/U/People

Growing risk of accessorial liability

Back in January in my post on 3 reasons to prioritise HR compliance in 2017 , I mentioned the FWO’s growing scope to prosecute for accessorial liability.

At the time, I said that the reach of the provisions may be expanded to include the supply chain. The premise being you could be penalised for a knowing failure to take responsibility for compliance violations across your supply chain.

Fair Work Ombudsman v Blue Impression Pty Ltd

Fast forward to April 28 2017, and the case of Fair Work Ombudsman v Blue Impression Pty Ltd, the operator of a fast food outlet in Melbourne’s CBD.

Blue Impression’s payroll provider, Victoria-based Ezy Accounting 123 Pty Ltd, was found to be accessorily liable for their client’s underpayment of wages. The court determined that Ezy Accounting failed to maintain current award rates of pay in the MYOB payroll system.

As a service provider, the accounting firm argued that they were not liable for the underpayments. They “had no authority to make any adjustment to the data”. Instead, their role “was limited to certain bookkeeping work: data entry work and the uploading of MYOB files to Blue Impression’s bank”.

However, the evidence presented to the Court showed this wasn’t entirely true. The firm’s principal was all too aware that Blue Impression was not paying their employees in accordance with award rates.

In fact, in one email the principal compared the “MYOB rate” of pay with the “Fair Work rate”. He referred to the award rate and the “actual rate”.

Failure to act

Not surprisingly, the Fair Work Ombudsman argued that Ezy Accounting “must have known” that Blue Impression was underpaying their workers. The accountants knew the rates in its MYOB payroll system were less than those stipulated in the award.

The Court determined that Ezy Accounting had all the necessary information confirming Blue Impression’s failure to meet the award obligations. Yet persisted with maintaining its payroll system even though award breaches occurred.

As such, Ezy Accounting was found to be accessorially liable for Blue Impressions’ breaches of the Fair Work Act. And is now facing possible penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention.

The court will make its determination on the penalties in the coming weeks.

Minimise the risk of accessorial liability

As a professional advisor, if you are aware of a client who is breaching award conditions, or any aspect of the Fair Work Act, act now, and help them remedy the situation.

Failure to do so, may land you in all sort of trouble.

As Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says, “Small business relies heavily on trusted advisers, and if they give incorrect or bad advice, or deliberately assist with the contravention, should they not be held accountable?

“In situations where we believe accountants or other professionals knowingly facilitate contraventions of workplace laws, we are prepared to hold them to account.”

So, what are the risk areas?

To ensure your firm isn’t at risk of accessorial liability, make sure you don’t turn a blind eye to:

• Clients paying below award rates
• Clients engaging people as “contractors” when they are in fact employees
• Clients keeping inadequate payroll records
• Clients who on face value comply with award rates but demand employees to payback a portion of their pay

If you think your clients are at risk of making any of these breaches, it’s important that you advise them to take corrective action immediately. As a start, share our Essential Guide to HR Compliance with them and ensure they seek professional help in this area.

Unfortunately, in unfair dismissal cases, it’s typically not the facts that matter, but the process you follow. So, it’s important you know how to fire an employee so you don’t make the situation worse.

Minimise your exposure to costly unfair dismissal claims by deftly sidestepping these 4 legal minefields.

1. Firing employees for serious misconduct

Even if you catch an employee with their hand in the till, or on camera taking equipment from your office, you can’t fire anyone on the spot without legal consequences.

Without due process, you run the risk of claims for unfair dismissal, breach of employment contract, and even defamation.

So, no matter what the allegation, you must investigate it thoroughly and maintain records accordingly. It’s wise to get early legal advice on how to collect and retain relevant evidence, whether to involve the police, and how to ensure procedural fairness to the employee. This involves:

• Explaining the allegation to the employee
• Providing them with an opportunity to respond
• Allowing them to bring along a support person

Remember, even where you have conclusive evidence of a serious misdemeanour, you must not be tempted to abandon the process.

2. Termination for unsatisfactory performance

Likewise, when you’re handling cases of unsatisfactory performance, you must investigate the matter thoroughly and maintain records accordingly, before firing employees.

It’s important to first understand if there is a reason for their poor performance. A personal matter like financial stress could well be the culprit. And this may be something that you can manage as part of your employee wellness program. On the other hand, a poor attitude, or poor behaviour may be the sign of a toxic employee. Left unchecked, just one toxic employee can infect the whole bunch.

While it pays to respect the employee, it’s also crucial to adhere to any process that is set out in the Award, workplace agreement, or your own internal procedures.

The process involves:

• Documenting all aspects of the employee’s performance
• Providing appropriate verbal and written warnings
• Meeting with the employee to discuss the concerns
• Giving the employee adequate time to respond
• Developing a detailed performance improvement plan

The Fair Work Ombudsman has a checklist for employers to guide you through the process of identifying the problem, and figuring out how serious it is before you meet with the employee.

As a potential source of risk for accusations of bullying, this meeting should take place in a private and non-threatening location, and you must allow the employee to bring along a support person. Remember, with unsatisfactory performance, you must give the employee every opportunity to improve their performance before you consider dismissal.

All too often, businesses fail to follow their own processes. This typically delivers a fatal blow to any defence of an unfair dismissal claim.

3. Workplace policies as a basis for dismissal

Every business needs to have clear and easy to understand workplace policies. They set expectations regarding your employees’ conduct, and detail what is considered unacceptable workplace behaviour for matters like:

• anti-discrimination and unlawful sexual harassment
• unlawful bullying
• WHS risks
• social media use

But, it’s not enough to introduce workplace policies. You must ensure policies are applied consistently in your business. And you must enforce them. Without enforcement, your policies lack any legal authority. Enforcing policies is a matter of:

• formally communicating them to all employees, and providing training if required
• ensuring your employees sign a statement of understanding, and
• retaining the signed documents

Only with this level of documentation can you be sure your employees are bound by your workplace policies. If policies are applied inconsistently, or you fail to adequately enforce them, you won’t be able to rely on the terms of the policy as the basis for firing employees.

4. Termination through genuine redundancy

Whether an employee’s job is no longer required, or you’re relocating the business, making employees redundant is another legal minefield. If it’s a genuine redundancy, it’s never about an employee’s performance or conduct.

Whenever your business is undergoing major workplace change, it’s important to communicate regularly with all your employees. In fact, most Awards and registered agreements actually require employers to consult with employees regarding the coming changes.

Even with genuine redundancies, you still need to exercise caution and this means acting in accordance with the legislation. This includes carefully following any obligations outlined in the Award or enterprise agreement.

Of course, even when you follow these steps, an employee may feel their redundancy is unfair. In this case, you must be able to convince the Fair Work Commission that there has been a genuine redundancy. The Fair Work Act says there’s a genuine redundancy if:

• You no longer required the person’s job to be performed by anyone because of changes in the operational requirements (importantly, if you hire someone else to do the job, there will be no genuine redundancy), and
• You have complied with any obligation in an Award or enterprise agreement that applied to the employment to consult about the redundancy.

Procedural fairness is critical

As you can see, in any matter concerning firing employees, whether it’s because of poor performance, a bad attitude, poor conduct, or redundancy, procedural fairness and detailed records are always vital.

But ultimately, the best way to avoid liability for firing an employee, is to not have to fire them in the first place, so start by managing your employees’ performance.

Boring and seemingly non-urgent tasks, such as HR related activities, quickly drop to the bottom of your to-do list and you figure you’ll get to them “tomorrow.” But “tomorrow” never seems to come and that’s when business owners like yourself get into real trouble and make the following mistakes.

Don’t put yourself or your business at risk; prioritise your to-do’s for this week and fix these 7 common HR mistakes before it’s too late:

Common HR mistakes

You see, it doesn’t matter if you have a staff of nine people, or 99, there are essential human resource requirements every business needs to get right. Yet employment laws are complex and so easy to get wrong.

Here, we look at seven common HR mistakes businesses make, and how to avoid them.

1. No written employment contracts

While an employment contract can be verbal, it’s important to record the exact terms and conditions of employment when you hire someone. Failing to set out the job requirements in writing makes it difficult to manage employees thereafter, particularly when there’s a problem.

In addition, without a written contract, you’re probably not protecting your business assets like your IP and other competitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

However, it’s important to remember that written employment contracts are only useful if they’re up-to-date with current laws. Simply reusing an old template can land you in all sorts of trouble because Australian employment laws are complex and tend to change frequently.

Sometimes an out-of-date template can cause more harm than good. Especially where you rely on it and simply don’t check whether new legal requirements and entitlements apply to your new employee.

Action Item: Make sure your employment contracts are written and set a reminder to update them frequently. Or subscribe to a service that offers you templates that are kept compliant with the current regulations.

2. Underpaying employees

Failing to apply correct Award conditions to your employees can lead to underpaying your staff. Left unchecked, these underpayments can amount to significant back pay claims from staff, along with a fair degree of reputational damage to your business. Even George Calombaris of MasterChef fame was not immune from this mistake.

Modern Awards set out the minimum wages and conditions for employees depending on the:

• industry in which you operate
• nature of the duties performed by the employee
• seniority of the employee.

So, it’s critical for you to identify the correct Award for your employees.

Even if you’re paying above Award rates, you still have to meet other provisions of the Award including providing the correct entitlements for leave, penalty rates and hours of work.

It’s not uncommon to have an employee make a back pay claim for entitlements they did not receive despite being paid in excess of the Award requirements.

Action Item: Audit your employee classifications and award payments and entitlements.

3. Employing workers as contractors when they should be employees

Figuring out whether a new worker is an employee or contractor isn’t as easy as it sounds. In fact, it’s one of the most common HR mistakes businesses make because it’s really rather complicated (and costly too).

You can’t simply classify a worker as a contractor because they have an ABN or they offer specialist skills. And you can’t classify them as a contractor because the work is short-term or irregular. It’s the working arrangement that matters, not the amount of time they work for you.

Penalties for getting the whole employee/contractor arrangement wrong can be stiff. For example, say you employ ten independent contractors who should be employees, this can amount to $54,000 in penalties for the breach, multiplied by the ten independent contractors you’ve hired. And that’s before any additional back pay entitlements they may have!

Action Item: Have an attorney review your contractor agreements to ensure they are classified properly.

4. Firing someone on the spot

Whether it’s for poor performance or serious misconduct, you can’t fire anyone on the spot without serious legal consequences.

You must investigate the matter thoroughly and adhere to due process. This includes following any procedures set out in the applicable Award, as well as your own internal processes. Detailed records are also essential.

Where the matter is related to underperformance, it’s really important to give the employee the chance to improve. This involves developing a detailed performance improvement plan. For more on this subject, and to minimise exposure to unfair dismissal claims, read our blog: 4 legal minefields to avoid when firing employees.

Action Item: Set up a performance management plan to document performance issues.

5. Having poor onboarding practices

As another of the most common HR mistakes small business owners make, poor onboarding and induction processes can lead to rapid-fire turnover. In fact, as many as 4% of new employees simply don’t come back after their first day.

How frustrating, especially after you’ve just spent so much time hiring and recruiting the employee!

To ensure your business avoids this mistake, make sure the introduction you give to new hires leaves them with an overwhelmingly positive impression. But, don’t leave everything until their first day.

Prepare new employee paperwork and send this to them in advance. Make sure to include the Fair Work Information Statement, the Superannuation Choice form, Tax File Number Declaration form, and the Employee Personal Details form, along with their offer letter.

Of course, using an HR platform like Employment Hero, you can cut through time-consuming new hire paperwork with paperless onboarding, and ensure new hires complete and hand in all needed documents, well ahead of their start date.

Likewise, organise their work area and equip it with supplies. Order technology or equipment, along with business cards, and access keys before their first day of work so they can hit the ground running.

And remember, it pays to make a really big deal of your new hire’s first day. Making your employees feel welcome from the get-go is a big part of getting them to stick around for the long term.

For more on onboarding, read our blog on why you need to embed culture into your onboarding process.

Action Item: Create a checklist and onboarding process if you don’t already have one.

6. Failing to keep adequate records

As an employer, there are many employment-related records that you are required to keep. Without good records, you expose your business to all kinds of non-compliance risk. And there’s next to no chance of being able to defend an unfair dismissal claim or other employment-related issue without solid documentary support to show you followed due process.

To avoid making this HR mistake, you must have an organised system for managing records on time and attendance, payroll, wages, WHS, and more.

Action Item: Create a filing system with files for each of your current and past employees. If your documents are currently scattered, make sure to move them into your new filing system right away.

7. Not enforcing workplace policies

It’s one thing to have solid, well written workplace policies. It’s quite another for them to protect your business.

All too often, business owners go to the trouble of drafting robust workplace policies without enforcing them.

For a workplace policy to be effective, it’s critical to ensure your employees understand how to comply with the policy and the consequences if they breach it.

You should also make sure employees sign off on a document acknowledging that they are aware of the policy and understand it completely.

In the event that you wish to terminate employment for breach of a workplace policy, it’s essential that you can show that the employee was aware of the policy and that it was both lawful and reasonable.

Action Item: Compile your workplace policies, gather signatures from all employees for the policies, and make sure policies are posted when required.

Need more help?

If you think you may be at risk of making these (or other) common HR mistakes, download our Essential Guide to HR Compliance and gain some peace of mind. It will help you cut through and get straight to the essentials so you don’t waste your precious time.

As a service rep who’s had to straighten out a customer’s perception of what a machine is really capable of (more than a few times), I can understand why service reps might refer to the sales people in their companies in less than friendly terms (if you were to catch them talking openly about them, that is…).

Sales and service are often at opposite ends of a business model. For example, have you ever noticed that service departments at car dealerships are hidden in the back of the building, while car sales are proudly displayed in the front? Or that service departments and sales departments rarely occupy the same area (or often not even the same building) for products that drive field service?

It’s as if there’s an unwritten rule that states, ‘We sell and we service our products, but never at the same time, so the company will be better off if sales and service don’t mingle.’

I believe that rule should be rewritten to say, ‘If service and sales can learn to work together, a lot of money can be made.’

A clash of personalities and skills

So why have service and sales drifted so far apart? I’d put money on it having something to do with who’s drawn to each profession.

Let me explain. The typical salesperson is outgoing, driven and a ‘people person’ – the quintessential ‘Type A’ personality. They see everything as an opportunity to further their cause (which in business, is to make money).

Service reps can be Type A, too, but there’s a reason they choose to fix machines rather than to sell them. Techs view the world differently; they anticipate problems and even try to point them out before they occur, which isn’t the best way to sell the latest and greatest widget.

And why should they get along?

With two employee groups that are about as easy to mix as oil and water, what’s the harm in keeping them apart?

Nothing, really, unless your desire is to increase sales and customer satisfaction.

A service rep is in a position to be a salesperson’s best friend (or at least their best resource). They spend a lot of hours face-to-face with customers and they hear things like, ‘I wish we would have bought the upgraded model,’ or ‘We love this machine. We’re considering putting one in our New York branch, but we want to see what else is out there first.’

Besides tips on upgrades or new equipment, a tech is the first to know if a customer is unhappy with their purchase or if they’re being wooed by a competitor.

They can be the eyes and ears for a wise salesperson who knows that repeat business is much easier than a cold-call sale.

What’s in it for the service rep?

I may be a bit prejudiced coming from a service background, but I do feel that salespeople are getting the better end of the deal in this relationship.

Your techs might also feel this, which is why it might be beneficial to offer rewards (monetary or otherwise) for leads that come from field service reps.

This can incentivize techs to stay in contact with the sales department, and they won’t feel used if all they get is a ‘thank you’ for their efforts.

This doesn’t happen overnight or by osmosis

If you bring all of this up in a meeting with your sales reps, and everyone agrees that all you say is valid, but no one sets a date for a service rep/sales rep meeting, it’ll never happen.

Once a monthly meeting date is set, you’ll need to make it mandatory for your techs (there’s a chance they’ll avoid it like the plague if not).

I would also recommend designating a service manager as the leader (or co-leader) of the meeting, or it could become a sales meeting with a bunch of switched-off technicians watching and hoping it will end quickly.

Give your techs time. Once one of them gets a lead that makes them some quick extra cash, you can make the meeting optional.

I’m not trying to convince anyone that sales and service should become one happy family, but they can learn to work together when they’re both convinced of the advantages.

It will take time and a bit of creative managing, but it will be well worth it, and your shareholders will thank you when they see your profits increase.

Passion and forward planning

The key ingredients to managing and growing a successful business are a passion for what you do, a belief in why your business exists, and a vision of how you’d like to grow and improve your business.

Passion

It’s important to be passionate about what you do; your enthusiasm can drive your business and motivate your staff to make the most of your business.

It’s natural for your motivation to cycle through high and low periods, but most business advisers will tell you that if your passion has been completely extinguished, it’s time to get out.

This is not to say you should give up if your enthusiasm wanes a little. You might just need to take time out, look at your business and how it’s performing, and make some strategic decisions.

Talking things over with your business advisers, mentors or peers might also give your business a new direction and rekindle the passion that got you into business in the first place.

Vision and goals

Establish a clear vision for your business to help give it direction. A clear vision also helps your employees make the right decisions and tells your customers about your business.

Setting and communicating clear goals for your business is equally important. While your vision sets the direction of your business in broad brushstrokes, your goals help to fill in the finer detail, providing direction for you and your staff. If people know what’s expected of them, they’re more likely to achieve it.

Long-term direction and planning

It’s very easy for small business owners to become consumed with the day-to-day running of the business, leaving no time to think about the long-term direction and goals of the business.

Book time into your calendar to look at your business strategically and map directions and goals for the next five years.

Leadership

Leadership is all about building effective teams, encouraging people to achieve long-term objectives, and creating an environment to ensure this can happen.

As a business owner, it’s important to lead by example; your actions set the work culture. You can’t expect staff to have a ‘can do’ attitude if you reject all ideas other than your own.

Encourage the culture you’re aiming to achieve by being encouraging and supportive.

Motivate your employees

One way to fuel your staff is by communicating your personal passion. Your enthusiasm and drive will encourage more enthusiastic support – but you do need to make the time to communicate this.

Positive reinforcement and encouragement are other key ways to motivate your staff. You might want to consider establishing a system for recognising and rewarding good performance to encourage this in your business.

Good communication and listening skills

Good, clear communication makes managing your business much easier. You can’t expect staff to complete tasks well if your expectations and requirements, or the processes themselves, are not communicated clearly.

If you’re asking someone to take on a new function, it’s important to consider who you’re communicating with, and their level of comfort with and knowledge of the task and systems they’ll be dealing with.

Try to give as much detail as possible, and tell them who they should ask for input if they’re stuck or something goes wrong.

Additionally, your staff will feel valued and be more likely to contribute and try harder if they feel you listen to them as well – so be sure to give the person talking to you your full attention.

Multi-skilled

As a manager of your own small business, it’s important to become multi-skilled.

If, for example, you’re an ace at crunching numbers but not very good around people, you’ll need to start developing people skills to manage your business more effectively.

Similarly, if you’re good with people but not that comfortable with numbers, you should make the effort to learn some accounting fundamentals so you can follow these conversations in a business meeting and not have to rely solely on your accountant.

It’s hard to believe that this was how many successful businesses with mobile staff operated just a decade ago. That was before the digital tsunami – the technological wave that started with the release of the iPhone and other devices that put work documents and communications in our hands any time, anywhere.

This mobile revolution certainly left its mark on a number of industries, but none more than sales and service companies. For businesses that rely on mobile staff having meaningful interactions with customers every day, field service management technology has been transformative. Out with the whiteboards, in with the tablets.

Advances in relatively cheap mobile technology and the quality (and wide availability) of internet services continue to make it easier for sales, trades and technical staff to work remotely from head office, almost all of the time. Through low-cost field service management software, they can communicate efficiently with managers and colleagues, and hold all of the work tools they need in their hands.

Software as a service (SaaS) is no longer just an awkward acronym – it’s a necessity for businesses of any size engaged in mobile workforce management.

Customers first

It’s tempting to say, however, that only the search for increased business efficiency is responsible for this shift from office-bound, paper-based systems to multiple connected mobile devices extracting information from the cloud. There is no doubt that managing costs and allowing staff to do more across the working day have been crucial factors in this digital service transformation, but the main reason is even more fundamental.

Field service management simply allows businesses to look after their customers better. Customer satisfaction is at the heart of why good businesses choose the latest and most flexible field service management software.

Modern mobile job management software, such as GeoServices and GeoSales, features GPS navigation, to allow service and sales staff to get to their clients on time. All relevant job information is available on any digital device, so lingering customer issues can be resolved quickly and effectively – possibly with the help of experts in head office. Field workers can upload job details (such as notes or photographs) immediately to ensure all customer records are on file and available for future reference.

Field service management allows recurring jobs to be scheduled, so no regular customers are ever overlooked, even when things are hectic. For smaller businesses, easy integrations with other business software (for example, cloud-based accountancy and stocktaking systems) make it easier for customers to get quotes or pay their bills.

The best modern cloud-based software is also more secure than ever. Customer information is protected with 256-bit SSL encryption and records are available at all times, on any secure device logged into the system.

Future of field service management

The next advances in field service management will continue to place clients’ customers first.

Consumers are now so familiar with disruptive digital technology, such as Uber and Airbnb, that they demand flexibility and choice in all aspects of their lives. They expect companies they do business with to have tools that offer personalisation and performance at an affordable price. This means field service management developers are working hard to provide better communication tools and more predictive methods to solve customer issues.

As it has for a decade, technology will drive future field service management advances. Cognitive computers using artificial intelligence, for instance, will make mobile job management software even smarter. Mobile staff using cognitive systems that analyse and learn from millions of simultaneous data inputs will provide customer solutions quickly – perhaps even predict issues before they exist.

Field service management will also benefit from the development of augmented and virtual reality tools. For instance, technicians wearing headsets or special glasses are already able to “see” how to service equipment by following virtual instructions. The technology also allows specialist technicians back at base to provide assistance in real time.

Field service management has come a long way since those manila folders and grey filing cabinets.

But, as an employer, you can do something about this. There are ways you can reduce employee exit rates and build loyalty while increasing your restaurant’s financial performance as well.

Of course, employees leave jobs every day for any number of reasons, many of which are entirely out of your control. That said, the number one reason people give for quitting their jobs is due to their relationship with their boss. This is definitely something you can work on.

Along with improving your people management skills, there are other practical things you can do to retain the great talent you have in your café or restaurant. Here are five practical things you can do:

1. Retraining bad managers

Take a good look at yourself in the mirror. If you’re a tough, self-styled Gordon Ramsay kind of manager, then you’ll need to make some changes if you want your good people to stick around.

It’s important to recognise bad people management practices when you see them and stamp them out if you want to keep your top talent.

2. Scheduling and flexibility

Having the right people in the right place at the right time is crucial.

But are you overworking some employees to the tune of 60+ hours a week while others complain about not getting enough hours?

Lots of workers these days want flexibility. And this means shorter, regular shifts.

If you’re still relying on spreadsheets or outdated technology all this can become a nightmare to manage, and you can easily overcook your shift rosters and schedule an individual beyond the legal parameters.

But, using purpose-built software, you get the visibility you need to ensure optimal staffing levels while you accommodate your employees’ shift preferences.

3.Training and advancement

When it comes to millennial workers, training is vital. Millennials crave opportunity and are ever keen to expand their skills and acquire knowledge.

However, it’s not just millennials. Providing good training shows your employees you care about them.

So, if you want to keep your employees from jumping ship, give them a comprehensive training program that allows them to hone their skills and develop new ones. And when it’s time to fill new positions, you’ll be better able to promote from within. With highly trained staff, you’ll boost your employees’ confidence, making them feel more invested in their jobs and less likely to leave.

4.Pay and Benefits

Of course, it’s easy for your employees to be tempted to move by a larger pay packet. But, if you’re well known for providing exceptional employee benefits that make your employees’ salaries go further, this is something that another employer can’t easily match.

Offering benefits such as competitive personal loans and mortgages, car leases, health insurance, corporate superannuation, makes a big difference to an employee’s personal bottom line.

And while benefits can help you keep your people from looking elsewhere, they also can be used as a powerful draw card when you’re in recruiting mode. Word will get out about the great employee benefits you offer and people will aspire to work for your café or restaurant.

In fact, 80% of working Australians see employee benefits as an important consideration when joining an organisation.

5. Recognition

It’s so important to take the time to give kudos where it’s due and publicly share this praise. A pat on the back is a great motivator and goes a long way to creating a positive working environment.

This is such an easy thing to do, yet so many owners and managers of cafes and restaurants simply don’t take the time to appreciate and acknowledge the team members that interact daily with their customers. And the best part about this approach is that it costs you absolutely nothing.

While some degree of employee turnover will always be beyond your control, by taking a practical and common sense approach to managing your people, you can make a considerable difference and reduce employee turnover to a minimum.

Here are four tips to help minimise the impact:

1: Communicate with employees

Absences due to illness can be particularly stressful for a manager, as you may only get a few hours to find a replacement. Research suggests that regular sick leave is commonly taken by employees who feel overworked or stressed in the workplace. Thinking about the welfare of your staff, and openly communicating with them about their workloads, can help mitigate the amount of sick leave taken. Ask staff how they are feeling, be empathetic to their responses, and listen to feedback on how to best help their situation.

2. Train your staff across multiple skills

Having staff who are competent across several roles can help ease the burden of employees being away. The ability to take your kitchen staff and put them front of house for a shift – or have your wait-staff serving at the bar – gives you the flexibility to change your roster at a moment’s notice. Teach staff these extra skills during quiet times, so that the training itself doesn’t become a disruption.

3: Have a system in place to record future leave

If employees are planning a holiday for later in the year, have been invited to a special event (like a wedding for example), or are planning to take advantage of the Easter or Christmas break, they will often book leave months in advance. Make a record of this so that you and other staff don’t get caught out when the time comes. Don’t use post-it-notes either – make sure it’s recorded somewhere reliable, in a system like goRoster, for example.

4: Ensure you have dependable backup

Unfortunately, leave can’t always be planned. Sickness and bereavement are part of life, so you always need to plan for them. Create a shortlist of dependable people that you can call on when you require staff at short notice. This will save you a lot of stress when you need to make quick rostering changes.

A Zero-hour contract is where an employee is required to be available to work as and when required by an employer but without any guarantee of a minimum number of hours.

Employers who have a clause to this effect have until April 2017 to ensure all previous and future employment agreements comply with the new law. Employers should also consider their management practices and ensure that they are providing employees with hours agreed upon, or that any variation (more or less hours) is consented to by both parties.

If you are unsure if your employment agreements comply please contact us 0800 15 8000.

Published by Employers Assistance 16th Jan 2017.