Top 5 Tips – Making Good Recruitment Decisions

So, another week, another headline that no-one is recruiting!  Whilst we haven’t seen evidence of this we have had discussions with clients recently who are really concerned about ensuring that they get their recruitment decisions right.  Here are our top tips:

• Don’t make recruitment decisions on your own; involve a trusted manager/colleague in the process and you will avoid the “halo/horns” effect
• Don’t just rely on an interview, test their skills using a work based assessment exercise like a presentation scenario,  IT test or In Tray exercise specifically designed to test the required skills
• Use pre-prepared competency based interview questions.  An “HRism” we know, but they work! It essentially means getting candidates to talk through real examples of where they have demonstrated the required skills for the role rather than asking “what if” questions
• Don’t just check their skills; check fit with company culture and motivation levels. Do they want your job or just any job?
• Make sure the candidate does most of the talking in the interview otherwise you will realise afterwards you know nothing about them!

Don’t forget, you are dealing with people so recruitment is not an exact science!  Most managers have had a bad recruit at some point in their career so if this happens don’t beat yourself up about it, review what went wrong and learn from it.

Ignore the Agency Worker Regulations at your peril!

On 1 October 2011 the Agency Workers Regulations came into force, entitling agency workers to “favourable treatment” from day one and the same basic employment conditions as permanent staff after twelve weeks in the same role.

If you use temporary staff it is highly likely that the agency supplying them has already requested information regarding your terms and conditions of employment…..our advice is ignore their requests at your peril!  If you fail to provide them with this information and to comply with the new regulations you could be on the receiving end of a lengthy tribunal claim and hefty fine.

What is an Agency Worker?

Agency workers include individuals who work through a “temporary work agency”, PAYE temps and also umbrella company workers.  It will also cover freelancers and other individuals if they work under your direct supervision.

What are Agency Worker’s rights from Day One?

Rights that apply from day one include the right to be treated no less favourably than comparable employees in relation to shared facilities and amenities.  This could include, for example:

• a canteen
• a workplace crèche
• transport to and from the workplace
• a staff room
• a prayer room
• car parking

Agency workers also have the right from day one to be given the same information about relevant vacancies as comparable permanent staff.

What are Agency Worker’s rights after 12 weeks?

After 12 weeks in the same role, agency workers are entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as permanent staff. This means that they are entitled to equal treatment in relation to:

• pay (this includes basic salary, commission, overtime, allowances, bonuses & vouchers)
• working time duration
• night work
• rest periods
• contractual annual leave

How does this affect pregnant Agency Workers?

After 12 weeks in the same role pregnant agency workers are entitled to paid time off for antenatal care and, potentially, paid time off during an assignment if it is unsuitable for them. It is the agency’s responsibility to seek alternative work for them if a health and safety risk means that the assignment is unsuitable, and to pay her for the duration of the assignment if no suitable alternative work is available.

Who is responsible for ensuring Agency Workers receive the correct entitlements?

You must provide the agency with information about the relevant terms and conditions to which they would be entitled if he or she were a permanent member of staff.

The agency is responsible for ensuring that the agency worker receives these terms and conditions if he or she completes the 12-week qualifying period.

We hope you have found this useful. If you would like to discuss how we can help you manage your obligations in relation to these regulations, please get in touch here

November 2011  - Recent Proposals

Change to unfair dismissal qualification period. This would see the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal extended from one to two years with effect from 6 April 2012.

Employment Tribunal fees to be introduced. This would see claimants paying fees totalling £1,250 prior to a case being heard. The claimant would only get these fees back if they win. This would take effect in April 2013.

Protected conversations. This would enable employers to have open and frank discussions with their staff about performance issues, the employee’s plans for retirement, etc without fear of them being used against them at employment tribunal, because the employee will not later be able to use the conversation as evidence against the employer in any tribunal proceedings.

1st October 2011 - the Agency Workers Regulations came into force, entitling agency workers to “favourable treatment” from day one and the same basic employment conditions as permanent staff after twelve weeks in the same role.  See full article about employer’s obligations here.

1st October 2011 – new National Minimum Wage rates announced.  Click here for details.

1st July 2011 – The Bribery Act is introduced. For the purposes of this Act bribery is defined as the giving or taking of a reward in return for acting dishonestly and/or in breach of the law.

21st April 2011 – Is everyone entitled to the Royal Wedding bank holiday? No, not necessarily?   There is no statutory right to take it as leave. It is only where workers’ employment contract states that they are entitled to take all bank and public holidays as leave that they may then do so. If the contract and needs of the business deem 29th April to be a normal working day employers are entitled to enforce this.

April 2011

• Provisions of The Equality Act 2010 relating to positive action in recruitment and promotion come into force on 6 April
• The Bribery Act 2010 was due to come into force requiring employers to have procedures in place to prevent bribery and corruption but the Government have delayed implementation

• The default retirement age (DRA) – on 29 July 2010 the Government published a consultation paper on proposals to phase out the DRA from 6 April 2011 and remove the associated statutory retirement procedures. Regulations making it unlawful to dismiss someone on grounds of age, unless there is objective justification, will take effect from 6 April. Employers will be able to retain a compulsory retirement age only if they can objectively justify it.

• Additional paternity leave (APL) applies to those with a baby due on or after 3 April 2011. This allows the father (or mother’s partner) to take part of the mother’s maternity leave so as to allow the mother to return to work.
• New rates of statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory adoption pay (SAP) and statutory sick pay (SPP) will take effect: SMP, SAP and SPP rates will increase from £124.88 to £128.73 and SSP will increase from £79.15 to £81.60. The weekly earnings threshold for the SMP, SPP and SAP payments will also increase from £97 to £102.
• If the National Insurance Contributions Bill 2010-11 is passed by Parliament, increases the rates of NI contributions paid by employees, employers and the self-employed by one percentage point – expected from 6 April 2011.
• The right to request flexible working will be extended to parents of children under 18 from 6 April 2011. The Government have said they will consult further on extending this right to all employees.
• The right to request time off for training – was due to be extended to cover all employers. However, the Government have said this will not now happen, to allow more discussion and evaluation.
• There will be a public holiday in the UK on 29 April 2011 to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on that day.

27th January 2011 – the government has decided to ahead with proposals to scrap the Default Retirement Age with effect from October this year.  This means that employers are no longer able to retire staff at 65.

29th July 2010 - proposals published to phase out the current Default Retirement Age.  This means employers will no longer be able to enforce compulsory redundancy at 65.  If approved, this change will take place from 6th April 2011.

27th July 2010 – figures just released show that the number of employment tribunals increased by 56% compared to last year. This has been attributed to the recession forcing employers to make cut backs and the increasing trend of employees making multiple claims. The top three reasons for bringing a tribunal claim were cited as Working Time Directive, Unauthorised Deduction of Wages and Unfair Dismissal.

6 April 2010 – regulations came into force allowing parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 to transfer up to six month’s of the mother’s maternity leave to the father.  Further details for practical implementation of this new legislation to follow in early 2011.

6 April 2010 – new ‘fit notes’ replace the traditional ‘sick notes’ issued by doctors across the UK.  Read our Fit Note Q&A here.

Top Tips on Performance Management

This is probably the most common way we get introduced to new HR clients; it goes something like this……

Sound familiar?  Frustrating isn’t it?  Believe me, it’s frustrating for us too because we know that by sticking to a few key principles of performance management this member of staff probably wouldn’t be the problem child they have become or if they really were a bad egg you would be able to show them the door much more confidently quickly and painlessly.

Follow our top tips on performance management:

1. Set expectations.  When they join or their job changes go through their job description and ensure they know what is expected of them
2. Nip any issues in the bud immediately.  Meet to discuss what went wrong, what needs to improve & by when, then document it!
3. Regularly review performance, don’t wait until there is an issue.  Highlight the good, address the bad and document it!
4. Don’t give verbal warnings in the heat of the moment, they don’t mean anything.
5. Only take disciplinary action if you have documented evidence that they had a chance to improve, understood what was required & failed

By sticking to the above it means that should you take disciplinary action the employee shouldn’t be surprised and should you face a tribunal the evidence is there to prove it’s no knee jerk reaction, the employee was given a chance to improve but failed.

Example Job Description – Office Manager

Job Description Template



Here’s a helpful summary of current statutory payments:

National Minimum Wage (next review Oct 2012)
Age 21 and over £6.08 per hour
Age 18-20 £4.98 per hour
Age 16-17 £3.68 per hour

Redundancy Pay* (next review Feb 2012)
Age 22 and under 0.5 week’s pay per year of service
Age 22-40 1 week’s pay per year of service
Age 41+ 1.5 week’s pay per year of service

*Employees must have two years continuous service to qualify. A week’s pay is capped at £400.

Statutory Pay Rates (next review April 2012)

Statutory Maternity Pay £128.73 per week
Statutory Paternity Pay £128.73 per week
Statutory Sick Pay £81.60 per week

If you need help calculating entitlements to maternity, redundancy or sickness, give us a call.

Employing our first member looked like a minefield before we met Justine.. (more…)

“Justine’s support was very professional and her advice invaluable her insight and objective perspective allowed us to make excellent business decisions with sound HR backup. Her package for our first employee was very comprehensive and tailored to our company and leaves us with template for future growth. An great resource for small companies who do not require inhouse resource.” Gary Killington, Managing Director, PharmaIntel

Are You Ready for the World Cup?

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Football fever is about to take over the UK when the world cup kicks off on 11th June for a whole month. Whilst lots of employees will be looking forward to a month long football fest, lots of employers won’t!  By mid June it’s guaranteed that lots of employers will be frustrated with trying to keep their business running smoothly whilst juggling holiday requests, increased sickness levels and staff just not turning up for work. (more…)