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Well it seems like Autumn is nearly with us, lets keep our fingers crossed for the Indian Summer the weatherman keeps talking about!
This month we have some top tips on how to keep your workforce motivated, a new ruling on dismissal dates and the Government has promised to provide more support for those with mental health issues.
We also have a team of skiers taking part in the Spinal Injuries Association ski-a-thon, read on to find out how you can sponsor us.
Kind regards,
Angela
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Keep Motivated Through Tough Times
In these troubled times, there is increased pressure in the workplace, with higher expectations and tighter deadlines. It is easy to stop moving all together, or to burn out from over-work, so how can you keep your employees motivated and performing to the best of their ability?
- Communicate - You cannot expect your employees to know what you expect from them unless you tell them. Communicate deadlines, and allow ideas to be shared. People will feel more valued and motivated if they know they are being listened to and taken seriously.
- Set the standard - Leading by example not only shows employees who is boss but shows them what is expected of their performance. Explain the consequences of slow turnaround and reward good performance to keep morale high.
- Review work - If an employee has expressed a concern that they are falling behind in their work, nominate someone to review their work daily. This will encourage everyone to keep up with each other and be accountable to one another.
- Take a break - Being overworked and unfocused will not help with productivity or quality of work. Having regular breaks to make a cup of tea or get some fresh air will keep your energy levels up, and will ensure that everyone stays on their toes.
- Keep your eyes on the prize - If you feel employees are losing interest and motivation, remind them to keep the goal in mind. Tell them the benefits to themselves and the Company of completing that piece of work, and if it helps them, get them to write down how good they will feel about it once they have achieved the goal. This should spur everyone on to keep going.
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Dismissal Is Not Always Immediate
Most employers think they are safe to assume that once a letter of dismissal has been sent to an employee, the dismissal will be effective immediately. However, the recent case of Gisda Cyf v Barratt demonstrates that this assumption should not always be made.
The Event
Miss Barratt attended a disciplinary meeting, on Tuesday 28th November 2006 and was informed that she must go home, and that she should expect to receive a letter concerning possible dismissal on 30th November 2006. However, Barratt was not at home until Sunday 3rd December.
As Barratt was not at home when the letter was delivered, she did not open it until Monday 4th December, and subsequently brought a claim for unfair dismissal. There was a debate as to whether Miss Barratt had brought her claim within the three month deadline. If her dismissal date had been 30 November, then her claim would have been out of time. However, if her dismissal was not until 4 December, then her claim was within the time limit.
The employment tribunal decided that termination is effected when communicated, therefore when Barratt opened the letter. Gisda argued that Barratt should have found out about the contents of the letter because she knew she would be sent one, but the tribunal found Barratt had not gone away to deliberately avoid the letter, therefore this argument did not stand.
Gisda appealed to the EAT, which agreed with the employment tribunal, saying Barratt was not dismissed until she read the letter. As she did not have a chance to read the letter before the 4th, the unfair dismissal claim was brought within the time limit.
Conclusion
The decision in this case, shows that any ambiguity over the date of the dismissal is risk placed on the employer and knowledge of the dismissal is needed before notice is effective.
Practically, it is always better to communicate summarily dismissal face to face and then follow this up in writing. If this is not possible, make every effort to find out if the letter has been read, otherwise it is likely the dismissal will not be effective until the employee knows it.
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Support For Mental Health Issues
Jim Knight, the Minister of State for Employment Reform, says that individuals with mental health problems will be given support by the Government to remain in work after a 90% success rate in its pilot scheme.
Measures will include a new document for dealing with mental health at work, outlining how to improve wellbeing at work. All the new measures have been formulated with the help of leading mental health experts and the Chief Executive of Mind, the national association for mental health. It is also intended that the Government will double the Access to Work Fund from £69 million to £138 million. This provides support and advice to disabled people and their employers on how to overcome obstacles in the workplace as a result of disability.
Knight said, “I know disabled people dearly want to stay in work and their employers want to do everything they can to keep good staff. Our plans to offer the right help early on can end the downward spiral of people falling out of work into sick leave, and onto benefits. We are all agreed that helping people stay in work is good news for them, their bosses and for the taxpayer."
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Spinal Injuries Ski-a-thon
The Spinal Injuries Association, based in Milton Keynes, supports individuals affected by spinal cord injuries and their families, from the moment of injury for the rest of their lives. They provide services and publications to enable paralyzed people to live independently and campaign for improved medical and social care for spinal cord injury.
On Saturday 12th September, SIA are hosting a ski-a-thon in Xscape, Milton Keynes – the first endurance challenge of its kind to take place in the UK on real snow. Crispin Rhodes are sponsoring two ski-a-thon teams (The Crispin Rhodes Crusaders and The Infinet) to raise funds in this truly unique way! We have eight enthusiastic team members who are all prepared to put their bodies on the line with the skiing and all we’d like you to do is put your hands in your pocket to sponsor them!
To sponsor the teams simply click on our justgiving page and follow the instructions.
There is also plenty happening on the day, so if you want to come and give your support (or have a laugh!), the event kicks off at 9am, and will carrying on throughout the evening.
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Your Questions Answered
Q: For part-time employees to qualify for statutory rights, do they need to serve the same amount of continuous service as full-time employees?
A: Under UK employment protection legislation, part-time employees have exactly the same rights as full-time employees and for the purpose of calculating continuous service, part-time service counts.
This means that both part-time and full-time employees will need to complete any necessary qualifying periods for particular rights as required by legislation and these will be the same for full-time and part-time employees.
Protection from unfair dismissal is accrued by part-time employees after one year of employment, as with full-time employees. Therefore, a part-time employee will need one year’s continuous service to bring a normal unfair dismissal claim.
The situation is slightly different if an employee is dismissed for defending their rights under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. The following consequences would apply:
- the dismissal would result in a claim of automatically unfair dismissal, and
- there does not have to be one year’s continuous service completed by the employee.
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In Closing
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I hope you have found this month's newsletter useful and informative. If so, then why not forward it on to someone. if not, then do tell us how we could improve it.
Crispin Rhodes is a specialist human resources company that offers a wide range of cost effective HR services, tailored to the needs of small and medium size businesses.
We provide advice and tailored service packages embracing recruitment, HR policies and procedures, discipline and grievance, sickness, terms and conditions of employment, maternity, paternity and adoption, redundancy, psychometric testing and one to one personal development.
Thank you once again, and for now I wish you all the best.
Kind regards,
Angela Rhodes
Crispin Rhodes Ltd
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Tel 01908 576991 - Fax 01908 607533 - Free HR Resources - Newsletter Archive - Contact Us
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Crispin Rhodes Ltd, 4 Aldrich Drive, Willen, Milton Keynes, MK15 9JH - VAT Reg No: 690381621
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Crispin Rhodes Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 3336715
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