With snow suddenly arriving for some of us yesterday and persistent, torrential rain for most, it seems that we’re writing about coping with adverse weather events with more regularity these days. Many of us experienced major disruption as a result of yesterday’s downpour with roads flooding and schools closing. Even as the rain eases, we’re likely to feel the after-effects of swollen rivers and rainwater running off hills and fields.

Whilst some businesses might suffer directly from flooded premises, the effect of the weather for most organisations is likely to be the inability of their staff to physically come to work. This may be due to travel and transport problems or because childcare has become an issue following a school closure.

How significantly businesses are affected will of course depend upon the business type and the premises involved. Shops, restaurants, factories and warehouses, where employee presence is required to carry out physical duties will feel the greatest impact. For office type premises, the availability of the Internet means that there may be some options for affected employees such as working from home or arranging to work from an alternative site.

In strict terms, where a business is unable to open owing to adverse weather, but employees still make themselves available for work, then they should still be paid as they are fulfilling or attempting to fulfil their duties under their contract of employment. This may occur because the premises is inaccessible on account of flooding or snow or because the main keyholder is unable to get to work to open up.

Conversely, should your business remain open during adverse weather, but employees are unable or unwilling to get to work, then there is no obligation to pay them. Employees would either have to take the time off as holiday, if you allowed it, or as unpaid leave.

However, we should always consider employee relations and maintaining morale and goodwill within your workforce. Therefore, we always advise discretion and compromise; particularly for smaller businesses. We’re not suggesting that you allow employees to take advantage of your generosity, but where there is trust and empathy, there should be room for some flexibility.

Besides, an engaged workforce will probably feel responsible for their absence and either make up the time they have missed or find a way to get their allocated work done. As employers we can assist by planning for adverse weather events. We can use cloud-based services that allow people to work from anywhere, or have a background project that staff can apply time to when their normal work options are forced to pause.

We should also consider businesses for whom adverse weather may make it too dangerous for employees to be working; roof-workers or scaffolders in icy conditions for example. A “lay-off” clause might be an appropriate solution so that you’re not paying workers to twiddle their thumbs but again, some alternative work will keep your staff loyal and paid. Perhaps a stock-take or workspace tidy-up.

Your employees have a right to know what to do should adverse weather strike, so we strongly recommend that all employers have a robust and properly implemented Adverse Weather Policy in place. This is a cheap and effective solution that will leave everybody in an organisation clear about what to do, what to expect and what is expected of them.

The policy should clearly lay out how the organisation will act in cases of adverse weather and how it expects its employees to behave. It should lay out the options available to employees and should also include how employees' pay might be affected.

If you don’t already have an adverse weather policy or if yours needs updating, perhaps because of the opportunities that the Internet now provides, we can help you to put one in place. With climate change seemingly making the weather more unpredictable, the need for an appropriate policy is only likely to become greater.

Call or e-mail us to discuss options on 01452 331331 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To protect workers, the law lays down certain terms that are an entitlement to all workers as a minimum. Such terms are classed as statutory and whilst they can be enhanced or improved upon by an employer, they cannot be made less beneficial or worse than the statutory minimum.

As suggested by their title, statutory terms of employment are set by “statute”. In other words, they are imposed, varied or regulated by an act of law that has been passed by Parliament.

An employer is entitled to improve upon or embellish a statutory term of employment as much as he or she wishes and might have good cause to do this. The most likely reasons might be to attract and retain the very best staff.

A good example of a statutory term that is often enhanced is holiday entitlement. The statutory minimum annual holiday for a full time worker in the UK is 28 days including bank holidays. An employer can choose to increase this entitlement to any number of days per year above this, but he cannot reduce this minimum entitlement or take holiday days away.

Statutory terms often have a qualifying period before they come into force, or change depending upon the length of service. There are around 30 statutory terms or rights. Some of the more pertinent ones are:

• The right to be paid at least the national minimum wage.
• The right to 28 days per year paid holiday. Pro-rata for part time staff
• The right to time off for trade union duties and activities although This time off does not necessarily have to be paid
• The right to maternity, paternity and/or adoption leave OR Paid maternity, paternity and/or adoption leave after a qualifying length of service
• The right to unpaid shared parental leave or paid shared parental leave after a qualifying period
• The right to sick pay following a qualifying period of employment and after qualifying period of sickness
• The right to ask for flexible working, although it may not necessarily be awarded
• The right not to be discriminated against
• The right to notice of dismissal. This is subject to one month’s service and varies thereafter depending on the length of service
• The right to claim redundancy pay if made redundant after two years’ service
• The right not to suffer detriment or dismissal for whistleblowing on a matter of public concern at the workplace

These terms should be considered as non-negotiable and are what you must accept as soon as you become an employer. Some will feature in your employment contracts whilst others will be better placed in your company handbook. We’ll happy review these documents for you. As usual, if you need support regarding any issues raised here, call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Vicarious Liability exists in the workplace where an organisation becomes liable for the actions, deeds or words of one or more of its employees. This can be a significant issue. Under the Equalities Act, awards for discrimination against the protected characteristics are unlimited. Therefore, inappropriate or discriminatory behaviour by a single rogue employee could cause financial ruin for his or her employer.

An example of vicarious liability might be where an employee is victimised by her boss because she is female and, feeling her position is untenable, chooses to quit her job. Subsequently she raises a constructive dismissal claim. The claim would initially be made against the company which, as the employer, would be vicariously liable.

If however, it could be proved that the correct training had been provided by the company to the offending manager, and that otherwise throughout the organisation a non-discriminative culture existed, the business would have a strong argument that it was not at fault. If the employee who made the claim wins her case, then the liability would rest on the shoulders of the victimising boss, for whom it could result in a very costly outcome.

Be aware that it’s not enough to have polices simply in existence. In order to avoid any blame for wrongdoing falling on the organisation, employers must stand by their policies and ensure that all staff know about them and are adequately trained. The organisation should maintain evidence that they have taken reasonable steps to implement their policies in the workplace and amongst the workforce.

If a company can show that they have created a non-discriminative organisational culture that is “lived and breathed”, acts of discrimination can then be attributed to any offending employees. Any fines or awards would then also be attributed to the individual who would be liable to pay.

In other words, where businesses can prove that they have taken reasonable steps to implement policies that safeguard against discrimination, employees cannot hide behind the company and could find themselves exposed to prosecution for offences perpetrated in the workplace.

Cases do exist where line managers have been personally fined so this outcome is more likely than you might think. The key of course is to make sure you regularly train on Dignity at Work Training for all employees and this has been recorded; and that relevant policies are up to date and staff have signed to say they have read and understand them.

For any help and support with your equal opportunities policies or to enquire about our dignity at work training, as usual you can call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When we are asked by a client to intervene in an employee related issue, very often we find that the matter could have been avoided if the employee’s manager or supervisor was better at holding difficult conversations. We understand. Difficult conversations are often avoided because by their very nature, they are likely to involve conflict; and conflict is something that the vast majority of us at least, will try very hard to avoid.

Embarrassment can also be a reason why issues are avoided or ignored. We may be embarrassed about what we have to say, or be fearful that we may become embarrassed if the conversation takes a turn in a direction that we are not prepared for or don’t have the answers to.

In the workplace, the reasons for why a manager might need to have a difficult conversation with an employee could be to discipline or reprimand them. This could be, for poor work standards, bad time keeping, absence or a mistake that has affected the business. Equally there may be behavioural issues that need to be addressed; and sometimes a word about personal hygiene.

No-one really likes to give bad or unwelcome feedback. When faced with the task of doing so however, we might question what the consequences of not giving it will be. We’ll probably quickly realise that these will be far worse than the temporary discomfort of swallowing hard and just saying what needs to be said.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t consider the recipient’s feelings when having a difficult conversation with them. But by giving appropriate feedback at the right time, employees will know where they stand and issues can be resolved rather than festering and escalating into major problems that then require an intervention from HR Champions.

Here are some top tips for holding difficult conversations, but it’s a complicated subject that really deserves a full day’s workshop, which of course, we can run for you and your managers.

• Be prepared. Make sure you have as much information as you think you’ll need for your conversation and have a clear idea of the outcome that you are after. Try thinking of a mental flow-chart so you can keep the conversation on the track that you want.
• Get on with it. Preparation is good but don’t use it as an excuse for procrastination. Better to go in half-cocked than not to go in at all.
• Make an appointment. Don’t just call an ad-hoc meeting. Pre-arrange a time and date in a suitable, private environment. This will add some formality to the meeting and help to add gravity to your message.
• Don’t beat around the bush. Be direct and get to the point of your discussion but use open questions to draw out the recipients views. Eg. “We’re meeting today to discuss your sales figures. How do you think you are doing?”
• Keep emotions in check. Be aware that the subject of your conversation may make emotions run high. Keep you composure at all times and don’t get personal or raise issues that are not relevant to your discussion
• Find a solution together. Make sure that the outcome is agreed between you and that both parties “buy-into it”. This will avoid resentment and give you a stronger standpoint if the issue arises again.

Congratulations if you’re already comfortable holding difficult conversations, but if you need support or if you think you and your staff would benefit from some training then please call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As we enter the time of year when sniffs, sneezes and coughs become more prevalent, we’re likely to see an increase in staff absence due to illness. With advances made in technology over recent years, and in particular in mobile communications, there may be a temptation for employees to use the likes of text messaging, Whatsapp or Twitter to notify their boss of an absence. However, we still recommend that as an employer, you insist that employees telephone and speak to their line manager if they are not going to turn into work because of sickness or an emergency.

Employers are in fact entitled to be very specific about the time by which they must be informed, and who or what level of management must be told if an unplanned absence occurs.

Staff absence will impact different organisations to different extents. For some, one or two staff members’ unexpected absence may not affect productivity significantly and their duties might be temporarily shared around other employees for a few days or simply wait until they return to work.

Other businesses and industries don’t have that luxury. An engineering firm’s entire productivity may be halted if a key component can’t be produced because it relies on a specific machine operator’s skills. Or a day nursery may compromise its child to adult ratio if they are unable to replace an absent nursery nurse at short notice.

The company policy regarding absence notification should be published in the organisation’s staff handbook and be clear and unambiguous.

It should state the time by which the company should be informed of unscheduled absence, eg within 30 minutes of the commencement of the employee’s shift or even prior to the shift starting. It should also state who should be informed; the employee’s line manager, or an equivalent or superior if the line manager is unavailable.

We further recommend that the absence policy states how the employee should communicate their absence and this should be by telephone.

Mobile messaging negates the ability to hold a proper conversation. The employee’s wellbeing should be of concern for the employer, who has a duty of care. A telephone conversation allows for a proper understanding of the employee’s situation and could be an early alert to some other underlying medical condition.

If there is a possibility that the absence could be for an extended period of time, a one-to-one conversation creates an opportunity to agree channels of communication during this period.

And of course, there should be a discussion around workload, priorities and deadlines. If a customer is waiting for a job or an order to be completed that the employee has some responsibility for then this information needs to be shared so that the organisation can manage the workflow. The employee is contracted to deliver a job and whilst illness may temporarily prevent fulfilment of that contract, a duty remains.

You might even consider that your policy goes as far as explicitly excluding the use of e-mail, social media or mobile platforms to notify of absence so that there is no doubt.

If you are making changes to your staff handbook to incorporate a stringent absence notification policy, ensure that your employees are made aware of the changes and have access to a copy of the document. As usual, if you need any help with your contracts or handbooks or implementing policies and procedures in the workplace, we’re available on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Once an employee has passed their probationary period, you can never really just sack them on the spot and have them escorted from the premises. Even for behaviour that we might consider to be gross misconduct, a proper dismissal process should be followed.

You could argue that any employee who has less than two years’ service hasn’t accrued any rights and can therefore be asked to leave without reason. However, if a situation has arisen that calls for a formal process to be followed, we strongly recommend that this takes place in order to eliminate any risk of wrongful dismissal.

Even for the most serious of misdemeanours, such as theft, fighting or sleeping at work, employers have to go through a formal disciplinary procedure or potentially face a claim for unfair dismissal at Tribunal.

If you feel that the offence is so serious the employee is a risk to the business and so shouldn’t be at work or on the premises, then a suspension is usually your best option whilst the disciplinary process is undertaken. Even then, suspension should be a last resort for the most serious of incidents, where their presence in the business may be a risk to the business or others; and remember, it will be on full pay.

Your disciplinary process should start with an investigation. Depending on the offence, the investigation may amount to simply interviewing solely the employee in question. You should interview other employees for evidence where appropriate and take statements that interviewees have the option to review and sign.

Your investigation might also potentially involve seeking statements and evidence from outside your organisation from sources such as your customers or the Police. Under GDPR, it’s likely to be very difficult to acquire CCTV footage unless it’s your own.

If the investigation warrants a move to disciplinary action (and we can assume that for a gross misconduct offence it will), then the offending employee should be invited to a disciplinary meeting. Give at least 48 hours’ notice prior to the meeting taking place and you must share any evidence you intend to refer to. You must also allow the employee representation at the disciplinary meeting which can be either a work colleague or an elected representative (not simply a member) of a trade union; even if you don’t have a trade union active at your workplace.

We also recommend that somebody different to the investigator undertakes the disciplinary meeting. Should they decide that summary dismissal is the appropriate course of action, then at that stage employment can be terminated and done so without any period of notice. Remember however that the employee is entitled to appeal any disciplinary decision that is made and it is best practice to have the appeal heard by a different and more senior manager to the one that heard the disciplinary meeting.

We are often asked to support clients through disciplinary processes and we can act on your behalf at any stage; investigation, disciplinary, including dismissal, and appeal. If you have a disciplinary case that you would like some support with then please call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you have any uncertainty, seek advice as early in the process as possible. Most Tribunal cases fail because the early stage processes have not been carried out satisfactorily.

As a provider of Leadership and Management training, discussion and debate around the qualities of great leaders is, as you might imagine, a regular occurrence for us. Leadership is a huge subject, with an almost limitless supply of articles, blogs and discussions available on the Internet and in industry magazines. It’s rightly the foundation of nearly all of the training we promote.

When we ask for examples of great leaders during training programmes, common responses include the likes of Winston Churchill, Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela. There are often parallels drawn between the worlds of business and sport with Alex Ferguson and Martin Johnson often cited for their distinctive leadership styles.

When it comes to really successful and growth businesses however, there is an aspect to leadership that is often overlooked; self-leadership.

Enabling self-leadership in itself takes great leadership to achieve, but businesses and organisations that encourage and facilitate their employees to be self-leaders can reap the benefits of staff who:

• Can make decisions
• Understand what their responsibilities are and recognise their accountability
• Are creative in problem solving and persist in the face of adversity
• Set their own objectives and achieve them

The key to self-leadership is being able to recognise where you are for any particular task or competency. Consider four main stages:

• Unconscious Incompetence – you’re unaware of a task and, understandably you don’t know how to accomplish it
• Conscious Incompetence – you recognise there’s a task to be done but you don’t know how to accomplish it
• Conscious Competence – you recognise the task and with some effort and concentration you can accomplish it
• Unconscious Competence – accomplishing the task is a breeze, you could do it one handed

It’s normal to be at different stages of competence for different tasks and being able to recognise when you need help is an appreciation of which stage you are at rather than a sign of failure. It’s also a indicator of self-leadership. It can sometimes be difficult for an employee to ask for support, which is why self-leadership must be understood and enabled from the very top of an organisation.

Organisational culture is where the differences lie between those businesses that see the value in enabling their employees to self-lead and those that persist with a tell and do attitude. The latter are likely to constantly spiral downward due to poor morale, inefficiency and a failure to keep hold of good employees.

Promoting a culture of self-leadership is something that progressive businesses actively develop as part of a growth strategy. We have a range of tools, systems and training packages that can enable self-leadership in your organisation. Call us to discover more on  01452 331331 or by e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

'Part-time’, ‘temporary’ and ‘casual’ are phrases that tend to be commonly interchanged when referring to employees; however these terms mean different things from a legal standpoint so it’s important that employers are clear about the status of anyone who does work for them, and refers to it accurately. A worker’s status can drastically affect the rights they are entitled to, particularly around unfair dismissal and redundancy.

Here’s a brief guide to employee status with a synopsis of the rights of each. This is just top line so if you are in any doubt about the status of someone carrying out work on your behalf, you should contact us for further advice. 

Full-Time Permanent Employee: An employed member of staff who works a full working week (Usually 37.5 hours but can vary) and for whom you deduct PAYE tax and National Insurance through your payroll. They are entitled to paid holidays of at least 28 days including public holidays per year and statutory sick pay, maternity/paternity/adoption/parental/shared parental leave. Full employment rights accrue after two years’ service.
 
Part-Time Permanent Employee: The same as a full-time employee, including rights accrual, but will work for a reduced, set number of hours or days per week; e.g. 16 hours per week or 3 days per week. Holiday and some other benefits will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Temporary Employee: A member of staff employed for a set period usually less than 6 months. If a temporary worker is taken on as a permanent member of staff without a break in employment of at least 2 weeks, the period of temporary work will be accumulated with their permanent term when calculating rights. A temporary worker who has worked for you for more than 24 months will have accrued the same rights as a permanent employee.

Temporary Employee – Agency Employed: For very short term appointments of just a few weeks or even days, temporary staff are often taken on via an agency. In this situation, workers are usually employed by and paid by the staffing agency. Current legislation means that they have equal rights as employed staff for company facilities and benefits such as a staff canteen or crèche; and rights to equal pay after 12 weeks.

Fixed Term Contract – Fixed term contracts are usually used to employ staff to manage or cover a specific project or period of maternity leave. Once that project is complete the position for which the fixed term contract was instigated no longer exists and the employee is let go. The worker is employed by you for the period of the contract. Again, workers under fixed term contracts of more than 24 months will accrue full employee rights. This means that redundancy might be the more appropriate option to terminate the contract if employment exceeds 2 years.

Casual Workers – Casual workers are likely to be employed on a zero-hours contract. They are only given work when there is work to be done and therefore only paid when they have carried out any work. There is no obligation for an employer to provide work or for the worker to accept. Event catering is a good example of an industry that would use casual workers. Casual workers don’t have any rights although once again this changes if they worked continuously without a break in service for more than 24 months. In any documentation they should be referred to as workers and NOT employees.

Contractor – A contractor would be self-employed or employed through another company and provide services to you for a fee. You would not be responsible for paying a wage or salary nor any benefits. Instead you would pay in response to being invoiced. The relationship would be governed by Business Law rather than Employment Law. However, a contractor who works exclusively for one customer for an extended period of time might be considered to be an employee by the Inland Revenue and so subject to PAYE rules. If you’ve heard anything about IR35, this is what it relates to.

In all cases you should at the very least check that your employee’s contracts describe what you believe their status to be. If there is a discrepancy, don’t act without seeking advice as you may unwittingly be in breach of contractual terms. You can contact us for further advice or assistance regarding employee statuses and relevant contracts by telephone on 01452 331331 or by e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As employers, there are a set of rules and regulations that we must adhere to when dealing with our employees which we refer to as Employment Law. Whilst there is room for some interpretation in how the law is applied, most are reasonably black and white, and we can turn to case law to see how the less defined ones are judged. ACAS also publish a set of best practice guidelines which we are expected to adhere to.

Then there are the rules that we ought to be implementing if we want to be good employers. That is, the guidelines, and procedures we should apply if we want the people who we employ to perform in their jobs, remain in our employment and be happy and content whilst they are with us. This is what we really mean when we talk about HR.

Businesses should aspire to be really good at both. To run their organisations in line with legislation but also to create a great working environment.

Below we’ve put together a top five of each so you can see how you rank. It’s a bit of a crude yardstick to measure yourself against but it might just highlight where there is room for improvement in your own organisation.

Top 5 Must-Haves

1. Contracts of Employment: Strictly speaking, what you must provide is written terms of employment which could all be laid out in an offer letter. According to ACAS there are between 15 and 20 specific terms, depending on the type of employment, that you must include in the contract or at least reference to in another document such as a staff handbook. Additionally, the statement must be issued within 8 weeks of starting work and will become a day-one right from April 2020.
2. A safe and equitable working environment: This goes further than providing a workplace where employees are physically safe and is effectively solid application of The Equalities Act. Staff should also feel free from bullying, harassment and any sense of discomfort. Take an honest look around your team and spend a minute thinking about how each one feels about their workplace.
3. Right to Work Checks: You must have a process for checking employees’ validity to work in the UK. Even if you employ your twin brother, you must keep a record of their evidence.
4. Minimum wage: This should be straightforward, but we still hear stories where the National Minimum Wage isn’t paid. Sometimes travel time or extra time on site can mean the actual time spent ‘at work’ reduces the pay per hour to below the official minimum. Fines for getting this wrong can be quite damaging.
5. Maximum working hours: The working time directive can be opted out of, but you also need to bear in mind time for breaks and rest periods. These rules will also be affected by the employee’s age. Ultimately you have a duty of care towards your staff that means they don’t suffer because of their job.

6 and 7 would probably be Pension Auto Enrolment and Employers Liability insurance.

Top 5 Should-Haves

1. A Vision: You need to know what direction you want to take your business and as your employees will be part of your journey, they should all know it too. On a ship, even though the guy in the engine room can’t see the horizon, he still needs to know how much fuel you’ll need.
2. An effective on-boarding procedure: Starting out in a new job at a new employer is a huge event for most people. How the first few days, weeks and months play out will influence the rest of the time an employee spends with you. Get it right from day one.
3. Regular 1-2-1 meetings and appraisals: Few employees are such great self-leaders that they remain motivated and driven to do their jobs without any intervention from their boss. Regular reviews are an opportunity to measure performance, tackle problems early-on, and set new goals and targets to maintain motivation. This is probably the best place to include a word about channels of communication. These should be clear and effective with an opportunity to feed back.
4. A development plan: We expect that you’re constantly trying to grow your business. You should be trying to grow your employees too so that they are fully equipped with the right skills and knowledge to join you on your journey.
5. A positive culture: Culture is the word we probably use the most at HR Champions. How the people with an organisation behave and feel will be directly attributable to its culture. Take a step back and look inwardly on your business. What would an outsider’s opinion be of your culture?

Hopefully you’re not disappointed that bean bags and a pool table didn’t appear in the list. Yes, they are nice-to-haves it they fit your culture, but in fairness there is much to get right before you even think about introducing them.

If you managed to tick everything on both lists then you should be very proud of yourself. If there are any holes, a conversation with a member of the team at HR Champions might be a good next step for you. We are experienced at covering all the points here for our clients and can help you to integrate elements of both areas at the same time.

Call us on 01452 331331 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

By the time you read this the Rugby World Cup will have already kicked off in Japan. As with most large sporting events, we should give a little thought to its potential effect on staff attendance over the coming weeks. For example, fans might be inclined to take spontaneous, unauthorised absence to watch games or perhaps to recover from win celebrations.

To be fair though, the risk shouldn’t be too great. With the tournament hosted in the land of the rising sun, matches will be aired in the mornings in the UK; too early for most workers to be thinking about having a drink. Plus, the vast majority of the England and play-off matches are scheduled on the weekends; so unlikely to impact businesses operating Monday to Friday.

Fans of the other home nations however are not so lucky as some of their matches will be shown on weekday mornings and it’s funny how rugby seems to bring out people’s deep-seated patriotism. Plus of course, there are the other countries to consider, and fans of the sport itself. It might then, be a good idea to have a plan of action up your sleeve in case you’re faced with an unauthorised absence.

In agreeing a contract of employment, employees are committing to make themselves available for work at the times laid out within it. If a crucial game emerges or runs over time, an employee might be tempted to ‘throw a sickie’ if holiday time hasn’t been booked. However, employees who fail to attend work claiming to be ill can be at risk of disciplinary action up to and including dismissal if their employer has evidence that they are not actually sick.

There may be a temptation to let the odd “sickie” go and make allowances for the fact that there is a World Cup competition going on. After all, unless you have a sick-pay scheme, you don’t have to pay an employee for one day of sickness absence. The danger here however is that this sends the wrong message and could be seen as ‘custom and practice’, making it difficult to enforce any action on another occasion.

A better solution might be to agree a temporary flexible working policy, if your business can manage it, to allow the odd late start or extended lunch-break. Most of the weekday matches will be over quite early so provided a late start is logged and the time made back, there’s probably no harm done. Equally an hour tacked on to the beginning a lunch-hour should be long enough to catch the late-morning kick-offs. This approach will also score you points with your employees but be sure to apply any such policy consistently. You don’t want to be seen to be showing favouritism, or in extreme cases, risk a claim for discrimination.

If you're inclined to set up a TV at work to allow staff to watch games, remember that you'll need a TV licence for your business premises if you don't already have one.

If you’re not able to or don’t want to accommodate a flexible arrangement, then staff desperate to watch games will have to book holiday. If, like most companies you operate a first-come, first-served policy for holiday booking it’s vital that you apply the policy fairly and consistently. Again, you’ll want to avoid any claims of treating staff less favourably than others should you need to turn down a holiday request.

A clear and robust holiday and absence policy is a must for situations like this. Make sure that you are full versed in yours and that your employees understand it too so it can be your fallback position should the need arise.  

We’re here to help with employee issues like this and others, so if you need any additional support or advice, please get in touch on 01452 331331 or by e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.