With over 200 important dates for the remainder of this year and 2025, this calendar aims to highlight important themes around Diversity and Inclusion to help promote awareness of diversity throughout your organisation. Raising awareness can encourage self-learning and personal development, provide accessible information on dates, holidays and events for all employees and support your organisation’s diversity, cultural and quality training objectives. August 2024 19 August: World Humanitarian Day. Celebrate those working to promote human welfare and save lives. 23 August: International Day for the…
Let's face it – dealing with the rising absenteeism is a challenge many of us have faced. Recently, absenteeism rates in the UK have soared to their highest in over a decade, with the CIPD reporting a notable increase driven by stress, poor mental health, and minor illnesses. Have you noticed more empty desks in your office lately? You're not alone. The rise in absenteeism can be a real headache for businesses, affecting productivity and team dynamics. It's not just about the numbers; it's about…
A business is a team. No matter how large or small the organisation, in order for it to be productive, profitable and provide exceptional customer experience, every single individual and department needs to work as one. The thought of ‘tribes’ and silos existing in an organisation is unpalatable for any business owner or HR team. After all, you've spent years creating an organisation built on a set of values that promote the importance of collaboration. Communication is the key, you say regularly at staff meetings,…
In business, a culture of sharing can be transformative. Imagine a staff base that proactively shares new techniques, insights into competitor strategy, market trends and lessons learned from mistakes. What organisation wouldn’t want that kind of culture to thrive? However, getting people to share knowledge within the workplace isn’t necessarily easy - particularly with your HR function. In this article, we go through the hurdles to get past and how to develop healthy information sharing in your business. Obstacles to effective information sharing Trust Feeling…
Body odour is cited as the biggest bugbear for 70% of employees. So what should HR do to tackle this awkward and personal situation? In the first instance, you should not ignore the situation. Sitting next to, talking to, and working with a colleague who has consistent objectionable personal hygiene can be an intricate concern for employers to deal with. You should consider the hefty impact this may have on relationships between colleagues, clients, and customers. For example, working with a colleague who has body odour…
Suffering from bereavement is a difficult time in anyone’s life, especially if the person you have lost is a close work colleague or friend. Dealing with grief can impact someone physically, emotionally, and psychologically, leaving long-lasting scars that might affect their ability to do their job. Research suggests that at any given time, one in ten employee's are likely to be affected by a bereavement (McGuiness 2009). This means if you have a large team of staff, it's likely that you'll have to provide support…
Most people will experience the death of someone they know at some point during their working lives. In the last year, 24% of the working population in Britain has experienced a bereavement, which equates to 7.9 million people. Only 30% of employees say the leadership of their organisation has communicated with them about grief or bereavement in the past year and subsequently, only 32% of employees are aware that their employer has a bereavement policy. Although employees may take very different paths when dealing with…
Please note there may have been some updates since this article was published. Please see our latest employment law guide for updated information and news. The 2024 King’s Speech reminded us of childhood letters to Father Christmas – a lot of hopes and expectations but no guarantee the presents will be under the tree on Christmas morning. Signalled for progression within the first 100 days of the new Government does not translate that everything will be law in that time frame. Keir Starmer has made…
If you're thinking about outsourcing your payroll, you're probably wondering how much it costs. An outsourced or 'managed' service from a professional payroll provider must be costly, right? Let's find out! Keep reading to find out how much it costs to outsource payroll. Plus, we reveal the hidden costs associated with running your payroll in-house (and getting it wrong – eek!). We also explore 'free' options for businesses who are operating their payroll operations on a shoestring. What's an example of a payroll fee? PEPM:…
The best practise is any formal meeting with an employee should be recorded in some form and placed on the employee’s personnel file. This includes performance reviews and appraisals. "This is the most important piece of equipment you will ever own. This notebook has saved my skin more times than I care to mention." - Nicholas Angel, Hot Fuzz (2007) And when it comes to employment law, we agree. However, because of the litigious nature of employment law, it almost goes without saying that it…
