GP practices usually have standard processes to follow when an employee phones in sick. However, in my HR experience, managers can be a bit less certain about managing absence when it’s caused by childcare or other family emergencies. Such uncertainty is reasonable, as these are tricky absences to handle if they become prolonged or regular.…

In this month’s HR clinic, Robyn Clark (aka JacksonR) and Susi O’Brien (HR Help advisor) explored how we as managers can support and improve the wellbeing of our teams, implement strategies to support staff and look after our own resilience. Here is a summary of the questions we received, and the answers given. Wellbeing seems…

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…

There are many reasons why an employment relationship could falter – including misconduct, poor performance, personality clashes, absence, or just the way circumstances fall. Whichever reason applies, trying to respond to a reference request for an employee or ex-employee in that situation can be awkward. In this blog, I’m going to talk through some common…

We’re heading into Spring, and there is no sign of things slowing down in primary care. Take a look back at the blogs, resources and updates we brought to you in March. Top tips for using Holiday Manager – If you’re fed up with manually calculating holidays, juggling leave requests, and tracking other absences, it’s time…

Managing staff who are on long-term sick leave is a challenging situation for practice managers. Following a number of recent posts in the forum on the subject, Robyn Clark (aka JacksonR) held a lunchtime HR Clinic, alongside Susi O’Brien, a HR consultant who specialises in employment law. As expected, we received lots of questions from…

Having time off work is great! Isn’t it? Well, yes, unless you’re the poor PM stuck organising it all! There’s so much that goes into arranging time off, and so many categories. Sick leave, annual leave and bank holidays, study leave, maternity/paternity/adoption leave… The list goes on and on. The biggest headache comes in the…