With Christmas party season here, many employers are now concerned
about the possible disciplinary and grievance issues that may
follow. Ensure that your Christmas party is memorable for all the
right reasons by planning ahead to minimise the risk of any
potential complaints.

Ensure that staff are aware that the party is a work related
activity. Policies such as anti-discrimination, bullying &
harassment will still apply at the party and on the way home
afterwards, and it may be worth bringing them to the attention of
your employees before the party.

Actively discourage employees from driving after the party if they
intend to drink alcohol. Consider this when planning the venue of
the party – is it easily accessible by public transport/ taxis.

If you are supplying free drinks for your employees set a limit as
to the number of drinks allowed per individual and communicate this
before the party. Also ensure that soft drinks are as freely
available as alcoholic drinks.

If employees are attending parties organised by customer/ clients
then ensure they are aware of what standards of behaviour are
expected of them. As they are acting as a representative of the
Company they should treat it as a work related activity.

Prior to the party, communicate with all staff that they could be
subject to disciplinary action if they fail to turn up to work due
to over-indulgence, or if they turn up for work intoxicated.

Remember to invite members of staff who are away from the workplace
due to absences such as maternity/ paternity leave or sick leave.

If grievances are raised or disciplinary situations arise as a
result of the Christmas party, it is important that they are taken
seriously and that proper procedures are followed.

On the whole, remember that this is a great opportunity for your
employees to mix and socialise in a relaxed informal setting as
well as an excellent opportunity for you as an employer to show
your appreciation and thanks for work done over the past year.

To find out more on how Deminos can make sure your contracts,
policies, procedures and practices meet the statutory requirements
ring us today – tomorrow may be too late! Call 0191 460 1111
or e-mail at info@deminos.co.uk

In the final part of our series we are looking at moving forwards
after redundancy.

A redundancy program is only one possible answer to a business
problem and it is very seldom a complete solution. The organisation
needs to ensure that its whole business strategy is reviewed and
that all reasons for lost competitiveness are addressed.

Failing to address workforce issues and driving the company into
bankruptcy thus losing all jobs does not make sense. There are
strategies, falling short of redundancies, which although having an
adverse impact, are better than the alternative and can help your
organisation prepare for the future and become a strong competitor
in your market.

These strategies could include:

Managing Poor Performers – businesses are sometimes very fearful of
managing poor performers from – especially if they have a number of
years service. It will be a fact that these poor performers are
not providing the same productivity output as other members of the
workforce and are therefore ultimately costing your business.
While it may take a number of months to either get the employee
performing to the level expected or manage them out of the
business, it will be time well spent.

Retraining or Redeployment – this should always be explored in
depth. This may be a great opportunity to create a multi-skilled
workforce which may give the organisation an opportunity to take on
additional work in a certain area, where there has been a downturn
in work in another area. It is more cost effective than
compensation, recruitment and induction costs.

If you would like more information on these and other alternatives
that may be available to you then contact us today on 0191 460 1111

In the second part of our redundancy series we are looking at
alternatives to redundancy.

Often there is pressure to make redundancies, but companies do not
want to lose the valuable skills and experience of their staff.

This has recently been seen in the news with Honda halting UK car
production at its Swindon plant for two months during Feb and Mar
2009. A 17% drop in production is the net result, but most
importantly all staff are retained on their basic package ready for
work to resume.

Lay-offs such as those at Honda or ‘short time working’ (where the
working week is shortened) can provide a temporary alternative to
workforce reduction. These can only be introduced if there is a
contractual right to do so, that is either stated in the contract
of employment or through a collective agreement.

Check your employment contract.

If you have no contractual right to do so, you may go into a period
of consultation with your staff to get their agreement to the
changes, which would involve varying contracts and you would have
to confirm the changes in writing with each individual.

Even if you have right to bring into effect short-time working or
lay offs, you need to make sure that the situation is handled
carefully and take into account the effect that this may have on
your workforce, this is especially the case if it is not a regular
occurrence.

You need to be watchful over what period of time and the number of
occasions that you impose short time working or lay off on an
individual as they may then have the legal right to claim
redundancy. This is a very complex area of employment law with a
number of legal provisions that need to be followed.

Call us now.

Deminos can help . . . . ring us today on 0191 460 1111 – we can be
your virtual HR Department at the fraction of the price of
employing an additional member of staff, with the added security of
Employment Tribunal Insurance.