HR Doctor Upcoming potential employment issues
HR Doctor Steve Cave warns of the upcoming potential employment
issues for casual workers, and discusses the different approaches
used by companies in dealing with the impact of the recession.
One of the perils of being in HR is that family and friends tell
people I will be able to help them with any problem they have at
work. Most of these I am happy to help with and do not take too
long, but occasionally someone takes up a lot of time and compounds
things by not even saying thank you.
Recently, a friend of my daughter asked me why she got paid less
than others she worked with doing the same work. It turned out that
she was a casual employee or 'bank staff' for an organisation. I
was convinced that she was protected by the part time workers'
regulations which provide protection to workers who do not work
full time. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and had to apologise to her
for giving her bad advice. Casual staff are, in fact, not
protected. In October, when the Agency Workers Regulations come
into force, casual workers will be the only 'type' of
employees/workers who are not protected from being treated less
favourably than other workers and employees in respect of terms and
conditions. They are, of course, covered by discrimination
legislation, although because of their vulnerable position they are
highly unlikely to make a claim and therefore open to
exploitation.The organisation my daughter's friend works for was
gradually reducing its permanent workforce and replacing them with
'bank staff,' offering them lesser terms and conditions. I urged
her to look for work with a reputable company. The current economic
difficulties are, of course, leading to many companies to make cuts
and reduce terms and conditions. Many employees think that once
they have a contract that it cannot be changed. This is far from
true! Any term in a contract can be changed. The easiest way is to
agree the change with an employee; it can then come into force on
an agreed date. If an employee will not agree to the change, you
can unilaterally change the terms, but you risk claims for breach
of contract and unfair dismissal. A third option is to give
contractual notice, consult with the individual, and then if no
agreement can be reached, to terminate the contract and offer
re-engagement on new terms. This still carries the risk of unfair
dismissal and a key test the tribunal will apply is if you have a
'good business reason for the change'.
If anyone would like further information on this area of
employment law please contact me on steve@myhrpeople.com
In my last article I mentioned my dislike of religion. I
expected to get a few e-mails disagreeing with my views but got
only one! So I am grateful to the person who took time to tell me
why I was wrong, and I respect your right to hold your views.One of
my specific interests is organisational values. Many, if not all,
companies have them, normally part of a mission statement or
emblazoned on websites. Almost certainly you will find some
reference to people and how important they are along with
integrity, customers etc. It is in times of adversity that
values are then truly tested. It has been interesting seeing
different approaches to the economic downturn. One organisation
refused to make people redundant - instead everyone from the Chief
Executive down took a pay cut and worked shorter hours, banking
their hours to be used when work picked up. That comes in contrast
to another organisation with a similar stated value, who reduced
its workforce by one third using it as an opportunity to get rid of
employees it deemed difficult.
Sunderland City Council has received national recognition for
their approach to reducing costs without having to make anyone
redundant. You can get further information by reading an article on
the approach in People Management magazine.Talking of values, I
cannot go without commenting on the News of the World. Good
riddance! And can I suggest to the two million people who
read it that they instead buy some crayons and a colouring book to
replace it.