We went to our local bonfire night on Saturday.

It was a fine evening – not too cold, but cold enough that we wanted some warm nibbles afterwards.

The fireworks were in a field in Wallingford, a mere 100m from a nice, spacious Waitrose.

So, once the final bang had passed, we headed there, along with what seemed like half the attendees.

There we were, wandering the aisles, choosing our unhealthy but delicious nibbles when an announcement came over the tannoy:
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As it’s Halloween I thought I’d share a horror story with you, but then I realised that pretty much all of my emails are horror stories about things that employers try and get away with, and I wasn’t sure whether I had anything that could reach new levels of horror.

And then I came across this tongue in cheek offering.

It’s a joke – thankfully – but well worth a read – it’s more reflecting of some workplaces than you’d think!

(Please note, it is not politically correct, so if you are easily offended about the employer/employee relationship, look away now!)
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Auto-enrolment pensions are now a requirement for all staff.

No excuses.

Even in the smallest of companies, the employer AND the employee have to make a percentage contribution to the pension.

And I’ve got to be honest – it makes sense.
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My car told me I had a flat tyre the other week.

That’s how sophisticated they’ve become – before you’ve even felt anything, the computer explains loudly and clearly that you need to do something about your tyre.

And they don’t just tell you once.  They tell you again and again.

But on this occasion, I decided I knew better than the computer – my last SEAT was a little trigger happy when it came to notifying me of issues, so I became convinced that there was nothing to worry about.

So I ignored the warnings.  For days and days and days.

Until the other day, when I started hearing a bad noise driving along with the window open.

Which is when I admitted my pig-headedness, and took it to the dealership to get fixed.

And this is the same of many business owners.
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A client got in touch with us last week, and it wasn’t good news.

It was from a lady who was off on maternity leave, and she’d discovered that while she was off, the company had created a new role and invited employees in the department to apply.

But here’s the problem – they offered out via work email, which obviously meant that this lady didn’t receive it.

Which in turn meant that she never got the opportunity to apply for the job, and raised a grievance as a result, citing a possible breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

It might sound hard, but she’s right.
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I had a question from a Club last week which left me entirely speechless:

“My admin assistant is on maternity leave, has been for about 6 months I think, and is due back soon. How do I work out when she is due back?”

The problem with the question is that the date of return should have been agreed BEFORE maternity leave started.

We ensure all of our clients discuss and draw up a maternity plan with their employees, and once we have the MATB1 (at 24 weeks), we’re then able to finalise the dates for maternity leave departure and return; as well as what holidays will be taken and when.

But here’s the problem: in the golf industry (and other industries too), the majority of club managers are male, while the overwhelming majority of admin assistants are female.

This often means that when someone in the office gets pregnant, there’s an assumption that they’ll sort it for themselves.

And that was exactly what had happened in this case.

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