Long COVID – How Can Employers Best Support and Manage Staff?

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As long COVID has recently been ruled as a disability, we consider the implications for your workplace sickness management processes. 

Although we are approaching two and a half years since the pandemic hit the UK and living and working with COVID has become routine and common-place, long COVID remains a relatively new condition, with its effects still being properly researched. For employers this is likely to be a cause for concern, given the potential impact on the workforce.

In research conducted by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Simplyhealth at the beginning of 2022, 46% of surveyed organisations had employees who have experienced long COVID in the last 12 months. Whilst this number will continue to fluctuate, it is potentially a significant number of employees who will be trying to work whilst coping with long COVID symptoms. 

There is an expectation that more long COVID cases will come to tribunals, following the recent preliminary ruling in a Scottish tribunal case that long COVID did meet the definition of disability.  

What Is long COVID?

It is described as the persistence or development of symptoms attributed to COVID-19, lasting more than twelve weeks after initial infection. 

Common symptoms include: 

  • extreme tiredness, difficulty sleeping
  • shortness of breath
  • chest pain or tightness, heart palpitations
  • problems with memory and concentration
  • dizziness
  • joint pain, pins and needles
  • depression and anxiety
  • tinnitus, earaches
  • nausea, stomach aches diarrhoea
  • loss of appetite
  • a high temperature
  • cough, sore throat
  • headaches
  • changes to sense of smell or taste
  • rashes

People can experience the effects of long COVID for weeks, months and even years. Symptoms can come and go over time, sometimes getting better and sometimes getting worse. This means it can affect someone’s ability to work and/or cause them to have higher rates of absence.    

With the potential to last beyond twelve months and to have an adverse effect on day-to-day activities, this is where the question of disability comes in. Long COVID has been found to more severely affect older people, ethnic minorities and women.

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Effective Steps for Employers

With inconsistent performance and increasing absence, it’s easy to see how an escalation to capability processes could happen for an employee suffering with long COVID. 

As with any complex sickness issue, it’s important to seek expert medical advice before rushing into a management decision. This is where an occupational health referral can really help but ensure that you ask the right questions:

  • Is there an underlying medical condition?
  • How might it affect the individual’s performance of their duties?
  • What reasonable adjustments could be made in the short or long term? 
  • Whether or not the individual is likely to be covered by the Equality Act?

For this last question, the advice may not always be conclusive but the focus here should not be on determining whether an employee’s condition is a disability, but on getting them back to working at their best. This is where the reasonable adjustments – such as changes to hours and responsibilities, place of work – can really help.  

An Individual Response

With individuals being affected in different ways by a vast array of possibly fluctuating symptoms, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to absence management is unlikely to be possible. It’s therefore important to look at each case individually.

As well as considering and discussing any occupational health recommendations, employers should engage with individuals directly to understand what support they need during any absence and in their return. 

Ensure regular meetings – both during their absence and once they return to work – to provide an opportunity for them to raise any concerns they may have. Checking in regularly upon their return will not only provide positive dialogue and focus on their wellbeing but will also allow you to table any concerns re. workload and productivity early. Along with any adjustments this will demonstrate the support put in place by an employer.

What Else Can Employers Do?

Review existing absence management policies for employees with long term health conditions to ensure these are flexible to respond appropriately. Policies provide guidance but it may be necessary to tailor these to individual situations, for example considering the viability to revise absence thresholds. 

Utilise occupational health assessments as appropriate to discuss how and when an employee can return and what reasonable adjustments can be put in place to support their return, such as hybrid working, flexible hours, adjustment to responsibilities.

Consider refresher training for line managers on absence management processes, in particular the  use of occupational health referrals. Don’t assume your managers are confident in dealing with these situations as some may have had little or no experience of them and may be anxious about getting it right.

Similarly, you might want to provide awareness training for managers to increase their understanding of long COVID and its potential impact on employees and linking this up with absence management processes.

Looking Ahead

The number of people experiencing ongoing symptoms following a COVID-19 infection will likely increase over the coming months and years, and with that a possible increase in unfair dismissal claims. The argument for proactively supporting individuals to return to, and remain at, work is therefore strong. 

How employers deal with such cases could impact not only dismissal claims, productivity, recruitment and training costs of replacing exiting employees but also employee engagement. With competition fierce for skilled employees, employers who demonstrate supportive and positive management of employee wellbeing, including long COVID, will have a better chance of managing turnover and retaining employees.

If you have any questions about absence management, occupational health referrals or other HR queries, please contact Sue Meehan Boyes in our team on 07384 468797.

Surviving the Great Resignation – How Can Your Business Recognise and Retain Staff?  

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The Great Resignation describes the large numbers of workers who were reportedly leaving their jobs, or thinking about it, during 2021. 

Some evidence suggests that this is still evident into 2022 – according to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index 43% of employees surveyed said that they were considering changing jobs within the next year.

People Management also report data gathered by Owl Labs which suggests that one in four UK workers are currently looking for a new role. (People Management, June 2022).

Why Is There a Great Resignation?

For many workers, the pandemic provided an opportunity to reassess their work and life priorities and perhaps prompted a change in mindset – leading them to a career move, a shift to home based work, or perhaps an earlier retirement than anticipated.  

Some workers had time away from work on furlough, perhaps giving them time to consider future career moves. Certainly a move to home working, for some, will have prompted thoughts about different work options which may not have appeared possible in the pre pandemic world. The pandemic may also have led people to reassess what it is most important to them and to consider how they want to spend their time.

What Is the Impact on Employers? 

With large numbers of staff apparently considering a job change or career move, it is more important than ever to think about the retention and employee engagement of your key staff. This is particularly important at a time when recruiting staff can be extremely difficult.

There are some things that you could consider in your workplace:

  • Can you offer flexible working? Not all employers can offer remote working or flexible hours but think about what you can offer to make working for your organisation more attractive.
  • Look carefully at your benefits package. Aside from pay, which will be high on the agenda for many workers at present, what other benefits can you offer that are appealing to staff? Extra holidays, well-being initiatives and health insurance may be attractive.
  • Look at your workplace culture and take steps to promote a positive workplace environment. Think about what your values are and embed them within your workplace.
  • Consider a focus on internal mobility within your organisation. This is often an area which is not a key focus within organisations, with People Management reporting that 70% of HR professionals do not have a clear strategy on internal mobility within their organisation.
  • Consider how effectively you use your professional development processes. Could you focus more on career development for your staff, or perhaps introduce mentoring or coaching schemes?
  • Look at how well you advertise internal vacancies to your existing staff.

We’re Here to Support You

The Narrow Quay HR team can work with you to improve your retention rates and look at your employee engagement by analysing your pay and benefits package, reviewing your workplace culture and helping to embed your core values within your workplace, and working with you to develop a focus on internal mobility.  

For more information on how we can support your organisation, please contact Caitlin Anniss in our team on 07909 683 938.

Is It ‘Just Banter’? How Do You Draw the Line in Your Workplace?

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Banter in the workplace can help build good working relationships amongst staff, but with a 45% increase in tribunal claims relating to workplace banter, it’s clear the lines between banter and harassment are getting increasingly blurred.

A few years ago a company asked us to deliver some training for their staff on the subject of workplace banter. They had identified that in a particular area of their business, things had become a little bit too well, bantery, and they were concerned that the invisible line we all talk about was in the process of being trampled over.

According to recent research conducted by employment law firm GQ Littler, they were right to be concerned. The number of tribunal claims relating to workplace banter has increased by 45% in the last year. 

The statistics refer to the number of claims where ‘banter’ was an integral part of the employers defence, the ‘it was just a bit of banter’ defence.

What Does the Law Say About Banter?

As you might imagine, the term ‘banter’ is not one that is defined in law. 

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits less favourable treatment on the grounds of ‘protected characteristics’, namely sex, race, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity and marriage and civil partnership. 

Employers need to be concerned as they can be vicariously liable for the acts of their employees. In simple terms this means a claim can be brought against the employer and the employer can be held responsible and ordered to pay compensation. 

What Are the Common Issues?

Often, the sorts of issues that can give rise to unhappy employees are jokes or nicknames that are intended to be, and often are funny. However, the reason it’s tricky is because, as Joe Lycett recently found out when a member of his audience reported one of his jokes to the Police, what one person finds funny, another can find offensive.

So how can employers create the right balance of creating a workplace that encourages a collegiate atmosphere where people get on well and develop relationships but don’t offend one other?

Best Practice

In truth, employers probably need to accept that their staff are not going to get it right all of the time. But there are things employers can do to help (and minimise their potential liability if it does go wrong). Suggestions include:

  • Set the right tone – it’s got to start with senior staff and line managers. If they are not behaving in a respectful and appropriate way, it will inevitably lead to problems.
  • Create an environment where people are confident to call out or challenge behaviour they find upsetting or offensive. Often things deteriorate when they are allowed to fester. If people feel comfortable to speak up then issues should hopefully be easier to resolve.
  • Ensure managers are skilled in having difficult conversations. It is a skill and it can be learnt. Things rarely improve if they are not addressed.
  • Consider how you incorporate the types of positive behaviours you want to see from staff into your core values or a company charter. It is one thing having a dignity at work or bullying policy for when things go wrong but implementing these things can be a more proactive and positive tool.
  • Offer staff training, either on induction or as part of a more general training agenda. It does no harm for any of us to be reminded about these issues and it can be a helpful reset button if you’ve identified that there is a problem.

Our team are experienced in offering bespoke staff training for a variety of organisations. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss training on workplace banter, managing difficult conversations or your other training needs. Please contact Sarah Martin on 07799 136 091.

Conflict at Work? Workplace Mediation Could Save Your Organisation Thousands

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Surprising statistics in a recent ACAS report estimated that workplace conflict cost organisations £2.85 billion in 2021. Workplace mediation is becoming increasingly popular as a more efficient, cost-effective alternative to formal legal proceedings.

The Cost of Workplace Conflict

The ACAS report ‘Estimating the costs of workplace conflict’ was published in May 2021. The analysis was provided by Professor Richard Suandry of the University of Sheffield Management School and Professor Peter Urwin of the Centre for Employment Research, University of Westminster. 

The headline statistics were a wake-up call. 

  • The cost of conflict to organisations was estimated at £2.85 billion, averaging out across employees this equates to more than £1,000 each. 
  • Close to 10 million people experienced conflict at work – of those over half suffered stress, anxiety and depression as a result.
  • Just under 900,000 took time off work – nearly half a million resigned and more than 300,000 employees were dismissed.

This analysis was based on 2018-19, impacted by #MeToo and BLM, but pre-COVID, which has further changed the landscape of work and employee expectations, as socio-political aspects of society that impact the workplace. It is anticipated that the cost of living crisis and summer of discontent will also impact more localised conflict.

Workplace Mediation Is Restorative and Cost-Effective

There is a growing demand for a restorative justice approach. This is where workplace mediation is most useful – as an informal and early intervention, with a no blame and win-win approach and ideally before the conflict becomes too entrenched and toxic. 

The role of the mediator in workplace mediation is to provide confidential, impartial and non-judgemental support to all parties. The mediator will foster a safe and constructive environment with open and honest dialogue to explore issues, with an aim to encourage participants to shift away from their adopted positions. The mediator will not direct or provide solutions – they come from the participants themselves, and own the outcomes.

How Does Mediation Work?

Workplace mediation usually takes place over a day, with some pre-planning and information for the participants, so they know what to expect. The individuals that take part must do so willingly, otherwise mediation will not work. 

The individuals involved are helped to articulate what the issue is, and to be heard (each individual has uninterrupted time when they are brought together). It is an opportunity to explore feelings and needs, to share hurt, which is rare in the workplace. Each participant is heard. Everyone engages equitably. 

The mediator will help all parties to generate and evaluate opportunities for future working. An agreement reached at the end can be useful, often just having the facilitated conversation can be enough to become unstuck and gain some movement and clarity.

Mediation can be used as an early intervention and an alternative to formal processes. It can be used part way through a formal process that will be paused, it can also be an outcome from a formal process It should not be used where there is a large imbalance of power, for bullying and harassment cases or where a formal disciplinary or grievance process is required.

Not all conflict is bad, conflict can be creative and help find solutions.

Narrow Quay HR offer a workplace mediation service. Our team of accredited mediators will be expanding in the autumn.  We offer an initial free of charge meeting to explore if mediation would be helpful.

For more information or support, please get in touch with Sarah Carrington in our team today on 07918 451 453.

The Future is Hybrid

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Hybrid working seems to be the new normal. With a quarter of workers now choosing to work remotely and from the office, we take a look at how you can best manage your workforce and employee expectations. 

Working Remotely and In the Office

Hybrid working allows your employees to split their time between working remotely and from the office. For most, this means working from home, but this could also mean working from a shared space, or even the local coffee shop! It doesn’t just stop there… more and more businesses are adopting a much more flexible way of working generally, including a shorter working week, compressed hours or term-time only working. There’s lots of possibilities.

What Are the Advantages?

Hybrid working not only offers more flexibility, but also supports a better work life balance, and contributes to positive mental health and wellbeing. Research has also shown that embracing flexible working pattern increases productivity. It can even help reduce overheads by saving on office space!

What’s the Difference Between Hybrid Working and Flexible Working?

There is no legal requirement to adopt a hybrid working model. It’s up to the employer to develop a practice that works best for the business and staff. There is also no requirement to have a hybrid working policy in place (although we would always recommend this as best practice).

There is an obligation on an employer to consider a request for flexible working if the employee has the necessary qualifying service of 26 weeks. Employees must provide a reason for their request, and give due consideration as to how this might impact your business.

Employers are under a duty to meet with the employee and properly consider the request, needing a good business reason to refuse. A flexible working request can include a request to make a temporary or permanent change to working patterns or location. If the employee isn’t happy with the outcome, they have a legal right to appeal, and must be taken through the appropriate appeal process.  

The Government are now also considering, whether the 26 week working requirement should be abolished, and this should in fact, become a day one right. Given the change in working culture, this is not surprising, but no decisions have been made yet.   

We have set out below some practical considerations to think about when adopting a hybrid working model, and how best to manage this.

Hybrid Working Policy

Having a policy in place can be a useful management tool and help enforce those necessary boundaries. This can be used to identify when and how often attendance at the office is expected, what is expected from remote workers (including communication guidance), and information about the use of equipment or IT security. You can also set out that all important health and safety information.

Effective Communication

Working remotely can often feel isolating, and when things are busy, those employees can sometimes be forgotten. This in turn can impact performance and productivity. Being clear about your expectations from the outset, and ensuring you plan ahead will help to manage this, and keep your employees on track.

This could include an online open door policy, diarising regular one to ones, and holding weekly team meetings by video call. Either way, ensure regular face to face contact is made, so those working remotely do not feel excluded, and that communication is effective.

Working Environment

Having a safe and comfortable working environment is essential to productivity. Think about whether those employees working from home have access to a suitable space to work, and to the equipment they need. Is there anything you need to provide, or any safety checks to be carried out? Is there a requirement for reasonable adjustments?

Managing Your Employees

It’s important to manage staff working remotely, as you normally would if they were in the office full time. Ensure staff have the same opportunities as those in the workplace, and that training and development needs are still being met. This could even include training for line managers on how to effectively manage those who have adopted hybrid working.

Finally, you may wish to consider the approach taken in Tokyo, where a whole new way of working has been adopted for those finding it hard to find their focus and meet deadlines!

For more specialist support with how best to manage hybrid working, please contact Kirsty Hunt in our team on 07384813077.

Rising Prices and Risk of Recession – How Can You Be Prepared?

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The Bank of England’s warning of a ‘sharp economic slowdown’ has sparked further fears that the UK could be plunged into recession.

The Government’s announcement of a review into how it can best support a thriving future UK labour market is welcome news, but with the two stage review taking place over spring and summer, will that support come quick enough?

As the UK continues to see a contraction across all sectors of the economy, we consider what steps employers should take regarding its staffing, to deal with the impact of a downturn.

Review Future Plans

It is important to look ahead to commitments you’ve made to establish if they are critical, and if they are, whether or not they can be deferred until you have some certainty.

For your employees this might mean reviewing training activities to ensure future relevance, and staffing plans, considering whether a recruitment freeze is an option.

Employers do need to ensure though that they consider how they will not only weather a recession but also respond in the aftermath – halting all training and recruitment may mean you’re not skilled and fully resourced to respond to future challenges.

Talk to Your Employees

It’s a balancing act for employers to ensure they keep employees appropriately updated on business plans, but without creating alarm and seeing your key staff jump ship. Key to this is relevant and meaningful communication.

You may not have all the answers or any fully formed plans, but communicating that it is on your radar and that you will share information when you can will help to gain trust and provide reassurance. It may encourage employees to review and consider their personal circumstances and avoid over committing. It can also provide clarity if you do decide to take steps such as putting training or recruitment on hold, avoiding your staff feeling even more frustrated and concerned. 

Follow a Fair Process

In the unfortunate event that redundancies are necessary, ensure that you follow a fair process to facilitate genuine and meaningful consultation that is sensitive and respectful to those affected. If you’ve communicated about your business plans appropriately, it should help staff to see this response is less of a knee-jerk reaction.

You need to prepare in order to run a process smoothly – use the time now to get clarity on your staffing numbers and commitments, making sure to consider all staff who may need to be involved such as fixed term contractors and temporary staff. 

For specialist HR support with any of these issues, please contact Sue Meehan Boyes in our team on 07384 468797.

More Companies Offer Mental Health Day Holidays for Employees

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In light of the challenges of the pandemic and as part of an ongoing commitment to employee wellbeing, Thomson Reuters has introduced two annual company mental health day holidays, commencing in 2022.

On those days, Thomson Reuters encourages employees to ‘use the time off with intention and do something that gives the day meaning to them’.

This poses a question for organisations who share this increased focus on employee wellbeing. Are they also willing to implement such policies?

Why Invest in Employee Wellbeing?

There is now a much broader understanding and application of holistic health and wellbeing approaches in many workplaces. It is also clear that some companies are not yet embracing the health and wellbeing agenda to full effect.

Investing in employee wellbeing can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, reduced sickness absence and higher performance and productivity. To gain real benefit, employee wellbeing priorities must be integrated throughout an organisation, embedded in its culture, leadership and people management.

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Rising Mental Health Concerns

There has been a rise in the number of reported mental health issues over the past 10 years and it’s well recognised that in many cases the main risks to people’s health at work are psychological. This has led to a growing recognition of the need for employee wellbeing practices to address to psychological, as well as physical, aspects of health and wellbeing.

CIPD’s 2022 Health and Wellbeing at Work survey report show that organisations’ wellbeing activity is increasingly focused on mental health, with most organisations taking steps to support mental health and address workplace stress.

The survey also found evidence of a range of unhealthy working practices such as ‘presenteeism’ (people working when unwell), with 81% of organisations reporting presenteeism among people working from home and 65% in a physical workplace. Two thirds (67%) have also observed some form of ‘leavism’, such as using holiday entitlement when unwell or to work, over the past 12 months.

Looking Beyond the Statistics

There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure all workplaces are giving this topic the time and attention it deserves. Employers need to look beyond absence statistics to understand the underlying factors, such as unmanageable workloads, that are driving unhealthy working practices and influencing people’s wellbeing.

Your organisation may wish to support its wellbeing agenda through new initiatives such as additional wellbeing days for its employees, to demonstrate this driving focus on supporting them through the ever-evolving challenge of balancing work and life pressures.

For specialist support with these issues or for advice in implementing any new initiatives, please get in touch with Sarah Martin in our team on 07799 136 091.

Accredited Mediator Sarah Joins Narrow Quay HR, Expanding the Breadth of Support the Consultancy Can Offer Clients

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Sarah Carrington has worked extensively as the senior HR professional for a range of organisations across the public, charitable and private sectors, including the NHS, Social Care and most recently the cultural sector.

Her impressive CV includes leading on numerous transformation change programmes, managing complex employee relations issues, negotiating and implementing new systems and terms and conditions of employment including pay and reward and job evaluation initiatives plus implementing strategic learning and development programmes.

Sarah is also a fellow of the CIPD, an accredited Mediator, a CIPD Enterprise Advisor and mentor, a school governor for a pupil referral unit, and a Mental Health First Aider.

Sarah’s wealth of knowledge and expertise makes her a great addition to the expanding Narrow Quay HR Team. This skillset is exemplified by the work she has undertaken on a recent project reviewing the leadership structure and competencies for a critical team within a national cultural organisation, including setting up strategies and mechanisms to resource plan and manage.

Sarah commented on her appointment:

“I am delighted to join Narrow Quay HR, working with such a supportive and friendly team of professionals (towards colleagues and clients alike) with an extensive and inspiring range of individual and collective experience and expertise. The team’s approach is wholly client-focussed, with a genuine ambition and care for finding workable and successful outcomes that are tailored to meet specific needs. No ask to the team appears too small (or large) from our clients, they are all important. I look forward to helping with the expansion of services the team can offer, including using mediation as a tool to resolving workplace conflict.”

Narrow Quay HR Directors Caitlin Anniss and Sarah Martin commented:

“We are absolutely thrilled Sarah has joined us. Her deep understanding of HR best practice coupled with her practical strategic mindset and outcome focussed approach will be invaluable to our clients. Not only is she a hugely skilled and experienced HR Practitioner, she is also a qualified Mediator. Mediation is such an effective means of dispute resolution and is a great fit with the services currently offered by Narrow Quay HR.  We are hugely excited to develop this area of our business in conjunction with Sarah.”

Culture Reviews – What Are Your Staff Members Really Thinking?

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Are you confident that you know how your staff are feeling at work? Have you noticed tensions in the staffroom or at meetings, but no one suggests anything is amiss?

Perhaps you already do an employee engagement survey but don’t feel this is giving enough relevant details. Or perhaps you are aware that there is a particular team which is not functioning well and you can’t quite establish why that is.

There can be a variety of reasons why it can be hard to get to the heart of what is happening in situations such as this – finding time in a busy schedule, using the right tools to gather in that feedback. Sometimes there is a reluctance from staff to engage on sensitive issues or to speak about colleagues. If left unchecked these tensions may well develop into significant issues for you. Undertaking a traditional workplace investigation to look into these matters might not be the right tool, as the concerns may not focus on one individual, may come too late, may not be practicable, or might not really get to the bottom of the issue.

What Does a Culture Review Involve?

This is where a culture review can really help. It can take a number of forms – online surveys directed at the particular issue, focus groups or one-to-one interviews. Often a culture review will involve a mixture of these methods to really gain a detailed understanding of what is going on.

What Data Can a Culture Review Gather?

At Narrow Quay HR we have a lot of experience in running a variety of culture reviews – looking at general morale across the staff community, dysfunctional teams, character clashes and conflicts. We have also conducted reviews to check in on staff confidence and understanding of key policies such as safeguarding. We know that staff respond really well to a third-party undertaking this type of review – it reassures them of confidentiality (or, potentially, even anonymity), enables them to talk more freely than they would to colleagues and/or offer constructive feedback where they might not otherwise feel able to voice their thoughts, and demonstrates the school’s commitment to finding a resolution.

How Narrow Quay HR Can Aid Your Culture Review

We work with you to develop the right medium for gathering the feedback you need, and through our analysis will draw together the key themes with recommendations for action. We analyse the data we collate and provide you with a report setting out themes and findings, and our recommended next steps. We can meet with you to discuss our findings and any appropriate follow up. We can support you with actions that may flow from the review, which may be more formal investigations into particular incidents or mediation where you have unresolved conflicts.

Narrow Quay HR is a subsidiary of VWV and our team of HR consultants are a mix of former lawyers who now specialise in HR and highly experienced HR professionals, giving you solid legal grounding and practical expertise.

If you would like to talk to us about your individual HR needs, please contact Sue Meehan Boyes in our team on 07384 468797.