Finding the right person for the job
You have probably seen in the news the furore surrounding the appointment of a man in the role of period dignity officer in Scotland. The decision rightly drew fierce criticism from many quarters.
It may have raised questions for you as an employer as to whether you can specify the sex of a person for a role you want to fill. After all, under the Equality Act 2010 discrimination can start at the job advert stage.
Gone are the days when many specific jobs were once seen as only being for men or women, like a nurse, cabin crew or firefighter. Fortunately, there is still provision in the law for a role such as period dignity officer to be the preserve of women.
This is permitted by a defined exception within the Equality Act 2010, referred to as occupational requirements. These are applicable when a job can only be performed by someone with a specific protected characteristic.
For example, a teacher of a specific religion holding those religious beliefs or, as may be argued in the case of the period dignity officer, being of female sex. This is seen as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
Companies wishing to increase the diversity of their team can also legally take a proactive approach to achieve this in the workplace. For instance, they could carefully target job adverts or training to help disadvantaged groups.
It is worth seriously considering where to place adverts to widen the selection pool. The recruitment process must be fair though, and if there are two candidates of equal ability the preferred characteristic can be the deciding factor, but not if they are of less ability.
It is important as well to be cautious and take advice, as the period dignity officer, after his role was scrapped, is taking legal action.
Putting a stop to bullying and harassment in the workplace
Despite, or perhaps because of, a much greater awareness of bullying and harassment in the workplace, tribunal claims relating to bullying increased 44% in the 12 months up to March 2022. That is according to analysis conducted by a law firm who reported that claims rose from 581 to 835 – a record.
Could it be that the shift to remote and hybrid working is wrongfooting organisations who have previously had a good track record of managing bullying and harassment?
New risks include gossiping on messaging apps during presentations, excluding colleagues from remote meetings and addressing sharp comments made on video calls, which are harder to manage when people aren’t in the same place.
Separately, but on the same topic, the Charity Commission has recently published clarification on the respective responsibilities in preventing and responding to bullying and harassment in charities.
This puts weight on trustees to have clear anti-bullying and harassment policies, and to respond to allegations appropriately.
Anyone concerned about bullying or harassment should approach the charity or trustees so that they can manage the concerns within the framework of their policies. Trustees should report the most serious of allegations to the Charity Commission to assess and decide if intervention is required.
It all serves as a reminder to any employer to have the right policies and procedures in place which, as well as covering bullying and harassment, should also include whistleblowing, welfare and discipline and grievance.
The cost of not doing so – either in a charity or a business – can lead to a toxic workplace culture, a talent drain, reputational damage and the risk of an employment tribunal – as this year’s rise in cases shows.
Employee share plans
In this tough recruitment market, employee share plans are an interesting and sometimes very rewarding way to remunerate staff. In addition to the attractions to employees, they can help foster loyalty by giving your team a vested interest in the business.
Broadly, they involve giving employees the right to acquire shares in the business (often at a favourable price) at a future date. If you set one up using an official HMRC scheme, they will come with tax advantages too, although there will be extra rules to comply with.
There are several different schemes including Save As You Earn (SAYE), Enterprise Management Initiatives (EMI), Company Share Option Plans (CSOPs), Share Incentive Plans (SIPs) as well as non-tax-advantaged schemes. If you have succession planning on your mind, you may also look at an employee ownership trust.
The choice and complexity means it is important to seek advice on which one to choose, and then on set-up and ongoing management.
You do also need to satisfy yourself on how much control of the company and profits to give up, that it will meet your reward objectives and how you will manage and review it going forwards. You might prefer to run a more simple performance-related bonus scheme instead.
Mandatory requirements: Should you drop the 2:1 expectation?
Boilerplate graduate job adverts ask for a 2:1 degree or higher, but is this helpful in 2022? PwC, one of the largest employers of graduates each year has announced it is ditching the requirement.
Their stated reasoning is that it will improve workforce diversity as there is a link between poorer socio-economic backgrounds and lower degree qualifications – a worthy motivation. It will undoubtedly also increase the number of applications they receive at a time when many businesses are struggling to fill roles.
It’s worth remembering too that many students will have experienced a much-disrupted time at university during the pandemic. Final grades might not reflect academic ability as accurately as those from previous cohorts. Even if they do have lower grades, there are sure to be plenty of applicants with the energy and skills to be a success.
Time off for the death of a pet
How would you respond if one of your team asked for time off to grieve following the death of a pet? To many, a much-loved pet is considered part of the family.
There are various statutory (and sometimes contractual) provisions for employees to take time off to mourn a death or care for dependants: typically, a young child, partner or aging parent. However, the definition does not automatically extend to Pickles the cat.
Often, in the short term, you may just follow your instinct and give people the space they need. The answer to the hypothetical question regarding a pet is worth thinking over in more depth. Where would you draw the line? Cats and dogs may be an easy yes, but ferrets and fish…?
Compassion is a welcome trait, but so too is fairness. So think how any pet bereavement leave would work equitably across your company, should an employee ask for it.
A crying shame
Men are encouraged to show their emotions in the 21st century more than ever, and rightly so; but when one CEO shared a tearful picture of himself on LinkedIn, having just made two staff redundant, the response was not so encouraging.
He was called out – brutally – for narcissism and managing his own personal reputation rather than supporting his former employees.
A more helpful tactic would have been to invest in an outplacement service (like the one we offer) which sets up redundant staff with skills and resources for finding new roles.
As it happens, this story did have a happy ending of sorts, when all the negative publicity created by the CEO led to a slew of job offers for the redundant staff.