August 2008

Dear Reader,

I am delighted to announce that we are working together with Specsavers to offer all our clients low cost eye tests (see below for details). Also in this issue we continue the “How to” series looking at evaluating CVs, FAQs on what to do if your employees won't sign their contracts and details of the new small business services we are launching and our events at the end of the year. Happy holiday reading!

Best regards

Carolyne Wahlen

Holidays - Sapping Productivity?

“Take time for quietness and you will free yourself from being influenced by the wrong things” Anon

This is the time of year when offices empty and often only a skeleton staff is present. Good or bad? Well you would only approve holiday if the business could bear it, wouldn’t you? But is there actually a benefit to the business to let the staff out occasionally? Well yes, there is. If you ignore for the moment the mad rush to finish projects and write up handover notes before you leave, and the thousands of emails to deal with when you return, taking time away from the office can actually improve productivity. Why? Because you get a sense of perspective on your daily activities. When you are at your desk or involved in the daily list of things that have to be done, it is difficult if not impossible to step back and ask yourself if the task needs to be done by you, to be done this way, to be done by the company, etc. Once you have some distance, mentally and physically, then you are able to see what tasks help the company meet its objectives and which are leftover and are due to “because we always have”. It is easier to see the priorities, and what you are doing all these things for. This does assume a level of self awareness and engagement of yourselves and your employees that they will think of this when they are away, but then, you would only employ staff who were engaged, motivated and inspired to do their jobs better, wouldn’t you? Gap HR can help you find those staff and keep them inspired. Call us on 01491 872767.

How to – evaluate CVs

You've put the ad out there and are waiting for the flood of suitable applicants who are dying to work for you. If you have written the advert well, and advertised it in the right places, then you should get several good applicants and probably quite a few who are not suitable. To evaluate the candidates you should have a checklist of the essential and then ideal skills/experience/competencies that someone would need to have in order to be successful in a job. Try to keep the essential list to 3-5 items (not 10+) because you will never find a perfect machine to do the job, just a best fit human. An easy example: for a receptionist, they would have to have a good telephone manner and be friendly and professional when greeting people. They may also need computer skills to look up people in a telephone list and transfer using the switchboard, but a good knowledge of MS Office (which is often standard in job adverts nowadays) is unlikely to be used even on a weekly basis. Don't make the search harder than it already is! Do the candidates need a degree or are equivalent experience and enthusiasm more relevant? And remember that if you reject someone because they are “too young” or “too old”, then you could be exposing yourself to the risk of being sued under age discrimination guidelines. Use a checklist as above so that you can objectively justify, using business criteria, why an applicant was not suitable for a job. Gap HR Services can help you draw up the checklist and objectively draw up a short list of suitable applicants for you to interview.

Resources and Offers for Clients

We are pleased to announce that we can now offer, in conjunction with Specsavers, VDU glasses + an eye exam for just £17. Specsavers’ VDU voucher offers both an eye examination and VDU glasses, with a great choice of frames worth up to £45. It means that all your legislative compliance requirements are met, with no time consuming paperwork. What’s more, your staff can save £20 on their own glasses purchase. Please call Gap HR on 01491 872767 to get your vouchers or email us on AvoidTheHassles@GapHR.co.uk. This offer is unfortunately only open to Gap HR clients.

Events

HR & H&S for small businesses: what’s the point?

What would be the value to you of having peace of mind regarding your employment contracts?

What would be the benefit to you of having risk assessments that would stand up to the scrutiny of the HSE?

What’s the cost to you of doing nothing?

Gap HR and Goode Management have joined forces to present a series of workshops to demonstrate that there is a benefit! If you employ any staff and want to find out the value of employment and safety law to your organisation, come along to a relaxed and informative workshop.

28 October 2008 10.00 am to 1.00 pm

Shillingford Bridge Hotel, Nr Wallingford http://www.shillingfordbridgehotel.com

£25 + VAT including buffet lunch

Contact Carolyne on 01491 872767 or Rebecca on 01491 873323 to reserve your place.

Gap HR was started to help small businesses to cope with the mass of employment legislation. As the next step in our efforts to do this, we are happy to announce HR at a fixed price, to make our help more accessible to the small businesses who need the advice and paperwork, but have a fixed budget for it.

Telephone Service

We will draw up your contracts (for up to 10 employees) and handbook, discuss them with you and advise you on issues for 30 minutes each month, every month, on the telephone. Additionally you will have two places at our HR & H&S for small businesses: what’s the point? workshop for people in your organisation. There is a minimum term of 12 months. The cost is £90 + VAT a month, which is reduced to £85 + VAT when paid by standing order. All client visits and advice/paperwork other than contracts and the 30 minutes a month will be charged at our normal hourly rate of £40/hour plus mileage and VAT.

Face to Face Service

We will draw up your contracts (for up to 20 employees) and handbook, discuss them with you and advise you on issues for two hours each month, in a face to face meeting. Additionally you will have two places at our HR & H&S for small businesses: what’s the point? workshop for people in your organisation. There is a minimum term of 12 months. The cost is £160 + VAT a month, which is reduced to £150 + VAT when paid by standing order. All client visits and advice/paperwork other than contracts and taking more than the included two hours a month will be charged at our normal hourly rate of £40/hour plus mileage and VAT.

Bespoke Service

If you want more than contracts and handbooks, e.g. appraisal systems, then this is the service for you. There is a monthly retainer of £70 + VAT (£65 + VAT if you pay by standing order) which covers the first hour of work in that month, and then all other work is charged at our normal hourly rate of £40 plus mileage and VAT. There is a minimum six month term for this service.

Ad hoc Service

If you would like to pick our brains on your recruitment strategy for example, then we have our ad hoc service. This has no minimum term but, for all work, a higher rate of £50 plus mileage and VAT applies. This is ideal for a one off consultation or a very short term project.

One of my employees has not returned his contract signed. What should I do?

This is not as serious as you may think. There is a concept in Employment law of “custom and practice” which overrides anything written. If you have changed someone's terms and conditions of employment and they have not signed it, but also they have not protested in writing that they are not going to accept it, then under “custom and practice” after several months of working to the terms of the contract and taking the salary, they are deemed to have accepted the contract and any changes. They can't turn around a year later and say that they are not going to accept it, because by then it is too late. This can also work the other way round of course. If you have something written in your contract, for example 30 minutes lunch break, and the custom and practice is actually 45 minutes, then if you try to enforce the 30 minutes, it will be seen as a change to their terms and conditions. Make sure that your contracts reflect the reality of working in your company rather than the theory! Ideally however the contract should be signed, for peace of mind, and this is what Gap HR does – we sit down with your employees, go through the contract and explain it to them, deal with any objections and get them to sign it. If you would like us to help with this aspect of your HR, please give us a call on 01491 872767.