Would you allow a GP to carry out brain surgery on you?
Would you want your accountant giving you a manicure?
The answer to both, I suspect, is NO!
So why do people listen to family and friends when they need advice on their staff?
The answer we are sometimes given is “because they have run a business”; but more often than not it is just because the employer was venting and family and friends were trying to be supportive.
Would you want a business coach mentoring you if they had already had three of their businesses go into liquidation?
Would you want a business coach guiding your growth from £100k – £3m if they have never run a business of more than £250k and have only ever sold a product when you offer a service?
Making sure you surround your business with the right people is essential for business 
success and hiring the wrong people or taking advice from people because it ‘feels’ right is an irresponsible risk to introduce into your business.
I am a member of a number of business-related Facebook Groups where members are incredibly supportive of each other. People pose all sorts of business questions and other group members provide useful, enlightened, inspirational and business-focussed advice. However, (there is often a however) I get quite concerned about the people advice that is often given. It is still being given in the right way i.e. from the desire to be supportive and helpful; but so many times it is legally wrong! It may feel right, it may feel like the moral thing to do, it may even be what the advice giver has done in the past…… but none of that makes the advice right.
There are always options and when giving employment law or HR advice (they are not quite the same thing), it is essential that you know 3 things:
- What the law says
- What your contracts of employment and/or employee handbook says
- What has already been said to / is understood by the employee
When people ask about underperforming staff and everyone says “get rid”, “fire today”, “show them the door”, what they do not understand is the following:
- Does the employee have a contract of employment and if so, what does it say?
- Is there a contractual disciplinary, grievance or termination policy within the business?
- How long has the employee been there?
- Does the employee have any protected features?
- Are there any medical issues which are causing the poor performance?
The answers to these will all determine the options available to the business owner and the risks associated with each option.
The latest employment tribunal figures show the number of claims last quarter increased by 165% compared to the same quarter last year. In the last quarter, the largest AVERAGE awards were given for disability (£30,700) and the average award for unfair dismissal was £15,007.
As employees no longer need to pay to take a case to the employment tribunal and discrimination claims do not require 2 years service and these awards are uncapped, employers really do need to be aware of the implications of what they say and the decisions they make.
So, while family, friends and other business owners are happy and willing to provide advice, you do need to make sure that you are taking the right advice. It must be right for your business, right for you and right for your employee…. It is just not worth risking your business over.
