??The HR Hero Weekly Update??
Kate Bennett The-HR-Hero
Helping SME’s from 1-100 staff with employment law, HR and people management. To set healthy boundaries with your team and protect the business - SOS Call | on going support | HR consultancy | training - DM me????♀?
Whoo hoo, it's been a fab week here at The HR Hero HQ.
I've moved into my new office, and had flowers delivered, received gifts and cards . I could certainly get use to this!
Just over 18 months ago, when I set up The HR Hero, I never thought I'd be moving into an office.?
Like a lot of people, I've been working from home the past three years and I didn't realise how much I had missed working from an office.?
Having my own space and seeing my work buddies on a daily basis, is definitely good for the soul!
Here's a photo of me in my new abode!??
HR Practice: How to approach a conversation about mental health with your staff
'30% of staff disagreed with the statement...'I feel able to talk openly with my line manager if I was feeling stressed'
According to?Mind?
Mind, also explain that a common misconception is that ‘it’s strange and unhelpful to talk about your mental health’ .
The opposite is true. We all have mental health and talking about it can help ourselves and others. However, we shouldn’t force people to talk if they don’t want to.?
There are many concerns or barriers to why someone might not want to talk to their line manager:
Once a quiet and private place is found, the conversation starter questions could be asked:??
We shouldn’t force people to talk if they don’t want to. We also need to remember we’re not the professional to deal or cope with what someone shares with us. If they do open up, listening is one of the most important skills.
You’d think we’d be good at listening! However, how many times do we share a concern and someone can relate to it so they start talking about their experience. It happens all the time!
We only remember between 25-50% of what we hear. However, we can improve our active listening skills by:
If you would like to find out more about how to support staff with their mental health and wellbeing, join our FREE online masterclass??
On the last Thursday of every month?we offer a free online masterclass, to help you support your people.
This months masterclass is hosted by me and delivered by Wendy from Garrett Learning.
Wendy, or Wellbeing Wendy as I like to call her, is?a certified instructor for Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA) and delivers mental health certified courses to businesses of all sizes across the UK.?
Wendy's clients have included,?Amazon, BMW Group, Birmingham Hippodrome, British Museum,?NHS Dental Trust, Probation Service, Remploy, Saltoria Marketing, Stellantis, Unite Students, Valeo and West Mercia Police.
Watch the video to find out what you'll learn on the masterclass ??
Employment Law - In the News
The Spring Budget
This week we saw the spring budget focus on bringing people back into work, from attracting the long-term sick into employment, those over 50 years old and unemployed, pensions and additional funding for childcare. Now don't get me started on the so called 'free' childcare debate!
An article in?People Management?explains what the changes will mean for?employers and HR.
'Apprenticeships for over 50s
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled a number of tactics to address unemployment among the over 50s, a group containing more than 3.5 million people, according to data from?Age UK.?
One such tactic is a new ‘returnership’ apprenticeship programme, aimed at improving existing skills-building initiatives to make them more approachable for older workers, giving them the knowledge and assistance they need to find a direct route back into the workforce.
Hunt also said he intends to ensure that people receive the best possible financial, health and career guidance well in advance of retirement with the expansion of the mid-life MOT – a review for workers in their 40s and 50s, helping them take stock of finances, skills and health to prepare for retirement and build financial resilience.?
Pension tax reform
In a further bid to keep older workers in the labour market, Hunt announced that the annual allowance (AA) would be increased from ￡40,000 to ￡60,000 – a move he dubbed the biggest change in UK pension tax since 2006.
The chancellor emphasised that, thanks to this policy, an estimated 80 per cent of NHS doctors would not receive a tax charge with respect to accruals under the 2015 NHS career average scheme, as well as benefiting many more experienced workers.
Helping the disabled and long-term sick back to work
Forming part of the government’s main pledge to get people back to work, with Hunt saying there are one million vacancies and seven million adults out of work for various reasons, the DWP outlined the details of a?disability benefits reform?aimed to “make sure it better meets the needs of disabled people in Great Britain”.
This change includes removing the work capability assessment and supporting claimants to work without fear of losing their financial support.
However, Sarah Williams, head of employment at Taylors Solicitors, says the government’s proposal opens a great debate as “small financial incentives, pressure and penalties for jobseekers may not succeed”.
She warns that having disabled and long-term sick people return to work reluctantly can create issues on the basis of the Equality Act, as “many employers struggle to provide support and make reasonable adjustments”.
Asked whether the onus on employers to provide targeted support to such employees would increase, Nick Pahl, chief executive of SOM, answers with a definitive “yes” – especially for medium and larger businesses, as “the government is signalling it may intervene in the future unless they see employers investing in workplace health”.
From an employment law perspective, Williams says “the proposals may be more problematic than the government realises, which could result in increased employment tribunal litigation”.
Extension of childcare funding for working parents?
Hunt announced that 30 hours of free childcare would be available for every child over the age of nine months with working parents by September 2025.?
This will be introduced in phases, with 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds going into effect in April 2024, and for working parents of children aged between nine months and three years in September 2024.?
Childcare in the UK is among the most expensive in the world according to data from the?OECD, with only Slovakia and Switzerland more expensive, and the rising cost of childcare has widely been seen as a deterrent for some parents to go back into work or back full time.?
Hunt said if we truly wanted to remove obstacles to employment, we needed to reach out to parents of young children as childcare was still simply “too expensive” for them, and that he didn’t want any parents of children under the age of five to be prevented from working if they wanted to, because doing so would be “damaging to our economy” and would be primarily unfair to women.?
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, says the boost to childcare provision is a potential “game changer” for working parents as it will enable many more working parents, particularly women, to return to work much earlier than they can currently. “This can help avoid the loss of skills and confidence that can be caused by spending too long out of employment and boost gender equality, as will the boost to wraparound care, but both schemes need to be properly funded to succeed,” he says.
However, Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families, says that while the government’s strategy for increasing funding for childcare is encouraging because it is finally treating affordable childcare as a “vital component of economic growth”, the budget as it stands “falls short of delivering on the promise of a fully supported system from nine months to four-year-olds”.?
Van Zyl adds that millions of parents and carers will have the flexibility, security and control they need to succeed at work if childcare is “properly subsidised” and combined with the measures of the flexible working bill, but says “much more still needs to be done”.
Lauren Fabianski, head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant Then Screwed, says that to enable mothers to work more hours, and in some cases to work at all, we need childcare to be both “affordable and available and this needs to happen by increasing funding to bridge the current funding gap”.??
Have a great weekend!
Best wishes, Kate
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PS.?If you want to implement practices to support your people with mental health and wellbeing, then book your place on my FREE masterclass??
Disclaimer:??Every reasonable effort is made to make the information accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by the author or publisher.?If you are unsure about how this information applies to your specific situation, please seek expert/legal advice.