Fuelling the strike

Earlier this week the Unite union announced that fuel tanker drivers have voted to go on strike to improve terms and conditions. The army have been called into training should they have to take over fuel deliveries. What would happen if members of your staff claimed they were unable to get to work because of fuel strikes i.e. there was no fuel left in the local area or they couldn't afford to put fuel in the car? We were asked recently this very question so we thought we would share it with you:

Employer: I’ve heard the news that there may be strike action on fuel. What if one of my employee’s comes to me claiming they have run out of petrol and could not afford to pay the premium on the short amount of fuel left in the pumps? In the short term they have suggested working from home, but I need them in the office so this wouldn’t work. What should I do?

The HR Dept: You’ve answered it for yourself; you need them in the office. Contractually they are obliged to turn up to work on time and perform their duties. You could consider your compassionate side with them and at least they were being honest and didn’t pull a sickie, but can you afford to sub wages? The reality is they need to find a way in to work – it is their responsibility. You could also suggest using public transport, share a lift with a colleague, share a lift through a car sharing website or like this GP did, walk the 18 miles to work. There are always practical ways around this disruptive event. Make it clear however that you expect them to be on time each day as well as understanding their predicament. Ensure they recognise that any unauthorised absence will be treated seriously as being AWOL.

Straight forward stuff really, but a good practical example of how to deal with these one off situations.

Top tips on flexible working requests

Could a small business ever really guarantee part-time work for new parents following family friendly leave? Probably not!

Guaranteeing part-time work for returning parents from maternity, paternity or adoption leave is one step to enhance your brand’s image. However the reality is very few businesses could ever actually follow HSBC’s recent announcement in the same vein.

The HR Dept receives plenty of calls about handling requests for flexible working following a working parent returning to the workplace. Employees have a statutory right to make a flexible working request and have it considered, in line with statutory procedures, but not for it to be accepted by the employer. If it is rejected, the reasons for grounds for the refusal are strict.

It is the employee who must put forward a suggestion for a flexible working pattern, outlining its impact and how it could be handled. Flexible working requests and their scope can be broad, such as;

• Working less than normal days and or fewer days
• Times of work could change – flexi-time for example
• Job sharing
• Home working

The problems (tribunal claims) that arise from flexible working request cases are mostly due to the failure to communicate properly and the failure to follow the statutory procedure, not necessarily because it was rejected on genuine grounds.

There are varying different views in the media so we thought we would share them with you:

Professional women who have children 'forced to accept low paid and unskilled roles'

Working Mum's feel men are discriminated against on flexible working

Micro maternity leave

The HR Dept’s top tips:

• Get advice on how to handle flexible working requests from the onset
• Remember that it is someone's right to make a flexible working request, but not a right to have it accepted
• Explore all options when considering the request
• Always be fair and consistent

‘No-fault dismissals’

You may have seen a consultation will be opened for discussion on the UK’s apparently ‘too complex’ dismissal rules this week.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has called on evidence to discuss the idea of ‘no-fault dismissals’ for businesses with fewer than 10 employees, in an attempt to instil new confidence of hiring new staff. This would mean an employee could be sacked with a payment of a set amount of compensation, otherwise a yet to be defined, no fault ‘pay off’.

The Government has said the idea was that small firms would be able to dismiss a worker where no fault had been identified on the part of the employee, without taking into account performance or meeting of targets etc.

We are going to put our two pence worth into the consultation. Our concern is that this will, like the increase of the unfair dismissal qualifying period to two years post 6^th April, mean a hike in discrimination claims, i.e. aggrieved employees will look for another route to make a claim against an employer. Furthermore it simply means more hassle, which is the exact notion that the Government is making attempts to combat.

From an individual perspective, would you want to work in a business that could sack you at any point through no fault of your own? 

Feel the burn

Making an employee who fails to meet a performance standard do squats or press ups seems about the most unusual way to discipline staff in the workplace!

Well this is the approach taken by the flagship Abercrombie & Fitch shop in Milan.  Staff who failed to greet customers with ‘sufficient cheeriness’ were ordered to do 10 press ups (male employees) or 10 squats (female employees). We won’t even comment on the sex discrimination occurring here with regards to ability of male and female employees!

Could this Abercrombie & Fitch model be 'cheerier'?

We must admit though novel, we would struggle to write this into any disciplinary policy!

Why a quiet word wouldn’t be sufficient in cases like this we are not sure, but some sort of ‘cheeriness competency framework’ would have to be developed.

We smiled after we read this, so no press ups or squats for The HR Dept!