Employers and managers face a host of new challenges in 2015, from implementing shared parental leave to dealing with the new holiday overtime directives. Human resource consultancy P3 People Management, which acts as an outsourced HR department for more than 60 businesses, shares advice on how to get your business in shape for the year ahead:
1 Get ready for growth
Reflect on where you are and map that against where you want the business to be. If you have plans for growth, whether organic or by acquisition, set out how you intend to make that happen. Planning your resource is essential if you are expanding, as director Charlotte Gallagher explains, “With resource planning, as with any other kind, you should be looking at the numbers. Consider the staff you have lost in the previous year and identify any patterns in length of service for specific roles. If you anticipate losing any senior figures this year, start planning for that. Similarly, if you are preparing your business for sale in 2015, ensure you have the right plans in place to reflect the optimum value.”
2. Make the most of your leaders and managers
Today’s volatile business landscape is one that’s here to stay and managers need to be educated in how to work in this fast-changing, ever-challenging environment. As they look to the year ahead, business owners and leaders should be focusing on engaging the team and also thinking about how they can spend more time working on the strategic elements of growing the business, instead of the technical aspects, ensuring that all activity is directed towards the overall goals. Charlotte adds, “Continuous shifts in people, processes, technology and structure require agile decision-making. Investing in your business leaders will help them to drive sustainability and growth, and with various funding programmes available for 2015, this is an ideal time.”
3. Set out your policy for shared parental leave
One of the big changes for staff management this year is the new right to shared parental leave, available to parents with babies due on or after 5th April 2015. Shared parental leave enables mothers to commit to ending their maternity leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance of leave and pay as shared parental leave with their partner. Alternatively they can return to work early from maternity leave and opt in to shared parental leave and pay at a later date. The aim is to allow couples greater freedom to decide how and when to take their family-friendly leave. Businesses need to prepare for this and understand what they are required to offer and the conditions that employees must meet to be eligible.*
4. Minimize risk of retrospective claims under the new holiday overtime directive
Previously, holiday pay was simple – you paid your employees their basic pay for any holiday period. However, that all changed with a recent employment law tribunal case** and companies now have to take into account any overtime or bonuses that have also been lost, so that the pay reflects the total amount the employee could have earned, based on their normal working patterns. The appeal on this case is yet to be heard, so in the meantime, minimize your risk by getting holiday payments right. Agree with employees whether overtime or commission payments impact on average daily payments, and update your policy. Whilst employers hope the appeal will draw a line as to how far back employees could claim retrospectively, if you pay the correct amount for three consecutive months, no prior claim can be made. Act fast and you could reduce your risk and save yourself a lot of stress.
5. Prepare for the government’s new absence management programme
The new ‘Fit for Work’ scheme will start being implemented in the year ahead, with the roll-out expected to be completed by May 2015. The intention of the new scheme is to help keep people in work or to get them back to work as quickly as possible after a period of absence, using an independent assessment mechanism which is triggered after a sick-leave absence period of four to six weeks. Following assessment, employees will receive a return to work plan with recommendations and information on appropriate help and advice. Employers need to familiarize themselves with the new scheme and can find out more at Gov.uk.
