Your Top 5 HR Questions

Here’s the most frequently asked questions we've received from you over the last month and our responses.?

1. We need to conduct a workplace investigation and don’t know where to start – help!

A workplace investigation is simply a fact-finding exercise to find out what did, or did not, happen.? Investigations can be part of a Disciplinary or Grievance Process and require someone with great questioning and listening skills who can be impartial and fair, and also able to keep the investigation confidential. Investigations can be stressful for all involved, but making a disciplinary or grievance decision without one could leave you at risk of legal action.??

This means it’s crucial to get it right. Here are 6 ways to ensure your investigation runs smoothly.?

1. Get in contact with your HR provider to ensure you follow a correct investigation procedure.?
2. Gather all the information you have and nominate your investigator. Remember what we said here about the skills needed to be a great investigator.?
3. Conduct interviews with all parties using well-planned questions in advance to get to the bottom of what’s happened.?
4. Evaluate all the evidence, analyse the facts and refer to any relevant company policies in your Employee Handbook.?
5. Make a decision about whether to hold a Disciplinary Meeting or deliver the outcome of the Grievance base don your findings and inform everyone of the next steps without delay.?
6. Document everything, follow up to make sure people are happy and offer support if needed.?

If you need our help to manage an investigation, then please get in touch.

2. Is our business at risk if our personnel records are still “paper-based”?

Lots of our clients ask us this question and the simple answer is Yes! You need to ditch your paper files – not literally – please dispose of your paper files sensibly!) but it’s time to move to an HRIS because you are putting yourself? and your business at a huge risk and here’s why;?

GDPR compliance??

Keeping your records paper-based makes it harder to comply with GDPR. Locating the relevant files, consents, etc., can be hard when wading through a cupboard full of paperwork – even harder if someone has removed the relevant file to work from home.??

Remember: non-compliance with GDPR comes with a potential fine of up to ￡18 million or 4% of your total turnover. So, it’s worth doing everything you can to ensure your records are kept correctly.?

Employment law compliance??

There is a lot of ‘paperwork’ when it comes to employment law compliance and it’s difficult for HR teams to ensure everything is up to date when you’re still paper-based. That’s why it’s much easier and risk free to digitalise this. At a glance, your HR team will be able to store information safely and see what needs doing.??

You’re slowing everything down??

Efficiency is really important when it comes to HR. In fact, with HR being a real partner for driving your business forward, any efficiencies gained here will translate to efficiencies across your whole business.?

A successful business needs efficient processes and HR is best managed digitally.??

Ineffective workforce management??

Whether you’re managing the rota, payroll or accepting holiday requests – doing this while you’re still paper-based is really ineffective and there is such a huge margin for error. Doing this digitally will not only speed things up and make it easier for your team, but it will also help you manage resource more effectively.?

What’s the solution???

You need to digitalise your HR and as a GOLD Breathe Partner, we are a firm believer that an online HR platform such as Breathe is a great bit of software to help you do this. Having Breathe enables you to store all your HR documentation in one place, monitor leave and sickness, and much more – all whilst staying GDPR compliant.??

If you’d like to discuss Breathe and if it’s going to be a good fit for your business, or if you would like a free demo, please get in touch with us.?

3. We are inviting candidates to an interview with us and they either don’t turn up or we quickly realise that they can’t do the role. How can we make sure we are seeing people for these face to face interviews who can actually do the job?

A pre-screening process can be used to ensure that applicants meet the basic requirements for a role e.g., candidates have the right skill set for a vacant role. It is a series of questions that enables you as the employer to learn some basic information about candidates, such as their interest in the position, what attracted them to the role, salary expectations etc. prior to conducting a more extensive face to face interview.?

The benefits of pre-screening interviews?

The pre-screening interview is an important part of the recruiting process. One of the biggest benefits is that it can save employers the time of putting?unqualified candidates (and those with red flags) through an extensive in-person interview. It is a great way to screen out candidates that are interesting but may not be the best fit for the role, often due to a lack of experience in previous positions similar to those they wish to be hired for.?

It also helps recruiters, interviewers and candidates become familiar with each other prior to meeting,?increasing candidate comfort levels with the interview process.?

How to conduct a pre-screening interview?

A pre-screening interview can be done over the phone or online. If done over the phone or video chat, take detailed notes on candidate competencies that can be provided to the hiring manager if the candidate advances to the next stage.?

Pre-Screening Interview questions?

Once you decide whether you will conduct your pre-screening interview online or over the phone, you need to prepare a set of interview questions.?

The questions you use should reveal information relevant to a candidate’s on-the job performance. However, because there may be a large pool of applicants to pre-screen we recommend that you limit interviews to around five key questions.?

The pre-screening interview is typically comprised of surface-level questions regarding job preferences, skills and abilities, career goals and aspirations.?

The example questions detailed below are different types of questions to help you to? understand your candidate from a different perspective such as understanding their skills, desired culture and preferred management style, and these types of questions are a great way to determine a good fit from the start.?

Make sure that if you have a set date or days to interview people in person that the candidate is available to attend the interview.??

?Here’s some example questions?

• Tell me in your own words what you think we are looking for??
• Why do you think your current and past work experience make you a great fit for our role??
• What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your current or previous role? How did you overcome this challenge? What was the outcome??
• What are your goals for professional development? How will getting this job help you advance toward your professional development goals??

• What type of work environment do you prefer? How do you like to be managed???
• What are some characteristics of a company culture that helps you do your best work and helps you enjoy your time at work??
• Tell me about a recent important task or project that you have managed? How did you make sure that the project remained on track??
• Tell me about a time when you have had to manage multiple deadlines set for the same day or week? How did you manage this??
• When was the last time you failed to meet a deadline? What happened? What would you do differently if given the chance??
• What’s the most frustrating part of your current role? Have you ever taken steps to try and make this part of your role less frustrating??
• What does your typical work week look like in terms of responsibilities? How have these responsibilities changed over time??
• What makes a job fun and motivating for you??
• What can your current/previous employer do to keep you from leaving your role??
• What salary range do you expect from your next role??
• What career accomplishments will help you to perform well in this job??
• What career challenges have prepared you for the challenges you would face in this job??
• Are you currently interviewing with any other companies??
• When can you start if you are hired??
• What questions do you have for me about the role, the team and/or the company at large??

?After the pre-screening Interview?

Once you have conducted the pre-screening interview, you should advise successful candidates that they have been selected to attend the face to face interview and confirm their attendance. It’s also important that you let those that haven’t been selected for interview know and offer them the opportunity to get feedback as to why they were unsuccessful.??

4. We have quite a “jokey” male environment of “banter” at work, but we’ve now received a grievance from an employee saying that they find this type of banter offensive and sexist – what should we do?

Firstly, you need to make sure that you take this grievance seriously and investigate these complaints properly and following a fair grievance process. If you don’t have a grievance policy – please get in touch with us for one.?

Keeping an eye on the culture and “banter” in your workplace could help you avoid a tribunal and hefty fine!? In a recent tribunal case, a female solicitor who had been paid less than a male colleague for five years and endured a “campaign of victimisation” when she complained, was awarded ￡159, 000.?

Helena Biggs made a claim against her former employer for sex discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal, when she found out she had been paid less than her male colleague for the last five years, she raised the issue with her manager.?

The tribunal heard details of discrimination and victimisation spanning the solicitor’s tenure at the firm, ultimately resulting in her being dismissed from her role. The tribunal judge ruled that she had received unequal pay and suffered unlawful sex discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and awarded her a total of ￡158,860.41, saying “What is described as banter or jokes can still be offensive.”?

This is an extreme case, but? it’s an important lesson for all business owners to ensure the culture in your company is supportive and inclusive. It’s not acceptable to make sexist or other discriminatory comments in a workplace environment. As this recent case shows, that can be a very costly mistake. It’s important to ensure everyone in your business knows where that line is regarding what is and is not acceptable – and if you’re not sure, err on the side of caution. Make sure you have a robust grievance procedure in place and that all your employees know where it is and how to use it.?

People want to work in an environment that feels safe and inclusive, and making sure everyone knows what is and is not acceptable is a key part of this. The law now states that employers have a duty to be proactive in preventing sexual harassment and must have a policy addressing this. Organising staff training and making sure everyone is familiar with key policies are important – but so is making sure your policies are followed correctly in the event a grievance is raised. Failing to treat your staff fairly can end up costing you money as well as losing valuable employees.?

5. We have two members of staff who aren’t getting on and this is now creating a real problem as they are either being rude to each other, or ignoring each other, they won’t be in important meetings together and this is now impacting their ability to do their jobs and making other members of staff miserable.

What can we do to sort this out??

This sounds like a problem that Mediation may help with! Mediation is a voluntary process led by an impartial third party to resolve conflict. Conflict can occur in any employment relationship and is best dealt with by a third party who can be impartial.??

?Mediation is often described as a form of informal or ‘alternative’ dispute resolution (ADR), as it’s less formal than the more traditional grievance and discipline procedures and employment tribunals. It nonetheless follows a structured approach.?

?Mediation can be used at any stage of a disagreement or dispute. The process is flexible and voluntary, and any agreement is morally rather than legally binding. The process aims to create a safe, confidential space for those involved (the ‘parties’) to find solutions that are acceptable to each side. Specifically, mediation provides the potential to:?

• Help parties involved in conflict hold open conversations that would normally be too difficult to have constructively.?
• Help parties to understand and empathise with each other’s emotions and situations.?
• Explore all parties’ issues and concerns and use joint problem-solving to find a solution that each side feels is fair.?
• Encourage communication and establish workable relationships.?
• Help participants develop the skills to resolve workplace difficulties for themselves in future.?

A trained or experienced mediator’s role is to act as an impartial third party who facilitates a meeting between two or more people in dispute, to help them reach an agreement. Although the mediator oversees the process, any agreement comes from those in dispute.?

Meraki HR can help you to resolve informal disputes as we are experienced in managing conflict resolution. For more complex workplace issues, we work with a number of trained mediators.??

If you have a question that you’d like answered next month, then just send it to us at [email protected] and we may include it in next month’s Top 5!