Managing a difference of opinion in the workplace
When managing a multitude of personalities, there can be times when you are called to settle a disagreement involving your employees. Sometimes it will be obvious what you need to do, but other times it can be more complicated.
This can be especially true if you have a strong headed employee insisting that they are right. You may even have them reciting the law at you or standing firm on their right to freedom of speech.
It’s an area of increasing concern for some employers, challenging an employee who applies pressure, sometimes social or political, to suit their agenda. This is also known as being “woke”.
Being woke refers to being aware and alert to perceived social injustices. A woke employee might be a passionate activist in their spare time, but they still need to adhere to the rules of your business when under your employment. Conversely, in some larger organisations, it might be an employee accusing their HR department of wokeness if they don’t agree with certain policies.
It’s important to listen and establish the facts of conflicts in your business, whether between co-workers or even an employee and a customer. This will help you be fair and justified in your response. Not everyone is going to agree with you and may challenge your decisions. This is why HR processes that manage conflicts, disciplinaries and grievances are there to help you. Having clear policies and a unified leadership team that can reinforce these is also key.
Under the Equality Act 2010, nine characteristics are legally protected from discrimination: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
What happens though when two protected characteristics are in conflict with one another?
In deeming whether discrimination has occurred against one employee, you need to mitigate the risk of indirect discrimination against the other. We have seen examples of this play out in employment tribunals where gender critical beliefs or faith-based expressions on social media have triggered claims of discrimination against sex or sexual orientation or religion and philosophical belief.
It’s a challenging area of people management and if it’s something that you are facing in your business, we would encourage you to seek professional support to resolve potential conflict.
Fired by AI! The rise of the robots
Would you trust a robot to do the firing in your business? Some employers are increasing their use of AI in HR processes, but what, if any, are the risks of removing the “people” aspect of people management?
It’s easy to see how and why more large businesses are adopting new technologies and automating more processes. There are many benefits after all: a major one being to save time with streamlined operations.
Some areas that can be easily automated for all businesses include holiday management or time and attendance software, helping to reduce that looming pile of admin paperwork for starters.
Other functions, though, come with a higher risk; such as finding and choosing the right people for your business, or deciding how and when to end someone’s employment. The robots don’t always get this right and when the “computer says no” it can damage relations and even lead to an employment tribunal.
Cosmetics company Estee Lauder has encountered claims from three employees over exactly that.
The employees felt that the redundancy process was unfair, suggesting that when reapplying for their positions their video assessments were judged only by an algorithm. During the process they had received a confusing communication referring to AI and a “tiering bucket of data points”.
Settling out of court, a spokesperson for the company denied that facial recognition technology played a decisive role in this situation.
This isn’t the first time the robots have caused a commotion for employers though. An employee was once effectively terminated and escorted from his place of work all because a faulty key card triggered the process!
We’re all for improving efficiencies and adopting new technology, but there’s no denying that having a human sense-check those risky HR processes is sensible for people management.
Is it sexual harassment to call a man “bald”?
A recent Employment Tribunal ruling suggests that the answer is yes.
Context matters though, so let’s look at what happened in this case.
Mr Finn was employed as an electrician by The British Bung Manufacturing Company LTD for over 20 years. In May last year he was dismissed without notice, which led him to raise a claim of unfair dismissal along with several others, one being sexual harassment.
During his employment a verbal altercation with factory supervisor Mr King, led to Mr King threatening to “deck” the complainant and calling him a “stupid bald” expletive.
The tribunal found this to be unwanted, intimidating conduct and a violation of the claimant’s dignity. It also found that baldness is more prevalent in men and therefore the comment was inherently related to sex, a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
This case serves as a warning to employers that derogatory comments are harmful and come with repercussions. To avoid conflict, a culture of respect is vital, whilst a policy can provide back up.
Menstrual leave announced in Europe. Is the UK next?
Following the likes of Japan, South Korea and Zambia, Spain is planning to introduce paid medical leave for those suffering from period pain. The move comes under a new law of women’s health reforms.
Menstrual leave, as it’s more commonly known, is not a statutory benefit in the UK and employees must use sick leave if they are unwell. However due to the period taboo and a lack of awareness on menstrual health, period pain can be wrongly dismissed as a justifiable reason for calling in sick.
Not every woman will need time off work due to her symptoms, but for those that do, the scale of discomfort can reach debilitating levels, making work near impossible.
Although menstrual leave is not law in the UK, employers seeking to better support staff can do so through accommodations which help them to manage their health at work. For example, flexible working, from flexi-hours to flexi-location, can help; along with accepting painful periods as a reason for sick leave.
An employee has been called for jury service, what now?
Jury service is a public duty, and anyone aged between 18 – 70 on the electoral register can be selected, at any time. Typically, it lasts up to 10 days, although it can be shorter or longer.
If an employee is called for jury service, you might be wondering if you can get them out of it, especially if it’s a busy time for your business. However, if you can make a few rearrangements, there can be benefits to them attending jury service. For example, it provides an opportunity to develop skills in areas like problem-solving and teamwork.
You are under no obligation to pay them if they attend, but will need to provide them with a certificate so that they can claim back a loss of earnings paid by the court. If you do pay the employee during jury service, say to make up for any short fallings in their expenses, be sure to calculate their tax and national insurance as usual.
Alternatively, if it appears that the employee’s absence will cause harm to your business, you can request a deferral. You can only do this once in a 12-month period though, so consider whether it is the only option at this time. If you have questions about managing this process and need advice, give us a call.
The person you are trying to reach is on holiday
An out of office message provides a quick and simple way to inform others of employee absences.
Typically, a functional message with either an expected date of return or alternative contact make the cut, but for some people, it’s a chance to get creative:
“Sorry I missed you. I’ll be out of the office and slow to respond until after the break. While I have you though, help settle an argument amongst my colleagues and me: What was the Best Die Hard Movie?”
Whilst another person decided to keep it simple with “Not here”.
Whatever your team’s out-of-office messages say, they will leave an impression with recipients – it’s worth checking it’s the right impression. Ensuring they distinguish their message between internal and external senders may help strike the right balance as we enter the summer holiday season.