In this month’s HR clinic, Robyn Clark (aka JacksonR) and Susi O’Brien (HR Help advisor) explored the challenge of managing staff who are on long-term sick leave. Here is a summary of the questions we received, and the answers given. How long can someone be off before it’s fair to dismiss them? Great question! This…

A summary of the HR and H&S updates issued in August 2023 HR Updates Amber alerts UPDATE: Upcoming changes to flexible working legislation Green alerts “Gender critical” beliefs protected under the Equality Act 2010 Unfair dismissal win for Tesco worker sacked for being AWOL

This year’s Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) from NHS England includes quality improvement requirements relating to ‘workplace and wellbeing’. What do these terms mean? OK, I think we all know what a workplace is, but the ‘wellbeing’ part is less easy to define. It might sound a bit touchy-feely to some. Does it refer to…

A summary of the HR and H&S updates issued in June 2023. HR Updates Amber alerts Upcoming enhanced family friendly legislation Considering flexible working requests Green alerts Disability discrimination – “meltdowns” due to short temper, not disability

Life is challenging at the moment, to say the least, for our staff and for ourselves. So what can we do to try and help improve the wellbeing of our teams? Employee wellbeing is now integrated into QOF and encourages us to take a more pragmatic look at supporting our team. Our HR clinic will…

The thought of having to tackle potential bullying or inappropriate behaviour is enough to get the pulse racing of any practice manager. However, these things do crop up – and even more so these days when everyone is feeling pressure and stress. But what constitutes bullying? And what is the definition of workplace harassment? And…

A summary of the HR and H&S updates issued in May 2023 HR Updates Green alerts Medical reports – Asking the right questions Unacceptable use of social media Right to be accompanied – Don’t deny a union representative