However, for employers, these Christmas Parties come with their fair share of risks, and it falls on HR to comprehend and address them. From employees indulging a bit too much and making regrettable decisions to unauthorized plus ones and allegations of inappropriate behaviour between colleagues.  the potential pitfalls can make HR departments and employers understandably uneasy. But don’t worry, with the right set of policies and some clear communication, managing these events can be a smoother experience.

Why Do You Need Christmas Party Policies?

Without a suitable set of policies in place, behaviour at the office Christmas party can have some pretty major repercussions. According to UK law, employers have responsibility for their employees’ actions and safety outside the usual working environment and hours. Essentially, any social event organised by the employer is considered an ‘extension of the workplace,’ treating it akin to a regular workday. Hence, having a clear policy framework becomes crucial.

What Your Employees Need To Know

Before the Christmas party starts, you need to ensure you’ve communicated your expectations with your employees. Even if you don’t have a formal policy to refer to, an email with the ground rules surrounding expected behaviour will go a long way. This communication should cover 5 key areas:

• Employee Obligations: Employees are not obligated to attend your annual Christmas party, and you should make it known that their presence is completely voluntary. There will be people who don’t want to go, or who won’t participate for religious reasons. Those who choose to participate have a duty to take reasonable care of their own and others’ health and safety, especially in a festive setting where alcohol is involved.
• Consumption of Alcohol: Speaking of alcohol, you should remind your employees and their guests that alcohol should be consumed in moderation. We all know that Christmas can be seen as a time of excess but make it clear that just because the company is providing alcohol, it is not a reason or license to drink excessively on company time.
• Unacceptable Behaviour: We all hope our employees will be on their best behaviour during the work Christmas party, but sadly that won’t always be the case. So, you need to state specifically that any unacceptable behaviour or improper conduct will not be tolerated, and what the repercussions could be if anything should happen. Make it crystal clear that any issues arising during a Christmas party will be treated as a serious disciplinary matter, and this includes any actions towards co-workers, guests, or venue staff. A few examples of unacceptable behaviour we have helped businesses deal with in the past include:
  • Excessive drunkenness
  • The use of illegal drugs or substances
  • Unlawful or inappropriate discrimination or harassment
  • Violence, like fighting or aggressive behaviour, verbal abuse or inappropriate language.

• Getting Home: Remind all employees that drink-driving will not be tolerated, so if they are planning to drink, they need to have a safe way to get home at the end of the event. If your party is being held at a hotel, you may opt to provide rooms for your team overnight or provide a discounted rate. If not, you might prefer organising group transport or giving out the details of the local taxi company.
• The Day After: If your Christmas party happens to be on a weekday (some are), then you should remind your employees that they are expected to be in work the next day, in a condition to do their normal duties. Hangovers are not an acceptable reason to take a sick day, especially after a work event. Remind employees that all of the normal policies and procedures of the workplace still apply to the event, including absence procedures.

A Note To Employers

Finally, once the party itself is done, employers may have some aftermath to deal with. In an ideal World there would be none, but there is always the chance that someone, either an employee, a guest or even the venue, makes a complaint. If this does happen, you mustn’t ignore it. All complaints need to be taken seriously, and if you need to, seek advice from an HR professional who can support you. Luckily, at Karen HRM we do just that! So if you’re not sure where to turn, you can always give us a call.

But it’s important to remember to balance your approach. A lot of businesses who have never thrown a company Christmas Party before will go very ‘safe’ and try to control every single element and that can end up sucking the fun out of the party entirely. As an employer it is simply your job to remind employees of these rules and follow up with any issues – not to micro-manage each employee’s behaviour during the party. Finding the balance between relaxing and having fun, and ensuring you meet your obligations as an employer can take time, but it is doable. If you’re not sure where to start, or you just want some information and support planning your Christmas party communications, we would love to help. Just get in touch with the team at Karen HRM today for your free consultation.

The post Balancing Cheer and Compliance – An Employers Guide To Christmas appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

As an employer, you have a lot of things to keep on top of. There are so many obligations to keep, and things to make your employees aware. That’s why your employee handbook is one of the most essential tools you have at your disposal. If it’s well put together, this little booklet can save you a lot of time answering the same questions over and over again and provide you with some protection should things start to go wrong. It’s your opportunity to put all your company policies, practices, procedures, and employee benefits in one place. This is the best way for you to effectively communicate what your employees should expect from you, and what you in turn should expect from them.

But if you’ve never done it, you might not know how to write an employee handbook. Or what to include in it. While it might be tempting to go to one of those free sites and download an employee handbook template, the reality is your handbook needs to be tailored to your business and your approach. So where do you start?

In this blog, we’re going to cover what to include in your employee handbook, and how to write one.

General Employment Information

This is the first section and it’s all about covering the basics. Remember that your employee handbook is generic- which means everyone will get one – so here you should include any of the policies that apply to all employees equally. Save specifics for the contracts. Make sure you lay out the basic policies around:

• Employment eligibility
• Job classifications
• Employee referrals
• Records
• Job postings
• Termination and resignation procedures
• Transfers
• Relocation
• Union information (if you have one)
• Grievance processes

If your policies are too long, you can write a detailed summary for the handbook with a link to where they can find the full policy.

Standards of Conduct

This is an incredibly important element to include, and it’s probably the one you will refer back to most often. It covers all aspects of how you expect employees to behave. At work, to their superiors, around colleagues, and even while wearing their uniform. Any situation in which your employees are representing your business. This should include:

• Dress codes
• Telephone and computer user rules
• Remote working standards
• Smoking policies (e.g. staff must cover all company logos whilst smoking)
• General behavioural expectations

Working Schedules

This one confuses some people because each employee will have their own individual working schedule. But within this employee handbook section, you’re merely highlighting policies around those schedules. For example, details on how overtime works at your company, including how it’s allocated and paid. Any options you offer for flexible or remote working (more important now than ever), and what the policies around it are. You should also lay out your policies regarding attendance, punctuality, and reporting absences – along with any consequences there may be for going against those policies.

Leave Policies

Leave and leaving policies for your employees should be carefully documented. There are some types of leave you are required to provide by law, and you are required to give details of these here. On top of that, there are other leave policies you might want to implement, for example, extended maternity or paternity leave. So, make sure you include your policies on:

• Statutory holiday
• Bereavement leave
• Emergency leave
• Sick leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Jury duty
• Military leave

Details should include timescales available, what pay is offered (if any), and any requirements that employees might need to meet for them. For example, to claim sick leave you might require a sick note from a doctor.

Termination Policies

Alongside temporary leave policies (above), you need to detail the process and policies around when employees wish to leave, or if you need to terminate them. Here you should let employees know how much notice they are required to give you if they want to leave the company, what format that notice should take and who it should be given to. It should also explain what the termination policies are for your company, and how much notice you need to give employees in each scenario. You may have touched on this in the general employment information section, but you can expand on it here.

Here’s a guide to help with ‘Dealing with Disciplinaries’.

Anti-Discrimination Policies

One of your legal obligations as an employer is to comply with anti-discrimination regulations. Here, explain what your obligations are, what they mean, and what you’re doing to meet them. You should also be explaining what you expect from your employees, and how they should behave while employed by your company. This is also the place you should explain what the consequences are of breaking these rules, and how employees can report something they see. It’s also a good place to talk about specific anti-discrimination policies, including:

• Sexual harassment
• Affirmative action
• Diversity and inclusion

And any other policies you may wish to include.

Benefits

If your business provides any company-wide benefits, this is also a great place to include them. For example, if you provide insurance, private medical care, pensions, commission-based bonuses, gym memberships or anything else, include details on what it is and how to access it here.

This can be particularly useful for companies who offer a ‘pick and choose’ style of benefits, which can be confusing to use, and this gives employees a reference point. If you have specific benefits that are only for certain employees, those should not be included here, but in their individual contracts.

How Can We Help?

Does all of that sound a bit overwhelming? Don’t worry – we understand that! At Karen HRM we specialise in helping employers understand their obligations and making it easy to get them right. We provide expert advice and support in creating employee resources, including employee handbooks, that protect your company, your reputation, and your employees.

If you have any questions or want to see some employee handbook examples, just get in touch with the team today.

GET IN TOUCH

The post What To Include in Your Employee Handbook For 2024 appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Cost Savings

You might be thinking ‘hold on, isn’t outsourcing my HR going to cost me money, not save it?’. And while it makes perfect sense to think that, you’d be wrong. In fact, this is one of the most significant areas HR support can contribute to a small business. Businesses will quickly find that they become much more efficient by using HR properly (for example, developing and implementing a strategy to support your business goals and ensure they are met, developing your people or implementing meaningful performance reviews). Effective HR support can also help you put well-constructed management processes and control in place, to manage things like sickness absences, training, development, recruitment and more. By having clear policies (and following them), these costs can be reduced, having a significant impact on your bottom line.

Training And Development

We all understand that the development of skills is important for any company’s success and future growth. But without a proper plan and execution strategy, it can often fall by the wayside. HR support can help you identify what training is needed or wanted throughout the business, and then provide training plans, support and incentives to ensure it happens. They can even deliver training workshops, or bring in external trainers where appropriate. By working with management, HR can provide cost and time-effective training and development opportunities for your business. Reduce employee turnover, improve current employee skills and heighten employee morale – what’s not to like?

Managing Performance

HR can help manage employer and business performance in so many different ways. Business performance can be improved by ensuring an integrated performance management system is in place, which can also be utilised as an employee appraisal system. This can help all employees work towards a common goal of improving overall business performance through the fulfilment of their own personal objectives. It can also help you manage poor performance through a capability process, which means that any employees who aren’t fulfilling their objectives can be supported in the best ways and that no money is wasted on underperforming employees. HR can work with management to ensure a top-down approach for all processes is correctly implemented.

Employment Law Guidance

Employment law is constantly changing in big and little ways, always adjusting to keep up with new development, new situations and new technologies. As an employer, you are expected to keep up with these laws and make changes where necessary. But doing so is almost a full-time job, and you have other priorities in your business. HR support gives you the freedom you need to focus on your business, with the peace of mind that your business is fully compliant and up to date with employment law. We will update you on the things that are relevant to you, and help you make any changes needed. More than that, if you ever have any questions, or a situation arises that you aren’t sure how to handle, your HR experts are there to guide you through it.

Fair Dispute Management

If you are struggling with disputes, grievances or any other people-based issue in your business, HR support can be an invaluable asset. It can sometimes be difficult for a manager to ensure everyone in the situation is being treated fairly and getting the best out of the situation, especially if you know everyone involved and struggle to be impartial! By having HR support behind you, managers can ensure all processes and policies are being adhered to and turn a potentially difficult situation into a positive one.

Of course, it’s not just these 5 areas HR support can help you with. In reality, if your business employs people, you need an HR function to keep you on the straight and narrow, as well as provide the guidance and support you need to be successful. At Karen HRM, we provide a variety of HR support that can be tailored to your individual business needs. Whether you need some one-off consultancy or fully outsourced support, we can help. For more information, just get in touch with us today.

The post 5 Reasons Your Small Business Needs HR Support appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Understand What You Need

So you’ve decided you need a new employee. Great! But what do you need them to do? Many business owners will get to the point of realising they need another pair of hands in the business, and launch straight into hiring someone. The result is often that they are looking for a clone of themselves, someone who can do a bit of everything. But in reality, this almost never works. Instead, you need to sit down and work out which areas of your business you need most support with, and focus your recruitment on that area. So if you know your marketing is suffering because you’re so busy delivering, you should hire a marketing manager. If you’re struggling to deliver all the work that comes in, you need someone with the skills to deliver your product or service. Understanding what you need is the foundation for a robust recruitment process.

DIY Or Use An Expert?

This is a big question, and one a lot of business owners are a bit scared of. Do I try to recruit this role in-house, or do I hire an agency to do it for me? Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this – it’s all down to how confident you are in your recruitment skills, and how much time you have to dedicate to it. Remember, you need to reach out and attract a pool of candidates to consider and interview, which can be an expensive and time-consuming process. But many business owners prefer this personal, hands-on approach. On the other hand, an external recruitment agency often has a pool of candidates they can draw from right away, as well as spreading the word further than you could, to new networks. If you’ve never recruited before, this is a good way to go to ensure you get the best results.

Hone Your Interview Skills

There are all sorts of horror stories out there about bad interviews, awful interview questions and interviewers who just don’t know what they’re doing. This is not only bad for your company image, but it could also impact your ability to hire the right talent. So if you’ve never interviewed anyone before (or even if you have), spend some time preparing your interview process. Plan out exactly how the interview will be structured, what areas you want to cover and any specific questions you want to ask. Then, practice it. Do mock interviews with friends, family members, even the bathroom mirror. Saying your questions out loud will give you an idea of how long the interview will run and the feel of the questions, as well as highlighting if you’ve asked something ridiculous (which is easier than you think). All of this means you’re prepared to interview candidates, and will get all the information you need.

Don’t Forget About Onboarding

The recruitment process doesn’t end at the offer. This is a common mistake a lot of business owners make – they secure a new hire, they start as planned, and then they leave them to it. But if you want to keep the talent you’ve worked so hard to hire, you need to invest in good onboarding and induction. This means providing everything they need on day 1, from pencils to their set-up computer, pairing the new hire up with a mentor, establishing expectations and supporting them through their first 100 days with your company. If you put some time and effort into your onboarding process, your hires are 80% more likely to stay with you for up to 3 years.

At Karen HRM, we offer business owners support and advice during all stages of the recruitment process, and we can manage this for them from beginning to end. We can help you understand what you need from a new hire, the best way to find them, and the best way to keep them afterwards. If you’d like to know more about building a robust recruitment process, just get in touch with us today.

The post 4 Tips For A Robust Recruitment Process appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Whichever avenue you go down, it’s important that you find an HR solution that’s proactive, and not reactive. By definition, reactive HR is when you have an HR function, but they only really come into play when something goes wrong. This is sadly quite common in smaller businesses and often happens when the HR function is mixed with another function, like accounting or management. This arrangement might sound ideal for the budget-conscious business, but in reality, a reactive HR function can do more harm than good.

What Is Reactive HR?

Reactive HR essentially means your HR function doesn’t do much until issues arise. At which point they react, taking action on that issue until it is resolved, and then carry on maintaining the status quo. For example, a senior team member hands in their notice, so they will look for someone to replace them. They won’t necessarily have been evaluating the needs of the team on an ongoing basis, upskilling people so that they can move someone into the senior role right away so that they can easily fill the new vacancy with a junior role instead.

There are a lot of reasons businesses end up with a reactive approach to HR, from being relatively small and not knowing how their HR department should function when it’s so new, all the way through to higher management restricting what HR is allowed to do. Either way, having a completely reactive HR function is only slightly better than not having one at all, and the main reason is that passive HR can be damaging to your business and everyone in it.

How Is Proactive HR Different?

Proactive HR is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s taking a proactive approach to your company’s HR function. Active involvement in the employee lifecycle, maintaining employee relationships and overseeing the development and training of employees. Regularly reviewing and updating policies and procedures, improving recruitment processes and working with employees to provide appropriate benefits. In short – active HR is all about being involved and solving problems before they happen – rather than just reacting when they do.

Why You Need Proactive HR

Proactive HR is generally the better route forward to any business. By being actively involved in the HR process at every stage your business can:

Find better candidates for vacancies: Being able to fill roles quickly with highly qualified and suitable candidates is the dream for many businesses, but it can feel a bit like looking for a golden unicorn. The only way to achieve it is to take a proactive approach to your recruiting process. That means succession planning and employee development so that you can promote from within. It means understanding where skills gaps are within teams so that you can fill them with the right people. And it means being proactive about developing and maintaining a full candidate pipeline that allows you to move quickly when you need to. This proactive approach means you can reduce the time to hire, keep you on track for your goals and free up HR to focus on wider strategy instead of scrambling to fill vacancies when they come up.

Prioritise employee development: By listening to what your employees want; you can provide it in much more effective ways. One of the biggest complaints of employees is that there aren’t enough routes to career development, which is often why great employees end up leaving. But by engaging with your team and listening to them, you can provide additional training and create opportunities that will be valuable to them. This boosts employee satisfaction, productivity and retention in one go.

Foster a positive company culture: Studies have shown that employees who work in companies with a positive company culture perform better across the board. Company culture is a powerful thing – it can impact sales, profits, recruiting efforts and employee morale – all in a positive or a negative way. Employees who feel listened to and supported by their HR department are likely to be happier, feel valued and motivated, feeding into a positive company culture.

If you don’t have the capacity to do all of this in house, then it might be time to consider outsourcing to an HR specialist. Bringing in an HR consultant at an early stage can help you design a proactive approach to HR and ensure you stay on top of everything you need to, without taking up more of your time than needed.

At Karen HRM, we work with businesses across the south to create HR policies that are proactive, not reactive. With our help, you will be fully prepared for any legal issues you could face, and you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that your policies and procedures will always be up to date. You will also have your own personal HR advisor on call to help with employee issues, maintain relationships and support your business and your employees. If you’d like to know more about how we can support your business, just get in touch with the team today to book your free, no-obligation consultation.

The post Proactive Vs Reactive HR – Why One Is Definitely Better Than The Other appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Welcome to our very first newsletter. It’s been an exciting month here at Karen HRM.

Firstly, let us start by inviting you to visit our brand-new website, launched on 30th October 2020. Designed to offer an engaging, accessible experience for small tech business owners, our site will explain the pivotal role Karen HRM can play in implementing the right HR processes for your business.

“The clean, fresh design of our website, along with its expert content, brings to life our desire to offer pragmatic advice and support that’s full of common sense,” revealed Karen Dolan, founder of Karen HRM.

“As one of the UK’s newly created HR Management companies, our mission is to enable small tech business owners to protect, develop and grow their business by helping them manage their people.”

Our new platform offers a wealth of information on the professional yet friendly HR services we offer, together with informative visuals and short video blogs presented by Karen herself. Watch the first introduction to the video series below.

WATCH: Founder Karen Dolan discusses how Karen HRM provides professional, pragmatic solutions to suit all your HR business needs

But that’s not all; there’s plenty more expert content over on our blog too. This month’s posts are inspired by the theme ‘attract’, exploring how to maximise interest for openings within your company, and entice the best talent pool to apply.

Starting with ‘how and where you should be advertising jobs’, we also investigate ‘the importance of employer branding’ and what this means for you, to help determine how your business is known locally and nationally.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771642182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

Discover our NEW website now.

The post Karen HRM: Presenting our first newsletter appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Created with the user in mind, the site includes extensive information to help visitors understand Karen HRM’s complete range of services. This will be brought to life over the next weeks and months with blogs, informative visuals and short video blogs by Karen HRM’s founder, Karen Dolan. Together these will showcase the commercially savvy advice and support on offer to help business owners get the right processes in place.

With an ongoing increase of the UK population wanting to access information while “on the go”, the site is completely responsive.  This means that whatever type of device you need to access information from; desktop, tablet or mobile, the information is presented in an easy to engage with format, providing you with the information you need. 

“Our mission as one of the UK’s newly created HR Management companies is to enable business owners to protect, develop and grow their business by helping them manage their people,” said, Karen Dolan, Founder at Karen HRM. “The clean and fresh design of our website along with its content, brings to life our desire to offer pragmatic advice and support that’s full of common sense.”

Please do visit www.KarenHRM.co.uk today. There is a quick form on the website to sign up for newsletters or to book a 30-minute consultation, and if there’s a particular challenge you’re facing, they’d love to hear about it.

The post Karen HRM unveils website appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Recruiting internally

When it comes to recruiting for a new or existing position; advertising and hiring internally within your business should be the first port of call. Internal recruitment is an easier, faster process that offers many economic and practical benefits for your business.

It can save money on hiring, retraining and potential travel or relocation costs, as well as time. Most often an existing employee could settle in far sooner than someone external, having already familiarised with the culture and how the business operates. Recruiting or advertising a job internally, and therefore retaining employees, could also help boost your employer brand.

How and where to advertise a job

If recruiting internally is not a viable option for your company, then targeting the right job seekers by advertising externally (either via the local recruitment market or extending your search wider) is integral to finding the right person for your business, and taking them through to the selection process. Many different recruitment tools are available to help discover the finest talent pool, with the majority operating online.

Recruitment agencies offer a valuable, uncomplicated way of finding the perfect candidate, as they carry out all the hard work for you. From creating the job description and advertising the post on relevant websites, to sifting through many applications to present you the cream of the crop.

It may be a good idea to reach out to a range of different agencies to find the one that is right for you in order to maximise reach, interest and volume of applications. For this service, agencies usually charge a fee, so make sure you discuss a detailed specification of the type of person you are looking for before proceeding, alternatively your HR consultant can manage this for you too.

Online job boards

Another great means to advertise a job is via digital job boards. There are a range of online job boards which harbour a database of employment seekers ready and waiting to apply for your latest positons. Jobsite, Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, Totaljobs and Reed are perhaps the most well-known, and advertise for a range of industries, from administration to hospitality. However, specialist boards exist to cater to the more niche industries – for example, The Dots for creative roles and CharityJob which covers the charity career sector.

LinkedIn is another great tool for discovering talent. Akin to its social media counterpart Facebook, candidates can set up their own profiles detailing their CV and career experience and can be contacted directly via private message. Recruiters and businesses can post their vacancies directly on the site too to capture the attention of job seekers trawling for specific keywords and career openings.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

Connect with me on LinkedIn or sign up to receive my regular monthly newsletters to stay up to date with all the latest here at KarenHRM and never miss a post.

The post How and where to advertise a job appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

What is employer branding?

The phrase ‘employer brand’ was first coined in the nineties and is still as critical, if not more so, in today’s world of employment. It refers to the reputation of you as an employer among your workforce, as well as how well you market your business to potential jobseekers. Employer branding encompasses everything you have to offer employees, from your values and company benefits to culture.

It can make all the difference when it comes to attracting stellar candidates, as well as reducing hiring costs, so it’s worth investing in a strategy that works. Put simply, employer branding is an imperative part of the recruiting and employee retention processes, as workers are far more likely to want to be part of a company that positions itself as an enriching place of work.

Executing an effective employer branding strategy can help improve employee perception, resulting in reduced turnover, and helping to attract the best calibre of talent to apply too. The first thing to consider is how your company is perceived locally and nationally. It takes time and consistency to grow awareness of your brand, but simple, thoughtful (and cost-effective) marketing is a good place to start.

How to improve your employer brand

If one of your current or former employees were asked about team morale, what would they say? How about day-to-day experiences, interpersonal relationships, the benefits of their role or what the company culture is like? What would they say? More importantly, what would you want them to say?

The best way to gain an authentic insight into the intricacies of a company or its culture, is by asking those on the inside. Conduct an audit or interview current employees about their experiences and use their responses for testimonials on your social channels or website. Showcasing views from those within your own workforce is an invaluable tool in ensuring you project the best perception of your brand.

Elevate your positive presence further by utilising the power of social media. Setting up a company page on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, will expand your reach and familiarise potential recruits with your company outside of just your business model or product. This can help them engage with your business on a more personable, relatable level.

Show outsiders you have more to offer than just your service or product by posting regularly about employee achievements, company away days, trips or teambuilding activities. Perhaps your company has completed fundraising projects or charity work? This will all help contribute to better employer branding.

Get social

But don’t just stop at social media. Display such snippets on your website too, for example through blogs or a mission statement, as this could greatly improve the impression candidates have of your business. Furthermore, shout about personal accolades your company or an employee has won — perhaps you could nominate an employee for a local award which would then get picked up by the local press? Consider taking part in local initiatives as this will too help improve your employer brand.

No employee wants to feel stuck or bored within their role, and learning new skills is a proven way of preventing this. Therefore, it’s important to support learning by offering training courses or development programmes to grow employee’s skillsets and prove you’re invested in career progression.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771642182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post Employer branding: how are you known locally and nationally? appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.