ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and SAR - HELP ME, AM I IN TROUBLE?   A data Subject Access Request ("SAR") is an Employer / Business Owner's worst nightmare. The time, the effort, what information to share, what not to share and so on. Unfortunately, this...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and WTR   On 28 February 2017, the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal in the landmark case of “ Lock v British Gas” bringing the legal case to a close. This long-standing legal proceeding, which included representation at...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and Employment Law   Spring does not just bring flowers in bloom and good weather but also a series of legislative changes from large compliance projects for data protection and gender pay gap reporting to costs increases as...

Is it time to ditch the dress code or is it still justifiable?   I read a recent article in the CIPD Magazine People Management where the discussion centred around "Is it time to ditch the dress code?" topic. This sounded particularly pertinent to me considering...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and equal pay   The Office for National Statistics (“ONS”) reported on 26 October 2016  that the gender pay gap between men and women (for full-time workers) has fallen from 9.6% in April 2015 to 9.4% in April 2016 which is,...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and redundancies   No one wants to make redundancies or be made redundant; from time to time, however, businesses have to re-organise themselves and cut overhead costs. Restructures and redundancies can pave the way for...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and ill health at work   ll-health at work can be a sensitive issue, especially when handling long term or repeated absence. Tribunals have sympathy for employees with health issues, even where no disability is involved, and...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and immigration   Last July immigration officials arrested dozens of illegal workers at Byron prompting mixed reactions from the national media and the burger chain’s customers. The Home Office carried out raids, with Byron’s...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and workplace illness   The Office for National Statistics found that, in 2013, more working days were lost to musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain than anything else. Once upon a time, if you suffered from...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and absence   Figures from the Office for National Statistics shows that sickness absence caused by stress, anxiety and/or depression has dramatically increased from 11.8 million days in 2010 to 15.2 million days in 2013....

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, business and the law   Starbucks has lost a disability discrimination case after it wrongly accused a dyslexic employee of falsifying documents when she had simply misread numbers she was responsible for recording. This case is a...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and employee relations   An allegation of misconduct i.e. met with immediate sickness absence, what do you do? Adjust do not delay - it is not true that employees can't be disciplined if they're off sick or don't show. Their...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and discrimination   In the case of Thompson v London Central Bus Company Ltd, the question of associative discrimination in relation to victimisation was considered. Mr Thompson was a bus driver and he was disciplined for...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and long-term sickness According to HSE 27.3 million, working days were lost in 2014/15 due to absence with stress depression or anxiety counting for 9.9 million days, musculoskeletal discords 9.5 million days. The average days...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and immigration rules   On 25 February 2015, the Secretary of State issued a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, which highlighted a number of changes,  most of which came into force on 6 April 2015. The Tier 2...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and whistleblowing   In Chesterton v Nurmohamed, Mr Nurmohamed made the disclosure about alleged manipulation of the firm's accounts and claimed that by deliberately overstating costs and liabilities for its London office the...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Employment & Social Media Ok, you set up your social media account ( Facebook, Twitter and so on..) separate from your work and you do not identify yourself as working in a particular company. You have a rant or a few which of course...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, business, employee relations    I don't get along with my boss: what can I do?   To start with, don't let your job and your boss define who you are: it is a job, not your life. Develop tactics that work for yourself and your...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business, Change Management and Employee Relations   We are currently going through a period of change and there are some employees who do not appear to want to embrace anything new or different and there seems to be some peer...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and Absence Management   Many managers struggle to deal with an unexplained absence that also affects employees' ability to fulfil role requirements and feel there is nothing they can do. The reality is you do not have to...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, business, learning & development   If we wanted to learn how to do some task outside work we wouldn't go on a course 6 or even 3 months earlier; we would Google it or use YouTube when we do need to know and action each step "there...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and apprenticeship   Everyone is talking about apprentices but, behind the big headlines, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the funding and ownership of schemes. People still think that the process is complicated and...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and learning   How can we unlock knowledge in a short period of time at the minimum expense? The old way of learning was to book someone one a course/workshop etc; this can be a strain especially for small businesses both...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and TUPE   TUPE refers to the "Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006" as amended by the "Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and workforce planning   The number of over-50s in the UK workforce is set to rise by nearly 800,000 by 2022 like most advanced economies. Because they are enjoying better health and living longer, British citizens need to...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and testing for drugs    have received an anonymous letter accusing an employee of taking drugs, in and out of work, and I am suspicious: can I test him/her for drink and drugs? If this is happening in your company right now...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and loyalty   Money is not always the driver: if employees are paid in a way that supports their chosen lifestyle and they are not necessarily ambitious, then they are likely not to be loyal and could easily leave for another...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and body odour   Ask if you can have a frank conversation and do acknowledge that you have been thinking about whether or not to approach the subject and you have decided to do so to help them avoid the embarrassment. Be kind...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and recruitment   It comes a time in the life of small business owners when their company is growing and they cannot continue to provide the same service to their customers just by themselves and they need to hire their first...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and disclosure on spent convictions   The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 allows certain spent convictions to be removed from criminal records so that they do not need to be disclosed, for example when applying for jobs....

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and apprenticeship   One of the keys to making an Apprentice feel welcome is a good induction process that offers continued managerial support. This could potentially be the difference between learning, failing and then...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and flexible working   Flexible working is not a new concept but is one that is often misconstrued. There are many types of flexible working, it is not something only women (in particular only mothers) ask for. Neither is...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and liability for contractors   A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal case showed a logistics company to be liable for its contractor's drivers under TUPE law because the activities these employees undertook were "fundamentally...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and pay to quit scheme   I recently read an article in the CIPD People Management magazine about an interesting people practice. Amazon is offering its staff up to $ 5,000 to leave the company immediately, the so-called "Pay...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and the psychoactive substance act   New legislation comes into effect from 26 May (today) which prohibits the production, distribution, sale, and supply of all psychoactive substances. With the exception of those in use...

ThePeopleAlchemist Edit: HR, Business and liabilities   Until now, it was possible to hold employers liable for the acts (or omissions) of their employees. If they happened during the course of their employment. Are you liable for staff misdemeanours? Well, a...