Ever been in the unfortunate position of tackling the “difficult conversation” with an employee? The sweaty palms and the uncontrollable tick under your left eye start as soon as they walk in the room.

Difficult conversations have to happen so that you can retain harmony and productivity of your workplace. Issues that are left to fester will become unmanageable.

 How you approach the employee can fan the flames or calm the situation. You must remember it is not about who is right or wrong, it is about agreement on the right way forward.

You must remain composed at all times and listen, let them speak first; don’t make assumptions about how they are feeling, ask them. Explain how the situation is affecting other employees or the business, be factual.

Establish what you both want and what will help you both move forward in a constructive manner.

Remember, difficult conversations are a chance for you to turn something unconstructive into something encouraging.

At Simple HR we believe that your employees will work best if you are fair and consistent, trust and honesty are crucial. If you would like to attend our management academy session, taking the stress out of difficult conversations, contact us at info@simplehr.co.uk .

The idea behind this proposal includes advertising to people of different backgrounds online and in schools instead of using “old school networks”.

While this sounds like a good idea and any proposal that aims to stamp out discrimination must be seen as a good thing, can this work in practise?

The first part of the proposal supports application forms that do not show the candidate’s name or education details. The idea is that this will avoid any discrimination during the recruitment process.

At Simple HR we think that a simple redaction of application forms and CV’s is unlikely to stop discrimination and could waste candidate’s time. This initiative piggy backed on the topic of fair treatment of interns in large organisations; if you are hiring a line manager “guesses” for age could come from career experience and quite frankly taking the name off sounds impractical in most circumstance.

We can help you through the discrimination minefield by supporting you all the way through the recruitment process from beginning to end. We will ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and honestly whilst ensuring that you have access to the best candidates available for the role.

Please contact us at info@simplehr.co.uk for more information.

Protected conversations are the controversial topic of a Government Consultation this year.

While we recognise that it is a good thing the Government have acknowledged a need for employers to be able to broach difficult performance matters; in reality are protected conversations the way to do this?

 On the surface this may seem a good idea, an ideal opportunity for employers to lay their cards on the table without fear of a tribunal case against them.

This could work for poorly performing employees who recognise the job is too big for them and are perhaps waiting for the inevitable; this could be a more human and less traumatic process.  The employer explains that even with compassionate and professional management they think improvement is unlikely opening the door for the employee to negotiate a no fault exit strategy. No long, painful performance management process, the employee and employer can move on without the bitter aftertaste!

However, would you agree to a no holds barred conversation with your employer without knowing in advance what they are going to say?

Protected conversations can only work as part of a fair and reasonable process and will offer no protection from unlawful or unprofessional comments.

Trust and honesty are crucial in your working relationship and if, as an employer you work to achieve this with your employees you will reap the benefits. 

For more information on people management, please contact us at info@simplehr.co.uk

The AWR are very comprehensive but the three main changes which have come into force are:

After a 12-week qualifying period, agency workers have the same rights to pay and working conditions as permanent staff in a similar role. This includes overtime and shift payments, contractual holiday pay and bonus/commission payments; it excludes contractual sick pay, maternity, pensions and notice or redundancy pay.

The changes also provide agency workers with certain rights from day one – they must have the same access as permanent staff to collective facilities and amenities, for example, canteens and changing facilities.

They will also have the right, from day one, to be afforded the same opportunities to find permanent employment with the company as its own employees. Therefore all vacancies must be made available to them.

There are several issues that you as an employer should consider now. Do you know how many agency workers you hire? If you use them regularly you need to understand the implications and cost of these new regulations.

You need to establish what basic terms are currently offered to staff for various roles across the business, such as pay, holiday entitlement and bonus. Maybe you could introduce qualifying periods for new starts before they acquire certain benefits.

There are important steps needed to ensure that you are well placed to comply with and minimise any adverse effects of these regulations.  We can help you effectively manage these challenges, whilst ensuring that you comply with all legislative regulations and still reduce costs.

Please contact Simple HR at info@simplehr.co.uk

After a ruling in the European Court of Justice, an employer, operating a salary sacrifice scheme, must pay “output” tax on the pay given up by employees.

Output tax, which is the VAT charged when a benefit is supplied to the employee (if the benefit is subject to tax) will have to be accounted for by employers.

These rules apply from 01/01/12 however, salary sacrifice agreements that were made on or before 27/07/11 will continue to be free of VAT until the earliest of the following:

 The date that a fixed-term agreement expires or the fixed number of salary-sacrifice payments specified within the agreement are completed;

The date of an employee’s annual salary or benefits review;

The date of any other review or renegotiation that leads to a change in the provisions of benefits under a salary-sacrifice agreement or to a change  in an employement contract.  

Childcare vouchers are not subject to VAT so are not directly affected by this ruling; however, employers that previously recovered VAT on the administration fees from the voucher provider may not be allowed to do so as these fees are directly attributable to the exempt vouchers.

Other areas that will be affected will be organisations that purchase/lease vehicles to their employees.  Most employers are preventing from recovering VAT on the purchase or leasing of cars, in this case they will not have to account for output tax. However, if there is no input tax restriction in place, output tax will need to be accounted for. 

This also applies to employers that provide bicycles and safety equipment under a salary sacrifice arrangement to their employees; They can still recover VAT on the purchase of bicycles and related equipment.

If we can be of further help or if you would like to discuss any aspect of these changes, please contact us at info@simplehr.co.uk

As an employer you have various legal obligations to your employee if their position becomes redundant. It is imperative that you follow procedure to ensure that the process is as fair, consistent and sympathetic. 

At Simple HR we are able to provide you with a comprehensive guide that will take you through each stage ensuring your compliance with Employment Rights Act. 

Check out our Redundancy Calculator which allows you to calculate how much statutory pay your employees are entitled to based on their circumstances. 

 If redundancy is affecting your business, contact us today at info@simplehr.co.uk

 In 2011 we listened to our clients requests, so in 2012… 

Following last year’s training success  our clients can now download ALL training material at simplehr.co.uk/Training-Materials/

We have build an easy to use  redundancy entitlement calculator. Use it for free at simplehr.co.uk/redundancy-page/

As well as Simply Put newsletters  keeping you up to date we have gone digital, follow our blog at simplehr.co.uk/blog

Use our value calculator to show you how much great HR can save  your business a fortune at simplehr.co.uk/value-calculator/

Watch out for us on www.facebook.com/simplehr , www.linkedin.com/company/simple-hr and www.twitter.com/simplehr_uk

January’s edition of our Simply Put is now available – it contains all you need to know about what is happening in Employment Law 2012.

Please join our mailing list if you would like to receive a copy of our Simply Put newsletter or email me at afrater@simplehr.co.uk

Employees may be entitled to an additional day’s holiday depending on the wording of their employment contract; they do not have an automatic right to paid time off on a bank holiday.

If the employee is entitled to a certain number of days plus bank holidays, they will be entitled to the additional day off. However, if the employee is entitled to a certain number of days, and their contract is silent on the issue of bank holidays, the employee will not be entitled to an additional day’s leave; neither will the employee be entitled to an extra day if entitlement is expressed as a certain number of days “plus eight bank holidays”, or if the contract specifies which bank holidays are included.

You should consider whether it will affect team morale if your business does not join in with the celebrations; it is a delicate balance and in all such cases communication is the key.

Remember part-time staff have the same entitlement as full-time workers; therefore if full-time staff are given the bank holiday part-time workers should also receive the holiday on a pro-rata basis.

 If you have any questions regarding this extra holiday contact us at info@simplehr.co.uk and we will happily help.

If however, sickness or absence leaves them unable to take their holidays, you could be left with a situation where a member of staff has a year’s entitlement to take; where would this leave your business?

It is important to have a contractual date when unspent holidays expire however this is an area where specific advice is essential.

Please contact Simple HR for more information and help in deciphering this very complex aspect of the Working Time Directive at info@simplehr.co.uk