I do tribunal audits on employment contracts and handbooks so that the company knows what needs to be updated, how much risk they are at, and whether the documents are really “fit for purpose”. Once they have that information, they can make an informed decision about whether they will be updating their paperwork themselves or outsourcing it (to me hopefully!).
Tales of a Golf HR Consultant – Day 12: Verbal warnings
When can you give verbal warnings to an employee?
Never! Verbal warnings were abolished in 2009.
At a recent talk I was asked “but can’t we keep using them, if they are part of our policies and procedures?”. The simple answer is yes, but why would you?
Tales of a Golf HR Consultant – Day 11: Retirement?! What’s that?!
What is the current default retirement age?
Well, there isn’t one. It was abolished in October 2011.
What does that mean for you as an employer?
You can’t avoid managing staff because “they will be retiring next year”. There is no more retirement. People can only resign. So if you have a member of staff who isn’t performing, at any age, you need to manage them!
Tales of a Golf HR Consultant – Day 10: Keeping you out of the rough!
Every golf club has them – the high-maintenance employees who take up 95% of your time to deal with, whilst all the other staff, who are doing their jobs, have to make do with the last 5%. It is possible to fire the b*ggers and this book will take you through the steps that you need to consider, to avoid a tribunal when dismissing.
Tales of a Golf HR Consultant – Day 9: Flexible Working
The greenkeeping departments of private member golf clubs have not been hugely affected by the original flexible working legislation introduced in 2003.
The reason for that is that the demographic in those departments is predominantly male, with older children, having relatives who are not old enough to need carers, and also because males are much less likely to take on the carer role in the family.
Tales of a Golf HR Consultant – Day 8: Sickness absence – too much?!
In the past few months we have been asked by 6 separate clients (different industries and locations) to help them deal with sickness absence.
Before that, we hadn’t had to do any GP reports for almost a year. What is going on out there??!!
The situation could be long-term sickness absences (are they ever coming back?), newly-diagnosed illnesses (what reasonable adjustments do we need to make), or many intermittent days off (are they just taking the mickey?).