Small Business owners – how to work well with freelancers
With the ongoing shift towards employers using freelancers / contractors instead of employing PAYE workers and employees in the current uncertain climate, we look at how small business owners can get the best out of their relationship with freelancers, for the benefit of both parties.
Government funded Occupational Health Service for SMEs
In early 2013, the government unveiled details of an occupational health scheme aimed to save Employers money and help tackle long-term sickness absence in the workplace. Figures from 2011 estimated that sickness costs UK Employers £9 billion a year.
This summer the Government announced the new scheme – the Health and Work Service – would
Statutory Sick Pay changes could affect small employers
A major change to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) comes into force on 6th April 2014, which will affect all employers.
Currently, under the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS), employers can recover SSP costs for their employees’ sickness if the total SSP paid in a tax month is more than 13% of their gross Employers’ (Class 1) National
Keep your staff happy, they cost £30,000 to replace
A recent study by economics consultancy Oxford Economics found that the average cost of replacing a member of staff when they leave is more than £30,000. You need to keep your staff happy!
The survey was carried out in the legal, retail, accountancy, media, advertising, IT and technology sectors and found that the overall financial
What languages should be spoken at work
With the diversity of workforces in the UK today, there will inevitably be many workers of different nationalities and with different languages and cultures. This will mean that employers may need to deal with issues regarding what language is used in the workplace, particularly if many workers do not have English as their first language.
Should employers fear the office Christmas party?
Your Christmas Party is normally pretty lively and good fun, but employers need to consider various factors beforehand, so there are no problems (yawn – but bear with us here!).
Unfortunately, because of various pieces of legislation, employers need to have a policy in place setting out the standards of acceptable behaviour for their workers
RIDDOR changes from 1st October 2013
RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations and is one of the important pieces of UK Health and Safety legislation.
Some major revisions to the Regulations were made on 1st October 2013, which we summarise here.
Including…. RIDDOR requires employers (and freelancers) to report and keep records of work-related accidents which
Military Reservists get more employment protection
At the beginning of July 2013 the Ministry of Defence published a whitepaper aimed at helping them plan their resourcing requirements when reserve forces are deployed on operations. The whitepaper made several suggestions relating to reservists normal employment and made a commitment to provide employers with fewer than 250 staff “more notice [of when their
Everything you need to know about references (part 2)
In our second article on References here we look at what obigations a previous employer has whey they provide a reference.
The Data Protection Employment Practices Code recommends:
That employers have a policy on giving references that includes a requirement that “all those giving corporate references must be satisfied that the worker wishes
Bribery Act 2010 – Honesty is the best policy
On 1st July 2011 the Bribery Act (2010) comes into force across the UK, making it a criminal offence for an individual or organisation to offer or receive a bribe – and carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years if convicted.
