HR for Non HR specialists. February 2019

1. HR for Non HR specialists. February 2019 One day workshop Stephenie Linham

2. Programme outline • Outcomes: Build on your knowledge and have greater confidence with some essential personnel responsibilities. • Topics include: • The purpose of H.R. in your organisation • Key issues in recruitment and employment • Legal framework and legislation update • Contracts of employment – who gets one, when and what it contains • Performance management. Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures • Outline of a fair/unfair dismissal and employment tribunals • How to keep up to date cost-effectively.

3. Introductions • Fire • Toilets • Refreshments • Timekeeping • Mobile phones • DSC book shop discount today • Copy of power point sent via email after today + opportunity to give feedback

4. Introductions • Introduce yourself – role – organisation • How many people you directly manage or provide HR support for • Why you are here and what you hope to get from today • Any specific challenges?

5. Ground Rules • Confidentiality? • We all have responsibility • There’s no such thing as a silly question • Participation encouraged • Others?

6. First let me introduce you • ACAS are your new wise best friend for all HR matters. • Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service • Free advice, tools and best practice guides • Sign up on their website for HR updates • Employers Direct - free phone advice • 0800 1444050

7. 2019 – Changes to look out forGovt. Good Work Plan • Most to take effect April 19 or 20 • Good Work Plan aim "to ensure that workers can access fair and decent work, that both employers and workers have the clarity they need to understand their employment relationships, and that the enforcement system is fair and fit for purpose". • Post Brexit Immigration rules- EU workers already working in the country will be able to apply for “settled status” to be able to live and work here indefinitely.

8. 2019 – Changes to look out forGovt. Good Work Plan • Executive pay reporting • Only for quoted companies with 250 + employees. Effective January 2019.Reporting starts 2010. • Report on ratio between CEO and employees pay and benefits • More stable contract rights • After 26 weeks service all workers including zero hours and casual workers can request a more predictable and stable contract

9. 2019 – Changes to look out forGovt. Good Work Plan • Statutory family and sick pay rates • Effective 7.4.19 • Maternity pay, adoption pay, paternity pay, shared parental leave pay and maternity allowance increase to £146.68 per week. • Sick Pay increases to £94.25 per week on 6.4.19 • Tips • From April 2020 employers cannot make any deductions on staff tips.

10. 2019 – Changes to look out forGovt. Good Work Plan • 6.4.19. Itemised pay statements for all workers – not just employees. • Any variable pay e.g. time and a half for late nights/Sunday has to give the number of relevant hours taken into account • Gender pay gap reporting • Employers with 250+ workers in any sector must publish reports on their website and gov. website. No need to give an explanation but may will feel the need to justify any such gaps

11. 2019 – Changes to look out forGovt. Good Work Plan • Parental bereavement leave and pay • Gov. introducing the right to paid leave. • Effective April 2020 • 2 weeks together or two separate weeks • To be taken within 56 weeks of child's death • In the pipeline? • Duty to consider how roles can be carried out flexibly. • Duty to publish family friendly policies • More progress on rights of agency workers to be treated equally

12. What’s personnel management all about? • Ideally? • In your organisation? • Three headings • 1.Organisational effectiveness –being ready to be an employer • 2. People achieving results, feeling valued and making an impact • 3. Sorting it out when things go wrong • Pretend you are about to take on your first employee • What do you need to have in place for all the above? • Discuss in groups for 10 mins with 5 mins feedback

13. Organisational effectiveness • Governing body understand their duty of care and responsibilities as employers –HR sub committee? Segregation for Disciplinary and grievance procedures, and appeals. • Clear line management and accountability – Organigram? • Clear appropriate policies and procedures that meet current legal standards • A system to keep them up to date- April and October? • Health and safety – a safe and pleasant working environment. Must include stress management. • Registered with HMRC as employers. • Systems for PAYE and pensions

14. People – results, valued and making an impact • Recruited, inducted, supervised, trained and supported • Motivated – valued ( Maslow’s theory) • Involved in discussions – have a voice • Good emotional environment - Free from stress, bullying, harassment etc( Maslow’s theory) • Know what to do , how to do it and how it fits in with organisation’s values and vision – the main driver and glue that keeps it together

15. Maslow’s Theory • Appreciating an individuals needs • In order • Survival – basics –food and shelter • Safety – physical, emotional –not living in fear of making a mistake, sexual or verbal harassment etc. • Love and belonging – liked and accepted • Esteem – feel competent, self respect and respected by others • Reach potential

16. People – results, valued and making an impact • Team and individual work plans to plan work and prioritise ( 5 priorities) – everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing – including you! • Nobody can manage their time if they don’t know their priorities • Training • Regular and recorded support and supervision • Appraisal - Preferably not pay related

17. Sort it out when things go wrong • Ignore at your peril! • Employers have a duty of care. • 11.3m days per year lost to stress. Health and safety law - duty to assess and take measures to control risks from work-related stress. Do you have a policy? • Deal with and resolve conflict (Maslow's theory) • Deal with concerns and grievances • Deal with poor performance, bad time keeping etc • Discipline • BUT - Follow procedures and timings to the letter

18. Legal Framework • Organisation and individual – Employer and Employee • Fixed term employees not treated less favourably. • Employee rights after 2 years e.g. redundancy • If subsequent contracts reach 4 years contract becomes permanent- unless employer has a good business case as to why it should not. • Rights and obligations • 1. When staff join us • 2. While they are with us • 3. When they leave us

19. 1. When staff join us • Recruitment • Selection • Contracts

20. Recruitment and selection • Recruitment and selection • Do you legally have to have a process? • Why have a process? • What would good practise include?

21. Recruitment and Selection - Get it right or live with the consequences • Budget • Task Analysis- what needs to be done and therefore the qualities and qualifications that are needed • Job description- create or review existing- important for performance reviews which should always refer to the job description

22. Job description • A broad outline of the responsibilities • Purpose Accountability • Any supervisory responsibility? • Main responsibilities of the job • Starting date if fixed • Permanent or fixed term contract? • Summary of main conditions of employment – hours, salary, increments, leave, pension, probation period.

23. What could you include in a person specification • Person specification is Very important. • Ensures you have clear specific criteria/expected behaviour/qualifications on who could do this work. • Discriminating against young mother? • Discriminating against a disabled person ? • Discriminating against someone with poor eye sight? • Must be able to justify

24. Person specification 3 headings • Qualifications/Experience/Level of competence • Personal attributes • Personal circumstances

25. Person specification Qualifications/Experience/ Level of competence exams, certificates, degrees, diplomas, clean driving license, languages, specific level of IT capability, previous work, voluntary work, life experience, specialist field, use of equipment

26. Person specification Personal attributes – strength, lift, team player, passion, influencing and negotiating, organisational skills, good time management, prioritising, work on own, adaptable and flexible, self motivated, taking initiative, attention to detail, good record keeping, takes accountability, hectic busy environment, willing to train and develop, enjoys a challenge, report/minutes writing, adhere to vision and values, Personal circumstances flexible, work weekend and evenings, travel

27. Recruitment and selection • Ensure justifiable, • Equalities Act 2010- ACAS quick start guide for employers • Protected characteristics • No discrimination on grounds of sex, sexual orientation, marital status, gender reassignment, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion, belief, disability or age. • Associative discrimination – because you associate with someone with the protected characteristics above • Check your policy. • Harassment causes unpleasant working conditions.

28. Cautionary tale re harassment • In the recent case of Ms H Kone v Mr F Gomis ET/3200387/15, the Employment Tribunal held that a female employee who was sexually harassed at work was entitled to £51,022 in compensation, to be paid to her by the work colleague who harassed her.  • This was in addition to a sum of £45,000 paid to her by her employer Thompson Reuters (“TR”), for the sexual discrimination she experienced at work which was settled on the second day of the liability hearing.

29. Recruitment and Selection • Realistic • Weighted – Essential – Desirable • How can you assess? • If you can’t assess is it worth asking? • Where should you advertise? • Application form or CV? • Information Pack – what will you send? • Asylum and Immigration Act 2006- remember ‘settled status” too • Rehabilitation of Offenders 1974/2014

30. Rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 Changes 2014 Prison sentences 4 years plus are never spent. Even spent convictions will remain on their record for life – they will not be deleted. Anyone with spent convictions can generally answer No to questions about convictions. BUT They have to disclose spent convictions when applying for jobs that are exempt from the Act. These will normally involve a standard or enhanced criminal record check.

31. Convictions that are unspent • If asked by an employer, an applicant has to disclose them, and the employer can legally refuse or discriminate against them. • Unspent convictions will be disclosed on all types of criminal record disclosure (basic, standard and enhanced). • The applicant could be prosecuted if they fail to disclose them when asked.

32. Convictions that are spent • For some jobs they will need to disclose them if asked e.g.–working with children/justice system(such as solicitor, police, court clerk, probation officer, prison officer and traffic warden) • These jobs will usually involve a standard or enhanced criminal record check which will disclose all offences, so even if the employer don’t ask, if they are doing one of these, the applicant should disclose. • Employers can legally refuse the applicant or discriminate against them.

33. Selection • Always based on the job description and person spec • If you can’t test it is there any point asking? • Short listing – scoring essential and desirable, weightings? • Test, Presentation, Work sample? • Candidates must be advised if something is part of the interview process. • Disclosure and Barring. Google name if you have no access? • References and Checks

34. References • There is usually no legal obligation to provide a reference. • Only certain industries such as those regulated by the Financial Services Authority are required to give a reference by law. • Do not seek references from a current employer without permission from the applicant. • The previous employer decides how much information they want to provide. • Their manager may be willing to give a personal reference with more information • References must be true, fair and accurate • Remember GDPR

35. ACAS guidance re references • Employers need a policy so that this is dealt with fairly and consistently throughout the organisation. • Managers have guidance on what information they can give. • Basic facts re job applicant, employment dates and job descriptions. • Answer specific questions asked re absence record and reason for leaving. • Job applicant’s skills and abilities, character, strengths and weaknesses relating to the new role applied for. • Opinions should always be based on facts and not include anything irrelevant

36. Job offers and references • Conditional therefore can be withdrawn. • Unconditional. Offer cannot be withdrawn and if accepted forms a contract. • Problems with references? • Discuss with job applicant? • Offer role with a defined probationary period.

37. Selection • Interview panel should see the whole process through – especially short listing • Interview –who?, how many? scoring, set and supplementary questions, set the scene, equipment, introductions • Appointment, induction, probationary period • Be prepared to tell unsuccessful candidates why – agree a statement for the chair of the panel. • Keep papers 3 months in case challenged

38. Legal issues in recruitment • Legal minefield so managers are sometimes frightened to do anything with “difficult” employees. • Do you have access to professional advice/insurance? • Beware data protection, discrimination and Asylum and Immigration laws • Remember - No discrimination re protected characteristics • Age – avoid mature, senior, junior – even date of birth.

39. Can we ask these questions at an interview? • What year were you born? • Have you got any plans to start a family? Do you have children? • Are you a man or a woman? • Are you physically fit and healthy? • Are you in a relationship? • Will you need time off for religious holidays? • Where were you born? • Where is that accent from? • A recent national survey indicates that 85% of interviewers ask inappropriate questions.

40. Data protection • Workers have a legal right to access information that an employer may hold on them • includes information re grievances or disciplinary action, • or information obtained through monitoring processes. • Arrangements should be in place to deal with requests for access as a 40 day time limit is stipulated.

41. Data protection • The Data Protection Act contains 8 principles that everyone responsible for using data has to follow. • Processed fairly and lawfully, secure, obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes,accurate, adequate, relevant and not excessive, processed in accordance with individuals rights, not transferred outside Europe unless country offers adequate data protection, not kept longer than is necessary.

42. Data Protection • CCTV, telephone calls, emails • The Act applies if employers are monitoring employees; e.g. to detect crime or excessive private use of e-mails, internet use etc. • The act requires workers should be aware of the nature and reason for any monitoring. • Recommend a social media policy ( next slide) • Health Information • If the employee freely gives active consent • Employers should check they can justify the information collected.

43. Social media policy • It is highly possible that the views or opinions of employees can bring an employer’s reputation in to disrepute, therefore employers should take preventative measures to ensure that their employees understand how they are expected to behave when expressing themselves on social media. • One way to do this would be to introduce a social media policy which stipulates that employees are prohibited from displaying any opinions or views relating to the company, its clients or its workforce. • Stating that a breach of this policy is a disciplinary offence, and one that could even amount to gross misconduct dependent on the severity of the breach, should deter employees from doing so and help ensure that the employer doesn’t feel the side effects of a careless employee’s social media activity.

44. General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) • Significant changes re rules around consent (which will effectively render most current employees’ consent invalid) • Beware forgotten data bases • HR departments are a real risk, as they hold large volumes of often sensitive personal data about employees. • Keep information all through employment + 75 years

45. Contracts • Express (written), oral and implied terms -custom and practise • Implied terms include: • Accept reasonable instructions Mutual trust and confidence (constructive dismissal) Duty of care – e.g. Health & safety, free from harassment, bullying and victimisation • Vicarious liability

46. Contracts Who gets one? • Employees who are employed for more than one month entitled to a contract within 2 months. • April 2020 will be day one for all workers – not just employees. • Are they an employee or self employed? • Are you sure they are self employed – risks to the organisation • What does a contract cover?

47. Contract contents-must includesource ACAS • An existing contract of employment can be varied only with the agreement of both parties. • Hence golden rule – Do not put anything unnecessary into a contract. • Names and address employer and employee • Start date • Previous employment count as part of the period of continuous employment? • Job title and brief job description

48. Contract contents- legal requirementSource ACAS • Pay ( note minimum wage) how much and when paid • Any benefits e.g. Company car, private health insurance • Permanent, fixed term or temporary with end dates • Hours of work normal working hours, breaks and any rules re flexibility re hours. • Holiday entitlement (statutory minimum 20+8) and any conditions of when it can be taken • Sick pay*( no requirement other than SSP)

49. Contract contents- legal cont. • Place of work- careful to include anywhere you may wish them to go. If overseas for more than a month outline any conditions. • Length of any probationary period and conditions • Any collective agreements with other staff e.g. claiming travel expenses • Pension* - • Absence policies. Say how, when and to whom the employee should report when they are off ill from work. For example, you might expect them to ring work within an hour of their normal start time.

50. Contract contents- legal cont. • Company procedures, policies and important documents affecting an employee's employment and where these can be easily found. These might include policies on health and wellbeing, use of the internet and taking time off for family emergencies. • Details re Disciplinary and grievance procedures* -do not make contractual • * can be referred e.g. to in a handbook • Notice of termination