How To Avoid Workplace Christmas Party Nightmares

It’s fair to say that the workplace Christmas party gets its fair share of bad press. From punch-ups and offensively drunk staff, through to extra-marital activities and unwanted advances, we’ve all heard the horror stories. Depending on just how cautious you like to be, you might think that you’d be better off cancelling the whole thing and saving yourself the headache.

But before you rush into anything, remember that your staff have worked hard, and they deserve an opportunity to let their hair down. A festive get-together could prove to be just what you need to show your appreciation of their efforts and boost morale. What’s important here is that you’re suitably prepared. Here’s what you need to consider…

Remind your staff of your standards
At the end of the day, your staff are adults and should know how to conduct themselves at work and in related social situations, but there’s no harm in reminding them. This is about ensuring that everyone understands what’s acceptable, and what will happen if behaviour falls below the required standards. Now could be a good time to remind your employees about what’s expected from them.

Get yourself organised
Planning is extremely important, so be sure to consider absolutely everything. From where you’ll hold the event, through to how people will get home safely at the end of the evening, through to the arrangements for being in work the next day, problems can often be avoided if you’ve considered your approach in advance.

It makes sense to get your staff involved in the planning process, to ensure that their views are taken into account and they have the option to contribute ideas.

Consider differing preferences
A night of drinking isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, so do think about how you can make the event appeal to your diverse workforce. If you’re providing catering, consider any dietary requirements. You’re never going to be able to please everyone, especially if you have a large team, but it makes sense to consider tastes and preferences.

Finally, on this point, attendance at a Christmas party should never be mandatory, so don’t make your staff feel like they’re obliged to make an appearance.

Relax a little!

At the end of the day, your Christmas party should be fun and enjoyable, and you should be able to let your hair down and celebrate alongside your team. If you’ve covered the points that we’ve discussed here, then it’s unlikely that you’ll experience any significant problems. Your staff are probably just looking forward to having a good time, and aren’t secretly plotting to cause riots or bring your business into disrepute!

More top tips for a happy work Christmas party here.  If you’ve got concerns about this year’s Christmas party, and you’d like to take the opportunity to chat with an HR expert, pick up the phone and give us a call at The Human Resource on 07884 475303.

What’s so wrong with zero hours contracts?

Zero hour contracts must have attracted more adverse publicity than any other way of organising work this century. 

So, what’s the problem?  And should you stay well away from them as a good employer?

A zero hours contract means that the employer does not guarantee a set number of working hours for the employee.  Depending on the needs of the business, the worker could be asked to work full time hours some weeks and zero hours other weeks.  

This means people's income can fluctuate significantly and without a regular amount of pay they won’t be able to take out tenancies, loans, credit cards or a mortgage.  High stress level have been reported because of uncertainty about how much work there will be from one day to the next.

On the other hand, the flexibility of a zero hours contract can work well for people looking for casual part-time employment, such as students, home carers and the semi-retired.  A recent CIPD survey found that workers on zero hours contracts were as happy as permanent full-time employees: 65 % of the sample on zero hours contracts said they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their jobs, compared with 63 % for all employees.

The arrangement can help businesses cope with fluctuating demand, enable new businesses uncertain about workloads to get onto their feet, and also provide cover for unexpected sickness absence. They’re widely used by retailers, restaurants, leisure companies and hotels. The care industry is estimated to employ 160,000 workers on zero hours contracts and the NHS has increasingly adopted them.

The problem is that a few "workhouse not workplace" style large employers have exploited the vulnerability of their people on zero hours contracts, with bad practices such as giving unreasonably short notice whether or not they're required at work, and, if the individual isn’t able to come in when “asked”, firing them without notice or punishing them via the disciplinary procedure. 

Some had even forbidden their zero hours contractors from working for anyone else, so that they were more likely to be available for work at short notice: that is now completely illegal.  Zero hours contracts can’t contain exclusivity clauses prohibiting staff from seeking or accepting work from another employer and people working them can seek additional employment and have other jobs.

Even the most notorious – but by no means only – exploiter of zero hours contracts, Britain’s largest sportswear retailer Sports Direct, has now decided to offer its shop staff the option of a minimum contract of 12 hours’ work per week, in line with other retailers such as Next.

Regardless of the debate surrounding their use, zero hours contracts are here to stay as a flexible alternative to full and part time employment, one that can be useful to both employer and employee in some circumstances.

If you opt to go ahead and hire staff on zero hours contracts, you must ensure that you provide the necessary legal rights. All zero hours workers are entitled to at least the National Minimum Wage and paid annual leave, rest breaks and protection from discrimination.  Calculating holiday entitlement has to be done in arrears for each individual based on the number of hours worked, taking additional admin time.  Guidelines on employment rights for zero hours workers from ACAS here.

To help staff plan ahead, it’s best practice to give as much notice as possible regarding possible working hours, ensuring the zero hours contractor understands that they can either accept or refuse the work.

If your business needs more certainty and less to-ing and fro-ing to organise enough workers, consider the alternatives such as:

• Offer overtime to current permanent staff
• If regular hours need to be worked, recruit a part time employee
• Offer annualised hours and fixed term contracts to cope with seasonal demand
• Bring in temp agency workers as a quicker and easier way to fill gaps.

Zero hours contracts are rarely appropriate to run the core business.  Most businesses are providing a regular service or product and have a broadly predictable timetable or output, and so permanent or fixed hour contracts are likely to be a better fit.  And there's always the traditional British compromise of flexible hours contracts with a certain number of fixed hours plus the option to work additional time if required. 
  

If you currently operate zero hours contracts, or have considered them and would like assistance and guidance on how to use them properly, please get in touch with us at The Human Resource.

 

Flexing to keep your best employees & attract more applicants

If you want to attract and retain top quality staff - and who doesn’t? -  maybe it’s time to consider some different approaches.  For instance, is the best way to get things done really via a routine of nine-to-five every day in a single place of work?  And is there more you could do to get the very best out of your people by helping them create a happy and healthy work-life balance?

The option to work flexibly is consistently shown in research as one of the most prized benefits.  It's also the one that’s most likely to retain and motivate existing staff.  Gradually, the focus is beginning to shift away from traditional working patterns, in response to UK population trends like the rising number of working mothers in the UK, the increase in pension age, the rapidly ageing population – and the emergence of the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ where individuals are called upon to care for both their children and elderly relatives.  Modern service-based jobs are significantly different to the manufacturing jobs of the past, technology has improved and become widely available and people work differently. 

So the idea is starting to take root that there’s a connection between supporting employees’ work/life balance and retaining and attracting them, with recent research showing:

·         53% of employees would rather have flexible working over a 5% salary increase.   

·         81% look for flexible working options before joining a company, way beyond any other typical benefit such as an enhanced pension scheme (35%), private healthcare insurance (28%) or commission (28%).  Prioritising flexible working when looking for a new role is particularly true amongst parents of young children and with adult dependants. 

·         63% wanted flexible start and finish times. 

·         SME employers told a recent study that their major areas of focus in 2017 to reduce the likelihood of having to recruit new people to replace those who’ve left will be employees’ work/life balance (35 per cent) and offering more flexible working practices (21 per cent). 

Interestingly, the most significant benefit for businesses embracing flexible working is greater productivity. In a recent study 92% of employers believed that those who work flexibly are just as, if not more, productive than those who work regular hours. 

 

The other benefits cited were attracting and retaining top talent, a better work-life balance and happier employees. A report by Vodafone showed profits increased thanks to the practice, while Inc. reported that stress increased without flexible working, which in turn reduces profitability.  
 

Flexible working has a wide number of permutations: flexi-hours, term-time working, annual hour working, job-sharing, 9-day fortnight, 4.5-day weeks, on-call working, zero-hours contracts. 

For any of them to work, the business will need to trust its employees to take accountability of their own workload and time management to get things done, whether this is at 9am in the office or 9pm at home.
 

For expert advice on creating flexible working arrangements that work for both your business and your employees, and staying within the law if you have a flexible working request, contact The Human Resource today on 07884 475303.

 

 

 

 

 

Help! All My Staff Want Time Off Over Christmas!

 

So we’re quickly approaching the festive season, and everything’s going well in your business. You’ve got robust plans in place so you’re in the best possible position for maximising your profits, and you’re feeling pretty organised and in control. All of a sudden though, you’ve got a big issue on your hands. Your staff all want time off. Understandably, they want to enjoy the festivities, maybe travel long distances to visit relatives. You hadn’t planned for this though, and you’re now in a bit of a pickle.  

What should you do, and how should you approach this challenge without landing yourself in a nightmare situation?

Before we get into anything else, let’s consider where you stand in the eyes of the law. Thankfully, this is pretty clear-cut. As an employer, you have the right to determine when your staff take their leave. You can decide that you won’t accept leave requests during busier periods, including Christmas, or if it means too many people would be off at once.  So you aren’t obliged to give your workers the time off that they want.

Still though, this doesn’t mean that you should announce that everyone’s presence is required, and accept no more comments or questions on the matter. This approach will no doubt cause a great deal of unrest, and do you no favours.

The best course of action here is to ensure that you’re being fair and consistent. If everyone is being treated the same, then it’s more likely that they’ll accept that you can’t necessarily accommodate all requests.

You may decide to let your staff decide between taking holiday over Christmas or New Year, but not both. If you can’t grant leave for everyone, then you could let those who missed out that they'll have priority when it comes to booking in their dates for 2017. Be firm, but reasonable, and never forget that your staff are simply human beings who probably want to enjoy some time putting their feet up with their families.

And on a final note, provided work can be done as usual you may want to consider offering your staff the option to work from home. If you can still meet your operational requirements, then this could prove to be a good compromise.

By now, you probably recognise that conflict over holiday requests during the Christmas period could have largely been avoided if you’d only anticipated these issues in advance. It’s much easier to manage holiday requests if you’re specific with people well in advance about requests you can accept and those you can’t – and why! Maybe this is a wake-up call to get your ducks in a row for the year ahead.

If you want to speak with an expert about how to manage your HR planning and communicate your policies, get in touch with us at The Human Resource today on enquiries@thehr.co.uk. We’ll have an initial no-obligation chat about your circumstances, and we’ll establish if we’re a good fit to work together. 

Download our free E-book on managing holiday requests here.