Welcome Autumn!
F&B HR had a busy summer, delivering training, completing TUPE transfers, carrying out recruitment campaigns for two very worthwhile charities and starting conversations about company culture and how they align with core values.
We are speeding towards our 10th month and will be planning our one-year celebrations in Q1 of 2024 – where has time gone?!
Networking has also been on the agenda with various meets at Aspire in Cirencester, Business over Breakfast in Devizes and Building Stronger Communities for a Thriving Future. It’s great to meet business owners that want to have open discussions about what challenges they are facing and working together to find solutions.
Nicola also met back up with those that she built relationships with at The Foundry and is pleased to be part of The Future Smiths which is the follow on from the business accelerator course that she completed in June. It means lots of opportunities to collaborate with other small business owners.
Welcome Autumn!
F&B HR had a busy summer, delivering training, completing TUPE transfers, carrying out recruitment campaigns for two very worthwhile charities and starting conversations about company culture and how they align with core values.
We are speeding towards our 10th month and will be planning our one-year celebrations in Q1 of 2024 – where has time gone?!
Networking has also been on the agenda with various meets at Aspire in Cirencester, Business over Breakfast in Devizes and Building Stronger Communities for a Thriving Future. It’s great to meet business owners that want to have open discussions about what challenges they are facing and working together to find solutions.
Nicola also met back up with those that she built relationships with at The Foundry and is pleased to be part of The Future Smiths which is the follow on from the business accelerator course that she completed in June. It means lots of opportunities to collaborate with other small business owners.
What’s next for F&B HR?
Training – we are looking to build on the training packages that we have delivered in 2023 and add more subject areas. They will continue to be bite sized of around an hour so that it’s not taking up too much of your time. They will also act as a refresher for any skills or knowledge that you may have applied before but just needed that sense check, before you take any action.
Retained packages – we have also had a few businesses ask about retained packages, which we do provide to businesses. We tailor make our services as not all businesses that we partner with, are looking for the same service. Some businesses ask to buy a certain amount of time from us either per week or per month or some want a selection of services over a course of 12 months so that they have peace of mind. Whatever you’re looking for, we can help.
Referrals – we have managed to partner with more businesses over the summer and all have come from referrals, which we are delighted about! We ask those that we work with to leave a Google review for us, and you can do so here: https://g.page/r/CfPbExntUR_9EAI/review
We have also promised that if a Company refers us to another, we will make a charitable donation to the charity that the referrer chooses. Community is really important to F&B so we are committing to that and as we grow, so will the work and support we provide within our community.
What’s next for F&B HR?
Training – we are looking to build on the training packages that we have delivered in 2023 and add more subject areas. They will continue to be bite sized of around an hour so that it’s not taking up too much of your time. They will also act as a refresher for any skills or knowledge that you may have applied before but just needed that sense check, before you take any action.
Retained packages – we have also had a few businesses ask about retained packages, which we do provide to businesses. We tailor make our services as not all businesses that we partner with, are looking for the same service. Some businesses ask to buy a certain amount of time from us either per week or per month or some want a selection of services over a course of 12 months so that they have peace of mind. Whatever you’re looking for, we can help.
Referrals – we have managed to partner with more businesses over the summer and all have come from referrals, which we are delighted about! We ask those that we work with to leave a Google review for us, and you can do so here: https://g.page/r/CfPbExntUR_9EAI/review
We have also promised that if a Company refers us to another, we will make a charitable donation to the charity that the referrer chooses. Community is really important to F&B so we are committing to that and as we grow, so will the work and support we provide within our community.
Keep your eyes peeled
Need to restructure?
In the world of HR, Q4 of the year normally means that business owners and senior managers start to look at next years strategy and that can often impact organisation structures and lead to potential redundancies. From experience, this can mean that businesses want to make the changes before the end of the year but then once we have worked out the timeframes that employment legislation requires with consultation, this can often move into the new year.
As with all people related tasks, planning is key, and you cannot forget to build in an effective consultation period with the affected staff without the large risk of unfair dismissal claims. They are not only costly in terms of potential awards and your time, but also, your reputation. You don’t want your business to be a cover star for the wrong reasons.
A costly mistake
This is a story about a female employee who started with her employer in 1995. Back in 2021, the female employee told her employer that she was going through the menopause, which was causing her “serious symptoms” including a loss of concentration, brain fog and anxiety. She did not ask for any adjustments to her work, and her employer agreed to pay for private healthcare to discuss her symptoms with a doctor, where she was given a treatment plan. A few months later, the employer made unnecessary and discriminatory comments to the employee.
Employee became distressed by the situation at work that she raised a grievance but then she became ill so was signed off by her Dr. On the same day as her Dr’s appointment, her access to work emails and systems was shut down and her grievance was not acknowledged. She resigned.
She has now been awarded £37,379.56 (yes, you read that right) in a tribunal.
Yesterday (2nd October), Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said it would soon be launching new menopause guidance for employers, following an employment tribunal ruling that a Leicester-based social worker was disabled by virtue of her symptoms of menopause combined with symptoms of stress and anxiety. The case involves the first Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that menopause symptoms can amount to a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act, setting a legal precedent.
Keep your eyes peeled
Need to restructure?
In the world of HR, Q4 of the year normally means that business owners and senior managers start to look at next years strategy and that can often impact organisation structures and lead to potential redundancies. From experience, this can mean that businesses want to make the changes before the end of the year but then once we have worked out the timeframes that employment legislation requires with consultation, this can often move into the new year.
As with all people related tasks, planning is key, and you cannot forget to build in an effective consultation period with the affected staff without the large risk of unfair dismissal claims. They are not only costly in terms of potential awards and your time, but also, your reputation. You don’t want your business to be a cover star for the wrong reasons.
A costly mistake
This is a story about a female employee who started with her employer in 1995. Back in 2021, the female employee told her employer that she was going through the menopause, which was causing her “serious symptoms” including a loss of concentration, brain fog and anxiety. She did not ask for any adjustments to her work, and her employer agreed to pay for private healthcare to discuss her symptoms with a doctor, where she was given a treatment plan. A few months later, the employer made unnecessary and discriminatory comments to the employee.
Employee became distressed by the situation at work that she raised a grievance but then she became ill so was signed off by her Dr. On the same day as her Dr’s appointment, her access to work emails and systems was shut down and her grievance was not acknowledged. She resigned.
She has now been awarded £37,379.56 (yes, you read that right) in a tribunal.
Yesterday (2nd October), Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said it would soon be launching new menopause guidance for employers, following an employment tribunal ruling that a Leicester-based social worker was disabled by virtue of her symptoms of menopause combined with symptoms of stress and anxiety. The case involves the first Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that menopause symptoms can amount to a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act, setting a legal precedent.
Do you track how your employees spend their time when working remotely?
Are you a manager that’s suspicious of what the members of your team are up to when they work from home? Are you an employer that doesn’t encourage working from home?
If yes, this may be of interest to you. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said it will “take action” against companies that conduct “excessive” monitoring of workers following an increase in bosses tracking calls, messages and keystrokes since Covid.
ICO also stated that “While data protection law does not prevent monitoring, our guidance is clear that it must be necessary, proportionate and respect the rights of workers. We will take action if we believe people’s privacy is being threatened.”
The ICO has released new guidance on monitoring workers which says that any tracking must be done in the “least intrusive” way possible and workers must be explicitly made aware of the “nature, extent and reasons for monitoring”.
So, if you are checking on the last time that one of your team moved their mouse or typed anything, or if you want to implement software to manage productivity (really, we know you mean ‘monitor’) – think again before you become Big Brother. Barclays tried that back in 2020 and they were investigated over their use of software that allowed managers to measure the length of time employees were away from their desks and how long they took to finish tasks.
Before you take action think about:
1) Is this the culture that you want to work in and promote?
2) If you can’t trust your teams, you have either recruited the wrong people or you may need to revisit your management style.
3) How do you think this will impact employee engagement and staff retention?
Do you track how your employees spend their time when working remotely?
Are you a manager that’s suspicious of what the members of your team are up to when they work from home? Are you an employer that doesn’t encourage working from home?
If yes, this may be of interest to you. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said it will “take action” against companies that conduct “excessive” monitoring of workers following an increase in bosses tracking calls, messages and keystrokes since Covid.
ICO also stated that “While data protection law does not prevent monitoring, our guidance is clear that it must be necessary, proportionate and respect the rights of workers. We will take action if we believe people’s privacy is being threatened.”
The ICO has released new guidance on monitoring workers which says that any tracking must be done in the “least intrusive” way possible and workers must be explicitly made aware of the “nature, extent and reasons for monitoring”.
So, if you are checking on the last time that one of your team moved their mouse or typed anything, or if you want to implement software to manage productivity (really, we know you mean ‘monitor’) – think again before you become Big Brother. Barclays tried that back in 2020 and they were investigated over their use of software that allowed managers to measure the length of time employees were away from their desks and how long they took to finish tasks.
Before you take action think about:
1) Is this the culture that you want to work in and promote?
2) If you can’t trust your teams, you have either recruited the wrong people or you may need to revisit your management style.
3) How do you think this will impact employee engagement and staff retention?
Thank you for reading our latest newsletter. For more helpful information, you can read our recent blogs on Chat GPT, and the joy of Christmas parties here: Blog – F&B HR Consultancy (fandbhr.co.uk)
If you need any people advice please do get in touch with us!
Thank you for reading our latest newsletter. For more helpful information, you can read our recent blogs on Chat GPT, and the joy of Christmas parties here: Blog – F&B HR Consultancy (fandbhr.co.uk)
If you need any people advice please do get in touch with us!
