Category: Strategy

Why HR policies are important
Employment contracts
Emma Browning

Why are HR policies SO important?

HR policies are as important to your business as laws of the land. They provide your organisation with written guidance on how employees should behave and your expectations. They’re there to protect you, your business and your employees. For that reason, it’s incredibly important for your policies to be really clear and understood by everyone. However, we see many policies that are unclear, outdated and inaccessible to people who need them. Which can lead to confusion, frustration and compliance issues. In our latest video, we discuss 3 ways you can…
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Q. Can you please give us some tips on how to introduce new 1:1 meetings?

We would like our managers to be having regular “check ins” with their team which include discussions about the employee’s wellbeing. Have you got any tips on how to introduce this kind of regular meeting? If a meeting is entirely about “checking in,” it’s probably a waste of time, and your employees will end up feeling this way too! So if you are thinking about introducing a meeting like this, make sure that you make them really helpful and valuable to you and your employee. Quality one-on-one meetings strengthen relationships,…
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Q. How can we make our job vacancy stand out when using Job Boards?

We’re struggling to get good candidates applying for roles that we are recruiting for. How can we make our advert stand out when using Job Boards? When you are recruiting, it’s essential in today’s competitive job market that you create an engaging advertisement that grabs candidates attention and makes them hit the ‘apply now’ button instantaneously. However active candidates have a wide variety of roles available in any job search at the moment, and research says they spend an average of just eight seconds reading a job ad – so…
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Q. How can we manage the recruitment process efficiently?

We’re struggling to manage the application process efficiently when we have a role to recruit for. It takes us ages to acknowledge applications, download CV’s and we just don’t have the time to do this! There must be a way to streamline the admin/or a more efficient way of doing this?  We agree! Recruiting someone new can quickly become an overwhelming, administrative nightmare; especially when you don’t have a centralised place to manage your applicants That’s where Breathe’s Applicant Tracking System can help, allowing you to manage every step of…
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Mental Health in the workplace
Culture and change
Emma Browning

Low cost ways to develop a culture of employee wellbeing

Did you know that 700 construction workers take their own lives every year in the UK? That’s a minimum of two lives lost, every single day, which is a really scary and awful statistic. Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with two suicides in my 24 year HR career, both of whom were male, which is two suicides too many, and let me tell you, it’s the worst thing I have ever had to deal with – ever. It’s a grim reality to remind us of the profound impact of mental…
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Q. Can we revoke an employment offer?

Job offers usually fall into two categories: Conditional: A job offer is made based on set criteria being met. A job offer can be withdrawn at any time if it’s found that the conditions set out in the offer haven’t been met. These conditions may include: Being unable to demonstrate eligibility to work in the country. Failing to hold or provide qualifications specific to that job role. Not being able to provide satisfactory references. Being unable to pass any background checks that have been requested. Unconditional: A job offer is…
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Q. Who has to be informed and consulted on a TUPE transfer?

When a TUPE transfer occurs, before the transfer, both the old and new employers must by law, inform and consult with a recognised trade union or employee representatives. To ‘inform’ is when you tell your affected employees or their representatives the facts about the transfer. To ‘consult’ is when you talk and listen to affected employees or their representatives on expected ‘measures’ which are effectively changes that could affect employees and genuinely consider their views. There is no fixed length of time for employers to inform and consult employees and…
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Q. Who owns an employee’s Linkedin contacts if they were created as a result of their employment?

Is it the employer or the employee? LinkedIn contacts are key for many employers, as they may use LinkedIn to generate new business contacts. Departing employees could use the LinkedIn contacts that they created during their employment for their own, or a competitors’ benefit. So many employers will want their employment contractual terms and procedures to protect their business and its intellectual property. Many businesses will include standard confidentiality provisions, which will prohibit the use of confidential information belonging to the company. They may also have terms which specifically mention…
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Q. What is Constructive Dismissal?

You’ve probably heard the term ‘constructive dismissal’ before, but are you clear on what it actually means? Constructive dismissal is the term that applies when a change to an employee’s working conditions or unfair treatment forces them to quit. Sometimes this is confused with unfair dismissal, which is where you fire the employee. With constructive dismissal, the employee feels “forced” out of the business due to conditions beyond their control (such as their employer’s behaviour). Usually, an employee can only claim constructive dismissal if they’ve been employed with a company…
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Employee Engagement Survey
Culture and change
Emma Browning

The power of Employee Engagement Surveys

This is one of the most powerful tools you can use as a business leader.   As a business leader, one of your jobs is to make big difficult decisions.  When making a decision as a business leader, you take care to look at all of the information you have available to you so that you can make the best, most informed, decisions. And when it comes to making decisions about your people, it’s important to use the same due care and diligence, because your people are your greatest business…
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