In episode 8 of Engage Alistair Booth discusses the steps employers should take in the event they need to take disciplinary action with an employee.

Alistair believes having detailed procedures can avoid such issues but more importantly managers need to be consistent when applying the rules to ensure employees fully understand what is expected of them, and to ensure fairness and consistency.

If you do not currently have disciplinary procedures in place, you should follow the ACAS guidance, and you can do so by clicking here.

Covered in this episode:

The importance of formal policies, procedures and clear communication;
The potential issues with inconsistencies in enforcing policies and procedures;
Empowering your management team to look after the people in your organisation;
The steps you can take to avoid a disciplinary hearing;
An overview of the necessary steps and guidelines to follow for conducting a disciplinary hearing.

You can reach out to Alistair on twitter @TheHrBooth, by email info@thehrbooth.co.uk or via www.thehrbooth.co.uk

Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

008 - How to conduct a disciplinary hearing and best practices for employers

Every fortnight, Alistair Booth from The HR Booth hosts Engage, a podcast for business owners and managers who are passionate about developing their people and growing a successful business.

Practical advice, that is jargon free and allows you to listen and implement the areas discussed in your business. 

Alistair helps businesses improve recruitment costs, improve staff retention, hire the right people, and ensure the right people are in the right jobs at the right time - all of which benefits your customers. 

Engage will discuss human resource topics including recruitment, induction, managing performance, engagement, retention, absence management, succession planning and give you some great tips and advice to help you get the best out of your people.

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Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

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In episode 14 of Engage, Alistair shares the details of the new national living wage that was announced by George Osborne at last week’s budget, which comes into effect in April 2016.

The new wage will be paid to workers aged 25 and above. Initially, it will be set at £7.20 an hour, with a target of it reaching more than £9 an hour by 2020. Part-time and full-time workers also qualify for this.

As you may know, the current national minimum wage is due to rise to £6.70 in October this year and many SME businesses had already forecast for this but hadn’t any indication about this further increase.

The new living wage in April is expected to give a pay rise to six million workers but is expected to cost 60,000 jobs and reduce hours worked by four million a week, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Alistair shares some of the benefits of paying the current living wage (£7.85 per hour) which is not legally enforceable, and this is which is promoted by the Living Wage Foundation.

The HR Booth are looking to ensure clients have the right staffing levels, and have people scheduled to work at the right time. It’s an opportunity when forecasting to look at your flexibility and shifts, ensuring you can perhaps get more productivity to offset the increase.

If you’re doing anything different, then please get in touch to share your feedback.

For further information on this podcast, you can contract Alistair directly via email – Alistair.booth@thehrbooth.co.uk, or via the website www.thehrbooth.co.uk

 
Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

014 -  What Is The New National Living Wage

In episode 13 of Engage, Alistair discusses the importance of linking HR management with customer service in your business.

Businesses invest in developing their employees, either via internal or external courses, but often don’t measure the effectiveness, or check this training is embedded.

Via HR management, you can ensure customer service training is embedded and that your people deliver the great service your customers expect, ensuring you get the value from your training.

A good way to measure the effectiveness is to carry out observations, ensuring your management team are trained and there is a framework to carry out observations. You want to catch people doing the right things, and give them feedback, but you also want to ensure anyone not doing what you expect that you can tackle this as quickly as possible. In doing so, your staff are aware you are observing them and this all helps drive customer service.


If you would like to know more about how to link HR management and customer service in your business, please get in touch – Alistair.booth@thehrbooth.co.uk or via www.thehrbooth.co.uk

The HR Booth now have a new “Question” section on the blog, where you ask we answer. This is aimed at helping businesses with HR challenges that come up – you can find this section here: http://thehrbooth.co.uk/blog/questions/

For further information on this podcast, you can contract Alistair directly via email – Alistair.booth@thehrbooth.co.uk, via the website www.thehrbooth.co.uk

 
Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

013 - How to Link HR Management with Driving Customer Service in your Business

In episode 12 of Engage Alistair discusses  the benefits of defining roles and responsibilities in your organisation and the use of job descriptions.

Over the past few weeks Alistair has been delivering a range of workshops , and common themes through the managing difficult conversations subject has been the roles and responsibilities piece. Alistair mentioned job descriptions away back in one of the first episodes when he was talking about recruitment, but in this episode it’s more relevant for existing employees and using as a framework to manage people.

A good job description or roles and responsibilities document should contain the following:-

• Title of the job
• Where the role sits within the team, department and wider business
• Who the role reports to, and other key interactions
• Key areas of responsibility and the deliverable expected
• Short, medium and long-term objectives
• Required education and training
• Soft skills and personality traits
• Location and travel requirements
• Salary range and benefits available
• Discuss the company’s culture

We’re also helping another client with their expansion plans, looking at succession planning but ensuring the new roles that are created have defined job descriptions. This not only helps the people moving into these roles know what is expected of them but allows the manager or business owner to support, guide and manage the people performing the role.

Job descriptions should be flexible but it’s important to communicate the key elements of the role. Sharing roles and responsibilities of your management team with the people they work for is good practice as it sets expectations and clarity.

Thanks for listening and if you would like to get in touch, you can do so via email, our website, and on Twitter. I’d also be happy to share examples of job descriptions or roles and responsibilities if this is something you’d like help with.

For further information on this podcast, you can contract Alistair directly via email – Alistair.booth@thehrbooth.co.uk, via the website www.thehrbooth.co.uk

Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

012 - The Benefits of Defining Roles & Responsibilities in your Organisation.

In episode 11 of Engage, Alistair discusses the benefits of building relationships with Trade Union or Employee Representatives in the workplace.

Alistair recently attended the annual HR Network Conference in Edinburgh, with the focus very much on workplace culture.  Alistair believes the relationships you adopt with your representative groups and employees helps shape the culture of your organisation.

Alistair has worked in unionised and non-unionised companies, and has seen it first hand how effective or damaging these relationships can be.

Deciding how you wish to structure relations with your employees can help benefit your business. If you recognise a trade union, it will benefit your business if you enjoy a good working relationship with its representatives. You may also benefit from union expertise on issues such as health and safety, drawing up disciplinary procedures, training, etc.

This episode will help you understand the role of a trade union, the benefits of union recognition and how to work effectively with union representatives.   You can also get some constructive feedback from your union reps on how their members are feeling, and sound them out on new ways of working.

ACAS have developed a good guidance booklet on Trade Union representation and details can be found HERE

Whether or not you recognise a trade union, you must still allow your employees the right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings by a Trade Union official if they wish to do so.  Refusing a request could land you in trouble as it’s a statutory right to be accompanied and therefore an employee could raise a claim to an employment tribunal.

Businesses who don’t recognise Trade Unions can still benefit from creating employee forums or working parties, with employee representatives appointed to represent different areas of the business.  Alistair has seen these groups work well and not so well, and shares some good practice on this area.

ACAS have also produced an advisory booklet on representation at work. Click here for more information.

By involving your employee or TU reps, you can create a positive working environment, get real time feedback on what the issues are, and test out new ideas to help drive your business forward.

For further information on this podcast, you can contract Alistair directly via email – Alistair.booth@thehrbooth.co.uk, via the website www.thehrbooth.co.uk

 
Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

011 - Benefits of Building Relationships with Trade Union or Employee Representatives.

In episode 10 of Engage, Alistair Booth discusses the benefits of developing your people, specifically your management team, and how you think about HR in your business.

Quite often we focus on the task, and don’t think about how we engage with our people.  Alistair talks about workshops he has been running with clients, offsite and onsite, and enabling the management team to learn how to give feedback and hold difficult conversations.

Alistair also discusses the benefits of doing so and helping newly promoted supervisors adjust to their new role, along with the benefits of planning, and how you look at HR in your business, including:

Recruitment
Induction
Staff Development
Culture
Mindset
Support

Why not take an hour from your routine and think about how you approach HR in your organisation?

Alistair also shares details of the workshops The HR Booth are running over the coming months, and further information can be found by clicking this link - http://thehrbooth.co.uk/services/training-development/

You can reach out to Alistair on twitter @TheHrBooth, by email info@thehrbooth.co.uk or via www.thehrbooth.co.uk

Disclaimer: You must not rely on the information in this podcast as an alternative to Human Resource Management advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any Human Resource Management matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional.

You should never delay seeking Human Resource Management advice, disregard Human Resource Management advice, or commence or discontinue any Human Resource Management action because of information in this podcast.

Please contact The HR Booth directly for specific advice and guidance.

008 - How to conduct a disciplinary hearing and best practices for employers

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