HR & Employment Law Insights

Helping family businesses, start-ups and early stage growth, third sector, professional services, trades and construction, manufacturing and engineering, and other growing or established businesses throughout the UK make sense of HR and employment law challenges.

We hope you enjoy the wide range of blog articles featured. We cover a wide range of topics including HR best practices, employment law updates, recruitment strategies, employee engagement, tips for effective people management, and addressing people challenges to help businesses navigate their HR needs with confidence.

8 Job Internship Benefits for Employers and Employees

A Job Internship can open up the door to many employment opportunities. Finding work can be a real challenge, especially if you lack experience. It’s almost a catch 22. You need a job to get experience, but you struggle to get the experience you need without getting a...

How a Yes Vote in Scotland’s Referendum Will Impact HR

I was honoured to be approached last week from Washington by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) to get my thoughts on what a yes vote would mean for HR in Scotland. For those of you that don’t know, the Society for Human Resource Management is the world’s...

Marketing or HR – Who Manages Social Media Channels?

Today almost all businesses can benefit from using social media to promote their products and services, strengthen their brand identity and increase customer engagement. However, when it comes to deciding who should run their social media channels, many businesses are...

Managing employees under the influence of alcohol at work

If somebody is under the influence of alcohol in the workplace, you have a duty to look after your staff. Some of your employees may enjoy a drink or two in their spare time outside of work. However, what do you do if they cross the line and it begins to affect the...

How are Flexible Working Patterns Changing the Role of HR

The traditional 9-5pm working day has long since been redundant but the move towards flexible working patterns is quickly gathering momentum. With effect from 30th June 2014, all employees with more than 26 weeks continuous service were given new rights to request...

Scottish Independence Debate

18th September is getting closer and the first real TV debate started this evening. The debate is likely to heat up over the coming weeks, as both sides try to influence voters. I remember my gran telling me when I was younger there’s 3 things I should never...

Holiday Pay Rule Changes

Recent employment tribunal cases have left employers exposed to potential claims for holiday arrears, which could stretch back as far as 1998 when the Working Time Regulations were introduced. The purpose of this information sheet is to share the recent cases and...

Mobile Phone Usage Policies – Increasingly of Importance in the Workplace

Discover crucial workplace mobile phone usage policies to boost productivity and reduce distractions effectively

How to Detect False Claims in a CV – Sifting out the Fraudsters

False qualifications are a very popular way of fraudulent CV’s. A CV is a great way to draw together relevant skills and experience and to show potential employers and agencies how the job criteria have been fulfilled. The desire to present facts in the best possible...

Popular HR software tools for small businesses

Finding the right HR software is essential for small businesses looking to streamline their HR processes. With a smaller team and fewer resources, small businesses need tools that are affordable, user-friendly, and scalable. Whereas in the past HR software was...

Flexible Working Changes 2014

On the 30th June 2014, the right of employees to request flexible working arrangements is to be extended further. At the moment, only employees with responsibility for caring for children or who have care responsibility for an adult can request to work flexibly. From...

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Recruitment Applicant Tracking Systems

Applicant tracking systems can help shorten and streamline the CV evaluation process. Applicant tracking systems can be used to facilitate a number of different processes during recruitment, however, many companies implement them to aid HR staff in the CV evaluation...

How Risky is it to Outsource Areas of HR Function

Concern #1: Loss of control Something that many employers fear is the loss of control of their HR responsibilities when they choose to outsource part of their processes. The fact is that although you are moving a key business process to another provider, you are still...

The Role of Telecommuting in Modern Personnel Management

The ways in which we work are changing and with the expansion in technology that allows people to work from wherever they are rather than just in one fixed place, offices and personnel management are changing to take on these new opportunities. Now there’s no need to...

Succession Planning at Manchester United

I wrote an article yesterday on succession planning which discussed the steps a business could take to ensure they develop talent and fill critical roles in the organisation. You can read more here . It's coincided with the news that Manchester United have dismissed...

What is Succession Planning?

I delivered a seminar on behalf of the Fife Chamber of Commerce last week on learning and development, part of a series of seminars aimed at helping business owners get the best out of their people. A key topic on this subject was "Succession Planning". So, what is...

A Guide to HR Technology Tools Which are Ideal for SMEs

For large organisations with the resources to match, having an HR department to deal with the day-to-day business of managing the people in the company to get the best out of their capabilities is par for the course. However, for small or medium-sized enterprises,...

Guidance for Companies with Employees Working at Heights

Whether your company offers services that require the use of ladders; operates cranes or needs employees to use equipment to reach items from high places, there are a number of considerations to ensure that both employees and the company are protected. Health and...

How to Effectively Combat Bullying in the Workplace

Bullying doesn't stop at the school gates. Thankfully this is not something I see often, and certainly, within a lot of family run businesses and young start-up organisations, it's not something I've had to deal with too often. However, there are examples I have had...

What are my recruitment costs?

I facilitated a seminar for the Fife Chamber of Commerce today which focused on recruitment and selection. During the seminar we covered recruitment costs, job descriptions and person specs, attraction and advertising methods, the use of agencies, and some selection...

Hiring this year? Here’s what you need to know

Here’s an article that was published in the latest edition of The Business Journal that I was interviewed for. I’ll be sharing more information on recruitment after tomorrow’s Fife Chamber of Commerce seminar where I am presenting the subject “Recruitment and...