New government, new changes.
It’s been just over 10 days since the UK has had a new government after the Labour party won the general election. As part of their plan, employment and the world of HR within our workplaces could see quite a big shift in the rights for UK employees. This could cause a big risk for many companies unless they are prepared and have considered how they adapt to the new legislation that could come very soon.
Firstly, let's look at what potential changes are on the horizon, then I will give thoughts on how to start to prepare and what ones are likely to make the biggest impact to UK businesses.
Here are some of the reforms that have been pledged by the new Labour government:
Protection of unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave as day-one rights
Requiring that flexible working be the day-one default for all workers (except where not reasonably feasible)
Banning zero-hour contracts
Introducing a right for employees to have a contract that reflects the number of hours worked, based on a 12-week reference period
Prohibiting “fire and rehire” practices
Amending collective redundancy consultation thresholds such that they are triggered based on the number of people impacted across the employer’s business, rather than within each specific establishment or worksite
Merging employee and worker status
Strengthening the rights and protections for whistleblowers and workers transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations
Introducing legislation to protect interns and volunteers from sexual harassment
Introducing the right to switch off and work autonomously
Strengthening the rights and protections for workers and the self-employed
Protecting workers from remote surveillance
Requiring Section 1 statements issued to new starters to inform them of their right to join a trade union
Extending statutory maternity and paternity leave, introducing a right-to-bereavement leave and strengthened protections for pregnant women
Introducing “Fair Pay Agreements” that will be negotiated through sectoral collective bargaining
Requiring mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers (i.e., those with more than 250 staff)
Introducing an obligation for some larger employers to have a menopause action plan
Overhauling health and safety law and enforcement
Banning unpaid internships (unless part of higher education course)
Increasing the time frame for filing claims with Employment Tribunals from three months to six months
(Source: Morgan Lewis, Legal)
Quite an extensive list, I’m sure you would agree, which will require businesses to be proactive and flexible in changing their policies and processes when the time comes.
If you are a business that is ‘winging it’, and doesn’t have the peace of mind about what practices and policies you have in place for employees, then get in touch with a people and HR specialist that can guide you to the best future for you and your team.
From a People Operations (HR) and Performance Consultant perspective here are my thoughts on some of the potential reforms listed…
Day One Rights – Protection from Unfair Dismissal
Protection from unfair dismissal currently only applies to employees that have had over 2 years continuity of service with a company. This allowed businesses to part company with an employee that may not be performing or working out, without the requirement to follow their full disciplinary or performance management process. If, and when this changes to, day one rights, it will leave companies that do not have managers that are competent or skilled in performance management, vulnerable to employment tribunals. For the companies with leaders that are already competent or have a highly skilled HR director or HR Consultant may not be as affected by this because a great HR person will guide you to do the right thing from day one, and that in my opinion is to follow the correct process with everyone to be fair.
Banning Zero Hour Contracts
Imagine joining a company on the promise of a great opportunity only to find that one week you are asked to deliver 40 hours and then the following week only deliver as little as 4 hours or even no hours. This may genuinely suit some people as a 2nd job option with no obligation to deliver so many hours although for some this means they don’t have enough financial stability to look after themselves or their family. This shift will help people to plan their lives and finances positively as well as encourage companies to be better at resource planning to ensure that they are filling their roles correctly. Fixed term or seasonal contracts will still exist, so the banning of zero-hour contracts will protect people from being vulnerable to this high level of fluctuation.
Protecting Workers from Remote Surveillance
When many businesses moved to a remote working world, following the pandemic, worker surveillance was thrown in to question because in the UK, no specific law governs workplace surveillance nor obligates or prohibits an employer from monitoring remote workers. Yet, legislation like the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) provide us with a guide to monitoring workers. The DPA 2018 states that monitoring must be lawful, fair and transparent, conducted with a specified, explicit and legitimate purpose, adequate, relevant and not excessive if it concerns the collection of personal data. It must be accurate and keep personal data up to date, careful not to keep personal data for any longer than is necessary, and secure to protect personal data.
The thing is that all this is still such a grey area when it comes to the law. When fostering a great place to work, with excellent culture, HR professionals and great leaders know that this is about creating a safe and trusting environment for employees. So, when it comes to surveillance for workers the questions have to be around whether they are necessary and if leaders are competent enough to engage employees without the surveillance levels that some companies go to great lengths to implement.
From a health and safety perspective, it’s a tale of two halves. Firstly, ask anyone in the mental health profession about the link between surveillance and mental illness and many will tell you stories where surveillance is a big factor in a person’s declining mindset. Secondly there has to be some surveillance, for example, in knowing who is where and when to ensure that in the event of a fire people are accounted for, or to ensure that service agreements are met for clients. The question is, can we rely on human input for many of these or is surveillance measures really the answer?
Merging Employee and Worker Status
Historically, whilst the status between employees and workers has been quite different, the list of differences does not matter as much in a tribunal, because the nature of the case will determine whether they will be entitled to employment rights or not. For example, an employee will have more of a structured relationship with a company whereas a worker may have a more causal relationship with a company, deciding when to work and will be monitored less. There is still confusion for many between the two and the rights between both can be quite different so merging them will mean that everyone will receive the same employment rights as employees which will be a welcomed change for many even if it will require more performance management.
Legislation to Protect Interns and Volunteers from Sexual Harassment
Right now, within the UK, interns and volunteers are only protected by some policies when it comes to the workplace because they aren’t classified as employees. Adding this will ensure that interns and volunteers can be protected against sexual harassment, which I agree is an essential human right, to be protected from unwanted advances. Sexual harassment, in the workplace, has come up a lot in the media over the last few years so this will continue to support the work to remove it from the workplace. My recommendation would be to ensure your teams receive awareness training around sexual harassment and that you have a policy that takes it seriously, so that people feel empowered to come forward to report any incidents. My thoughts are that this is still going on in many workplace settings so just by changing the status to also protect these interns and volunteers won’t remove the work that is still to be done around this area.
Introducing An Obligation for Some Larger Employers to Have a Menopause Action Plan
I attended a recent webinar from ACAS covering menopause in the workplace, and was surprised to find out that after a recent survey, 70% of women affected by menopause felt uncomfortable to bring it up to their line manager. When so many women are affected physically, and mentally, by menopause, I am glad that this is getting the attention it deserves. This change on the horizon by the Labour government will make it an obligation for large companies (over 250 employees) to have a menopause action plan. I encourage all businesses to look at implementing a menopause policy as a starting point and to incorporate awareness training for employees and leaders on the topic to encourage those affected to open the conversation on menopause. Whilst menopause itself isn’t one of the protected characteristics, it is a condition very closely linked to gender and age which is where many companies can end up in employment tribunals because of not knowing the right way to act and support their employees affected.
The Right to Switch Off
If this change comes in to force then say goodbye to expecting employees to respond out of hours, or whilst they are on holiday. If employees are not on a rota or are not ‘on call’ to do so, then they will not be obligated to reply and may not tolerate being contacted at all. Many companies I work with already have a strong culture on this and don’t want to contact their team out of hours. This may cause challenges for teams that don’t have transparent processes in place or have a ‘hero’ culture where only one person knows how to do certain aspects of a role. There will be industries that have a continuity of service challenge here too, for example in television, radio and media so this will take some planning around how to move away from this ‘always on’ culture. Where there is a will, there is a way!
Blanketed Age for Minimum Wage / Banning Unpaid Internships
This, coupled up with banning unpaid internships, is all about making it fair for all regardless of age. Which will be wonderful for many employees and prospective interns. It will make it easier to plan and adjust to instead of a changing scale although for many small to medium sized businesses, due to employers’ national insurance, they will struggle to meet the level of cost required which might mean that many could under resource which could impact well being. Even if it is by one head per business that is 20 to 40 hours of work that someone has to do, for small business owners this could delay the intake of their first employee making them more at risk of burnout by taking more work on board themselves. Business owners and directors are responsible for taking ownership of their own rest breaks as part of health and safety legislation, when, in reality, over 70% of business owners have admitted to suffering burnout.
If we can create opportunities for people to work and make it fairer in the workplace, then this can be celebrated. My advice to business owners that are considering hiring within the next 12 months is to run a forecast on the potential new rates of pay alongside business revenue and ensure you have a benchmark for how much staff costs you can allow. For example, for a service-based business the average staff costs (including employers national insurance) would be around 50-60% of the overall turnover. This of course may not be the model your business works to but depending on your profit margin national minimum wage differences could impact the business significantly.
Overhauling Health and Safety Law and Enforcement
Considering that Health and Safety Legislation was set in the 1970s, overhauling the law and enforcement of it to ensure that the world that we work and live in is protected by this, in the best way that it can be, is overdue. Even many of the Health and Safety courses created by approved training companies in the UK have little guidance on well being in the workplace, so this, in my opinion (also being a qualified mental health counsellor), would be a welcomed change. How is your current health and safety culture and process? Does it need reviewing?
Of course, a lot of what I have mentioned in this article is in foresight and will really depend on what change is passed by government. Whilst nothing has changed yet, a lot of the areas are interlinked and will take looking at a business with the full context of what is happening to make sure you make the right decisions by your people, for the business and stay in line with UK legislation.
The biggest recommendation I can make today is that if you are a business that is ‘winging it’, and doesn’t have the peace of mind about what practices and policies you have in place for employees, then get in touch with a people and HR specialist that can guide you to the best future for you and your team.
The Modern Mind Group offers outsourced people (HR) and performance services. Taking a modern approach to business is the answer to increased profits, highly engaged teams and record breaking results. The Modern Mind Group use their own Emotioneering® Business Formula as a framework alongside the Emotioneering® Blueprint Scorecard to measure success with each business that they work with. Offering a personal and unique service. Competent, reliable and approachable consultants.
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