Welcome to January's edition of Forrest Scene

HR SERVICES

The start of the year is a great time to review your HR practices.? Whether you have plans to recruit and want to ensure your onboarding documents are sufficient, or you would just like to have the piece of mind to know that everything is in place as it should be, with the various employment law changes that are ongoing.?

At ForrestHR, we offer a number of support packages for this, this can include:

HR Revamp

• This is a useful one-off service, where if you have existing documentation, we review your employment contracts, worker agreements, employee handbook and other employment documents in place.
• Following our review, we will report back on any areas where you could be legally exposed and, where needed, be “revamped”.
• Our recommendations will provide details on how to move forward with implementing these changes.
• This is a complimentary service, so you really have nothing to lose.

Get Going

• If you don’t have any documentation in place and aren’t sure where to start, our Get Going package is a great starting point.
• This could include the implementation of a standard employment contract, consultancy agreement for self-employed workers, executive/director agreement, internship agreement or apprenticeship agreement, all tailored for your business and individualised for your staff and workers.
• We can also introduce an employee handbook that is bespoke for the needs of your business, providing policies and practices that are relevant for your specific industry, not just something “off the shelf”, performance review process, onboarding documents, plus more subject to your needs.

?Get in touch to discuss the best package for your business.

PAYROLL SERVICES

Employers are set to face increased costs and payroll requirements in 2024 as several changes to employment law are introduced.? We have summarised 3 of these below:

• New reduced rate of Class 1 National Insurance Contributions for employees in early January (from 12% to 10%).
• Increases to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) from April 2024.
• New legislation for calculating holiday pay as we have demonstrated on our website, which may affect your payroll processes.?

?Contact the experts to find out more and to discuss outsourcing your payroll to remove the stress of keeping up with ever changing legislation.

TRAINING SERVICES

Our first online workshop of 2024 is ‘An Introduction to Management’, held on 27th and 28th February 2024.?

This workshop is excellent for Managers and Leaders, whether newly appointed or existing ones who may benefit from a refresher in management skills.

It covers the performance management cycle, as well as coaching and feedback tools plus more, giving Managers the skills they need to effectively manage people in the workplace.

The course is held over 2 half days (9.30am – 12.30pm on both days) on Zoom and is fully interactive.

Previous delegates have rated our Management training “Amazing”, and “of a very high quality”, and they have demonstrated they would be “extremely likely to recommend the training to a friend of colleague”.

Get in touch today to secure your place for one of our most popular courses.

HEALTH & WELLBEING SERVICES

Do you currently have a fertility support offering in your business for your team?

The world of IVF can seem like a minefield, but with the right knowledge and support, individuals will be better equipped to make the right decisions for their fertility journey.? Forrest Health & Wellbeing are connected to IVF industry experts and can provide support to you and your business, and more importantly, your team.

Contact us today to learn more about the expertise that is available.

HEALTH & SAFETY SERVICES

Have you considered your 2024 annual health and safety review yet?

Like most business practices, once in place, it is important to continually review to ensure they are up to date, still relevant and most importantly compliant.

We would always recommend that health and safety objectives, policies, risk assessments and training requirements are reviewed on an annual basis. ?

Employers need to be able to document a Health and Safety management system, or a health and safety policy statement, this being a legal requirement for employers.

Risk assessments are a requirement under health and safety legislation and failure to conduct them is an offence. The law requires risk assessments to be ‘suitable and sufficient’. Our experienced team of health and safety consultants can work with you to determine which policies are required, review your existing risk assessments, and give advice and practical guidance to remain compliant in 2024 and beyond.

It is important to note that health and safety law requires businesses to have access to competent health and safety advice, to meet the needs of the organisation.

Contact the team today to discuss an annual review or to discuss your health and safety management in general.

FG IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Our CEO, Sophie Forrest-Lavery, was featured in last week's edition of Times of Tunbridge Wells confirming new rules for calculating holiday pay for workers on irregular hours and/or those working just part of the year.? Check out the article here on page 8: https://bit.ly/3HATDyd.

We are delighted to welcome our new HR Advisor, Emily Laflin who will be providing support to the team and cover whilst our Head of Group Operations, Sarah James commences her maternity leave in February. Emily will be the main point of contact for our existing clients, to ensure continuity of HR support.? We are delighted to welcome Emily to the Forrest Team.