Tag: mothering sunday

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Why Celebrating Festivals in the Workplace is Good for Business

Christmas Jumpers - Why Celebrating Holidays and Festivals in the Workplace is Good for Business

October 2019

Why Celebrating Festivals in the Workplace is Good for Business

Though it’s s a potential hazard when there’s a whole calendar full of special days and occasions to celebrate – embracing holidays and festivals in the workplace is good for business.

From national flip flop day (it’s the second Friday in June in case you were wondering) to international talk like a pirate day (19thSeptember) there’s a day for everything you can probably think of and  others you may not even have dream about.  

Flip flops [- Is the workplace the right place to mark holidays and festival days?

Many of these are of course modern inventions, but there’s also the long-established celebration days such as Mothering Sunday and Hallow’een. And before you dismiss that one as an American aberration, stop and think for a moment about how the thing got there. Born Again Swindonian explains all in this blog, covering the history of Hallowe’en.

Is the workplace the right place to mark holidays and festival days?

But is the workplace even the right place to mark holidays and festival days such as these? Well – not all of them no – of course not. But in principle – yes – absolutely.  Because celebrating holidays and festivals in the workplace is good for business.

Encourage motivation and team building

As an employer, consider the importance of following traditions to the human psyche. You want motivated and productive staff right? Such a team is responsible for the success of your organization so why wouldn’t you? And your staff can harness some of these events to raise money for charity – upping the feel-good factor for them.

Hallow’een is past, but chomping on its heels is Christmas Jumper Day.

Save The Children established Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 14th December 2012. Its rallying cry of making things better with a sweater inspired schools, workplaces and families to wear a silly jumper – the sillier and the uglier the better – to raise money for Save The Children. 

Christmas Jumpers

So, if your team want to have a workplace participation in this one – or wearing green on St Patrick’s Day or wearing fancy dress for Hallowe’en – you might want to encourage it. With one or two caveats of course. Such as:

  1. Participation isn’t mandatory
  2. You encourage your staff to support a charitable cause with it – look for local need that you could support as well as the national events such as Christmas Jumper Day.  

    In fact, you could get a sort of double-whammy here by encouraging your staff to get their Christmas jumpers from a local charity shop. These establishments tend to have plenty of them on the rails from mid-November onwards. 

But always keep in mind your own responsibilities as an employer to have a workplace social event policy. And here Go-Legal HR can help you draw one up. If you’re unsure about your responsibilities here then you definitely need to get in touch.

You do need to maintain such a policy because you have a duty of care towards your staff. And it’s a matter of good practice. Why?  Because any source of jollifications can also be a source of discomfort at best, and downright distress at worst, to some of your staff. The Equality Act 2010 makes you, the employer, liable for any acts of harassment, discrimination and victimization carried out by your staff. The best way to avoid such liability is by showing you have taken reasonable steps to prevent such occurrences. It is all too easy to think that social events do not carry such risks.

Christmas Jumper day and other festivals of this winter season are hurtling towards us.
If your workplace social event policy needs brushing up – assuming you even have one in the first place – don’t wait.

Go-Legal HR will help you draw one up so you’re suitably covered. Call 07801 709945 now and let’s get on to it right away. Before Christmas hits you like an out-of-control sledge.

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Maternity Rights and HR

Maternity Rights and HR - Pregnancy test - Maternity Rights and the HR Manager

March 2019

Maternity Rights and the HR Manager

With Mothering Sunday an important fixture on this month’s calendar it’s a good time to think about maternity rights and HR.

So, picture the scene: one of your employees has told you that she is pregnant. It’s best you know and understand now that your responsibilities as an employer go much further than rushing out to buy flowers and a giant teddy bear. And that’s always a welcome gesture of course. 

Pregnancy test - Maternity Rights and the HR Manager

Job roles within small firms tend to be more diverse than in a larger organisation. One person might have several responsibilities, specialized knowledge and well-established customer/supplier relationships. All of which can generate panic in the business owner at the prospect of finding a temporary replacement.

Your Business Owner Responsibilities

As a business owner you need to be conversant with the full range of employment rights available to pregnant women, new mothers and new fathers. The legal consequences if you get it wrong are serious. If you’re not up to speed and feel you need help then get in touch. Go-Legal HR can give you all the support you need.

Statutory Maternity and Paternity Rights in the UK

Here in the UK, statutory maternity, paternity and adoption rights apply to parents both before and after either the birth of their own baby or adoption of a child. These rights provide parents with the time they need to meet their family responsibilities whilst retaining their right to come back to work.

Fathers, adoptive parents and same-sex partners are all entitled to paternity or maternity leave, adoption and shared parental leave. That’s before we even mention flexible working or the wider area of health & safety and the need to take proper precautions with pregnant employees (e.g. risk assessments).

Employees enjoy an extensive range of rights and entitlements in relation to becoming a parent. This creates a veritable minefield for you to contend with, while ensuring you avoid any risk of discrimination against your employee.

For example, what would your approach be if an employee asked for time off for IVF treatment?

I’d hope that most employers would show consideration and understanding and allow the time off. As indeed they should. Particularly when faced with the knowledge that a recent Employment Tribunal held that, refusing to allow an employee time off work for IVF treatment, amounted to direct sex discrimination. The Tribunal in question found that the employer would not have treated a man the same way. The upshot here was a compensation award of over £24K.

A Pregnant Pause

In another recent case, an employee informed her employer of her pregnancy, only to hear later the same day that her position was at risk of redundancy. Signed off sick, her employer threatened her with disciplinary action.  One can argue bad timing. Yet the Employment Tribunal held that the threat of redundancy and disciplinary action she received, arose because of her pregnancy. She received a compensation award in excess of £40K. More than enough to equip the nursery.

This is not to suggest that all employers would find themselves in similar situations. But these are two examples of recent cases where the Employment Tribunal found in favour of the claimant and found the employer guilty of discrimination.

So, if you are not sure, please ask and avoid the risk of significant compensation awards.

Plan Ahead

The cases mentioned above arose from employers trying to wriggle out of doing the decent thing and supporting their member of staff. You’ve seen the consequences of that for the two cases mentioned. And, although anonymous, they’re real enough.

So, don’t evade – plan ahead. Act in an appropriate manner as soon as your employee gives you the glad tidings. Remember – babies can arrive early. It’s best to expect the unexpected and plan for that. Failure so to do can leave you recruiting the wrong replacement. The upshot? You’ll have to repeat the process – thus wasting time and money.

If you need other staff members to take on extra work during this period you must speak to them ASAP. That way you’ll avoid resentment building up.

Go-Legal HR can support you with the recruitment of temporary staff if that’s what you need. That way you won’t take on the wrong person. In addition, we’ll  help you draw up a checklist of key actions and a timetable for when you need to do each thing. This will make the process as smooth as possible.

Don’t leave a pregnant pause – get in touch now so that you’re prepared to support your employee having the baby – and those still running your business.