Owen Lee discusses where discrimination can occur during the recruitment process and examines unconscious bias and what you can do to avoid it.

As of yesterday, Thursday 24th February 2022, individuals in England who test positive for coronavirus, no longer need to self-isolate. The change in policy, announced the previous week by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is accompanied by a number of other changes in Covid-related rules, policies and guidance that have potential to foster a new set of challenges for employers.

Eligibility for sick pay from day one for Covid related sickness absence, is no longer in force and from 1st April, the current guidance for those who test positive to stay at home will be lifted. Also from April 1, Covid will no longer have to feature in company risk assessments and free mass testing will end. Government policy has clearly shifted towards one of individuals taking personal responsibility.

Whilst symptoms and the effects of the prevailing Omicron variant of Covid have been relatively mild for most, a proportion of the population remain vulnerable owing to underlying health conditions. More significant perhaps, are the reports suggesting that cases of hospitalisation owing to coronavirus are predominantly in those who have not been vaccinated.

Employers will now need to take a stance on their approach to Covid, and whilst this is likely to be influenced by a variety of aspects, the overriding factor must be the organisation’s duty of care towards its employees, and in some cases, it’s customers or clients.

We recommend that businesses continue with measures that help combat the spread of the virus such as plentiful ventilation, availability of hand sanitiser and maintaining regimes for cleaning and sterilising workstations, especially those that are shared.

As free testing is coming to an end, high street chemists are already offering deals on lateral flow testing kits. It’s probably unreasonable to expect employees to pay for their own tests so some businesses may want to consider providing tests for employees. However, what employers decide to do based on the results creates its own issues. If an employee presents themselves for work, despite testing positive, does the employer have a right to keep them away? And if the employee is sent home, should they receive full pay?

There will need to be a balance for employers between keeping their workforce safe at the same time as maintaining the security of individuals’ personal information. Now that working from home has become the choice of preference for many, justifying why some workers can remain working from home when others are required to return to the office, may be difficult to do without giving away sensitive health information.

Because being vaccinated has always been a personal choice for most, it may not be reasonable to expect individuals to declare whether or not they have been received the vaccine. However, employers may feel that this information is important to know in order to plan the safety of employees. Again, treating unvaccinated employees differently opens its own can of worms.

There’s not really a catch-all approach that we are able to recommend to employers. Instead, we think each situation will need to be looked at on an individual basis in order to understand the variables and give the best possible advice.

If the recent changes have put you in a position of uncertainty in how to deal with your employees then we’re here to help on 01452 331331 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As I write, storm Eunice is making her presence felt in the form of squally showers and strong winds, with gusts predicted to reach up to 90mph. Doubtless you will already be aware of the Red Alert issued by the Met Office for areas along the Severn Estuary which means the weather is a risk to life; and the amber warning in place for the rest of the country.

With many schools and some businesses closed owing to the dangers presented by storm Eunice, we find ourselves amidst an extraordinary event and in a place where we can practice some of the lessons we have learned from the Covid pandemic.

The prevalence of Working from Home (WFH) and hybrid working that has been a side-effect of the pandemic, have had a mixed reception from businesses. Some have adopted it entirely, saving on expensive office rental costs, whilst others have either begrudgingly accepted it as part of changing businesses practices, or welcomed it with open arms, recognising an improvement in employee wellbeing and engagement, and ultimately, productivity.

In light of the “Essential Travel Only” warnings issued by the Met Office, even those organisations that have reluctantly ceded to allow their employees to work from home, if only partially, are able to continue working as normal today; in conditions under which historically, they may have had to close. Equally, with schools closed, arranging emergency childcare for working parents is less of an issue as they can still be present at home to monitor the kids whilst continuing to work.

Pre-Covid, standard practice in severe weather would mean that if employees were unable to make it to work but the workplace was open then they might have to take holiday or unpaid leave to cover their absence. In cases where employees could present themselves for work but the conditions meant the premises was unable to open, staff would still expect to be paid.

Following the pandemic however, there is much more emphasis on the employer’s role in the wellbeing of its workforce. Therefore, in cases where working from home isn’t an option, such as in a manufacturing environment, even where the premises is able to open, we might now expect the organisation to tell its staff to stay at home but still pay them as normal, rather than risk their health travelling into work.

Lay-off remains an option however and we usually see lay-off clauses in employment contracts in the building industry so that employers can minimise their losses when workers are unable to carry out their jobs because of things like bad weather. Lay-off clauses were highlighted when Covid first struck and the country went into lockdown, but the need to invoke them was quickly negated by the introduction of the Furlough Scheme.

A storm, such as today’s, would be grounds for laying staff off, but firstly, you must have a relevant clause present in your contracts in order to implement lay-offs. And secondly, you might want to weigh-up the cost benefit against any loss of goodwill you might experience from your staff, especially with the difficulties in recruitment businesses are currently experiencing.

Ultimately, we hope you stay safe and today is incident free for you, but if you require any support with HR & Employment Law issues, as well as people strategy and Leadership and Management challenges, we’re here to help on 01452 331331 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As everybody knows, Charles Darwin famously established the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection. Sometimes referred to as survival of the fittest, I think it’s better to describe it as the process whereby the most suitably adapted to the prevailing conditions and environment are enabled to thrive and grow.

Throughout history, there have been a number of events which have rapidly and drastically affected the environment and tested the theory to the extreme. The events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and the subsequent rise of mammals for example.

If we translate the theory of evolution to the business world, we can see that we have recently been experiencing a number of changes to the environment that might adversely affect those businesses that are not suitable adapted or at least ready to adapt. Some of these changes have come about by design, but of course others have taken us by surprise. They include:

• Digital Transformation: Perhaps better described as “Digital Disruption”, our shift towards the use of digital, and in particular mobile, technologies has been both seismic and dramatic. Although largely through design, the rapidity of the digital shift has been remarkable and ruthless to those not ready to embrace it; think Top-Shop.
  
  
• Brexit: Whether or not this was predictable is open for debate but certainly some of the after-effects have taken us by surprise. We seem to be going through an extended settling down period over trade but the loss of European workers has probably had more to do with improvements in economies in their home countries; which has led to…
  
  
• Vacancies: At 1.2million, the number of jobs waiting to be filled in the UK remains the highest for over 20 years. This, as we’ve discussed in previous posts is not only putting strain on already stretched workforces, but has changed the dynamics within organisations and the balance of power. With so many job opportunities, Employers are conceding to workforce demands for fear of losing staff and paying more to attract and retain workers.
  
  
• Covid: Nobody saw this one coming and whilst we seem to be coming out of the woods now, we have been through two years of extreme turmoil. The worst of the pandemic may be over but we’re now seeing the knock-on effects such as more cases of mental health issues, a workforce that is reticent to let go it its work-from-home culture and an erratic economy that’s lit a fuse beneath an incendiary inflation and wage-rise struggle.

So, what can we do?

Businesses need to adapt and must ensure they are ready to adapt to the changes. During lockdown, restaurants for example, had to switch to a take-away model in order to survive and adopt platforms such as Let’s Eat and Deliveroo. No-one had to develop new technology, just be open-minded to what was already available.

Line managers need to take on more responsibilities for themselves, including some of those traditionally owned by HR. These days managers should be equipped to handle employee issues within their own department, including performance matters, disciplinaries and recruitment. They should be able to formulate the development plans for their team members from induction to promotion but also be aware of their teams’ wellbeing. Our HR for Managers course is a perfect solution here.

Recruitment needs to change too. The smart guys know their recruitment channels and have been developing their employer brand and building relationships with their future workforce for years by engaging with schools and colleges. A lack of workers also requires thinking beyond traditional recruitment networks. There is a population of workers who are looking for a career change so you may need to be prepared to provide training to those who can demonstrate the right aptitude rather than expect everyone to come pre-skilled.

During our free HR and Employment Law update, you can come along and meet us. We can discuss how you can build an effective management team to lead to better organisational performance.

We have set the next dates in Cheltenham, Worcester and online. You can book your free places and remember, breakfast is on us.

Click here to book.

Employee wellbeing has become more than a nice-to-do and a positive work-life balance and a sense of fulfilment now ranks above salary for job-seeking graduates. There is also a growing movement in favour of a four-day working week which again, may need to form part of your longer-term workforce plan. The role of the employer is evolving to one that is far more parental in nature and those who can show themselves to be a good place to work will attract the talent they need to survive.

There is oceans of support out there to help businesses through this evolutionary period and a lot of it is free, including many of our own workshops, seminars and training courses. 

You can call us for support about anything raised here or for support with anything employee and HR related on 01452 331331 or drop us an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Let’s start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. Note that the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here; and that's how company culture is formed.

We're not just here for the bad things in business like a fight in the canteen. Talk to us about how we can support your full team in creating a positive company culture. Call us on 01452 331331 or drop us an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The recruitment seminar that we ran last week addressed a wide range of issues being faced by employers who are currently finding recruitment to be a massive challenge. The seminar has been a catalyst for a number of our clients and now, conversations have moved on to Workforce Planning. It seems that for some employers, a lack of foresight a few years ago has led to a recruitment crisis today.

A solid workforce plan should be influenced by, and sit alongside an organisation’s full business plan. Stakeholders will include the MD or CEO who’ll be driving the business. The Operations Director who will know what the shape of the business needs to be in terms of personnel required to meet the business plan; and the Financial Director who will be responsible for ensuring that the wage bill for the future workforce can be met.

Regardless of where the responsibility for recruitment lies, whether that’s the HR department or individual departmental managers, the workforce plan needs to be fully embedded in the actions of all departments. The availability of people to recruit into the business and the ability to pay for them, shouldn’t be issues that prevent the business from growing and moving forward. This means planning ahead.

Despite a digital, global economy, businesses shouldn’t overlook basic logistics when they’re planning for the future. Businesses that require employees to be on site, such as in manufacturing and distribution, amongst others, need to recruit from areas in easy commuting range for their employees; so that means local. It will be the pupils and students of local schools and universities now that provide the talent pool of the future. It’s crucial then that businesses have a rapport with the local education establishments to engage a potential future workforce early on.

Let's try and put Workforce Planning into a 5-step rough guide:

Step 1 - Ensure key stakeholders in the businesses understand the implications of the 1,3 and 5 year business plan and the resources that are required to deliver it. Eg. Materials, finance, investment, equipment, skills, market place demands, competition and community.

Step 2 - From a people perspective, understand the skills required. What do you already have in the business. What can be developed internally and what training is required.

Step 3 - Career discussions amongst your team should be the norm. Make sure they happen and understand what your employees want from the company and how you can develop them.

Step 4 - What is the shortfall? What skills will you need to recruit externally? Are those skills available and how attractive is your company to those who have them?

Step 5 - Review your employer branding and you employee value proposition. Put a long term people plan in place.

We’ve hardly skimmed the surface here. To really get under the skin of what an effective Workforce Plan should look like and include, come along to one of our forthcoming Workforce Planning seminars. We have two currently scheduled. 8th March in Gloucester and 29th March in Worcester. There are just 12 places per seminar and they’re going fast so make sure you get on board now.

In the meantime, if you require any help and support with your current planning, recruitment or other people issues, call us on 01452 331331 or drop us an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Here's the full slide deck from our recent "Attract, Recruit, Retain" seminar that you can play straight from this page. Watch the other presentation videos and download slides for each.

Whether you use a recruitment agency or prefer to keep talent acquisition in-house, Chloe Errington-Spurr takes you through a wealth of information to help manage your recruitment better.

In what some might describe as an ahead -of-schedule move, the Government this week scrapped it’s “work from home” guidance with immediate effect, enabling workers to return to their pre-Covid places of work. Should we then be anticipating an en masse return to the workplace and expect businesses and employees to simply discard their working from home practices?

The “work from home if you can” message was re-introduced as part of the Plan-B measures that came in into effect in December last year, designed to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. After a sharp rise in Coronavirus cases, followed by an equally sharp fall, the Government decided to ease restrictions this week, as we appear to be over the peak of infections from the new Covid variant. From next Thursday, the wearing of masks in public spaces and Covid passports for large events and nightclubs will also be scrapped.

However, just because we’re allowed to go back to the office, it doesn’t mean that we will.

As we have discussed in previous posts, now that employees have had a taste of homeworking, many companies have come under pressure to maintain at least a degree of it. At our seminar this week we shared statistics that showed how 45% of respondents to a survey stated that flexible working was their top criteria when applying for jobs. This has made it difficult for employers to withdraw flexible and home working from employees for fear of losing their talent; especially when so many companies are finding it difficult to recruit new staff.

However, research also tells us that the majority of employers would prefer their employees to return, and we have seen some strong arguments to support their case. Understandably, productivity and improved communications come top of the motivators for having staff back under one roof.

Whilst, strictly speaking, employers would be within their rights in most cases to insist that employees return, there are moral, economic and ethical reasons why, perhaps they should not.

To start with, even if your employees are triple jabbed, there’s a raft of reasons why they may not want to be exposed to the virus, which coming back to work clearly increases the risk of. For example, they may have underlying health conditions or live with someone who does. They may be planning a holiday to a destination with strict entry rules.

You’re also still responsible for the health an wellbeing of your employees. The challenge of keeping them physically safe obviously becomes greater as more people share confined spaces but we must also keep a handle on employees’ mental health. A sudden change in routine or increase in potential risk may prove challenging for some individuals. Different people have different triggers so a blanket approach may not work.

Despite the get back to work message being dropped on us quite suddenly, we recommend taking a step back to survey the landscape and formulate a plan to return to the workplace if you don’t already have one prepared. It doesn’t have to be expensive or particularly radical, but some simple steps could help to ease everyone back into a routine. For example:

• Plan and share rotas and shifts for returners
• Communicate these in plenty of time to give staff fair warning and time to plan their own schedules
• Holding return to work interviews with team members
• Offer re-familiarisation days

And as people do return, maintain your safety practices and standards such as regular testing, offering sanitising stations, keeping rooms ventilated and minimising close contact between individuals.

Finally in cases where continued homeworking has been agreed as the accepted working practice, now might be the time to formalise it with an approved flexible working plan and new contract of employment that reflects this.

We’re still at work to support with any of the issues raised here. Contact as usual on us on 01452 331331 or drop us an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Holding on to the talent that you have is as much a challenge as recruiting new team members. Cathy O'Donoghue examines some strategies that might help you plug any talent leaks.