Newsletters

UK Borders Agency (UKBA) has released new guidance for employers taking on refugees and asylum seekers.

The booklet, "Guidance for Employers on Illegal Working: Refugees and Asylum Seekers" is available from www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors. It gives employers clear information on the documentation checks they need to carry out when recruiting refugees and asylum seekers, and also includes details of the employment rights of refugees, the bespoke documentation they are issued with in place of a national passport, and how refugees differ from other foreign nationals in the UK.

The Government is proposing to phase out the default retirement age of 65 from April 2011. They are seeking comments as part of the consultation process but this means that there are likely to be transitional arrangements put in place for retirements that have been notified by employers before April 2011 and where the date of retirement falls before 1 October 2011.

Registration under the vetting and barring scheme for those working with vulnerable people in England has been put on hold while the system is "fundamentally remodelled" by the Government.

Voluntary registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority for new employees and job-movers who work with children and vulnerable adults was due to start on 26 July.
But registration has been halted and the scheme will be remodelled following complaints from businesses and community groups that the proposed system was disproportionate, overly burdensome and infringed civil liberties.

A man who applied to join the police but was rejected because he did not have enough hair for a drugs test has successfully appealed against the decision. It is understood he was at an advanced stage of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's recruitment process when problems arose over the testing.

Because of his baldness, he could not give them hairs of up to 3cm in length. He was also unable to provide about 200 body hairs as an alternative.

Employers who do not pay interns could face employment tribunal claims according to a recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR.)

Some employers believe that they are allowed to take on unpaid interns if both parties accept that it is a voluntary position. However, this is not the case: while charities, voluntary organisations and statutory bodies can employ unpaid volunteers, private companies cannot.

Our mission is to ensure that your business gets the best possible advice. We don't tell you just what you need to do to comply with employment legislation: We recognise that no matter how well we look after you, your business could still be hit by large and unplanned legal costs - whether you're in the right or wrong - if a disgruntled employee decides to pursue a claim. And there is no limit to the level of compensation that can be awarded for claims relating to discrimination.

Cherington HR is now able to provide its advice and services with the backing of insurance to those clients who take out a retainer contract. This means that Cherington HR can help you handle such claims with the financial support of your insurance policy.

Helen Astill, Managing Director of Upton upon Severn based company, Cherington HR, narrowly missed winning an award at the 2010 Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Awards event last night.

Upton upon Severn based company, Cherington HR has been selected as one of the finalists for Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Awards for successful businesses in 2010.

The new Bribery Act received Royal Assent last month. This means that employers who fail to tackle bribery could face unlimited fines, and individuals could end up in prison for up to 10 years under new laws designed to clean up corruption in business. The full provisions of the Act are expected to come into force by the end of the year.

From 6 April 2010, the minimum pension age increased from 50 to 55 unless retirement is on the grounds of serious ill health, the member has a protected pension age, or the member started taking benefits before 6 April 2020. Meanwhile, the number of years needed to receive a full basic state pension has reduced to 30. The state pension retirement age for women born after 6 April 2010 will rise to 65 between 2010 and 2020.

The main provisions of the Equality Act in prohibiting discrimination in the workplace and in the provision of goods, liabilities and services, will replace existing discrimination legislation from October 2010.

The legislation will replace nine laws and more than 100 other measures with one single Act. The intention is to make it easier for employers and staff to understand their legal rights and obligations.

Here are the main aspects that employers need to prepare for:

Employers that offer retail vouchers as part of salary sacrifice schemes may have to pay out any unpaid VAT on the vouchers. This is the possible outcome of a recent opinion issued by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice on a significant case involving pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the complex area of VAT and the treatment of retail vouchers.

It seems that 90% of employers have no plans in place to help manage staff absence during the forthcoming World Cup, according to a recent poll by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The poll of more than 1,000 employers showed that almost all of them had no policy in place to manage staff absence during the World Cup. Just 5% of organisations had developed a policy while a further 5% were in the process of developing one.

The Government has announced increases to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) from October this year. So if you pay your staff at these rates, you will need to ensure that you budget for these increases. There is also a change in the age bands and an intention to introduce a minimum hourly rate for apprentices.

There is a new medical certificate that GPs must use from 6 April 2010 when giving their patients – your employees – advice on whether their health condition affects their ability to work. The fit note gives doctors the chance to give employees and employers more information about how the employee’s illness or injury affects their ability to work and to make suggestions on temporary changes that could help them continue working.

The House of Lords has now approved the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010. The regulations are due to come into force on 6th April 2010 but will have effect only in relation to children whose expected week of birth (or matching for adoption) begins on or after 3rd April 2011.

New powers coming into force on the 6th April will mean that serious personal data security breaches could lead to fines of up to £500,000.

Under the new rules fines will be imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) where the breach is deliberate or negligent and likely to cause substantial damage or distress to individuals.

Subject to parliamentary approval, the revised rates for statutory payments for maternity, paternity and adoption leave will take effect this year on 4 April 2010. Statutory sick pay rates will remain the same.

From today (1st February 2010) The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal drops from £66,200 to £65,300. The reduction reflects the decrease of 1.4 per cent in the Retail Prices Index from September 2008 to September 2009.

Over the last 18 months I have noticed a marked increase in the number of cases we've been asked to deal with that involved alleged incidents of bullying. They’ve arisen in many different forms and most appear to have poor communication or misunderstandings as the root cause. However, I have come across some cases where some individuals have blatantly threatened and abused others in the workplace.

Following the landmark decisions of the European Court of Justice in the Stringer and Pereda cases last year on the rights of sick employees to paid holiday under the Working Time Directive, the Government has issued interim guidance to business ahead of beginning a consultation exercise later this year on possible amendments to the Working Time Regulations.

With the current bad weather of snow and ice in many parts of the country, many employees will struggle to get to work.

It is worthwhile putting an Adverse Weather Policy in place if you don’t already have one, so that employees know what is expected of them and whether they will be paid or not in such circumstances.

On 1st January 2010 a new Acas Code on time off for trade union duties and activities came into force.

It provides good practice guidance on dealing with time off for TU representatives and contains information on time off for training, the responsibilities of employers and trade unions and agreements on time off.

A right to request time off to undertake training, modelled on the right to request flexible working, will be introduced from April 2010.

Employers will be obliged to consider seriously requests that they receive, but will be able to refuse a request where there is a good business reason for doing so.

As highlighted previously, the new Vetting and Barring Scheme, set up by the Independent Safeguarding Authority, is designed to ensure that unsuitable individuals are not allowed to work with children and vulnerable adults.

There have however, been some complaints about the requirements of the scheme and the Government has undertaken a review.

Employers wanting to engage non-EEA Nationals now have to advertise jobs in the UK for four weeks.

This has replaced the previous requirement for Tier 2 of the points-based system to advertise jobs for two weeks, or one week for jobs where the salary is £40,000 or more.

Tier 2 relates to the recruitment of workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to fill a particular vacancy that cannot be filled by a British or worker from within the EEA.

A company boss was jailed after he admitted forging documents in a bid to influence an employment tribunal.

The manager of a car hire firm in Falkirk, faked a contract and warning letter after a former receptionist accused him of harassment.

The beginning of this month saw increases in the National Minimum Wage and the maximum weekly wage used in redundancy calculations.

There have been some recent developments on the accruing and taking of sick leave and the issue of employees being ill on holiday. Earlier this summer the House of Lords ruled that workers can accrue holiday pay while on sick leave.

A more recent case has ruled that if employees are sick whilst on holiday they can ask to have their annual leave postponed until another time.

The Government has announced that consultation will start shortly on proposals to allow new mothers to transfer some of their maternity leave entitlement to their baby’s father

The High Court has upheld the law that allows UK employers to force workers to retire at the age of 65.

Do you have employees or volunteers who come into contact with children or vulnerable adults? If so, they are likely to have an enhanced CRB check. But the law is changing. From 12th October 2009, the new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) will come into being.

From November 2010 all new employees and volunteers who want to work with children or vulnerable adults on a regular basis MUST BE registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA.) Employers will be required to check that they are ISA-registered before you can legally take them on.

Employees are deciding to stay in their current jobs as a result of concerns over job security, but more than a third (34%) would like to move within the next year.

Employees are being kept in the dark about their employers' business performance, with 28% being told nothing about business health and one in 20 discouraged from asking questions.

Although 71% of employers rate staff with vocational qualifications as essential in improving the competitiveness of their business, only 29% of adults declare their training on CVs.

The Government has decided to bring forward its review of the default retirement age by a year, meaning it will take place in 2010 rather than 2011.

Chamber Awards finalist and Human Resources specialist Helen Astill of Cherington HR is celebrating the end of another successful year.

Cherington HR was launched mid 2006 with the aim of providing people management support primarily for businesses in the Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire region.

As it turned out, the impact has been far wider, with clients throughout the West Midlands and beyond - even as far as Edinburgh!

As well as many clients in the scientific, technical, manufacturing and engineering sectors, Cherington HR has provided services to a wide range of businesses from horticulture to financial/ business support companies; and from software development/IT companies to organisations providing support services in the third sector.

To find out how Cherington HR can help your business, contact Helen Astill at helen@cheringtonhr.com or on 0845 603 6696/01684 594773.

Change has become the ‘buzzword’ over the last year as the global economic downturn as unfolded. The effects have impacted on individuals and businesses alike. However, what seemed to catch people out was the speed of the change, particularly in the financial, housing and automotive sectors.

To encourage staff to adopt new processes/ systems or working arrangements, it is very important that they understand the reasons or the driver for that change fully. Just telling staff that you are introducing a new system or process without telling them why, if they haven’t experience a problem with the old way of doing things is not likely to engage them fully.

Some of the mistakes people make in trying to introduce change is that they think they can manage change.

You can have a well-thought out project plan, but whatever you are trying to change is likely to need the co-operation of your staff. You are more likely to be successful if you ‘enable’ the change rather than try to ‘manage’ it.

The most important aspect of any change is the need to communicate continually with those affected by any potential changes. This can include employees, suppliers, and clients so that you can manage their respective expectations.

Employees may accept the change you are proposing. However, if they are not fully convinced of the need for the change (or see that they are likely to be worse off as a result) they may resist the changes. This can happen in several ways - either individually or as an organised group (e.g. trade union opposition.)

When you introduce any potential change, particularly if it places an employee at a detriment or requires them to undertake work with which they are not as familiar, it may take some employees longer to adjust than others.

Once you have introduced your change, it is important to continue to review it and check that it is working and embedded before moving to introduce any further changes. Introducing too many changes which may appear unconnected is likely to cause ‘initiative overload.’

The government is launching a major information campaign with advertisements and a leaflet being delivered to every home this week. They have already issued a guidance booklet for businesses entitled “Pandemic Flu Guidance for Businesses: Risk Assessment in the Occupational Setting.”

Following the breakdown in negotiations between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, the review of the Working Time Directive is over and the UK’s individual opt-out of the 48 hour week remains.

The government has announced that the Worker Registration Scheme, which had been expected to end on 30 April 2009, will continue for another two years .

Alastair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the recent Budget that the upper limit on the amount of a week's pay that can be taken into account for statutory redundancy payment purposes will increase.

Paid maternity leave could increase for the first 20 weeks for women in the UK if radical new plans, agreed by the European Parliament's women's committee, are passed through the European Parliament this week.

Difficulty getting a job is forcing more candidates to lie on their CVs, according to two recent surveys.

Whilst the majority of potential candidates are honest with 54% saying they would never lie or exaggerate to get a job, one in three would be persuaded if the salary made the risk worthwhile or if it was their ‘dream job’.

There are several changes in employment regulations and related benefit rates occurring during the first week of April that will impact on businesses. You may need to make changes to your arrangements to comply. If in doubt seek advice.

The daily news is full of stories of the current global economic downturn: the Office of National Statistics has revealed that the level of unemployment rose to 1.97 million in December 2008. At a rate of 6.3%, this is the highest since 1998, and comes as The Bank of England recently warned of a "deep recession" for 2009.

In this challenging environment, the business situation can change quickly very quickly. It can therefore be difficult to research all the options in detail in the timescales available.

The sudden change in trading conditions may mean that you need to rethink your business strategy. Have a look at your current plan and consider the following questions:

If you need employees to be more efficient and effective, it is a good idea to make sure that you review the current terms and conditions in place.

At a time when it is crucial for all employees to work effectively and efficiently, it is very important that managers monitor their staff’s performance and give them appropriate feedback or take the necessary action. You should make sure that those employees who are not performing well or have high absence records are managed fairly but firmly.

With the downturn resulting in tighter competition for clients, it is very important to watch your competitors so that you get early indicators of changes in your particular market.

Don’t lose the wrong people. If you decide to reduce the number of employees too rapidly without considering your business needs, you could lose key skills and valuable business information. There are lots of issues to consider.

In the midst of all the activity related to the downturn, it is easy for employees to become very worried about their particular situation and the future of the business. They will start to watch very carefully for signs that something is wrong.

The European Court of Justice has recently ruled that employees away on long-term sickness absence are entitled to accrue annual leave whilst absent. This follows a long-running dispute over the situation and is likely to cost employers much more than they had bargained for.

In the recent snow and floods, which caused havoc in many parts of the country, many employees stayed away from work, but didn’t know whether they would be paid or not. It is worthwhile putting an Adverse Weather Policy in place if you don’t already have one, so that employees know what is expected of them and whether they will be paid or not in such circumstances.

The revised Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures comes into effect in on 6th April 2009, and will replace the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures. This date is very important in deciding whether disputes should be dealt with under the existing regulations or the new code.

From 1 February 2009, the limits applying to certain awards payable under employment legislation will increase. This includes the weekly wage used for statutory redundancy payment calculations.

The revised Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures has now been published. It will come into effect in April 2009, and will replace the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures.

Do you need to review your own procedures?

The final phase of the increase in minimum annual leave entitlement occurs in April 2009. The minimum will become 28 days in total (including bank holidays) for employees working 5 days per week (5.6 weeks per year.) But if your leave year starts before April, you may need to do the recalulations now.

The Government has accepted the Walsh review’s recommendation on raising child-related age limit for the right to request flexible working to those with children aged up to 16 and it is now confirmed that it will come into effect in April 2009.

Last month Euro MPs voted in favour of ending Britain's opt-out from the EU working time directive. Britain will now start talks with EU ministers in an effort to keep it and a decision is expected early this year following talks with the European council of ministers. If Britain is forced to axe its opt-out, the law will come into force in three years' time.

Employers have been warned to brace themselves for a trend that has emerged where job candidates exploit age discrimination legislation to file claims against a raft of employers at the same time.

The global financial difficulties are now having a significant impact on businesses of all sizes and redundancies are being announced each day.

* Do you need to cut costs?
* Do you need help quickly to make changes to your staffing legally?
* Do you need or to make plans to ensure survival throughout the current downturn?

This came into effect on 27th October 2008. It could mean that employers will need to make adjustments to working conditions to help sick people get back to work. Individuals, meanwhile, will face much stiffer tests to qualify for incapacity benefit and will be encouraged to view it as a temporary measure.

The revised Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures has now been published. It comes into effect on 6th April 2009, when the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures are abolished. This places more emphasis on mediation. However, an unreasonable failure by an employer to follow the Code will result in a tribunal having the power to increase any award by up to 25%.

The final phase of the increase in minimum annual leave entitlement occurs in April 2009. The minimum will become 28 days in total (including bank holidays) for employees working 5 days per week (5.6 weeks per year.)

The Government had accepted the Walsh review’s recommendation on raising child-related age limit for the right to request flexible working to those with children aged up to 16 and this was expected to take effect from April 2009. However, the Government is now considering delaying implementation.

Last week, the EU's employment committee voted to scrap the UK’s Working Time Directive opt out - a decision that is likely to influence opinions when the full European Parliament finally votes next month (December). The ability to opt out currently allows British employees to work more than 48 hours per week on a regular basis. 10% of British employees have signed a form to opt out of the restriction, mainly in response to business demand or to make up for relatively low base pay. If you rely on employees working extra hours on a regular basis, this outcome of this decision will impact on your business planning and costs.

Many UK businesses are being hit by the global ‘credit crunch’ as the knock-on effects threaten their growth plans. Reduced profits and cash-flow problems mean that to survive this period of uncertainty and lack of confidence, employers need to reduce costs. Redundancy is often seen as the only answer, but there may be other alternatives.

Losing valuable staff because of a temporary downturn in business is a risky thing to do as you may not be able to replace them quickly when the situation recovers.

Therefore it is always a good idea to attempt to avoid redundancies in such circumstances unless you are planning a radical restructuring.

Individual consultation is required for all redundancies. The law also requires employers to undertake collective consultation for multiple redundancy situations where 20 or more posts may be affected.

Selecting potential candidates for redundancy from within a workforce is probably the most difficult part of the process. The employer needs to start by determining the pool for selection. This is the group of employees all doing the same or similar work where changes need to be made.

Once the consultation and selection processes are complete and the decisions made, the employer needs to give the affected employees notice that they will be dismissed by reason of redundancy.

The redundancy situation must be genuine. If you have very poor performers, use your disciplinary or capability procedure instead. If you don’t your other employees will feel unfairly treated if they see poorly performing colleagues affecting the overall performance of the business.

Giving notice can be stressful for both the manager and the affected employees, particularly if they have worked together for many years.

Some employees react badly to news of redundancy, especially if it is not handled well. If you have large numbers of employees affected, train your managers to deal with the situation sympathetically.

Cherington HR will be exhibiting at the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Business Expo on the 22nd October 2008 at the Worcester Warriors Sixways Stadium. Visitors to the stand will be able to enter a draw to win an hour’s free HR consultancy.

If you would like to be kept informed of news and updates, please send a request by email through the Contact Us' page. You will then receive a copy of the quarterly newsletter.

Welcome … to those readers of The Director, the magazine of the Institute of Directors, who have recently joined the Cherington HR Mailing list. It was featured in a recent article, which can be found at:

http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2008/9%20September/employment_legislation_62_2.html

Age Concern, under the banner of ‘Heyday’ is challenging UK laws, which since 2006 have allowed employers to compel workers to retire at 65.

The Advocate-general, a senior legal adviser to the European Court of Justice, has recently backed current UK rules - although the view is not binding. Some 260 people in Britain have cases at employment tribunals which depend on the European court's ultimate decision.

Do you use temporary agency workers? If so, you need to know that the rules for statutory sick pay change in October. Contact your agency to find out how it will impact on your company.

Employees on additional maternity or adoption leave are entitled, like employees taking ordinary leave, to the benefit of all the non-remuneration terms and conditions of employment that would have applied if they had not been absent. The amendments apply to employees with an expected week of childbirth on or after 5 October 2008, and those with a child expected to be placed with them for adoption on or after this date.

If you employ an expectant mother whose baby is due on or after 5th October this year, you must make changes to the benefits entitled to staff on Maternity Leave.

The new rates become effective shortly and employers need to check that they continue to pay staff correctly. This is particularly important for employees who may have changed age band.

Where do you display your Employer's Liability Insurance Certificate? Changes to the regulations mean that you might be able to change the way you do this.

The cost of recruiting will vary widely depending on the role you wish to fill, but most recent figures given by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) for replacing a worker are £4.6k rising to £10k for a senior manager.

Recruitment is time consuming and costly. Therefore before proceeding, you will want to be sure that it is the best or only solution in any particular set of circumstances.

Preparing a job description and person specification will help you write an effective advertisement and will serve to inform potential candidates about the job later in the selection process.

Deciding where to advertise the vacancy will depend on the sort of role you wish to fill and the sort of skills you need the candidates to have.

You must decide whether you are going to accept CVs or send out application forms for completion. CVs may be quicker for applicants to send, but you may not get all the information you are seeking. Application forms can be designed to ask specific questions relevant to the job and they are likely to be easier to compare for short-listing purposes.

You may have a short-list of candidates who can perform the technical, administrative or management elements of the role. However, you may want to know how the candidates would perform in specific circumstances, or find out how they would fit in with your existing team.

When you have made your choice, any offer you make to your chosen candidate should be subject to satisfactory references and the right of the individual to work in the UK. An offer can be verbal (and will be binding) but written terms must be provided within 8 weeks of starting the job.

Helen Astill, Managing Director of Upton upon Severn based company, Cherington HR, narrowly missed winning an award at the 2008 Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Awards event on Thursday last week.

A recent report (Feb 2008) by the Work Foundation and the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) found that businesses with good HR practices - from resourcing to employee engagement and skills development, enjoyed higher profit margins and productivity than those without. The study concluded that if an organisation increased its investment in HR by just 10% it would boost gross profits by £1,500 per employee per year.

Your business success ultimately depends on the combined efforts and abilities of your employees to do their jobs and to meet your customers’ needs. This means that they need to be able to carry out their duties to a satisfactory level and perform consistently well.

Employees need the right knowledge, skills and attitude. Identifying development needs can be done at three levels:
* For the Business as a whole;
* For a specific department or project area;
* For the individual.

There are many ways to learn and different people have different preferred learning styles. Going on a course is not the only option. Other more effective (and potentially more cost effective) alternatives are available.

Once the development activity has been undertaken, the job holder and line manager should meet to review progress. If the activity is planned to take place over a period of time, e.g. a college course or project, regular reviews should be held to check that the job holder is able to apply the learning.

It is all too easy for business owners and managers to focus on the development needs of their staff and forget about their own. If you fall into that trap read on ...

Cherington HR has been selected as one of the finalists for Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Awards for successful businesses in 2008.

From April 6th 2008 there were changes to statutory payments and these are now as follows;

• Statutory Sick Pay has increased from £72.55 to £75.40 per week (average weekly earnings of £90 or more).

• Statutory Maternity Pay has increased from £112.75 to £117.18 per week.
• Statutory Paternity Pay has increased from £112.75 to £117.18 per week.
• Statutory Adoption Pay has increased from £112.75 to £117.18 per week.
(or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings if these are less than £117.18 for Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay.)

Reminder - As from 1st February 2008 the maximum unfair dismissal award rose to £63,000 and basic weekly award to £330.

The National Minimum Wage is something which affects all employers and needs to be taken into account when planning the business finances.

The National Minimum Wage is reviewed in October every year, and increases are made on the recommendations of the Independent Low Pay Commission.

The Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations have been in effect for companies with over 150 employees since 2004, and have been described as one of the most important pieces of employment legislation to be introduced in the UK in recent years. This has now been extended to cover more companies.

In a similar change to existing pensions regulations, companies employing 50 or more employees will now have to consult workers or employee representatives on any changes that may affect pension schemes.

Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 were published in March 2008. These will lead to new rules on benefits during maternity leave.

In the past, it was been extremely difficult to secure a criminal conviction for negligence against large firms where it was all but impossible to identify an individual directly responsible. However, from April 2008, if it can be shown that a substantial part of the breach of a company's duty of care is down to the way a firm is managed, it is the organisation that will face criminal prosecution.

Recent surveys reveal that not all employees have formal appraisals. The figures vary, but research by Investors in People UK found that only 54% of employees in SMEs get regular feedback on their performance. By contrast, 81% of employees in larger companies have annual appraisals.

An appraisal should be part of an ongoing discussion all managers and supervisors have with their staff throughout the year. It is the formal process of capturing and recording the progress made by individual employees and agreements on actions for their continuing development.

There are many different ways of creating appraisal processes, but for one to work well for your business, there are several questions you need to answer.

Appraisals should always cover past performance and objectives, but equally important are discussions of future targets and opportunities.

Before the discussion, the manager should make arrangements to ensure that the meeting will be as productive as possible.

In preparation for the discussion, the employee should be encouraged to consider the issues in advance and be aware that they are jointly responsible for the outcomes.

If there is a need for improvement, this should come as no surprise to the employee at the end of the year.

Any performance issues should be aired as soon as they arise so that the employee has a chance to put things right. If you do not give feedback on behaviours or mistakes that are unacceptable, the employee may continue acting in the same way completely oblivious to the fact that you are not happy with it.

Performance improvement comes from developing people’s knowledge, skills and attitudes/ behaviours. You will need to agree what development activities need to be undertaken and what support is required to allow the employee to undertake these activities successfully.

Employee absence is a significant cost to 90% of businesses according to recently published research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). They found that on average sickness absence costs employers £659 per employee every year and employee absence costs employers 8.4 working days for every member of staff per year; representing 3.7% of working time.

Two-thirds of sickness absence, long term incapacity and ill-health retirement are due to mild/moderate ‘common health problems’ and 31% of respondents to CIPD survey reported an increase in stress-related absence in the previous 12 months.

A Return to Work Interview system is a methodical approach for managers to keep up-to-date with the reasons why employees are absent. Start by discussing every episode of absence with an employee on the day, or very shortly after, they return to work. Remember that it is not a disciplinary meeting or a formal review of an employee’s attendance pattern (although you may decide to hold a formal review subsequently if the employee has a poor attendance record).

Knowing when to take action regarding someone who is regularly absent can be difficult. However there is a formula used to produce a measure called the Bradford Factor which can help you highlight those employees with a poor record of frequent short-term absences. This gives you a consistent and objective measure of the disruption caused by such absences and allows you to identify those employees whose absence patterns need reviewing formally.

If you have employees who have been off sick for some time and you want an early resolution to the problem, consulting an Occupational Health (OH) adviser can help.

Many companies use GPs for their OH advice, but it is often better to use someone with specific OH knowledge to be able to make appropriate recommendations. If you are looking for an OH specialist ask whether they have any particular knowledge of your business sector, so that they can apply this knowledge in their assessments.

CIPD research shows that absence of eight days or more accounts for almost 40% of total time lost through absence and absence of four weeks or more accounts for about one fifth.

This is a significant element of the absence figures. So it is important to have a formal strategy in place to help employees to get back to work after a prolonged spell of sickness or injury-related absence. Awareness of potential disability discrimination claims is also crucial.

Some employees may find it hard to cope with your standard working hours because of caring responsibilities that they may have at home, either for a young child or elderly relative. They may take a lot of sick leave to deal with such issues or they may often be late as a result. Dealing with such pressures can also add a degree of stress which may affect their own health.

Sometimes workers take sick leave because they think that this is the only way to deal with emergencies at home. Employers need to make sure that their employees know that they are entitled to take time off to deal with certain sorts of emergencies so that these can be dealt with openly.

Several new regulations came into force on 1st October 2007. The ones most likely to have the most immediate impact on your business are summarised as follows: