Spring is a great time for taking a fresh look at any HR issues, deciding on your workforce priorities and ensuring solutions to enable your school or business to flourish. In this post we share our thoughts on the burning HR challenges that you should put at the top of your To Do List and suggestions for ways to tackle them.

1. Policies, procedures and employee checklists – ensure all of these are up-to-date with current employment legislation, Acas guidance and reflect your school/company requirements. Acas have just published guidance on pregnancy and maternity discrimination with a view to reducing claims. We have seen a big increase in social media related disciplinary action – make sure you have the right policies in place to manage this type of situation.

2. Contracts of Employment – remember you have two months to issue appropriate contracts of employment to your staff. Contracts can be for permanent/fixed term staff or for associates/contractors/apprentices.   These contracts need to be compliant and also to protect your school/company best interests. If not, you might end up paying for training and unnecessary long notice periods.

3. Right To Work and pre-employment checks – failure to evidence RTW checks can result in both civil and criminal proceedings and expensive fines. Carry out pre-employment checks including confirming each employee’s right to work in the UK and take a copy of their passport. Ensure you perform robust due diligence when recruiting – it will save time, expense and energy in the long run.

4. Performance Management – we still think it’s a good idea to have a clear set of individual/team performance objectives linked to school/company priorities. Linking pay to performance can be motivating for staff and delivers outstanding schools and facilitates company growth. Academies have more flexibility to set their own pay and benefits. Companies can link performance to bonus schemes/incentives. Most staff want to do a good job and feel empowered when given new projects to deliver.

5. Recruitment Campaigns – don’t get wrapped up in spending lots of money on campaigns, you can still attract and retain great staff if you follow a cost effective and innovative approach to advertising on key job sites and maximise the use of social media. Telephone interviewing of shift candidates can be a cost-effective way of shortlisting before moving to face-to-face interviews. Think about your offer to staff, both in terms of pay and benefits and also develop your brand so everyone wants to work for you!!!

6. Retention and talent management – competitive pay, benefits, employee recognition/engagement, exit interviews, clear career pathways, inductions and employee assistance programmes, give recognition and flexibility – these all help to retain high performing staff, increase productivity/morale and reducing turnover.

7. Gender Pay Gap Data – time is running out for organisations with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap data and you should now be collating this and carrying out the necessary calculations.

8. Sexual Harassment – last year’s #MeToo campaign will continue to resonate this year. All employers need to be vigilant in respect of the possibility of harassment in the workplace. Ensure all members of staff are aware of the school/company stance on this and be prepared to swiftly investigate.

9. Disciplinary, Grievance and Capability matters – you cannot simply say “you’re sacked”. You must follow a disciplinary procedure/process – or you could end up paying the price both financially and reputationally. Familiarise yourself with the Acas Code of Practice, be prepared to investigate and keep up to date with what’s going on and how it affects your staff. They are your most valuable asset. If a member of staff simply isn’t delivering to the standards needed, you will need the evidence, to provide support and give you the confidence to do the right thing.  Discrimination and unfair dismissal claims can be expensive.

10. General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) – make sure your school/company understand the impact, how to prepare, what to implement and when. GDPR does not need to be overwhelming. From 25th May 2018 you will need to change how you handle information/data from customers/staff and pupils.

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