Leave for breaking up?

Traditionally, each year, the first week of January is renowned for the highest number of divorce filings in the year. This is not a decision which people take lightly and coping with a breakup is far from easy. They say that moving house, marriage, divorce and death are the four greatest stresses anyone will go…

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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Under the Equality Act 2010, harassment is unwanted conduct which is related to one of the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Under the legal definition, this unwanted conduct “has the purpose of effect of either violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading,…

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Ready to retire?

What do you do when someone is reaching what used to be referred to as ‘retirement age’? Care needs to be taken when you are dealing with employees of a certain age; they should not be treated any differently or discriminated against just because of their age.  Employers that compulsorily retire employees, or attempt to…

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Anti-fraternisation

Outdated rules or needed for the modern workplace? The first question for many is: What is fraternisation? Fraternisation is defined as: To associate or form a friendship with someone, especially when you are not supposed to do so. Fraternisation at work is usually about people having relationships with colleagues, but it could also be about…

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Ban the phone

Employers and unions are increasingly discussing the right of an employer to ban mobile phones at work. In some organisations, this is already the case, such as large retailers, banks and some medical settings, but it is something which smaller employers still battle with. My mobile number (although not my phone) is still the one…

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Don’t let the election rule your workpalce!

I don't do politics! However, our newsletters are based on what's going on in the world around us on a weekly basis, and, at the moment, that has to include the politics. However, there is still a very strong HR issue here which all business owners need to be incredibly aware of over the next…

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The Work Colleague Of The Future

We have just twenty years before the physical effects of a desk-bound office job will become starkly apparent, according to a new report. More than 3000 employees in France, Germany and the UK were interviewed about their health concerns as part of a study to examine the impact that modern workstations are having on our…

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What do they really want?

I had a conversation with a client this week about the struggles they are having to improve performance. They are a recruitment agency, so like other recruitment agencies and estate agents who we look after, the staff are set targets and are paid on their performance. However, from our conversation, it appears that the incentive…

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