Welcome
Since our last newsletter DOHR has gone from strength to strength, taking on four new clients and pitching for several more. This has been an exciting and busy time – whoever said the summer was the quietest period?
You will find below a couple of interesting articles which as always, will help you to manage your people effectively and plan for the future.
We welcome your feedback to our newsletter and always enjoy reading your entries on our blog. If you would like to contribute to a future edition of this newsletter, please contact us via the website or on 01923 504100.
The Art and Science of HR
With legislation constantly changing and employees being the individuals they are, getting people management (HR) right can be a bit of an art with a considerable amount of science thrown in for good measure.
Understanding what the law requires, what best practice suggests, what your business needs and what your employees want requires a business owner to create, design, amend, flex and review their people management policies and practices so that they are adding value to the business and not cramping its success.
Then, there are the risks associated with getting it wrong, the hassle, the time, the stress and ultimately the cost. The costs could be enough to see a new and flourishing business fail overnight.
Become an artist, discover a love for science and plan your people management carefully. Don’t just let it happen, control it just as you would any other aspect of your business.
Flexible Working
As an employer, there is a legal obligation on you to consider a flexible working request from eligible employees. This does not mean that you have to agree to a contractual change to an employee’s working patterns, just that you need to consider it. The reasons you may reject a request include: the burden of additional cost, inability to re-organise work among existing staff and a detrimental effect on quality.
Flexible working can take a number of forms, including :
- – A reduction in hours – part time working
- – A change to the actual hours worked, for example start later, finish later
- – A job share arrangement – where two employees split the working week betweenthem
- – A change in work location
The flexibility is limitless and if used properly can greatly benefit a business as well as the employee. It is important that companies respond appropriately to requests for flexible working and the law specifies timescales and content of a response. To ensure you remain compliant, DOHR can help you develop your flexible working policy and procedures.
In Short
Forthcoming Legislation
1st October 2010 – The new Equality Bill comes into effect. This consolidates disability, sex, race and other grounds of discrimination into one piece of legislation.
1st October 2010 – New rates for National Minimum Wage apply.
1st April 2011 – The Bribery Act comes into force.
1st April 2011 – New limits on non EU immigration will be made permanent.
3rd April 2011 – Paternity leave and pay rights are extended.
No Retirement Age
No-one yet knows what this will means in practise, but the Government have announced that from October 2011, there will be no statutory retirement age. Watch this space to see how companies need to change their policies and procedures to remain legally compliant.
