Is your business affected by the rain? There is a solution….

It feels like it has been raining for months, doesn’t it?

There are a range of businesses that are dependent on good weather – such as roofers, builders, gardeners, painters and decorators.   When the weather is poor, like it has been recently, many businesses owners find themselves instructing their staff to stay at home, as there is no work for them that day.   The staff  have a day-off with full pay, which can be very costly for the business.

There is a solution.   You can build a clause into your employee’s contracts that allows for a “workless day” .  This clause guarantees the staff a statutory pay of £23.50 per day during periods when there is no work – instead of being paid a full day’s pay.

The key points to note are:

• You can “lay off” staff for a maximum of five workless days in any three month period.
• Staff are not to undertake any work during their “workless day”.  Should an employee undertake any work then their normal rate of pay for that day will apply.

If you think that your business might benefit from a workless day clause, please give me call.

Top ten regulations deterring micro businesses

I read an interesting article on the top ten regulations that put off micro-businesses from growing and these are:

1. Health and safety

2. Maternity/paternity leave

3. Tax

4. National minimum wage

5. National insurance

6. Employer’s liability insurance

7. Working Time Regulations

8. Sickness absence

9. Time off to train

10. Discrimination

Do any of these feel familiar to you?

Many of the above relate to HR issues and I can help businesses work through their fears and plan for their future growth.  I also work with a range of associates from accountants, payroll providers, health and safety advisors and insurance brokers and between us we can help you overcome all of your top 10 fears.

Can we give employees too much information?

I went to see a nutritionist this morning as I wanted some advice on my diet.  I spent 90 minutes talking about managing blood sugar levels, the impact antibiotics have on the gut, how the kinesthetic approach to  food tolerance testing works, and how stress impacts the digestive system.

This afternoon, I can’t remember any of the science behind her recommendations, but all I know is that I’m to abstain from all caffeine (coffee and diet coke feature a lot in my diet), eat more nuts and seeds, go wholemeal, eat a little less red meat and a little more white meat.

In my case, it doesn’t really matter how much of the science  I do or don’t remember, I’m clear about what my actions are.  But is this always the case with employees who are going through some kind of formal procedure?

I’ve been supporting two friends recently as they have been under threat of dismissal (one for gross misconduct, the other due to redundancy).  It’s been interesting being on the other side of the fence, seeing how hard it is for an employee to navigate the formal procedures we use in HR.

In the redundancy situation there were so many different options for my friend that it just confused the issue.  My cynical mind thinks that the organisation used my friend’s confusion to their benefit, trying to persuade her to take a voluntary severance (VS) over what appeared to be a clear case (to me) of compulsory redundancy.  Obviously, the VS package was the cheaper option for the organisation.  The more questions my friend asked (following our conversations), the more information she received. Even for me, it felt like wading through treacle at times.

In the other case, the employee hadn’t realised what the allegations were that had been made against her when she was suspended.  Having reviewed the documentation she received, they did inform her – but she just hadn’t heard or understood.  Despite being supported by her union, she was given very little information on what was happening to her, what the next steps were, and how she could best prepare.

When I’m talking to employees I try to give them the full picture , including the worse case scenario.  If employees are going through organisastional change, I tell them from the start of the process that it might end in redundancy.   I inform witnesses in disciplinary investigations that their interview notes or statements might end up being public documents should the case get to an Employment Tribunal.  I think it’s important, so that employees can prepare themselves and make the right decisions based on the long-term view.

But how much do employee’s really take on board when we bombard them with this information at a difficult and stressful time in their employment?  Whilst we might follow-up any conversation in writing, do employees really read the finer details?  How much more should an employer do once it’s met its legal implications?

There is the argument that employees have their trade union representative who can support them in such instances.  However, in my experience, the quality and experience of the union support is variable.  There are some great union reps, and others who I feel miss the point and confuse the issues – and it’s the employee that suffers.

Another approach is to keep on re-iterating the key information to the employee(s) concerned.  I could be wrong, but I’ve never heard of an employee tribunal being lost due to an employee being given too much information.

In the centre of all this is the need to consider each employee as an individual.  Each employee reacts to their situation differently.  In cases of gross misconduct, some staff show remorse whilst other don’t when faced with similar scenarios.  The threat of redundancy can be a positive or negative experience for employees -depending on their personal circumstances.

What I have learnt over the years is that it is impossible to pre-judge an employee’s reaction to redundancy or other dismissal situations.  I’ve also observed that employee’s will tell us when they’ve “got it” and will keep on asking questions when they haven’t.

And if an employee is still asking questions…….. the organisation hasn’t yet given them enough information.

Tips for Using Skype for Meetings or Interviews

This week, my blog post about Relationship Dramas can be seen over at Coaching Confidence (click here)

So, instead this guest post was provided by Erin Palmer – a writer and editor with Bisk Education. Erin works with the online programs for prestigious universities such as Villanova University. Erin can be reached on Twitter @Erin_E_Palmer.

 

With much of the public sector facing spending cuts, alternatives need to be explored to remain productive and efficient while staying under the bottom line. Once such tool, video conferencing, is changing the way we do business by reducing travel and training-related expenses. Instead of dealing with mileage reimbursement and hotel bills, video conferencing helps to efficiently use time and energy within a lower budget.

One of the most popular video conferencing services being used is Skype. The software application provides a lot of services including free phone calls to landlines, but its video conferencing feature has grown in popularity. As is with any new endeavor, there are some tips to follow that will make your first (or next) meeting run a little smoother.

Make your environment distraction-free

With so many gadgets and devices floating around your workspace, something is bound to make a noise, light up or pull your attention away from the meeting. Remember that the other individuals participating in the meeting can see you. Remove clutter from your desk, make sure unnecessary electronics are turned off and keep people from coming into the office while conferencing. Be respectful of other’s time.

Dress appropriately

Don’t forget to look professional. Just because you’re not meeting in person doesn’t mean you aren’t making an impression. Dress as if you were actually going into a face-to-face meeting and make sure to do a spot check before you go live. Having a ketchup stain on your shirt or being dressed in pajamas is not appropriate.

Choose the right meeting time

Give careful consideration to the time you schedule the meeting. Too early or too late in the day both have their downfalls (both lend to less interaction from the group as they wake up or are winding down). If you’re working across different time zones, remember to account for the time difference and try to accommodate everyone.

Create specific parameters for the meeting duration

Letting everyone know how long a meeting is going to last will help keep everyone focused and moving forward on the meeting objectives. Be clear on a start time and sign in early, especially if you are running the show. It’s okay if the meeting runs a little long, but don’t keep everyone on if you’re only having a discussion with one individual.

Prepare materials and add contacts beforehand

Being organized before the meeting is very important. Have key statistics or data nearby that you can reference when needed. It is a waste of everyone’s time if you are trying to search for an important number or file while everyone is waiting on you. Moreover, sending an outline or other specific data to attendees beforehand will help to keep the meeting on point. This allows the other participates to generate questions beforehand and makes it easier to get lively participation.

Equally important is getting contact information, ideally before the meeting starts. Include alternative phone numbers should there be a problem with Skype or the connection. Being able to quickly reach other participants in the event of a problem will help salvage meetings and relationships.

Make sure that your speakers/microphones are in working order

It is vital to make sure everything you need for the video conference is working before it starts. Test everything with someone at the office so you know everything sounds and looks good. If you’ll be video conferencing on a regular basis, consider upgrading your microphone, getting a better camera, or buying a headset.

Listen intently

Remember that you’re on camera, so you should be paying close attention and listening to everything happening in the meeting. Be aware of your facial expressions and always be engaged. You’re on camera, so some physical cues like nodding and smiling will let the others know that you’re listening.

Skype and other video conferencing programs can really help the public sector cut down on costs without sacrificing productivity. Using proper meeting etiquette will help make video conferences just as effective and successful as in-house meetings.

These interview tips were provided by Villanova University’s online HR programs. Villanova offers human resources courses in addition to a Master’s Degree in Human Resources that is available 100% online. For more information please visit http://www.VillanovaU.com.

The impact of #N30: a day of action

Maximum disruption.  That’s the purpose of going on strike.    You will  have read the global figures on the impact of the Strike Action on November 30th but I felt it was important to write about the local impact.  Let’s begin with some basics

1.In an average District General Hospital (DGH) they will undertake about 2,000 outpatient appointments per day and 180 elective operations.

2. On an average week day, a DGH will admit about 80 patients through A&E.  On the weekend this will drop to 65.

Based on the above, the staffing levels are determined and bed moves are managed.  The Trust will run its operations tightly.  Any  significant increase in A&E attendances & admissions will be felt across the Trust.  Naturally, weekends have lower staffing levels because of the lower number of potential admissions.   On top of this, every Trust has sophisticated admission prediction tools, and they will increase / decrease elective activity in response to these predictions.   But like the weather, these predictions are sometimes wrong.

Turning to elective operations, the theatre list will be determined by the consultant who is recommending the surgery.   Each surgeon has different views on how their patients should be treated, and consultants do not “swop” or operate on another consultant’s patient except in exceptional circumstances.  The list is drawn up by specialty.  Eg a respiratory consultant will operate on all patients with lung conditions, including those with Cancer.

The same applies for outpatient appointments.  The key difference with outpatient appointments is that a patient may present with a persistent breathing issue [for example] and in the course of the appointment the potential diagnosis of cancer may present.

There were two strike exemptions on November 30th: one was emergencies, the other was cancer.  But as you can see above, it is incredibly difficult to pull out and determine who is a cancer patient on any given day without considerable effort.

Some Trusts treated November 30th November as a Bank Holiday.  Whilst it might be a sensible approach, I’m not sure how they pulled that off. Not withstanding the fact that it was [otherwise] a normal working day in terms of predicted admissions, but also the fact that usually, with planned cancellations, six week’s notice needs to be given.   Six weeks is deemed as the appropriate length of time to arrange cover / re-arrange appointments in a way that is not disruptive to the Trust.

Since the legislation states that strikers do not need to notify their employer before the day that they intend to go on strike, many Trusts had no idea of the true extent of the disruption.  They faced two choices:

1. Continue as normal, assess the situation at 8am on the day, and cancel as appropriate

2. Make cancellations at short-notice.  However, the Trust may find itself in a position where many staff arrive for work, only to find that there is no work to do.

The  impact on patients should not forgotten.  The exemptions were around cancer or emergencies.  But what abut the patient who’s been suffering for years with their leg?  Their routine operation scheduled for the 30th November is going to change their life.  And then it’s cancelled.  Or the patient who didn’t know she had cancer, until she attended an  outpatient appointment and through discussions with her doctor the diagnosis is made?

Other Trusts took the brave [but in my view the only] option to continue as normal.   What was not seen on Wednesday was the considerable work that was done behind the scenes by managers in Trusts to ensure that the hospital continued to run on November 30th.  The same managers who are in the unions that were out to strike.  And this work continues, as Trusts attempt to recover from the Day of Action.  As I said, maximum disruption.

A Tale About An Unemployed 18 Year Old

Let’s call him Jordan.

Jordan’s a clever kid, but he just didn’t enjoy school.  After being expelled from 3 schools, his father home schooled him and he achieved 5 GCSEs grade A or A*.

Jordan then went to college.  He didn’t like it, so he dropped out.

Just after he turned 17 he decided he didn’t like living at home any more.  With the help of social services he moved to new accommodation.

Enjoying his new found freedom, he decided to go back to College.  He enrolled in 4 AS subjects and sat the exams the following summer.     He even enrolled for the second year at College but a couple of months ago decided that it wasn’t working out for him.

Instead, Jordan got himself a job.  It’s not permanent job, but the owner of a local restaurant employs Jordan on an ad hoc basis to be a runner and general dogsbody.  The relationship suits Jordan. He works fairly regularly, but isn’t tied to regular hours.

The thing that Jordan is most proud of is the fact that he’s managed to negotiate a good rate of pay of his work.  At £5 per hour, he’s earning almost twice what most of his fellow co-workers are earning.  Needless to say, this work is “cash in hand”.

Jordan is classified as unemployed.  But he’s happy with his lot.  He’s got his freedom, a bit of cash.  Right now he doesn’t really aspire for anything else in his life.

A Tale About An Unemployed 17 Year Old

Let’s call her Emily.

8 months ago she was successful in being offered a place on an Apprenticeship scheme in an HR department in an NHS Trust.

Emily had a bright outlook on life and took a positive approach to her work. She quickly learnt the role and worked well with her team members. Everybody liked her and she was doing a great job.

In 4 months time, when her apprenticeship ended, the Trust was going to offer her a job in their HR team. In 4 months time she would have some vocational qualifications under her belt.

But Emily decided she didn’t want to work in HR. She wanted to be a Maternity Healthcare Support Worker (MHSW).

So her boss – the HR manager – arranged for her to shadow a Maternity Healthcare worker (MHSW) for a week, instead of coming to work in the HR Department.

The idea was that when a job came up in the next couple of weeks for a MHSW, Emily would be in a great position to be successful in obtaining that role.

On the first day of her shadowing she didn’t turn up. She’d changed her mind over the weekend and didn’t want to be a MHSW.

In fact, she had decided she didn’t want to be an Apprentice at all anymore.

So, her boss – the HR manager – called her to a meeting. She even asked Emily to bring her mum.

They sat and talked about Emily leaving the Apprenticeship Scheme. Emily liked her work, liked the team, but she would not change her mind. She didn’t want to work in HR, she didn’t want to be a MHSW…..and she didn’t know what she wanted to do. All she knew that she did not want to continue on the Apprenticeship scheme. She wasn’t bothered about getting the qualifications. She wasn’t bothered about the almost guaranteed job at the end of it all. In four months time.

Her boss called the Education Provider, who also called a meeting with Emily. But they were unable to change her mind.

So now, Emily is at home. Unemployed. And a statistic.

 

 

A post about why I get out of bed every day

A few weeks ago my husband and I had dinner at my father-in-laws.    During the evening, the conversation turned to a discussion about the fact that when you’re retired you wake up every day and you can decided exactly what you do or don’t want to do.  But the main point was that when you’re retired you don’t HAVE to go to work.

To give you some background, my father-in-law dedicated his life to academia.  He invested in his pension scheme and a few years ago retired at the age of 60.  To say he is enjoying his retirement is an understatement.  He bought a boat, stripped it down and built it back up again.  In the summer, when he isn’t holidaying in Greece for a month, he goes sailing.  In winter, he works on the boat.  He regularly hosts and enjoys cooking fabulous food for his friends.  Needless to say, my father-in-law and his wife have a great social life.

But my argument round that dinner table was that I believed that when I wake up every morning, I am doing exactly what I want to do now.  I’ve worked hard to build my career and now I work as a freelance consultant.  This means that not only do I get to choose what projects I get to work on, I also get to choose how and when I want to take time off work to pursue other activities (like spending the summer in Spain with my kids).

Presently I’m working on 5 projects.  Each one is very different to the next and are interesting and challenging.  I’m not saying that these projects aren’t without frustrations, because they are.  But for me, the frustrations and how I overcome them are part of the learning experience.

A few days later I was participating in a very difficult meeting with some  trade union officials.  I sat there and thought  “I don’t want to be here”.  And with my father-in-laws words from the previous weekend echoing in my mind, I began to think “Why am I here? I don’t need to be here, I could do something else much more enjoyable.”

I must admit I came out of that meeting with a look on my face like “a bag of spanners”.  Two hours after the trade union meeting had finished I was briefing the Director of Operations and the Director of Finance on how the meeting had gone.  I concluded my debrief with some strategic advice – both short and long term as to how they should manage the situation which turned into a very productive debate of the issue.     It was this meeting which turned what potentially was a disastrous day into a good one.

That evening I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 about planning financially for retirement when I had the sudden realisation that I had 30 years of work ahead of me.  At first I felt shock (I don’t know how I’d miscalculated it, but I previously believed I only had 2o years of work ahead of me!) But then a bubble of excitement grew from the pit of my stomach.

I consider myself to be experienced in practicising my profession and I am able to earn a good living as a freelance consultant.  I realised that 30 years would give more experience, more opportunities to learn and hone my craft, to get better at what I love doing.  I was excited about the potential of my future.  

It may be interesting in 30 years for someone to draw attention to this post and ask “Was it all that?”   But to be honest, the answer doesn’t really matter.  I’m enjoying the here and now.



Where do you stand on bullying?

I’ve been talking a lot about bullying recently. It started a few weeks ago when I participated in the weekly Twitter Talk #nhssm on the topic of cyber bullying.

Then a friend of a friend contacted me as they are being bullied at work because (she believes) she’s just agreed a flexible working arrangement so she can support her husband who is having on-going treatment for cancer.

And a BNI colleague called me as his daughter started a new job six weeks ago and is finding the workplace too “aggressive” and wants to leave.

What I found interesting in the #nhssm chat is that one participant was surprised to hear that there was bullying in the NHS.  But it is a fact – as the annual staff survey shows - that there is  bullying the NHS .  (Unfortunately) Bullying within the NHS generates a substantial income for me as I frequently undertake complex investigations into bullying and harassment.

I still remember my first investigation in 2000 – a case of a nurse bullying a patient; I’ve also seen staff-on-staff, managers-on-staff, staff-on-managers. I’ve investigated a fair share of senior Doctor grievances about being bullied.

Last week I met up with Andy for a drink and he started to tell me about recent developments at work. His boss, Darryl, has always had a strained relationship with one of the General Managers, Derren. However, he hadn’t realised how bad until he attended a meeting recently when they were both present. The atmosphere was hostile, the dislike between the two parties tangible. Andy came out of the meeting thinking “What was that about?”

The next day Andy was in an informal 1:1 meeting with one of Derren’s junior managers when he learnt the true extent of the situation. Allegedly, Derren and Darryl fell out about 8 years ago and have never sorted out their differences. Derren however has recently been saying that he believes Darryl is “absolutely useless” and is on a personal mission to drive Darryl out of the organisation. Apparently “everyone” knew about this.

Andy was in shock to hear this, but as he absorbed the information past events that he’d not fully understood now seemed to make perfect sense. For example, over the last two years Derren has actively sabotaged projects and instigated investigations into areas of HR where he felt there was any impropriety. Andy has been an innocent bystander but  has indirectly felt the impact of this behaviour.

Andy was now wondering what he should do.  Like me, he feels quite strongly about bullying & harassment.  Having seen the awful psychological damage it can do, I like to think that I stand up to bullying:  a few months ago I was in a meeting with a client and one of the participants swore a number of times.  Whilst the colourful language was used in jest, it wasn’t appropriate.  In fact, one of the other participants made a passing comment about it as we left the meeting.  I spoke to him about it a few days later when the opportunity was right.

However it’s not as easy as that in Andy’s case.  I’m not going to detail what Andy decided to do after our chat, because everyone deals with such situations differently.  But there were three key things I felt he  needed to think about:

a) his relationship with his boss,

b) his reputation within his organisation,

c) what he might say when he gets to an Employment Tribunal (when, not if).

I don’t think it’s always clear exactly what we, as HR professionals, should do when we see such deep entrenched bullying behaviour.  Striking that balance that ensures Andy maintains his integrity, his professionalism and his job as an HR professional isn’t going to be easy.  I just hope he doesn’t get caught in the cross-fire.

I’m not Tony Blair

Yesterday at the Labour Conference Ed Miliband made the announcement that He’s not Tony Blair.  This morning, I witnessed Ed Miliband being questioned by BBC Breakfast on that statement. There’s many reasons why it was important to make that statement, but I think one was missing from the BBC breakfast debate this morning.

A few years ago, I stepped in to do an interim position for a couple of months whilst the post was recruited to. Everwhere I went, I was introduced as “This is the new Dave”.   Even the CEO, who greeted me on the first day with “You’re the new Dave. He’s a hard act to follow”.

At first, I played along with it, as it meant that people easily understood what I had been contracted to do.  However, things came to a head one day when I was sitting with the Chair of  Staff Side (the Unions).  We were trying to find a pragmatic way through a difficult employee issue:

Chair:  ”I hear what you’re saying, but if Dave was here, we would have done it this way.”

Me: “But I’m not Dave”

Chair: “No…..but one day you have the potential to be like Dave”.

In another time and place, I would have taken that comment as a compliment.  I had known Dave for years, but not well.  We had crossed paths many times and I had been able to follow the work he had done and talk to him about particular issues that we were all facing.   In my opinion, he was then and he still is one of the best HR practitioners in the NHS in London.

HR, like politics, is an intangible discipline.  There’s more than one right way to do it.   Different HR practitioners have different strengths and skills.  We use this to our advantage to get successful results, and we all will take a slightly different approach.  That is what I was trying to get across to my staff-side colleague that day.   I was proposing a different approach to Dave, one that I felt I could successfully achieve.

So when Ed Miliband is claiming he isn’t Tony Blair, it’s not because he doesn’t value, respect those that have gone before him.   It’s because he’s trying to establish his own identity, his own way of doing things in a manner that he feels will yield results.

Please note, this post does not represent in any way my views on politics.  It is merely an observation on a statement made by a politician.