Employers have a mandatory duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Failing to comply with this duty puts you at risk of a tribunal awarding significantly more compensation to an employee who makes a successful sexual harassment claim against you. In addition, you may face reputational harm, low staff motivation, and recruitment issues. So, … Read more
If you’re thinking about parting ways with an employee, chances are you’ve thought about how you’re going to justify the decision.
And in my experience, a line that’s trotted out more often than most as justification?
“There’s been a loss of trust and confidence”
If you’re thinking about using a similar line, I’ve got two words for you:
Please don’t.
The acronym PIP has been in the news a lot recently, as a result of the Government’s proposed changes to the benefits system. But it’s a different PIP I want to talk to you about today – the Performance Improvement Plan, which is used to help employees address problems in their performance When to Use … Read more
I’ve been on the hunt for a new bookkeeper.
First and foremost on the shopping list is someone who knows their numbers, but inevitably, something else comes first:
Marketing.
You see, it’s no good being the best bookkeeper since sliced bread if you can’t get yourself in front of any prospective clients, and my experience so far has left rather a lot to be desired.
Knowing how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace is crucial for an employer. Failing to comply with your legal duties exposes you to tribunal proceedings, which are time-consuming, expensive, and can cause irreparable damage to your reputation. Here, our HR and employment law experts explain how to deal with sexual harassment, including what … Read more
Following changes to the law, employers are now under strict legal obligations to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This is a positive and proactive duty and includes responding to any allegations of sexual harassment properly. With that in mind, our HR specialists have prepared this Sexual Harassment Investigation Template for … Read more
Employers have a legal duty to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment in their workplace. If an employee brings sexual harassment tribunal proceedings against you and wins, your failure to comply with your duty to prevent such acts can lead to the tribunal imposing an uplift of up to 25% on any damages awarded. … Read more
Under new sexual harassment legislation that came into force in October 2024, employers are now under a statutory duty to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. Failing to comply with your responsibilities under this new sexual harassment legislation can lead to an increased damages award if an employee makes a successful sexual … Read more
Following significant changes to the law in October 2024, it has never been more crucial for employers to know how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers are now under a mandatory legal duty to prevent sexual harassment from occurring and can face paying significantly more compensation to employees who bring successful sexual … Read more
I don’t know whether there’s something in the water in 2025, but we’ve had a lot of emails from people requesting the same thing:
“Can you send me a template to give a verbal warning to an employee?”
We always say no.
Because, more often than not, warnings are being used incorrectly.
Warnings have their place, but this isn’t it
Like it or not, from an employee rights perspective, 2025 is going to be a big year, and if you haven’t done anything to prepare for the changes coming your way, I’d strongly recommend it. Before you get there though, it’s worth highlighting that lots of employers aren’t even getting the basics right now, even … Read more
I don’t know about you, but these early months are hibernation time in the Wahlen household, as we hide away from the wind and rain and catch up on some TV drama.
And recently – between dog walks – I’ve been diving into Death in Paradise; the sun and beaches are always welcome visuals when it’s beating it down outside.
Until they drop a clanger. From an HR perspective that is.
On one particular episode the murderer is revealed, and his motive?
“Well, you see I worked for his company for 30 years and then they made me redundant and I got nothing!”
I’ve got an announcement: I’m officially old.
This realisation has little to do with the page turning on another year, and everything to do with my internal thermostat.
I’m officially old because I’m ALWAYS cold.
Being increasingly sensitive to the temperature comes with its fair share of challenges – the simplest way to counteract the cold is to whack the heating up, but the evil smart meter in the corner of the room blinks red at me far too often for this to be the complete solution.
Employers have a new legal obligation to proactively prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. By using this workplace sexual harassment risk assessment template and amending it to address the risks inherent in your specific organisation, you can take a significant step towards ensuring compliance with your legal duties. Our workplace sexual harassment risk assessment template … Read more
To comply with their duties under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010), employers must assess the risks of sexual harassment within their organisation and implement measures to prevent it. This sexual harassment risk assessment template identifies several areas of risk that may require consideration in your business. It is intended to be merely … Read more
Under laws that came into force in October 2024, employers must take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. One measure many employers take to comply with their legal obligations is implementing a sexual harassment policy. The policy appropriate to your business will depend on several factors, including how many people you employ … Read more
Employers are under a legal duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This duty obliges employers to take reasonable pre-emptive steps to prevent those working for them from encountering unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. Failing to adhere to your duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace can have far-reaching consequences, both financially … Read more
Since October 2024, employers have been under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from workplace sexual harassment. Failing to adhere to this duty can result in a tribunal imposing a 25% uplift on any compensation awarded to the affected employee and lead to intervention from the Equality and Human Rights … Read more
I know that in the doom and gloom of January, harking back to the festivity and frivolity of Christmas isn’t exactly a popular move.
But I hope you’ll forgive me for doing exactly that today – there is a good reason!
The Christmas Day just gone was the best one I’ve had for decades, despite returning from Thailand cursing the weather and feeling very “bah humbug” about the whole thing in the run-up to it.
So, why was it the best?
I’ve been here, there, and everywhere these last few weeks, delivering employment law talks to the great and good.
Which means a lot of miles on the road and plenty of hotel rooms, too.
I’ve always found hotels fascinating. The fact that you can pay roughly the same and yet have an entirely different experience from place to place is bizarre and interesting in equal measure.
The last hotel I stayed in was a case in point: staff were friendly, they upgraded my room, but when I got upstairs, there were two rather weird elements.
First, the (seemingly now) standard freezing cold room and incorrect thermostat – I had to crank it to 25 degrees just to get 21 degrees on the bedside table.
Second, slightly rarer: the WiFi code was nowhere to be seen.
On 26 October 2024, a new sexual harassment law came into force in the UK. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 obliges all employers to take reasonable proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment within their organisation. Here, our expert HR and employment law professionals take a look at the new sexual … Read more
Employers are under a mandatory legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Part of that duty involves undertaking a sexual harassment risk assessment. Here, our HR and employment law specialists consider how an employer might carry out a sexual harassment risk assessment to ensure compliance with their legal obligations. … Read more
Knowing how to prevent sexual harassment is crucial in enabling employers to fulfil their legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in their organisation. To assist you in understanding the nature and extent of your legal duty and how to prevent sexual harassment at work, our expert HR and employment law specialists … Read more
Employers are under a duty to proactively prevent instances of sexual harassment in the workplace. If you fail to take reasonable preventative measures and an employee brings a successful sexual harassment claim, the tribunal may increase the damages payable by up to 25%. Accordingly, understanding what is classed as sexual harassment at work and the … Read more
New laws introduced in October 2024 require employers to proactively prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Failure to do so can result in increased financial liability if an employee takes legal action and wins. With three out of every four people saying they have been subjected to sexual harassment at work, it’s never been more … Read more
I’ve recently ticked something very special off my bucket list – polar bears, in the wild, in Canada.
Jaw-dropping. And rather cold.
Sometimes ticking something off your list can be a bit underwhelming: you’ve built it up so much in your head that the reality doesn’t match the vision.
This was absolutely not one of those occasions.
Everything was perfect, from first to last, and there were a couple of nice little touches that I thought were worth highlighting – inspiration for anyone in business.
I had a fantastic time at a recent conference, in no small part down to the emphasis on building the right team and looking after the staff that make our organisations great.
(Long overdue, in my opinion!)
If you were there, you’d know “Employee Assistance Programmes” (EAP) were mentioned quite a lot.
What is an Employee Assistance Programme?
A confidential helpline dedicated to helping your employees smooth out personal and work-related problems.
Yes, it might seem a bit touchy-feely, but the reality is that it really does make a difference and can help you keep your team together, turning up and functioning as you need them to.
Two things are about to intertwine, and I’m fearing the worst: The new sexual harassment laws, which came into effect in October 2024 Christmas The festive season has long been a hotbed for sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, so before silly season arrives, I thought it best just to drop you some information to help … Read more
I’ve always loved buying things, from when I was a little girl, counting out the pennies for a paper bag of cola bottles, right through to now, when everything is available with the click of a button, or swipe of an iPhone.
The internet really has reduced purchasing friction, and I’m regularly finding myself drawn to products advertised to me on Instagram and buying them before I’ve even thought twice about it.
And – philanthropist that I am – in the last couple of years, most of those products aren’t even for me, but for our beloved miniature schnauzer.
I’ve been trying to sell my son’s moped for 18 months now.
Why the delay?
A combination of my lack of motivation, paired with a significant lack of understanding of the second-hand moped market.
I started off by putting ads out at a sales price I considered eminently reasonable.
The prospective buyers did not agree. Zero enquiries.
It’s rapidly approaching that time of year again – the skeleton crew is in operation, staff disappear to make merry, and you lose half of December to run your business!
Before we get into the silly season, let’s answer some of the key questions we get around holiday:
How much holiday entitlement do my employees get?
“It depends” is the short answer.
Normally, this would be specified in their contract of employment.
I’ve stayed in a lot of different hotels this year, from humble hostels to five-star specials.
But regardless of the brand or quality, they’ve ALL had one thing in common: a woefully inaccurate thermostat in the bedroom.
The one that really took the biscuit was the Hotel Adlon in Berlin – a beautiful hotel, but with a thermostat that swore blind that it was 18 degrees in the room.
And having set my home thermostat at that temperature to keep costs down, I can tell you one thing: I KNOW what 18 degrees feels like.
As I’ve experienced over many months now, 18 degrees means warm socks, a woolly jumper, and a blanket if I’m watching TV.
“18 degrees” at the Adlon? A different temperature entirely – the kind you could sit in wearing a summer dress and still feel pleasantly warm.
As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours, and in the last month, we’ve had a particularly dense deluge of “employee incidents” to deal with:
Yep, as I mentioned, it’s been busy.
It’s finally here: the widely trailed Employment Rights Bill, which most employers have been anticipating since Labour came into power at the beginning of July, has been unveiled in the House of Commons today. No doubt you’ve seen some of the details covered by the media – giving employees “day one rights” to protection from … Read more
If you’ve dealt with committees before, then this won’t be news to you, but I just felt the need to write this after dealing with several incidents recently made a whole lot worse by committees…
So I am sure that you can see how committees are like teenagers now:
We’re recruiting again – there seem to be no end to staff issues at the moment, so we’re pretty much at capacity.
And when it comes recruitment, I’m pretty ruthless – after all, I’ve got to be happy with the successful candidate giving out critical HR advice in our name, so they’ve got to know what they’re doing.
Step one of The Wahlen Gauntlet is designed to quickly and painlessly weed out the people who aren’t HR experts – a straightforward 10-question employment law quiz, which requires a minimum of 70% to proceed to the next stage.
You’d think everyone applying for an HR job would ace it, but you’d be wrong – only 20% applicants actually make the grade.
Stephen King coined the phrase, “Books are a uniquely portable magic”.
I’m in total agreement – books are pretty much my joint favourite thing.
The trouble is, the other thing at the top of the list is travelling, so I really do need my books to be extremely portable.
Enter my Kindle, allowing me to take 300 books on the go.
It’s had more than its fair share of use over the last year or so though and is slowing down as a result, and though I could just go on less holidays, I decided a new Kindle was a better bet – it’d been to five of the seven continents, so a pretty good innings.
There’s a golf club that’s keen to use us for their HR support, but there’s just one snag:
They’re with Citation.
Having been with them for three years, they’ve decided they’re not getting the bespoke, personalised support they need, and see the value in working with someone that specialises in golf clubs.
Anyway, they’d fulfilled their original three-year contract, and while they didn’t imagine they could leave straight away, they assumed it’d be a case of giving six months’ notice and they’d be free to go.
No dice.
There have been thousands of column inches devoted to what Labour is going to do when it comes to employment law – some of it true, some of it less so.
But one thing that seems pretty certain (albeit without a specific time frame) is that they’ll make Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) a day-one right that applies to ALL staff.
What is Statutory Sick Pay?
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) was introduced in 1983. The amount increases every April and is currently £116.75/week.
All workers are entitled to it as long as:
Greenkeeper Bob went off sick at a club we work with the other day.
The story goes that he was working alone on the course on a Sunday, picked up a divot box, and put his back out.
You’d assume that that’d be the end of his working day, but apparently he continued to lift another 7 or 8 divot boxes before heading home, freshening up and out to a crowded pub where he stood in the throngs watching England lose the Euros final.
Next morning, he turned up for work at 6am, and by 8:30am his back was hurting too much to continue and he headed off home.
