Voice of the SME

If you keep up with Parliamentary goings on, you may have heard about the Future of Work Inquiry. This inquiry was started by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee so it can better understand the issues employers face today and will face in the future to put recommendations to Government for real change, to make employing people all that easier tomorrow.

At The HR Dept, we do our best to make sure SMEs voices are heard. With our 6,000 customers all over the UK we’re well placed to understand the pressures they face, so immediately decided to put a few of our ideas forward for the Select Committee to review. We think that our employment classifications are too complex, that there are too many grey areas for SMEs to run aground. The ‘Worker’ status, for example, is highly misunderstood and hence commonly misused.

We recommended abolishment of the Worker status, to replace the system with one that is cleaner, clearer and easier for SMEs to use. Off the back of our proposals, we were brilliantly invited to present them to the Future of Work Inquiry in Westminster itself, alongside the TUC and the New Economics Foundation. Founder and Chair Sue Tumelty represented our proposals brilliantly on the day. You can watch it here.

Also in attendance were Jill Bottomley from The HR Dept Trafford and Warrington, and Sara Abbott from The HR Dept North Birmingham. The work they put into the proposals was essential in getting the opportunity to present them directly to the committee. As HR professionals, we can assure you there’s no better feeling than being able to influence for the better the future policy that directs all our working lives.

The HR Dept previously held a national survey to gain the thoughts and opinions of SMEs concerning consultations which could have affected employers:

• Health is everyone’s business, looking to reduce ill health related job loss by increasing access to occupational health;
• One-sided Flexibility which looked to change the procedures around flexible working and potentially offer zero-hour staff compensation for cancelled shifts;
• Establishing a new single enforcement body for employment rights.
• As well as employers’ opinions on Worker status and the complications imposed.

The results of this survey were submitted to the consultations in order to influence decision makers on key issues around employment affecting SMEs in the UK.