• Long Service Awards

    Rewarding long service is tricky. You need to consider what you are rewarding, attendance or contribution? In the era of age discrimination, is rewarding long service, rewarding older members of staff and discriminating against younger members who are less likely to be receiving the awards. What is the purpose of the award? Is it because…

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  • PeopleTalk – June 2010

    Welcome Last month saw the 3rd birthday of DOHR! Can it really be 3 years since we set up the business? How time flies when you are having fun! The legislation has changed (quite a few times), the economy is having a huge impact on businesses of all sizes and employers continue to need good…

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  • World Cup

    Love it or hate it, the world cup is coming and as employers, you need to ensure you know what you can and can’t do to protect your business from absent employees. Get it right now and managing employees during the tournament becomes easy. You need a clear policy. Decide how you are going to…

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  • HR ……. How will the election affect employers?

    I wish I had a crystal ball. I want the truth. I want to know what each of the political parties will really do to help employers. “We will protect jobs We will reduce youth unemployment We will increase NI by 0.5% We will not increase VAT (yet) We will relocate 15,000 civil servants from…

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  • Salary Sacrifice: May no longer be attractive for employers

    Personnel Today has reported that a European court ruling means employers may be forced to pay millions in unpaid VAT for salary sacrifice voucher schemes. For a number of years now the Government have offered a number of schemes to encourage employers to provide employees with tax advantageous benefits. Some of the most common include:…

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  • To bonus or not to bonus?….. that is the question.

    With news that RBS are set to overhaul their bonus scheme, and the Lib Dems denouncing NHS managers pay, bonus payments for all staff are once again in the spotlight. Companies who choose to use a bonus to incentivise performance should develop a robust and transparent scheme which encourages the particular behaviours the company values…

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  • Are all your employees legal? ….. are you sure?

    In 2008, the UK Boarders & Imigration Agency (UKBIA) introduced fixed penalty fines of £10,000 per employee for illegal immigrants. In 2007, there were 38 prosecutions. However, following the introduction of the fixed penalty, there were 1164 penalties imposed costing employers £11.2 million in fines. In 2009 these figures rose to 2210 penalties costing £22.1…

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  • Time for a Spring Clean

    You take your car for an MOT, you take yourself to the doctor for a check up, you even get an accountant to look at your books, but when was the last time you gave your employee practices an audit? Do you know if you are legally compliant? Are you sure you are getting the…

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  • HR for small businesses

    An employer is never too small to need HR support. From the time you employ a single person, you are subject to employment law requirements. A written contract of employment, employers liability insurance and health and safety are the bear minimum. Once you reach five employees, you need to offer a pension scheme (although you…

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  • Are your employees trapped abroad?

    As a working mother, I am hearing lots of stories of friends and teachers stuck at a wide variety of holiday destinations unable to return to school. The current travel ban is affecting everyone, but how are employers coping? There are several issues to consider as an employer: ~ Firstly, the impact of having employees…

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