Smooth employee relations
February 05 2008
Surprisingly, most employee relations go smoothly. We have clients who have been in business for many years without any serious problem. But then sometimes, “bang”, there is a major issue. We’ve had instances where an employer, in taking over another enterprise, has inherited someone who proved to be a troublemaker. I can well remember in the early nineties undetected long term dissatisfaction surfacing in embarrassing industrial action for an employer. Increasingly we have clients where there is a need to declare redundancies. It is at these points that Employment Law can impact seriously on a business.
Let me say, early preparation is key. The disciplinary procedure needs to be well thought out to deal with troublemakers. We have one drawn-out case where a client thought their procedure had been well designed by others but which proved not to be the case. Long term dissatisfaction is less likely where there are policies that tell employees clearly what to expect in matters such as sick pay, family matters and holidays. In a recent case it was unclear whether “sick pay” meant full salary or SSP. Giving the benefit of the doubt was expensive. We always stress that redundancy policies should be prepared long before any redundancies are on the horizon.
Our experience is that the legal requirements are fairly easily defined; the difficulty is invariably putting them into practice. So, for example, there is a requirement to consult before redundancies or before a TUPE transfer but how, exactly is this to be done? You may want to discipline or even dismiss an employee, how do you conduct the meeting at which this must be decided? Legal helplines and other advisors frequently take for granted that employers have the skills to conduct these sensitive and often difficult meetings. These advisors usually know the law thoroughly, but they cannot be present at the meetings themselves.
So it isn’t the law itself that causes the problems for small employers, it’s the skills to put it into practice. That is not surprising if all goes smoothly for years, good employers don’t get much practice.
Employer Solutions step into the breach. We do get practice, quite a lot in fact, and we have the skills to consult, hold disciplinary meetings, grievances and appeals. Frequently we are sandwiched between a client who has to consider a dismissal and the client’s own legal underwriters who will only underwrite the dismissal if they are satisfied the procedure has been followed properly.
It is also important that, when these meetings have been held, the dismissal letter or the appeal decision should be written clearly. Therefore we always write in such as way that, if the employee takes it to a solicitor, that solicitor can see that the dismissal is a fair one. In other words we don’t leave an avenue left open where a claim would be likely to succeed.
For the employer, even serious issues can go smoothly in the end.
