Managing People

Advice and Guidance for UK Employers

News and articles on Managing People

As an employer in the UK, here’s information you need to know on Managing People

  • Tips on Addressing Employee Negativity

    Tips on Addressing Employee Negativity

    Employee negativity is probably something that we have all come across at some point in our careers. No business is immune! It happens in every business and every industry. So what should you do to prevent, manage and get rid of negativity in the workplace?

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  • How Big a Threat Are Claims of Constructive Dismissal?

    How Big a Threat Are Claims of Constructive Dismissal?

    One employee issue our clients often worry about is having an employee resign and claim constructive dismissal based on dissatisfaction with some element of their employment or how they have been managed. This post provides insights so that you can understand the types of situations where these claims could be a risk to your business.

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  • What Do You Do When Employee Use of Social Media Turns Nasty?

    What Do You Do When Employee Use of Social Media Turns Nasty?

    There are some forms of social media use, however, that step over the line to become harassment and bullying (both direct and anonymous) which are potentially damaging to your employees and puts your company’s good reputation at risk. What can and should you do when things turn nasty?

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  • Employee Benefits: What Are the Options?

    Employee Benefits: What Are the Options?

    Employee motivation is important in any successful business. As such, employee rewards are key in maintaining a high quality of work. Therefore, this post gives some ideas for both traditional and more creative employee rewards schemes.

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  • Employee Issues: When the Grievance Can’t be Solved

    Employee Issues: When the Grievance Can’t be Solved

    Grievances don’t always lead to the result that the employee desires. As such, it is important that you take the right steps after the grievance if it can’t be solved, including in cases of an employee’s resignation. This post gives an overview of what some of this steps may be.

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  • Performance Appraisals: What’s In It For Your Business?

    Performance Appraisals: What’s In It For Your Business?

    For many businesses, when the annual round of performance appraisals is performed, questions can start to arise around “Do we have to do these?” and “What’s the point of this?” Does this sound familiar? In this post, we’ll look at the value of performance appraisals to your business.

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  • Performance Appraisals: How to Maximise Their Value

    Performance Appraisals: How to Maximise Their Value

    Performance appraisals tend to be something businesses either embrace, ignore or conduct in a fairly half-hearted manner. In this post we share some of the common issues with performance appraisals so you can get the most out of the process.

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  • What are Settlement Agreements and When Should You Use Them?

    What are Settlement Agreements and When Should You Use Them?

    A settlement agreement is a legally binding document that allows the employer to end employment by making a payment to an employee above that to which they are contractually entitled. In return for that payment, the employee agrees not to take any further action in relation to their employment. In this post we’ll look at…

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  • Preparation Tips for Performance Appraisals

    Preparation Tips for Performance Appraisals

    In this blog post we give practical guidance on what to think about when preparing for and delivering an appraisal. This should help you ensure both you and your employees benefit from the time you are investing.

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  • Changes to Flexible Working Request Legislation

    Changes to Flexible Working Request Legislation

    Changes are coming to the legislation around flexible working requests. In this blog post we’ll set out what the changes are and what you need to be doing.

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  • Does Company Culture Really Matter?

    Does Company Culture Really Matter?

    Establishing a company culture may sound like a very broad statement but in most cases it’s something that already exists and just needs nurturing. Here is some simple guidance on how to establish and develop the company culture you want.

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  • Performance Appraisals: Are They a Thing of the Past?

    Performance Appraisals:
    Are They a Thing of the Past?

    Good news! You don’t need to do Performance Appraisals anymore as they are antiquated and no one else is doing them. Right? Not quite. Performance Appraisals as they used to be may be a thing of the past but that doesn’t mean you can stop appraising performance.

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  • 5 Common Mistakes When Managing Employee Absence

    5 Common Mistakes When Managing Employee Absence

    Managing employee absence can be a minefield, with many employers avoiding it where they can. In this blog post, we’re going to look at the common mistakes that are made when managing employee absence and give some tips on how to avoid them.

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  • 5 Common Mistakes When Managing Grievances

    5 Common Mistakes When Managing Grievances

    Dealing with employee grievances can be one of the most challenging issues in the workplace. Employees can be disgruntled and the issues are typically complex. In this blog post, we’re going to look at the common mistakes that are made when dealing with grievances and give some tips on how to avoid them.

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  • Does My Employee Have the Right to Be Accompanied at a Probation Review?

    Does My Employee Have the Right to Be Accompanied at a Probation Review?

    When the probation period is failed, there is the question as to whether an employee has a right to be accompanied at the meeting in which they are told that they are being dismissed. The purpose of this post is to help employers understand where they stand and whether the right to be accompanied should…

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  • Employer Guidance for Visa Sponsorship

    Employer Guidance for Visa Sponsorship

    Over the last few years, we have seen a sharp increase from businesses who are looking to offer a visa sponsorship to workers who do not have the right to work in the UK. In this post, we’ll outline some of the key areas that you should be aware of if this is something that…

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  • Pay Increases for 2023 – What Are Businesses Doing?

    Pay Increases for 2023 – What Are Businesses Doing?

    With the backdrop of the cost of living crisis and high inflation, we’ve had lots of questions from our clients regarding what is happening in the market in relation to salary increases for 2023 and in this post, we’re going to explore some of the trends we are seeing.

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  • Giving Feedback: Is it Really Worth the Effort?

    Giving Feedback: Is it Really Worth the Effort?

    As a manager, you’ll have heard repeatedly that giving constructive feedback is the answer to many of your management challenges. It’s a challenging area but developing skills in giving feedback is definitely a worthwhile investment. Our post provides managers some insights and tips on giving feedback.

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  • Quiet Quitting at Work – How Can You Identify It and What Can You Do About It?

    Quiet Quitting at Work – How Can You Identify It and What Can You Do About It?

    You will have most likely seen the repeated use of the term “quiet quitting” in the press in recent months. In this blog post we’ll look more at the concept of quiet quitting at work and explore how you can identify if it’s happening, what you can do if it is and what you can…

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  • Changes to the ‘Right to Work’ Check Process

    Changes to the ‘Right to Work’ Check Process

    On 1st October 2022, the way in which companies check right to work documents changed. This article summarises the new rules, and provides reminders for conducting right to work checks and the penalties you can face for employing individuals who do not have the right to work in the UK.

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  • Employee Engagement Surveys: What Are Your Employees Thinking and Do You Really Care?

    Employee Engagement Surveys:
    What Are Your Employees Thinking and Do You Really Care?

    As an employer, you will no doubt want your employees to enjoy working in your organisation and not just turn up every day because they are paid to, but how do you know what they genuinely think about working for you if you don’t ask them?

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  • Management Discretion: Consistency in Applying HR Policies

    Management Discretion: Consistency in Applying HR Policies

    Many of our clients have policies in place which set out clearly what their position is and yet they all tend to contain the phrase “Any variation from this policy is entirely at management discretion”. Clients have found themselves being accused of discrimination because they have treated individuals differently, so is it really possible to…

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  • Tips on Managing Summertime Employee Absenteeism

    Tips on Managing Summertime Employee Absenteeism

    At this time of year employee absenteeism can be on the rise. It’s not the coughs and colds that lead to the “I’m too ill to work” telephone calls, it tends to be more related to sunburn and Pimms! Obviously, it can be very difficult to prove that someone isn’t genuinely ill but there are…

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  • The Right to Request Flexible Working

    The Right to Request Flexible Working

    Any employee who has more than 26 weeks’ service has a legal right to request flexible working which covers not just the hours that they work, but also where they work from. This post gives insight into the rules and what you, as an employer, should do when you receive a flexible working request.

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  • Guidance for Managers: Tips on Managing a Remote Workforce

    Guidance for Managers: Tips on Managing a Remote Workforce

    As a result of Covid-19, most employers will have now implemented widespread remote working for their employees. While working from home may be convenient for some, there will be evolving challenges employers will need to meet to sustain business productivity. We explore some of the good practices that employers can operate to make this period…

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  • Sexual Harassment: How Can You Prevent Issues?

    Sexual Harassment:
    How Can You Prevent Issues?

    The media has been filled with articles on sexual harassment scandals that have brought internal complaints policies to the attention of HR professionals and business owners. Having functioning and thorough internal complaints investigation procedures is very important in ensuring a harassment/discrimination free workplace.

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  • Difficult Employees: There’s Always One!

    Difficult Employees:
    There’s Always One!

    As a manager, you are constantly faced with a decision of whether to deal with difficult employees or not as long as overall the team is achieving. Here’s a quick list of just 4 top tips that you should incorporate into your management practice that will help you start eliminating unacceptable behaviour and performance from…

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  • Alternatives to People Management

    Alternatives to People Management

    You have a great technical employee who is fantastic at what they do. You promote them to a position where they need to manage others and it all starts to go wrong. You end up losing a technical genius and gaining a pretty incompetent people manager. How can this problem be addressed?

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  • Tips on How to Deal with Troublesome Employees

    Tips on How to Deal with Troublesome Employees

    There are very few businesses who don’t have that one difficult employee who just seems to be more trouble than they are worth. They don’t do anything that’s so wrong as to warrant disciplinary action but just make everything so much harder than it needs to be. So here are some simple tips on dealing…

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  • Holiday Headaches: Managing Planned and Unplanned Absence

    Holiday Headaches: Managing Planned and Unplanned Absence

    During the holiday season, office parties, over-indulgence and last-minute holiday requests are commonplace. This post provides guidance for employers on the headache of managing both planned and unplanned employee absence at this time of year.

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  • Tips on Managing Long-Term Employee Absence

    Tips on Managing Long-Term Employee Absence

    Managing long-term employee absence can present a real challenge to all businesses but particularly to small and medium sized companies. Whilst the financial burden of long-term absence can be managed through insurance schemes and statutory sick pay, the practical issue of “who performs this work?” presents a far larger challenge.

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  • Tips on Managing Difficult Employees

    Tips on Managing Difficult Employees

    From the moment you hire your first employee, you know it’s just a matter of time before you are going to find yourself dealing with a difficult employee issue. Here are some tips around what to do when you sense it all beginning to go wrong.

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