Talking HR into Account
Welcome to the first edition of the Talking HR into Account Bulletin for Employers. Provided by Catherine Kane Associates.
Talking HR into Account Bulletin provides insight on recent and future employment legislation, to suggest ways to save on your people costs. We work with a selected number of accountancy firms to bring business leaders the key employment related themes, to help drive higher levels of employee performance and tools to save people cost.
One of the common issues businesses have is the cost of Insurance based HR policies. About 50% of organisations we engage with have some form of insurance policy to cover costs arising from tribunal etc. Some policies restrict the employer’s ability to introduce “friendly” policies.
All insurance policies should be checked periodically for cost. So what should it cost? Well if you are paying roughly more than these amounts, then set your-self a reminder to look at your cost and how you can either renegotiate or exit.
0 - 10 employees £40,
11 – 20 employees £80,
21 – 50 employees £120 per month... and also check your policy contract for notice period, some policies – they can be 6 months +, by which time your business needs can be completely different. So this need not cost the earth to have a set of policies and HR support which will help you manage your employees. And in this bulletin we have given some easy-fixes, for you to consider, that will not cost the earth.
Let’s start with a review of the employment tribunal landscape. At Catherine Kane Associates, we keep a close eye on tribunals and how they can often find against employers for what seems to be minor oversights when they are focused on running their business. There have though, been a number of high profile cases taken by employees to Industrial Tribunals over the last 18 months. As a business owner you need to think of how you would manage a situation whether employees demonstrate bullying behaviour to fellow employees, on social media channels. If you would like to know more about the details of each case, read the articles here. We also provide an example of where an employee answering a customer query opened the organisation up to defend a transgender discrimination claim in the Jersey Employment and Discrimination tribunal.
If you have staff on the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage, learn about ways in which some of our clients are managing the hike, check out our article here.
Our article on SSP focuses on ways to manage and reduce costs using an hours system not days – a simple change that also helps with attendance and puts into a performance management system to drive individual performance.
With auto-enrolment reaching its final stages of roll-out among small businesses, we give you a few tips on what to look out for.
With the HMRC publishing draft legislation on the taxation of termination payments and the Government consulting on limiting the range of benefits-in-kind, we offer you some insight and direction.
Finally, as an employer you are only too aware that you have a duty of care to your employees. We discuss the findings from a recent case, which highlights the responsibility you have to provide an open and supportive workplace environment.
If you have any queries or an issue you want addressed and want an initial discussion, drop me a line at info@catherinekaneassociates.co.uk
Disclaimer: The content of this Bulletin is provided for information purposes only. No claim is made as to the accuracy or authenticity of the content of the information or associated links. This article contains information about recent employment law rulings. The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such.
