What is your COVID-19 isolation policy?
As winter becomes yesterday’s news, so too does coronavirus – to an extent. Yet whilst we know when winter will return, an outbreak of COVID-19 is a less predictable event.
For now, the UK government has shifted its focus from legal restrictions to personal responsibility in the management of coronavirus. In the plan, Living with COVID, the government has acknowledged that a successful vaccination programme has allowed restrictions to ease, but reminds us that the virus has not completely gone away.
Employees in England are no longer legally required to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19. Wales will relax all legal guidelines on March 28th, and Scotland relaxed most legal guidelines on March 21st. There is no legal requirement to be vaccinated in the UK. Plans for this to come into force for the health and social care sector in England have been scrapped.
Where does this leave employers? Still with a duty of care to protect their staff and provide a safe working environment. People can still catch COVID and suffer symptoms for a long time afterwards.
To reduce the risk of COVID interruptions in your business, there is much to be considered.
How will you respond to a staff member testing positive? Will this impact sick pay? Remember that the SSP Rebate Scheme ends soon. Can staff work from home? Will you provide lateral flow tests?
In the absence of legal guidelines (check with your local government for up to date health advice), conducting a risk assessment and introducing your own COVID isolation policy that aims to protect staff and support your business is recommended.
Your COVID isolation policy can be a useful tool to reassure employees of your commitment to providing a safe working environment. This is especially true for vulnerable employees who may have reservations about returning to the workplace.
It’s a good idea to speak to your team about any concerns that they might have about attending the workplace. Involving them in the development of your policy, which will be unique to your business, can lead to better co-operation and transparency within the team.
New public health guidance on the matter is expected post-April. Until then, reviewing your sickness absence policy and carrying out a COVID risk assessment would be a wise move.
How can HR reduce cyber security risk?
For any business, cyber security is a real risk. As the world becomes more reliant on digital technology, it’s a risk that cannot be neglected.
You may not have expected to see cyber security crop up in your monthly HR newsletter, but the two areas of your business are in fact deeply intertwined.
A study by IBM found that human error was a major contributing cause in 95% of all cyber security attacks.
HR plays a critical part in staffing, training, and supporting the teams and departments that keep a business functioning day-to-day. So, whilst your IT manager or outsourced IT will likely be on speed dial for any cyber security threats, they too might need support with people management to reduce further risks.
This can be business wide too. For example, customer service agents could be the ones to receive a phishing email, whilst another department might oversee the safe storage of sensitive data. Almost anyone could be using the Internet and accessing passwords.
For a business to be protected from cyber security threats, all staff members should be informed and trained on best practice.
It’s a good idea to make this sort of training mandatory in your business and to have a written policy which details any rules, e.g. permitted access, sharing data, storing passwords, Internet usage and so on. Employee engagement is key, and so involving your managers to create or update your policy is wise.
With these measures in place, you can reduce the risk of cyber security breaches in your business.
However, if after training and enforcement of your policy, human error puts your business at serious risk, you may need help from HR to tackle employee misconduct. If you’re in need of support, our Advice Line can help.
£2m pay-out for sex discrimination
Stacey Macken, a female banker, has won more than £2 million in a sex discrimination case.
Sex discrimination, where a person is treated less favourably because of their sex, is illegal under the Equality Act 2010. It causes harm and threatens well-being, and as this case has shown, can result in substantial fines for an employer who lets it happen.
In this case, managers were not just bystanders, but actively contributed to the problem. An example being when one male boss repeatedly used the phrase “not now Stacey”. The rest of the team picked up on it and adopted the same demeaning behaviour. At one point, a witch’s hat was left on Stacey’s desk, which the tribunal ruled to be a sexist act.
The victimisation would be enough for Miss Macken to raise concerns internally, which she did to no avail. Making matters worse, she was also being paid less than a male colleague doing the same job as her.
These issues combined resulted in the colossal £2m pay-out. It’s an expensive lesson for an employer to learn, and the bank has said that it is making changes as a result.
Providing references for ex-employees
Just as you may request references for new employees, you too could be asked to provide one for an ex-employee of your business.
Hearsay will tell you that you can’t refuse or give a bad reference. However, there is a bit more to it than that.
Generally, you can refuse to provide references, but in doing so you would need to make sure that this applies to all your employees. Failure to be consistent could leave you open to claims of discrimination, even from an ex-employee. Keep in mind too that refusing a reference for an employee that you remember fondly could hinder their prospects. Additionally, there are some industry sectors where providing a reference is a statutory requirement, such as finance.
References that are given must be accurate. So it is perfectly acceptable to be truthful about a person who was repeatedly late or was careless in the performance of their duties, so long as you have evidence that this was the case.
Some companies have a policy of merely detailing employment dates, job titles and salary, but that is not always helpful. Recruitment is expensive and taking up references on potential employees is an important element. Giving truthful references will help a company make good decisions. It’s best to avoid personal opinions, however, and stick to the facts.
Remember that you’re processing personal data and so consent from the employee is a must under UK GDPR. Got questions about your process? Our Advice Line can provide peace of mind.
Important calendar dates for employers
The SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) Rebate Scheme was introduced to support businesses impacted by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The temporary scheme allows eligible employers to claim back up to two weeks of SSP per employee for absences related to coronavirus from December 21st – March 17th. You have until March 24th to submit or amend a claim. For absences after March 17th, the usual SSP rules apply.
There are other important calendar dates to keep in mind with April approaching. From April 1st, hourly rates for the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage increase as follows:
- National Living Wage for workers aged 23 and over: £9.50
- National Minimum Wage for workers aged 21-22: £9.18
- National Minimum Wage for workers aged 18-20: £6.83
- National Minimum Wage for school leavers under 18: £4.81
- Apprentice Minimum Wage: £4.81
On April 3rd, several statutory pay rates including maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave and parental bereavement pay will increase from £151.97 to £156.66.
From April 6th, sick pay will rise from £96.35 to £99.35, and the statutory redundancy weekly cap will also increase.
From 6th April 2022 – 5th April 2023 National Insurance contributions will increase by 1.25 percentage points. Payroll will need to be updated.
Is wage transparency the answer to unequal pay?
Could you imagine an employee forum where staff decide each other’s salary? One Argentinian firm is already doing it and reporting promising results.
It’s an interesting approach to what has become a global issue of pay inequality. Although we can’t deny that it has the potential to get heated unless clear guidance is provided at the start.
Closer to home, Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott has launched an initiative piloting pay transparency, wherein participating businesses will publish salaries in their job adverts. Why is this a good move? It could be a step towards closing the gender pay gap and firmly closing the door on pay inequality.