Addressing the fears around Employment Law Changes

Impending employment law reform – Do we need to be concerned?

The answer to that is “Maybe”, but it doesn’t have to be the case?

There has been a lot of commentary about the proposed changes to Employment law.  Richard Tyler’s article in the Times on 12.8.24 highlighted some of the fears and comments from a range of industry practitioners.  Here is my take on it…..

Most of the noise we are hearing from business is currently around the removal of the 2-year qualifying period for unfair dismissals. It is the change that is presumed to have the most impact. 

But, has the 2-year grace period really been that much of a protection for employers anyway? 

Currently, anyone who has a protected characteristic trumps the current 2-year rule. And approximately 33% of workers in the UK workplace are considered to have at least one protected characteristic, meaning that they do not have to wait for 2 years before raising an unfair dismissal claim.

There has been no talk from the government about doing away with probation periods, and so this period can be used to terminate someone without going through a protracted process. 

We know that Governments bring in employment law changes in response to high levels of complaint or negative public opinion.  If employers were to start putting in unrealistic probation periods to circumvent the removal of the unfair dismissal grace period, then it is likely that we will see probation periods mandated (and shortened). 

As a business operator, how long does it take to reasonably ascertain if someone is good for the job?  That will depend on the job, of course, but for most entry level type roles, this really should not be more than 3-6 months.

It is also important to note that most employers do not terminate employees unfairly.  Employers are now well-schooled in the process they need to go through to justify a termination decision.  And here is the thing… employers do not need to fear justifiable termination.  It is their legal right. 

Where employers often go wrong is their reluctance, or inability, to performance manage new employees. 

They are too prepared to “wait and see”. The 2-year unfair dismissal rule has almost created a false timeframe for action with many employers waiting until the 2-year period is almost up before they act. This is clearly not good business practice.  If you have someone who is not performing to standard, WHY are you waiting for almost 2 years to do something about it?

The simple solution is this:

·         Recruit better: this means thinking about how you recruit and how you assess critical skills and attributes in interviews. It is far better to spend your time here than working out how to terminate someone who is not a good fit.

·         Induct better: induction is more than showing someone around the premises and introducing them to the team. It is about communicating your expectations and providing guidance on how they can meet these. Giving them the tools and resources to succeed.

·         Performance manage from day one: this is crucial. It is never too early to start measuring and gauging performance. Be transparent on what you are looking for and how you are assessing their fit and aptitude to do the job.  Do not pass their probation if they are not ideal.

Looking at the article from Richard Tyler and the responses provided by some employers, it seems to me that this is a chance for a re-set. 

The new laws are an opportunity for us to re-evaluate recruitment, onboarding, and performance management practices.  If you were doing this right before the Labour government got into power, you should have no more concern now than you had a few months ago. However, if there were gaps in your processes, this is a chance to improve your practices and improve the productivity of your operations without any undue risk.