HR & Employment Law Insights

Helping family businesses, start-ups and early stage growth, third sector, professional services, trades and construction, manufacturing and engineering, and other growing or established businesses throughout the UK make sense of HR and employment law challenges.

We hope you enjoy the wide range of blog articles featured. We cover a wide range of topics including HR best practices, employment law updates, recruitment strategies, employee engagement, tips for effective people management, and addressing people challenges to help businesses navigate their HR needs with confidence.

Employment Tribunal Fees Regime is Unlawful

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Employment Tribunal fees regime is unlawful. If you’re a fair employer and have adequate HR and employment procedures in place, then you will have little to worry about. I’ve read lots of scare blogs and stories over the last...

Benefits of Retainer-Based HR Services

HR Retainer services offer many benefits. However, we understand many people have reservations when it comes to this type of agreement. When most organisations hear the words “retainer agreement,” they run the other direction. After all, most of these agreements are...

Assessing Risk in the Workplace: What Needs Attention Right Now

Picture your workplace and ask yourself: What could harm people? What steps can you take to reduce that harm? This is the foundation of risk assessment, and it’s a process you should constantly consider to reduce liability, comply with workplace safety laws, and keep...

HR in Family Businesses: How it Works, What’s the Same, and What’s Different

We work with several family businesses across the UK and they are very different than other corporations. And, although the expected HR tasks are still necessary – including recruiting, staffing, training, development, performance reviews, and employee relations,...

How to Support Your Staff During The School Summer Holidays

I'm just back from my summer holiday, having spent 10 days out in Spain enjoying some sunshine! We're now into the third week of the school holidays in Scotland and the schools down south break off today. As such, we are well into the summer season, and many of us...

Understanding Pregnant Employee Rights in the Workplace

It's important as an employer to fully understand pregnant employee rights to ensure a supportive and compliant workplace. Your employees may have some work related concerns during this time and it's important to reassure them as much as possible. The main questions...

What Do Your Customers Say About You?

Deciding whether to outsource your HR requirements and then choosing a suitable HR provider is a difficult decision. We work with dozens of clients across the UK, and recently carried out a survey asking our clients to give feedback on the service we provide. We got...

20 Criteria That Should be on Any Employment Contract

A contract is more than just a document both you and your employee sign to memorialise your employment agreement. And, while there are bare minimums the law requires in any contract, you should never follow those minimums as guidance for your own program. Moreover, a...

What does Brexit mean for EU nationals and their family members?

Jemma Forbes who we know well at Innes Johnston Solicitors in Fife has taken time out of her busy schedule to share some really topical information about EU nationals working in the UK. Article 50 was recently triggered, and we know from some of our customers that...

Summer Work Placement at The HR Booth

Over the few weeks we have had the pleasure of having university student Fern Barclay working with us, where she has been learning about HR Administration and some generalist HR cases. Fern is studying International Business at Strathclyde University and is about to...

What does Brexit mean for my business?

With the recent vote for the UK to leave the EU many businesses are in a state of uncertainty. Brexit has many implications for all of the UK. In terms of business, Brexit can be seen as make or break, with economic forecasts showing a rocky financial future, many...

Outcome of Disciplinary Hearing – How to Get it Right

In a recent blog article, we looked at how to conduct a fair disciplinary meeting. Below we follow up on this article by providing you with some key steps to take when deciding an outcome of disciplinary hearing. If you followed our previous advice on how to conduct...

How to Engage and Involve your Staff

Employee engagement is more than keeping your staff happy or satisfied, although both are important goals to work for, satisfied or happy staff are not necessarily engaged. Engaged staff have well-defined roles in the organisation making strong contributions, actively...

How to Hold an Effective 1-1

We work with a number of businesses throughout the UK, and a common topic we help with is managing performance. Quite often, we see practice where managers have not engaged in 1-1 discussions to tackle performance or conduct, and as a consequence the behaviour...

How to conduct an effective team meeting

Effective meetings are not only integral to achieve team goals and successful completion of tasks, but also are reflective overall of team functioning. They also allow for open conversation that draws upon each employee’s knowledge, skills, and perspectives to solve...

The Impact of Social Media on Recruitment – How Social Media has changed the Way Employers Recruit Their Staff

A social media recruitment training workshop Over the last five years social media has played an increasingly prominent role in the way employers recruit their staff. It is clear that social media is changing the way employers recruit their staff in this article we...

How to Conduct a Telephone Interview

As you know, finding the right candidate for your business can be a time consuming process and being able to reduce the time it takes to find the right person can be an advantage to you and your business’s needs. Here at The HR Booth, we understand that finding the...

How to Conduct a Fair Disciplinary Meeting

As your business and team grow it’s likely that from time to time you may experience some unforeseen challenges with your employees that you will have to deal with. We recognise that it’s important to the smooth running of your business to be able to nip these things...

A guide to workplace savings

With finances being tight in recent years, many employers are looking for ways to make cost savings in the workplace, in a way that prevents them from having to sacrifice quality. With a little thought and effort, there are many things you can do to cut costs in the...

What documents do I need to show employees are eligible to work in the UK?

If you fail to do so you may be liable to pay a fine (known as a 'civil penalty'). If you knowingly employ an illegal migrant worker, you may face criminal prosecution, which could result in an unlimited fine and/or a maximum two-year prison sentence. In this weeks...

Holiday Pay Update – March 2016

The March 2016 Holiday Pay Update reveals a significant ruling in favor of Mr. Lock, a commission-based British Gas employee. The European Court of Justice and the Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed that holiday pay calculations should include commission and bonuses. Employers are advised to update their pay structures, considering the role of pay and leave in employee satisfaction.