place specifically relating to retirement, but also in all HR related general, are followed correctly and explained clearly.

What should employers do now?

It would be good practice to write to all your employees to inform them of how you intend to deal with retirement in the absence of the default retirement age. Employers may decide to amend employees’ contracts of employment to change the wording relating to retirement. Remember that the usual provisions in relation to changing contract terms will apply and employees will need to consent to any variations in writing. No doubt the retirement policy in the staff handbook will also have to be amended.

Other implications to consider : as a result of the change to the law on retirement, employers are allowed to withdraw or not to offer insured benefits to employees who are aged 65 or over.

Got a question about retirement or any other HR query?

Drop me an e-mail on emma@effective-hrm.co.uk and don't forget that our monthly HR support and advice retainers are available to businesses to keep the business up to date and compliant! start from as little as £50 per month!

Healthy HR management

Welcome to my blog. My mission is simple. My objective is clear. I am on a mission to make small to medium sized businesses aware of the necessity of having sound HR policies and practices in place. It is not difficult and the best way to do it if you have less than 100 employees is NOT to hire a full time human resource manager, but to outsource the HR responsibility to an expert provider of that service.

All too often I have to deal with a situation where I am actually digging the employer client out of a problem that would never have occurred if they had operated good policies, practices and procedures.  But then, isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?

It is never to late to start to apply good practice and to get the foundations of good employment law & HR infrastructure in place, whether you are a small start up company or a business that has been trading for over 20 years and managed to date without issuing your employees with so much as an employment contract. Now is the time to professionalise your operation and take the headache of HR away.

We all remember the addage that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". Think of good HR management as the apple that ensures that you keep, not the doctor, but the lawyers (and hefty legal fees) away from your business!

Some top tips to consider when looking at the HR aspects of your business:

1. make sure your employees have employment contracts (or at least a written statements of terms)
2. make sure you have a relevant and compliant staff handbook
3. try to keep up to date with relevant changes (don't miss our next blog on significant changes in employment law from 6 April 2011)  
4. be in charge of your business by knowing the boundaries of what you can and cannot do as an employer
5. consider outsourcing the HR function to an expert, thus freeing up the office manager, the financial director or the owner manager to do the job that they are best qualified to undertake. You will be surprised at how cost effective outsourcing can be!

Effective HRM offer a free health check. We will give your business documents a once over for free and give you our expert prognosis on what you need to do to improve your health!  http://www.effective-hrm.co.uk/

Our monthly retainer packages start from as little as £50 per month.

e-mail me today on emma@effective-hrm.co.uk