recruitment

7 Ways To Successfully Reduce Employee Turnover

A person in an office packing their things into a cardboard box

High employee turnover rates can be detrimental to any business – large or small. Not only does it mean a loss in productivity, it can also lead to a decrease in morale and an increase in expenses. The good news is that there are various things you can do to reduce staff turnover and keep your team happy and engaged. From creating a supportive and collaborative environment to promoting employee wellbeing, these tips will help you retain your team and keep your business growing.

Understand why employees are leaving

The first step is to identify the issue. When trying to pinpoint why employee turnover is high, regular feedback and surveys can be useful. Make sure you’re asking questions that will help you understand the underlying problems that are causing employees to leave. Is there a lack of job satisfaction? Is there too much pressure or are there not enough opportunities for growth and development? Maybe the way you communicate or manage employees could use some improvement. Get to the root of the problem and make necessary changes to ensure employees are set up for success. 

Craft a recruiting strategy that attracts the right talent

The next step is crafting a recruitment strategy that will attract the right talent. What are the attributes, skills, and values that you want in an ideal employee? Once you’ve identified what you want, make sure your job description is clear and the benefits you provide are competitive. Be sure to reach out to the right people and organisations. Networking and attending recruitment events can be a great way to scout new talent, while word of mouth can be one of the most efficient ways to find a reliable team. Don’t forget to ask your existing employees to refer their contacts or others they know, who may be a good fit.

Improve communication and feedback

Effective communication and good feedback is key. Make sure your team has access to the information and tools they need to do their best work. Keep the lines of communication open and ensure all feedback is consistent and two-way. Regularly check-in with all employees and be constructive, this can help increase morale and encourage employees to feel appreciated. It will also help your team to feel more connected to the company and give them the opportunity to express any concerns or offer solutions.

Encourage professional development

Providing employees with the chance to grow and develop is a great way to ensure the longevity of your team. Invest in your employees and provide them with the opportunities and resources to take their career to the next level. Consider providing in-house classes/training or outside seminars and conferences they can learn from. Most importantly, be understanding and let your employees learn from their mistakes.

Nurture a positive workplace environment

Make sure your company culture is one that is well respected and attracts employees who can genuinely contribute and create a positive environment. Recognize and celebrate employees’ successes, honour their work, and provide social opportunities for staff to interact. While these things may feel small, they can go a long way in making employees feel valued – ultimately decreasing unnecessary turnover.

Be flexible

Flexible working hours and flexible vacation policies give employees the chance to create their own work-life balance, which can lead to increased productivity and employee satisfaction. Offering work from home or remote work options can also be beneficial as it can reduce stress and save employees time and money. It may be helpful to conduct surveys or studies to learn what type of flexibility works best for your employees and take the necessary steps to implement it.

Be transparent about targets and expectations

Finally, be transparent from the get-go. Employees should have a clear understanding of how their performance is evaluated as well as their roles and responsibilities. Provide detailed performance metrics and use them to benchmark success. Keep your team updated on company goals and strategies. Regularly solicit feedback and use it to identify where small changes can be made to make employees’ jobs easier or more enjoyable.

Reducing employee turnover is no easy task. It requires time, focus, and commitment on the part of the management team. If you’d like to find out more about reducing your employee turnover or require any additional business support, we’d love to help! Get in touch:

T: 01903 688789 E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com

2016-17 Changes to the UK National Minimum Wage

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As of 1 October 2016 the UK Government has accepted and implemented the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the national minimum wage for those aged 24 and under, for 2016-17.

The new per hour rates will be as follows:

Ages 21 – 24 will now receive £6.95 (from £6.70)

Ages 18 – 20 will now receive £5.55 (from £5.30)

Ages 16 – 17 will now receive £4.00 (from £3.87)

Apprentices will now receive £3.40 (from £3.30)

There are currently no plans to change the National Living Wage for those aged 25 and over, which will remain the same (at £7.20) until April 2017.

You must ensure you comply with these rates fully.

If you’d like additional advice or support, please call us 01903 688789 or send us an email makeithappen@mbsmih.com.

It’s A Minefield – And You’re Probably Already In It!

It’s A Minefield - And You’re Probably Already In It! Image

If you haven’t already or aren’t aware yet, as a growing SME you should start planning now for the most significant employment law developments.

National Living Wage
This is the increased national minimum wage for workers aged 25 and over. The initial rate was introduced at the beginning of April 2016 and is £7.20 per hour (50p more than the previous rate). You need to be aware that the National Living Wage will increase every year, with the aim of it being 60% of median earnings, and it’s expected to be £9 by 2020!

This development is set to have a major impact on the retail, social care and hospitality sectors, and businesses are already looking at ways to mitigate the cost. Many SMEs are reviewing other benefits such as bonuses, discretionary benefits, lunch vouchers, and implementing staff cuts etc.

Many staff paid at or near the minimum wage will also have lost out financially as a result of changes to tax credits, so securing their agreement to your bonus cuts may be tricky. Ensure you consider carefully how to implement any such changes – staying the right side of the law.

Pensions Auto-Enrolment
Although auto-enrolment has been in force for several years now, its phased introduction means that many smaller employers will only begin contending with it in 2016 and 2017. You can find out your staging date (the date by which you need to have the auto-enrolment scheme up and running) by checking on the Pensions Regulator’s website here but keep in mind that it takes a few months to select a scheme, get it set up and put the employee paperwork in place.

In most cases businesses will need to start planning the process six months before the staging date. In particular, you need to determine which of your staff will need to be automatically enrolled and whether the you want to use a ‘postponement period’ so new staff are not automatically enrolled during their first three months of employment. Initially, the minimum employer contribution will be 1% of ‘qualifying earnings’, but this will also rise over time to 3%.

Zero Hours Contracts
These contracts continue to be controversial but they can be a vital tool to help smaller businesses cope with fluctuating demand. In 2015 new legislation was introduced by the Government stopping the use of exclusivity clauses (e.g. banning an individual from taking on other work) in Zero Hours Contracts. However, the legislation did not give staff any follow up if they were dismissed or punished for taking on other work. The government has now tried to address this and new regulations came into force on 11 January 2016 giving ‘zero hours’ employees the right to bring employment claims if they are dismissed or subjected to a detriment for breaching an exclusivity clause. This looks set to be a developing area of law…

Holiday Pay
Calculating holiday pay ought to be simple but 2014 and 2015 proved this certainly is not the case. Various cases are still working their way through the appeal system in relation to whether voluntary overtime and commission payments need to be included in holiday pay and how this should be calculated. Be sure to keep a careful eye on this and ensure you understand your legal obligations.

Statutory Pay Rates
One minor piece of good news for businesses is that Statutory Maternity Pay will not be increased this year and will remain at its current rate of £139.58 per week (paid for 33 weeks after the employee has received six weeks’ pay at 90 per cent of her weekly earnings).

As an SME, you should also be mindful that reporting requirements on modern slavery (already in force) and the gender pay gap (due later this year), which currently apply to larger businesses, may affect you if you have supplier contracts with bigger organisations, and tyou should expect these issues to play an increasing role in procurement and contract negotiations.

Modern Slavery
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (section 54) will require some commercial organisations to publish an annual anti-slavery and human trafficking statement. Businesses may need to carry out significant auditing of their global supply chains to fulfil this obligation, and there is the potential to carefully consider introducing policies and practices on the issues involved, as well as implementing training and awareness.

Gender Pay Gap
This is a measure of the difference between the average earnings of men and women within an organisation based on a comparison of what men and women get paid for doing the same job. But there are many different ways of measuring the gender pay gap, and currently no single recognised method. How it is measured can make a big difference to the answer.

The Office of National Statistics measures the gender pay gap by comparing the median hourly earnings of men and women, excluding overtime. The median calculation reflects the mid-point of a range of earnings, and using this method is said to be preferable because there is less distortion by very high or very low earnings than when using a mean average, for example.
Comparisons are usually made between hourly rates as this takes account of the fact that statistically men work more hours on average than women. For the same reason, it is said that bonus and overtime payments should be excluded, although recent reports suggest that bonus payments are likely to be included in the calculation when the regulations are published.

HMRC New Employee Form
The HMRC have published a new starter checklist for new employees starting with organisations who don’t have a P45. This includes information required from the new employee to set them up with the correct tax code and starter declaration on the payroll.
Usually most of this information comes from the employee’s P45, but they’ll have to fill in a ‘new starter checklist’ (which replaced the P46 form) if they don’t have a recent P45.
Information that will be needed is:
•    Date of Birth
•    Gender
•    Full Address
•    Start Date

From the employee’s P45;
•    Full name
•    Leaving date from their last job
•    Total pay and tax paid to date for the current tax year
•    Student loan deduction status
•    National Insurance number
•    Existing tax code
This information must be kept in the payroll records for the current year and the 3 following tax years.
If the employee doesn’t have a P45 ask them for this information, or if they left their last job before 6 April 2015.
Important: The P46 form is no longer used.
Get the information by asking your new employee to complete HMRC’s new starter checklist. They’ll need to save it on their computer and open and complete it in Adobe Reader version 9.0 or later. It can be found here.
If you need support with any of the points raised here or have any questions that you’d like answered, please get in touch via phone 01903 688789 or email makeithappen@mbsmih.com, we’re always happy to help.

Are You Ready For The National Living Wage?

a town square filled with people shot from a birds eye view

National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage.

It’s not long until the 1st of April 2016, when the government will introduce the new mandatory National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above – an increase of 50p per hour on the current Minimum Wage (£6.70 per hour) for this age group to £7.20 per hour.

The National Minimum Wage of £6.70 will continue to apply for those aged 21 to 24, with the premium added only for those aged 25 and over.

It is vitally important that you audit and review any employee salaries that may fall into this new bracket to ensure compliance before the implementation date.

The government will impose fines and criminal prosecutions against any employers found not to be paying legal minimum wages.

The government has announced a package of measures to enforce the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage from its introduction in April. While the overall maximum penalty for underpayment of the wage will stay the same at £20,000 per worker, new measures include doubling the penalties for non-payment of the statutory rates from 100% to 200% of the arrears (halved if employers pay within 14 days), and introducing a new team of HMRC Compliance Officers to investigate the most serious cases and bring criminal prosecutions against employers for deliberate non-compliance.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said there is “no excuse for employers flouting minimum wage rules” and the new measures “will ensure those who do try and cheat staff out of pay will feel the full force of the law”.

The government has said it will improve the compliance guidance available to employers. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like any support or advice we’re here to help: makeithappen@mbsmih.com  01903 688789

How To Use Employee Handbooks To Minimise Workplace Risk

A row of people sat at different cafe tables shot from a bird's eye view

 – And why failing to keep them updated could become a liability rather than an asset

 

Running a modern people-led business requires the management of risks arising from employees. Having a handbook in place, which is tailored and up-to-date, is one way of helping to manage those risks.

An organisation’s people are its biggest risk and its greatest asset. The banking crisis, for example, is widely accepted to have come about as the result of bad behaviour on the part of City workers. The legal framework for the financial markets has become increasingly onerous as a result, as regulators have tried to put in place a structure to reduce human risk and prevent another financial catastrophe.

It is just as vital in other sectors that employers make clear the parameters within which employees should work, and one important part of this involves putting down in writing what behaviour is and is not acceptable.

Such guidelines are not usually included in employment contracts. This is because it is generally difficult to change and update the terms of a contract, and an employer would not generally want to leave itself open to contractual claims on the basis of detailed guidelines. A staff handbook can play an important role here, as one of its main functions is to set down rules within which staff should operate. Handbooks are intended to shape employees’ behaviour to help improve conduct in the workplace.

A handbook can also help show an employer’s practices are consistent with employment legislation and can be used to help justify disciplinary decisions. They can also be important for backing up employers wishing to take action against recalcitrant employees.

Employers may find it difficult to deal effectively with misconduct where there is no handbook in place. For instance, there have been examples of employers having to make large cash settlements to get rid of employees who have clearly acted inappropriately at work (e.g. by taking unauthorised absences, or by drinking or taking drugs) because the organisation was not able to demonstrate it had appropriate policies in place to stop such behaviour.

So, what should a basic staff handbook contain? It needs to cover a number of standard topics including grievance and disciplinary procedures and, for example, contain an anti-harassment and bullying policy. Depending on the sector, an employer may wish to include other policies. Some organisations, may choose to have a ‘relationship policy’ requiring employees who become romantically involved to disclose this to an HR manager or superior. This can be particularly important in financial institutions where the unchecked flow of information between staff could lead to conflicts of interest.

Handbooks must be kept up-to-date both to remain practically useful and to avoid becoming inconsistent with official guidance, legislation and case law. The Acas code of practice on discipline and grievance, for example, was updated early last year and in January it published a new guide, Disability discrimination: key points for the workplace

In a recent European Court of Human Rights case, Barbulescu v Romania, a company was found not to have breached the privacy rights of an employee by monitoring his Yahoo Messenger account when it suspected him of using the account for private purposes. It appears to have been significant that the employer had a clear policy against private use of the company’s resources. The decision may well lead to other organisations updating their policies and handbooks.

An out-of-date handbook is a liability rather than an asset, not least because it may be used in legal proceedings as evidence that the employer’s practices are outmoded or unlawful. In a recent employment tribunal case, Stimpson v Citigroup, a City trader was sacked after having been accused of sharing confidential client information. The employment tribunal accepted his dismissal was unfair, even though the bank had policies which appeared to outlaw what he had done.

The case demonstrates that handbooks and policies are not the end of the story. Employment tribunals have been reluctant to accept, on face value, that breaches of written policies automatically provide sufficient justification for disciplinary action or dismissal. Employers need to ensure their contents are communicated to employees effectively.

For more information and guidance on how to create a handbook, please contact us on 01903 688789 or email us via makeithappen@mbsmih.com.