• 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Are you ready for fit notes?

    Did you know that the next time your staff are off sick, they no longer need to bring you a sick note. From April 6th, you need to ask them about a Fit Note. These are still issued by the GP, usually after seven calendar days of absence, but instead of just informing the employer…

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  • Can you afford to give employees time off to train?

    On 6th April 2010, the law changed to allow all employees to request time of to train. Here are some of the issues which need to be considered: Will the training benefit the employer as well as the employee? If it won’t benefit the employer, you can turn down the request. Will you give the…

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  • Do we need a high pay commission

    When you hear that 100 key figures have come out in support of a ‘high pay’ commission, it does make you stop and reconsider your view, re-evaluate your thoughts and do I want to change my gut reaction? ……….. No. Why do we need a high pay commission? Is it shutting the door after the…

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  • Childcare Vouchers

    If I told you that as an employer you could make a financial saving by offering your employees something that many of them would really value, would you want to hear more? Well, by introducing childcare vouchers and offering them to all your employees through a tax efficient salary sacrifice scheme, you could do just…

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