The coronavirus is giving rise to a variety of challenging issues for employers, particularly due to the ever changing national and regional laws and guidelines relating to lockdowns. At the time of writing (01/10/2020) a number of regions around the UK are in, or are embarking on imminent lockdowns with a number of further regions…

Back in December 2019 we spent some time looking at the legal responsibilities for employers when dealing with flexible working requests. Although this was written pre-Covid-19 pandemic, the legal framework remains the same. We look at who can submit a request, how employers should deal with requests, refusing a request if you need too and…

Managing people when physical or mental wellbeing is a factor is best managed by teamwork. This team should be made up of HR, the employee, the employee’s manager and possibly some specialist help in the shape of Occupational Health. Bringing in Occupational Health allows us to make better, more informed decisions; so, it’s really important…

Managing an ill health situation where an employee says they are too ill to talk, or attend meetings requires a careful and considered approach from managers and HR teams. Suzanne Pipe, one of our experienced employment lawyers at Vista talks us through the right approach: Explain how important communication is, and why Keeping in touch…

Anyone who has experienced bereavement knows how difficult it can be, and how important support from family, friends and your employer can be. Most employers provide some form of leave at a time of loss, but there are wide variations in the amount of leave and whether the leave is paid or unpaid. Each loss…

Many of you have told us that harmonising hr policies is on your list for the coming year, so we thought you might be interested in what we think are the key points to consider when undertaking this. Start with Why First of all, be clear about why you wish to harmonise your policies. It…

We’re all well versed in the benefits of soft skills training. Research has shown that they account for 90% of what makes people progress up the ladder. Whilst soft and hard skills should work in harmony – the so called softer, people focused skills can be difficult to master. In the interest of keeping life…

We’re celebrating the 1 year GDPR anniversary by talking employee record retention. Article 5 of the GDPR states that personal data shall be kept no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is being processed. Understandably many HR teams want to know what this means in practice. However, with the exception of…

Yvonne Saxon is our Head of HR, Diversity and Inclusion at Vista Employer Services. Yvonne took time out to pen a guest blog for our friends at Adam Recruitment, to help anyone responsible for HR in a fast growth SME with insight, advice and helpful tips. This is a must read if you’re involved in…