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HR & EMPLOYMENT LAW Jackie Le Poidevin, Editor-in-Chief, HR Adviser |
5 Tips to Prevent Harassment Following Recent High-profile Investigations
Stories of sexual misconduct, racial harassment and bullying have been all over the news recently. With bullying and abuse apparently going unchecked for years at some major organisations, what can you do to prevent a toxic culture taking hold in your own business? We offer 5 actions that can help.
Bullying and Harassment in the News
We have recently heard that Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, has been dismissed with immediate effect for misconduct, while three other employees have been suspended following sexual misconduct allegations.
We had reports on the Metropolitan Police and the Fire and Rescue Services, which concluded bullying, racism and misogyny are rife in both institutions.
Another review found a bullying and toxic culture at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, while yet another found a transport union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, allowed a culture of sexual harassment and bullying to flourish.
On top of all this, both McDonalds and Ikea UK have entered into ‘section 23 agreements’ with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) following staff allegations of sexual harassment. The companies have committed to improve their policies and practices in return for the EHRC not taking enforcement action against them.
Your 5 Key Actions
- Review your policies and procedures. Your anti-harassment policy should commit to a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and bullying. It should be clear how staff can bring a complaint, what they should do if they witness bullying or harassment, and how the business will respond. Also consider how effective your procedures, including your grievance and whistleblowing procedures, are in practice.
- Train staff in your policies during their induction and at regular intervals, and make those policies easily accessible (for example, publish them on your Intranet). Make clear what kinds of behaviour staff should feel able to speak up about and what standards of behaviour you expect.
- Hire the right leaders. This may be challenging thanks to talent shortages and financial constraints. However, you should identify what you want your culture to be like and aim to bring in people who don’t just have the technical skills you need but will drive forward those values, including senior staff from underrepresented groups. If you gain a reputation as being an ‘old boys’ club’ or having a culture based on fear, it will get harder and harder to recruit and retain the people you want.
- Give leadership skills training and assess managers’ people skills during performance reviews. Employees shouldn’t be able to progress to senior positions unless they’re effective managers. They must challenge inappropriate ‘banter’ and poor conduct before they become ingrained, have good interpersonal skills so staff feel comfortable raising concerns and trust them to do the right thing, deal with conflict sensitively and promptly, and avoid favouritism. They should also act as role models for staff.
- Listen to your employees. Add questions into anonymous satisfaction surveys and exit interviews to identify any patterns of unacceptable behaviour and then act on them. For example, ask staff if they’re aware of your complaints procedure, if they trust the business to deal with complaints effectively, if they’ve witnessed or know of inappropriate behaviour and, if so, whether it was allowed to continue.
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HEALTH & SAFETY Michael Ellerby, Editorial Board Member, Health & Safety Adviser and Risk Assessment & Compliance |
5 Key Points for a Successful Induction Training Process
Nearly every organisation provides induction training for its new starters but not all do it well. The induction process (from a health and safety point of view) may be a relatively short, functional process, or it may be an elaborate multi-layered process. It should be viewed as an investment in the future of the new starter and of the organisation.
First Impressions Count
Amongst other things, induction training is the first impression that most new starters will get in terms of how your organisation views health and safety. This is not just through the provision of the training but other important factors:
- Hold induction training on day one: this is the ideal day for induction training. It promotes the message that health and safety is taken seriously. It helps to establish simple, but important, rules for workers, and enables new starters to understand what is important at this organisation.
- Have a positive attitude: the attitude of the person delivering the induction training is part of that all-important first impression. A rushed, unengaging session (perhaps by sitting the worker in front of a video) does not pass on a message of care. Whereas a short, lively session (covering the essentials) with a promise of more to come gives a good impression to the new starter.
- Provide site orientation: part of the induction process should involve a walkthrough of the important aspects of the business (both physical and metaphorical), helping the new starter to orientate themselves. This may involve visiting those areas that the person needs to know about, such as welfare facilities, fire assembly points, exit routes, etc.
- Give a test: this should be incorporated into the induction process and the new starter should be expected to acquit themselves well (following the induction process). This is not to catch people out but to demonstrate that the key messages have been received and understood.
- Convey the key messages: the content of the initial induction session should reflect the big health and safety messages that are important to the organisation. If the business works with flammable solvents, then significant focus should be made on the dangers and the control measures. Similarly, if the job will involve lots of lifting and carrying (such as for a warehouse operative) then a significant focus should be made on manual handling, etc.
Keep records of the initial (and subsequent) induction training sessions. These are important from an HR perspective and may be needed to demonstrate that the organisation is managing health and safety effectively (for example, in the event of an HSE visit, etc.).
Induction is a Process, Not Just a Session
Induction training should be viewed as a process, not just a quick session. There should be continual reinforcement of the main health and safety messages that were given on the first day. This can be achieved through toolbox talks, task-specific training, formal training sessions, etc.
Managers and supervisors should reinforce the salient points in their interactions with workers, such as by ‘walking the talk’, showing interest in the progress that workers are making, engaging in active monitoring (perhaps with the direct involvement of some of the newer employees).
Introduce the Bigger Issues
It’s not possible to cover all of the relevant health and safety training in the initial induction session. It is possible, however, to mention the other, potentially bigger, issues and to discuss how these will be dealt with as part of the ongoing training that the organisation provides (so reinforcing how the organisation values health and safety). These other issues could include detailed manual handling training, confined space awareness, firefighting, fork truck operation, etc.
It’s worth doing the induction training process well. It constitutes some of the earliest safety interactions that the new starter will have with the organisation. It may shape the attitudes and actions of the starter for years to come, so is a worthwhile investment.
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PAYROLL Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
How to Correctly Pay National Insurance for 2023/24
The 2023/24 tax year started on 5 April 2023. Before you pay your employees for the first time in 2023/24, you will need to update your payroll software to ensure that the correct rates and thresholds are used for the new tax year, and that employees have been given the correct National Insurance category letter. But make sure that you have run your 2022/23 year end before updating your software for 2023/24.
Employee’s Primary Contributions
For 2023/24, Class 1 National Insurance should be more straightforward than for 2022/23. The primary Class 1 National Insurance threshold is set at £242 per week (£1,048 per month; £12,570 per year). It is now fully aligned with the standard personal allowance.
The lower earnings limit is set at £123 per week (£533 per month, £6,396 per year).
You do not need to deduct any National Insurance where the employee’s earnings are between the lower earnings limit and the primary threshold. However, the employee is treated as if they have paid notional contributions at a zero rate and benefit from a qualifying year for state pension purposes for zero contribution cost.
You must deduct employee’s Class 1 Contributions at 12% on earnings for the earnings period that fall between the primary threshold and the upper earnings limit (set at £967 per week, £4,189 per month and £50,270) for 2023/24. If earnings exceed the upper earnings limit, you must deduct contributions on the excess at the rate of 2%.
Employee contributions cease when the employee reaches state pension age.
Employer’s Secondary Contributions
Employer contributions are more complicated in that there are various secondary thresholds. The standard secondary threshold, which applies where none of the upper secondary thresholds is in point, is set at £175 per week (£758 per month; £9,100 per year). Employer contributions are payable at the rate of 13.8% on all earnings in excess of the secondary threshold.
A higher secondary threshold of £967 per week (£4,189 per month; £50,270 per year) applies where the employee is under the age of 21, an apprentice under the age of 25 or an armed forces veteran in the first year of their first civilian employment since leaving the armed forces. Where this is the case, employer contributions are only payable on earnings in excess of this threshold at the employer rate of 13.8%.
If you have physical premises in a Freeport tax zone, you only need to pay employer contributions (at 13.8%) on the earnings of a new Freeport employee to the extent that they exceed £481 per week (£2,083 per month; £25,000 per year) for the first 36 months of the employee’s employment.
Unlike employee contributions, the liability to employer contributions continues if the employee continues to work beyond state pension age.
National Insurance Category Letter
Your software will only calculate National Insurance correctly if your employees have the correct category letter. The category letters for 2023/24 are shown in the table below.
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Category Letter |
Employee Group |
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A |
All employees other than those in category B, C, F, H, I, J, L, M, S, V, X or Z. |
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B |
Married women and widows entitled to pay reduced rate National Insurance. |
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C |
Employees over state pension age. |
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F |
Freeport employee other than one in category I, S or L. |
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H |
Apprentices under the age of 25. |
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I |
Freeport employees who are married women or widows entitled to pay reduced National Insurance. |
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J |
Employees who can defer paying National Insurance because they are already paying it in another job. |
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L |
Freeport employees who defer National Insurance because they are already paying it in another job. |
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M |
Employees under the age of 21. |
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S |
Freeport employees over state pension age. |
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V |
Armed forces veterans in the first year of their first civilian job since leaving the armed forces. |
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X |
Employees who do not have to pay National Insurance (e.g. those under 16) |
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Z |
Employees under the age of 21 who defer National Insurance because they are already paying it in another job. |
Make sure that you update the category letters when an employee’s circumstances change, for example on reaching their 21st birthday.