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What does the King’s Speech tell us about Labour’s plans for employment law?

July 22, 2024July 22, 2024AdmireAdmin

The King’s Speech confirmed that Labour intends to implement an Employment Rights Bill, following their manifesto promise to “make work pay”.

The government has confirmed that this legislation will be brought before parliament during the first 100 days – which means we can expect it before the end of October.

What was said in the King’s Speech?

King Charles said that his government “Is committed to making work pay and will legislate to introduce a new deal for working people, to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.

Further background information, provided by the government, states that this plan “will create a new partnership between business, trade unions and working people”.

What can we expect to be included in the Employment Rights Bill?

The government has confirmed that the Bill will include the following commitments:

Banning exploitative zero-hour contracts means workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work. Workers will also be entitled to reasonable notice of any changes in shifts, with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed.
Making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one for all workers – though they have confirmed that employers can still operate probationary periods to assess new hires.
Strengthening of statutory sick pay (SSP), removing the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers, as well as removing the three-day waiting period.
Make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with employers expected to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.
Strengthened protections for new mothers, making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (this excludes specific circumstances).
Establishing a new single enforcement body, to be known as the Fair Work Agency, which will be tasked with strengthening the enforcement of workplace rights.
Updates to trade union legislation, removing restrictions applied by the previous government and simplifying the process of statutory recognition.
Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ practices through legislative reform.

What does this mean for your business?

You need to get prepared and begin future-proofing your business. And you need to do it now.

Contracts, policies and handbooks will all need to be rewritten to reflect the changes that are coming, particularly to take into account the changes to day-one rights.

If you need to carry out any organisational changes or restructuring, you need to prioritise this, making sure your processes need to be audited to ensure they are fit for purpose.

Most importantly, are your probationary processes clear and being implemented effectively? This becomes even more important with protection from unfair dismissal becoming a day one right.

HR Dept offers support for changing times

July 1, 2024July 1, 2024AdmireAdmin

With the impending election, many small business owners may be uncertain about what this means for their business future. Part of these concerns will likely surround their employees and what changes may come into employment law – especially what this may cost them.

With this in mind, The HR Dept has developed resources to help SMEs navigate the changing times. These include an online election hub and whitepaper, detailing some of the key proposals and their likely impact on SMEs. From additional day-one rights to plans for stronger enforcement. Increased costs to empowered trade unions. The impact of this election on SMEs across the country is likely to be huge. These resources are designed to provide employers with insight into what they could mean for them and, more importantly, how they can future proof their business by getting ahead of the changes.

Felicity Kenny is the Managing Director of the HR Dept

“SMEs make up the backbone of the UK economy but are often under-represented in conversations and debates around the future of employment legislation. We are proud to have always been the ‘ HR Voice of the SME’ and as part of this commitment is to provide resources and expert advice during transformative change.”

You can find these free resources at https://www.hrdept.co.uk/

The HR Dept Launches New Podcast: ‘Preventing People Problems’

March 11, 2024March 11, 2024AdmireAdmin

The HR Dept is thrilled to announce the launch of its new podcast channel, featuring insightful discussions on ‘Preventing People Problems’. The podcast will take a deep dive into the world of human resources, where listeners get expert advice, valuable tips, and guidance on a broad range of topics.

The first episode, ‘Investigations’, hosted by Tracey Hudson, addresses the challenges senior managers and business owners face when they become the subject of a grievance and workplace investigation. Hudson is joined by HR experts Sarah Bradley, HR Director, Leeds South, and Michaela Gartside, HR Director, Bracknell, Windsor & Heathrow, to discuss investigations when things go wrong, dealing with the emotions, the process, and the aftermath.

Business leaders will get practical guidance on navigating the complexities and nuances of workplace investigations. They will gain valuable insights from experienced HR professionals, learn practical strategies to address grievances, protect all parties involved, get closure, and foster a healthy work environment.

“We’re excited to launch the Preventing People Problems podcast, which is aimed mainly at small and medium-sized enterprises. Episode 1 delves into workplace investigations’ impact on leaders and employees. Our goal is to equip senior managers and business owners with the knowledge needed to handle these situations successfully,” said Tracey Hudson, Executive Director at The HR Dept South Warwickshire, North Warwickshire, Rugby & North Derbyshire.

To listen to the podcast and gain valuable insights on how to manage workplace investigations, visit https://www.hrdept.co.uk/podcast/

HR Dept Celebrates ‘HR Dept in the Community’

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023AdmireAdmin

Throughout September, The HR Dept took part in ‘The HR Dept in the Community’ campaign to raise money for a local charity close to their hearts. Nationally, HR Dept franchises chose local charities to support.

HR Dept Central Office partnered with The HR Dept Bristol and The Health & Safety Dept Bristol to fundraise for Jessie May Trust, a charity based in the South West that cares for children with life-limiting conditions in their own homes.

They created an itinerary that included fundraising activities throughout the month, including an indoor cycling challenge that covered 688 miles, a team walk up Pen Y Fan, cake sales and a charity quiz night and raffle.

The team raised a brilliant £1500 for Jessie May, which will go towards supporting their palliative care nursing teams.

Felicity Kenny is the Managing Director of HR Dept,

“As a national franchise network, we wanted to find a way to support charities close to our hearts. It was great to see so many of our HR Dept business owners get involved in their local area, for what we hope will be the first year of many HR Dept in the community months.”

Be Astute Join Forces with Snook Digital

October 6, 2023October 6, 2023AdmireAdmin

Be Astute are pleased to announce its exciting new partnership with Snook Digital, which is a creative digital marketing company specialising in e-commerce, website optimisation, and process improvement. As one of the South West’s leading management consulting firms, Be Astute knows that this collaboration will be a game changer.

Bill Stock of Be Astute, has worked with Nathan and Snook Digital for the past two years, so it was a natural decision to formalise this partnership.

Be Astute is all about collaboration, as the company was created by Bill and Julia Stock, a formidable husband and wife duo who decided to combine their individual years of expertise. They are business-focused IT specialists who have set up a business support company with a difference.

As a duo, they excel in every department, with credentials such as taking a company with 100 staff which was 90% paper-based, with staff who were highly reluctant IT users, and over a period of 8 years made the business 99% paper-free.

“This partnership means that we can offer clients more services than ever, allowing businesses to grow in ways that they did not even think were possible without our help”- Julia Stock

Similarly, Snook Digital are champion of its craft. Building fast, intricate sites that engage users in a way that entices them to learn more about your business or product. Nathan and the team have years of experience in software development, testing, and real-world customer experience, transforming a business’s front end and enhancing its back-end process.

Whilst Snook Digital specialises in digital marketing, Bill is an expert in databases with the ability to see your IT and data needs in relation to your whole business. To him, data is the blood supply of your business. This joint interest in the digital landscape and technology meant that a partnership was always going to happen between these two companies. Better data means better business, and Snook Digital and Be Astute can not be more excited to share this amazing collaboration.

Western Building Consultants Extend Dragons RFC Sponsorship

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023AdmireAdmin

Dragons RFC and Western Building Consultants are pleased to announce their partnership renewal for the forthcoming 2023-24 season.

Western Building Consultants pride themselves on the design work that they do to constantly enrich the local area through their unique approach to the built environment. This passion for the local area expands from the professional into the personal, with championing local grassroots sports being a significant element of their company’s ethics. Based on this, Western building Consultants will see their brand displayed around Rodney Parade along with the Player Sponsorship of returning great, Dan Lydiate.

Rodney Parade is located near one of Western Building Consultants offices in South Wales. Not only are the Dragons based near the office, but they are also local to Sam, one of the Directors of Western Building Consultants. Both of the Directors, Sam and James are avid rugby fans and originally bonded over their love of the sport when they first met at university. Together, they have long supported grassroots rugby teams with sponsorships in the communities they work in. Sam has personally been a season ticket holder at Rodney Parade for several years, living close by he splits his time between the Newport, Bath, and Bristol Offices. With both company Directors being such keen supporters of the Dragons, it felt like an easy decision to progress into sponsoring the club.

Last year, Western Building Consultants helped to sponsor the Dragons and this has continued through to the current season, with their support growing as a result of their anniversary celebrations. As Western Building Consultants are celebrating their 20th year, they knew that they wanted a big celebration, and so their support for the Dragons has been extended this year with their sponsorship of Wales International player Dan Lydiate who has moved back to the club for the 23/24 season.

Lydiate started his professional rugby playing journey with the Dragons at their academy, making his return to the club even more special – “It’s great to be back. I have fond memories here and I am determined to add to that”- Dan Lydiate

As a business based in the South West, with local Welsh offices and being partly Welsh owned the business is keen to support clubs in the local communities it works within, giving back to the local community. The profound positive impact sport has on communities and those that play it is recognised in Western Building Consultant’s CSR policy and they can think of no better way than to celebrate with the continued support for the Dragons RFC.

Baltimore Consulting announce partnership with Bristol Hippodrome

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023AdmireAdmin

Baltimore Consulting, a leading niche recruitment provider to the public sector, has announced an exciting new partnership with one of Britain’s most renowned theatre companies – The Bristol Hippodrome.

Extending its membership with The Bristol Hippodrome, Baltimore Consulting will include an additional box to be used exclusively for children’s services and schools within Bristol. This will allow disadvantaged children and young people the chance to attend the theatre for the first time.

The recruitment provider has committed to sponsoring one of the theatre’s career insight sessions later this year. Each session will give young people an understanding of the various career opportunities available in theatre, such as sales, marketing, administration, programming, maintenance, sound, electrical, costume, automation, and carpentry.

By sponsoring a career session, Baltimore Consulting are supporting 30 young people and allowing them to explore 21st Century STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts & Mathematics) skills and roles in the theatre industry. The consultancy, which works with vulnerable young people and children with special educational needs, has also announced plans to work with local children’s charities in a bid to grant “final wishes” for terminally ill children who want to visit the theatre.

“After successfully launching in 2019, the career insight sessions are part of the theatre’s creative learning programme, which aims to deliver excellence in all educational and community engagement initiatives that it offers,” said Ben Phillips, Theatre Director at The Bristol Hippodrome.

“As part of the theatre’s continuing commitment to the community, the tailored career sessions are an effective way to help inspire a diverse audience and future workforce whilst helping more and more young people to access performing arts, whether they are interested in a career on or offstage.”

The partnership will bring together the best of both worlds, helping Baltimore Consulting provide children with opportunities to visit and learn about careers in the theatre and the chance for Bristol Hippodrome to nurture the next generation of the industry’s workforce.

“After 10 years of successfully supplying staff into vulnerable subject areas within the public sector, we’re absolutely delighted to announce our partnership with The Bristol Hippodrome,” said Charmaine Vincent, Owner and CEO at Baltimore Consulting. “We’re extremely passionate about making a difference to people’s lives within the community.

“Our additional pledge this year to supply a theatre box to disadvantaged children and young people, as well as sponsoring a career insight session, demonstrates our commitment to increasing our local community footprint whilst being fully aligned with our values, business intentions and responsibilities as a small and medium-sized enterprise in children services. Small acts of kindness make such a big difference.”

Bristol Academy of Voice Acting to join DIT Gaming Trade Mission to America

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023AdmireAdmin

Bristol Academy of Voice Acting (BRAVA) is delighted to announce today that it has been invited to join the Department for International Trade (DIT) on its mission to the Games Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco from 20-24March 2023.

BRAVA Founder and CEO, Melissa Thom, will attend the conference with an exclusive group of over 40 UK gaming companies on the 5 day mission to GDC – the leading global video games conference. The UK delegation will join developers, publishers, programmers, artists, producers, funders and technology providers in the US, including Amazon, Epic, Google, Intel, Oculus and Sony.

BRAVA will meet casting directors, producers and content creators to discuss the current state of play in the gaming industry and promote their recently launched talent database: www.brava.uk.com/talent. All featured voice actors have been trained to BRAVA’s high standards, with professional voice reels and high-quality audio recording capabilities to deliver work.

Commenting on the DIT trade mission, BRAVA CEO, Melissa Thom, said:

‘We’re delighted to be invited to attend GDC with DIT and the best of the British gaming industry. Character work and acting for video games is a cornerstone of the voice acting business, and training in this important area has been part of the BRAVA offering from the very beginning. We work with some of the very best coaches in the UK and US and provide intensive training to a very high standard. Together with the support of DIT, this is a fantastic opportunity to be able to showcase our talent on an international stage.’

Ameeta Virk MBE, US Markets Leader at DIT said:

We are thrilled that BRAVA CEO, Melissa Thom, whose clients include Rockstar Games (GTAV) and Zenimax (Elder Scrolls), is joining our UK trade delegation to GDC. We have no doubt BRAVA will continue to strengthen their reputation within the US gaming space and forge long lasting trade relationships moving forward.’

To find out more about BRAVA go to www.brava.uk.com.

Find the BRAVA Talent database at www.brava.uk.com/casting-database or contact us at hello@brava.co.com.

NOCO Hair offer 100 free haircuts to local charities

January 3, 2023January 3, 2023AdmireAdmin

The team at NOCO Hair on Whiteladies Road are again supporting local charities through the thing they do best – cutting hair!

This year, they have chosen 10 local charities to give 10 haircuts to each. The recipient charity can use these ten haircuts however they wish, whether that be to staff, those they support, or use them as a raffle or auction prize to raise money. NOCO’s gift is enabling each charity to spread a bit of joy, and it is their way of giving to those they think are most deserving.

The charities chosen are Women’s Aid, Jessie May, Penny Brohn, BillyChip, St Peters Hospice, Paul’s Place, Community of Purpose, Empire Fighting Chance, Children’s Hospice South West and FareShare South West.

Amy Kington is the CEO at Community of Purpose,

“It’s amazingly generous of NOCO to give their super powers and give complimentary haircuts to our incredible volunteers. We’ve helped tackle holiday hunger by supporting over 1000 young people this year to access our break free programme and we couldn’t do it without the support of our volunteers. It’s amazing to be able to thank them in this way! NOCO is a wonderful force for good in our City.”

NOCO Hair was founded in 2018 by Noel Halligan and Corey Taylor. They’ve built a team of talented stylists, trai the new generation of hair experts, created three bespoke cuts (the Clifton Cut, the Cleo Cut and the Vitality Cut), and brought sustainable beauty to Bristol.

Arobase Creative win at UK Packaging Awards with branding that supports Falklands veterans

December 19, 2022December 19, 2022AdmireAdmin

Arobase Creative have recently won two categories in the UK Packaging Awards 2022, taking home the first-place position in both Branding Project of the Year and Retail Limited Edition of the Year. Arobase Creative worked on the Falklands 40^th Anniversary Commemorative Spirit Collection, creating the branding and packaging design for this special new launch.

The launch of the Falklands Collection marks 40 years since Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas territory inhabited by people who had no intention of being ruled by Argentina. The Spirit Collection reminds us of the sacrifices made by so many, and the immense challenge of the deployment of the task force, sailing 8000 miles from the shores of the United Kingdom to liberate the Falklands.

Alongside Dropzone Brewery, Arobase Creative worked to create the brand and packaging for a set of limited-edition spirits. Using the three themes of Land (whisky), Sea (rum), and Air (gin), they took inspiration from uniform colours, military insignia, battle maps, authentic letters, and historic photographs, to create a premium and modern brand that recognises the importance of such an event.

To commemorate what can be a largely sad anniversary due to the immense losses due to war, Arobase Creative were diligent to remain sensitive to the suffering of the invasion of the Falkland Islands. Therefore, their research focused mainly on the positives. They drew inspiration from the heroes, the brave, and the brilliant tacticians and engineers who helped to successfully liberate the Falklands. To commemorate these important people, each bottle features a metallic foil neck label that resembles the design of the South Atlantic Medal awarded to British military personnel and civilians for service in the Falklands War.

The launch of the Falklands Collection was especially notable because all profits of the launch went to the South Atlantic Medal Association 82 (SAMA82). This is an organisation formed by veterans of the Falklands War, with the aim of establishing and maintaining contact with other organisations involved in the welfare of the Armed Forces. They help ensure that due consideration and support is given to the interests of South Atlantic veterans, meaning their work is essential, and a poignant part of the ongoing efforts to commemorate the War. Each spirit in the Falklands collection was limited to the production of 258 bottles, one bottle to mark every person who lost their life in the liberation of the Falklands.

Not only is the collection hugely personal and poignant, but it was also incredibly successful, with one set sold at auction for £3000. This is only a further reflection of Arobase Creative’s strong work, which was lauded by the judges of the UK Packaging Awards as a “well thought through project with excellent research and an all-round inclusion of the whole story”. It was also noted how the collection was a “truly unique limited pack with a story to match”.