HR Newsletter 02.02.10

Annual HR & Payroll Conference Forward to a friend

Bookmark and Share

HR news items at - 2nd February 2010

Topical Items

When did you last carry out a thorough safety inspection? Health and safety is in the news more than ever these days and as a result people generally are safety aware – unfortunately in the sense of how they can sue their employer rather than how they can make their workplace safer.

Action: First make sure that you have a regime of regular health and safety inspections. But these routines can get a bit stale and the people who operate them too familiar with the environment. So why not get into the skin of a no-win no-fee lawyer who is looking to make money for your employees by finding vulnerability in your workplace. Don’t tell anyone what you are doing. Just walk around the place, ask a few questions, list any problems you find, then see how closely it matches the results of your usual inspectors. It will test them as well as the workplace. But whatever you find – put right promptly.

You may find this course interesting:

Health & Safety for Managers - Face to Face Course

Health & Safety for Managers - Online Training

Using probation periods

Probation periods can give an employer a false sense of security. Used properly, they can be a valuable tool for maximising the benefit of a new employee, but used improperly, they can be a hazard. Statute law does not define a probation period; it is something imposed by the employer. Nevertheless the law does indirectly provide a trial period because employees have limited employment protection rights during their first year of service. They are protected from day one against certain forms of discrimination, harassment and bullying. Also any employee, regardless of length of service, may sue for breach of contract, which may occur if, for example, he or she was dismissed without warning during the first month of employment but had the organisation’s disciplinary procedure built into the employment contract. But ordinarily, if an employee fails to perform during the first year of service, he or she may be dismissed quite easily.

Therefore what are the advantages of a probation period? First it allows an employment relationship that clearly is not going to work to be ended with minimal rancour and it is then easy for both the employee who applies for another job and the ex-employer who is asked for a reference to say that the person and the job just did not suit each other. But a more practical advantage is that it brings structure to the introduction of the new employee to the job. And structure calls for thought. It is not sufficient to say that, should the employee prove unsatisfactory at any time during the probation period, he or she will be dismissed. You need to give full details of the arrangement and you need to introduce a programme of support.

The first and obvious detail is to indicate the length of the probation period. Ordinarily this will be a period of time such as six months, but it may also be dependent upon achievement of a certain standard within a maximum period. You certainly should make provision for extending the end-date of the probation period to take account of the employee’s absence on holiday and for sickness Also you may wish to reserve the right to extend the period if, for example, you feel that, although the employee seems to have the capability, he or she has not yet realised it fully.

You need to recognise that, if you engage an employee on a probation period, you are in effect giving him or her that length of time to reach a full performance standard. This raises two important considerations. First you need to give support to the employee. This may require little more than regular reviews of progress but ideally, to get the best out of the employee, you should build this into a phased programme of training. Set out the full job requirements on paper, translate the result into a training schedule and then break that into phased elements that can be programmed according to the perceived training needs and learning capability of the new employee. This then shows up a programme of regular reviews that should be carried out meticulously. Each review should highlight and bring to the employee’s attention any insufficient progress and give you opportunity to investigate the problem and provide appropriate support such as additional training or coaching. Conversely if the employee is doing well, making good progress and hitting performance targets, you should make that clear. The employee will not know how he or she is doing unless you say and, in any case, a compliment is likely to prove a good motivator in these early days.

The second consideration is that if you fail to provide this support, then you are failing in your duty towards the new employee. If you decide that the employee on a probation period is not going to make the grade and therefore you move to dismissal, but have not given reasonable appropriate support, then the employee may well take legal action against you for breach of contract. Indeed if you terminate the employment before the end of the probation period for any reason other than misconduct, you may well find yourself having to defend a claim for breach of contract. The employee would have a good case for arguing that a six month probation period means that you gave him or her that length of time in which to make the grade, but by curtailing it you preventing him or her from reaching the standard.

If your discipline procedure is contained within the contracts of employment of all your employees and is therefore contractually binding, then you must apply it scrupulously even to people on probation periods. Otherwise you need to make clear to the employee how his or her failure to meet interim targets or maintain steady progress will be handled. Ideally this should reflect the ACAS Code of Practice, which is written to give the employee reasonable opportunities to improve without placing too great or complex a burden on the employer.

Used properly, probation periods can be a sound way of bringing a new employee quickly up to speed but, if not applied with care, they can become a problem. They certainly should not be viewed merely as a period during which you can easily dismiss someone who is not performing as well as was hoped. And, even more important, they should not be used as a substitute for sound recruitment, interviewing, induction and job training techniques.

How to make a presentation

Making a presentation is nothing like as difficult as you may imagine. Whether you will be talking to colleagues or strangers, they will be there to hear what you have to say and not to criticise or make judgments about you. Naturally you will be nervous, but so are the best speechmakers.

You must however do some preparation. Presumably you have been asked to speak because you know something about the subject, for example the effect of tax changes, or pension arrangements. You may not be a national expert, but somebody obviously considers that you have enough knowledge otherwise they would have picked someone else. Also you will not have been chosen for your oratorical skills because they want information not entertainment, so the way you talk is relatively unimportant, though you will do both the audience and yourself a favour if you give a well-constructed talk.

So concentrate on the content of the presentation. If you are to talk about changes in the tax system, consider what exactly you need to put across. The people in the audience will not want to know the details of the tax regime, the problems in Parliament, why the changes have been made nor indeed the difficulties they will cause you and your colleagues. No, they will want to know how it will affect them, so write this in large letters on a piece of card and keep it in front of you while you construct your talk. Then try to break the message into a number of points that flow logically. Three is often recommended as the maximum number of issues an audience can absorb, but you need not follow that rigidly and if, for example, there are six main tax changes, then there are six points you need to cover.

Take eight postcards, head the first card “Introduction” and the last card “End”, and print the title of each major point at the top of the other cards. Next scribble a few rough notes summarising each point on a separate piece of paper, run quickly through each note and put a ring around the key words. Have at most six keywords per point, and write them in logical sequence on the appropriate postcard such that each card now has a title and a few keywords that summarise the topic. On another piece of card headed “End” write two or three words that summarise the whole presentation or that project some final message such as telling people what to do if they have particular problems or where to go for help with their tax situation. Finally on a card headed “Start” write one or two keywords that prompt an introduction, which may be an arresting or comforting statement, or an explanation why you are giving the presentation such as “We feel it important that everyone understands why their tax will be different from April and what to do if they feel their tax assessment is wrong”. If you are stuck for a start, read a quotation such as “In his budget statement the Chancellor said that his wish was to simplify our tax structure. Well, he must have run over a fairy because his wish has not been granted. The situation is more complex than ever so I want to explain the changes in ways that I hope you will understand”. You will then have produced a few smiles and – so important – will have got the audience on your side.
Put these cards in order, punch holes in them and tie them together with large loops of string. These are your talk notes so make sure you can read them at arm’s length. Being card they will not blow away, tear or curl, and since they are tied together they will remain in order even if you drop them.

Rehearse your presentation by looking at the cards several times a day, picking one of the keywords and talking about it in your mind. Don’t try to memorise sentences otherwise they will sound insincere. Look at the word, think what there is to say about it, and say it to yourself. Visualise yourself putting this across well to your audience who are nodding their approval and obviously enjoying it. Keep doing this. Don’t aim for perfection, but rather for familiarity with the ideas each keyword conjures up. If you find that you cannot remember certain facts or details, write them on the back of the card so that you can refer to them easily. If there are lots of detailed figures, consider displaying them on a flipchart or screen, but usually it is better to provide handouts at the end.

On the day, dress comfortably to help you feel relaxed. Try to greet everyone as they come into the room and, if they are strangers, shake their hands and introduce yourself. This will help you overcome your own and their nervousness, and you will then be giving your presentation to friends. Begin with a big smile to your audience, if necessary explain briefly who you are, then look at your top card and launch into your introduction. Glance at the card to pick up the next point then raise your head and talk about it. Keep looking around the audience as you speak. Speak as though the people in the back row are deaf – loud and slow. And don’t worry about silences. If you lose your train of thought or drop your cards, just pause and do what you have to until you are ready to speak again. The audience will appreciate the break.

People who have given a few talks often comment that they now enjoy the experience because it makes them feel valued and respected. They have learnt a simple process and, having used it a couple of times, have felt their fear drain away. So give it a go!

Questions and Answers

Calculating payments in lieu of notice

How is pay-in-lieu of notice calculated?

Reply

There really is no formula for this. You are agreeing that the employee will not serve his or her notice and instead are paying an agreed sum of money as compensation. Technically the sum paid represents liquidated damages. Were you to refuse to allow the employee to serve due notice and made no payment, he or she could sue for breach of contract, would doubtless win and be awarded damages. The court would put the ex-employee into the financial position that he or she would have been in had notice been served, but no better nor worse off. This would mean net pay for the unserved notice period together with the value of any lost benefits. The calculated amount might be reduced if the employee had made insufficient effort to find alternative employment, and it might be discounted if it reflected a long notice period paid in advance as a lump sum.

Employee sent to prison

An employee has been sent to prison for three months. Has he effectively dismissed himself, and at what point in the process did his employment come to an end – when he was taken into custody or when he was sentenced?

Reply

If he has not resigned and you have not dismissed the man, then his employment continues. Prison does not automatically end it. You should do all you can to keep his job open to help with his subsequent rehabilitation. If he were to be absent for a long period and this would make it difficult to keep his job open, then you could move to dismissal. However you should consider whether you would dismiss an employee absent through sickness for the same length of time. In this case, especially considering he probably will not serve the full period, you should not dismiss.

Puzzle

Last month you were left with this little problem:

What is the longest word in the English language that contains only one vowel?

The answer is – STRENGTHS. Unless, of course, you got anything better?

Now one for this month:

Gerald’s mother has three children. The eldest, born in May 1981 is named Ahab; the second eldest, born in July 1983, is named Claud; so what is the name of the youngest, born in September 1985?

Put your thinking cap on for this one. Answer next month.

Training Courses

Here are some courses that you may find useful:

Click here if you wish to unsubscribe

The Learn Centre wishes to make clear that they are in business as providers of management training and consultancy services and not as lawyers and that therefore any legal issues should be referred to an appropriate lawyer.