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.

Why Staff Training Is Often More Effective than Behavioural Policies

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In our many investigations into misconduct and harassment allegations, a regular issue is when a colleague makes comments about another colleague’s appearance. 

Those remarks are often intended to be complimentary but can make the recipient of those remarks to feel ‘othered’.

This is a word that we are increasingly seeing in our interviews and it raises an interesting point.

Compliment or Criticism?

If a male manager comments regularly on how a female colleagues is dressed, their hair, or whether they have lost weight, that manager may well say that they intended it to be received as a positive thing.

However, if the manager doesn’t also comment on any male colleagues’ appearance then there is real risk that the female recipients of his comments could feel singled out, embarrassed or offended, particularly if the comments are made in front of a group of other people.

We recently did an investigation where something similar to the above happened. Whilst the comment in question was intended to be a compliment, in the mind of the recipient it merely served to highlight how something about her appearance was different to all of the other colleagues present.

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What Are the Limitations of Behavioural Policies?

These examples show the limits of policies, as it is very difficult to draft a policy that covers every eventuality. Who would have thought for instance that you would need to specifically deal with looking at pornography whilst sat in the House of Commons?

If you do try to cover every possible eventuality in a policy then you will soon find that the policy will become very long and unwieldy and it will probably put a lot of employees off from reading it.  

Experience also says that as soon as you finish a policy like that and press print or post it on your intranet, then you’ll want to add to it – it will never stop growing.

What’s a Better Approach?

In a word: training. You should train your staff on the approach you want them to take, giving them examples of the sort of conduct mentioned above. You should then ask them to reflect on how it would make them feel if a colleague commented just on their appearance on a regular basis.

We tend to find that taking that approach and getting the delegates to consider the impact of certain behaviours can result in longer lasting changes in behaviours. Those changes will be much more effective than simply handing them a lengthy policy and asking them to read and digest it.

Narrow Quay HR delivers training on these types of issues. For further information about our training, please contact Simon Martin in our team on 07384 813 076 to find out more.

Storing COVID Vaccination Data – What’s the Latest Guidance?

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If you are responsible for GDPR matters in your workplace then you should take heed of recent guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regarding the storage of COVID vaccination data.

The ICO, which is the UK’s information body set up to uphold information rights, has published guidance called ‘Data protection and Coronavirus-19 – relaxation of government measures‘. This is to help organisations and employers to comply with their data protection obligations following the Government’s relaxation of the rules relating to COVID-19.

Sharing Vaccination Data

Some employers may have checked people’s COVID-19 vaccination status historically. The ICO has outlined in this recent guidance some key things organisations need to consider around the use of this type of personal information.

Why Hold Vaccination information?

Employers may wish to seek voluntary proof of vaccination:

  • to track staff vaccination levels within the workforce and assess the risk of transmission
  • to ascertain an employee’s eligibility under any vaccination incentive scheme

If an employer has vaccination data it may help them with internal risk assessments and planning from an operational viewpoint.

What Is Your Purpose for Storing Information?

Now is the time to review your current practices in respect of collecting and storing this type of data. Employers now need to understand from a data protection viewpoint, what information they can request and record about their employees’ vaccination status.

An employer should consider carefully whether capturing this information can be justified, given the current position taken by the Government. Employees’ health information falls into the category of special personal data so employers must identify a lawful reason to request and process this data under data protection legislation.

The ICO guidance states that if employers collect vaccine information they must be clear what they are trying to achieve by doing so and demonstrate how it helps them achieve it. The use of data must be fair, relevant and necessary for a specific purpose.

There must also be a compelling reason for collecting this information and ‘just in case’ will not be good enough. The intention of using and processing this vaccination data must also be transparent from the employer and should not provide any risk to the employee or any detrimental impact to them.

How Long Should an Employer Retain Vaccination Data?

If you have vaccination data for your employees you should review it and ensure that it is still reasonable, fair and appropriate for you to retain this data going forward. You should safely dispose of this data if it is no longer relevant or required. If you need to store vaccination data you should do so for only as long as is necessary and review regularly.  

For specialist support on managing your employee vaccination data, please contact Helen Couchman in our team on 07799 901 669.

Sexual Harassment is a Workplace Issue – How Can You Promote Zero Tolerance?

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CIPD research in 2020 found that 4% of employees reported being sexually harassed within the last three years, with younger women most likely to be impacted.

What Is Sexual Harassment?

Harassment is defined in the Equality Act 2010 as ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.’

Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. This could include inappropriate touching, sexual jokes, sending emails or messages of a sexual nature or displaying pornographic material.

What Are the Duties of Employers?

Employers have a duty to protect their workers and can be held liable for acts of sexual harassment in the workplace if it is found that they have not taken reasonable steps to prevent it.

 The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have produced a helpful guide for employers on preventing sexual harassment at work, and has other helpful information on their website for employers.

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Action Plan for Employers

In late April, the EHRC produced an action plan and checklist for employers in the UK working in the hospitality sector, to help ensure that staff are protected from sexual harassment at work.

This follows a report that more than 50% of women and two thirds of LBGT people reported sexual harassment in the sector. Although the guide has been developed with the hospitality sector in mind, it can be adapted to suit different workplaces and sectors.

The action plan includes helpful templates which can be used by employers, including:

  • a practical checklist to support employers considering issues such as how to communicate a culture of zero tolerance to staff, how to change the working environment and how to assess working practices – the checklist can be adapted to suit different workplaces
  • an action plan to record what action is needed in a workplace
  • monitoring logs to record action taken

How Can You Prevent Sexual Harassment in Your Workplace?

  • Review your training provided to managers and staff on sexual harassment in the workplace. Have you provided any? How recently? Training is a good opportunity to communicate the culture of the workplace and set the standards you expect and to help equip managers to deal with concerns raised with them by employees.
  • Ensure your policies and procedures are up-to-date.
  • Promote a zero tolerance culture.
  • Consider how complaints are dealt with in your organisation and ensure that this is effective and that staff feel confident coming forwards.
  • Monitor complaints that arise for any trends and follow up.

Narrrow Quay HR can work with you to put into action the points set out above and work with your organisation to address sexual harassment. Please contact Caitlin Anniss in our team on 07909 683938.

Supporting the Mental Health of your Workforce – Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

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Mental health is something we are all talking about, particularly in light of the Pandemic, which has given rise to a global increase in levels of anxiety and depression.


Are You Supporting Your Workforce?

9-15 May 2022 is Mental Health Awareness Week, and as one of the biggest awareness weeks across the UK and globally, we want to get you thinking about how you can support your employees, and help raise awareness in your workplace.

Whilst employers must ensure work does not cause poor mental health, employers have a broader role to play in supporting staff experiencing poor mental health for reasons unconnected to the workplace. We have put together some useful guidance to help you invest in a healthy and connected workforce.

We All Have Mental Health

The World Health Organisation famously claims ‘there is no health without mental health’, and describes mental health as ‘a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and are able to make a contribution to their community’.

Mental health issues can range from anxiety and depression, to bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but people with the same conditions can experience different symptoms, and to a different extent.

This means that workplace support must be tailored to an individual’s specific needs. With mental health issues affecting one in four people, and being a major cause of long term absence at work, we highlight some things you can do to help.

Early Signs and Prevention

In a busy work environment, it can be easy to miss the early warning signs, but early intervention can help prevent issues from escalating.

Employers and managers should be alert to the early signs of stress and mental ill health. Here are some common signs you can look out for:

  • negative changes to work habits or performance
  • deterioration in physical appearance
  • changes in demeanour
  • increased absenteeism

Whilst these may not always be a sign of mental ill health, you should take the time to regularly check in with your employees, offer them support when it’s needed, and consider whether there might be any other underlying concerns. Having someone to talk to can be invaluable for someone suffering with mental ill health.

Signposting, Training and Resources

Whilst the majority of employers and managers are not equipped to advise on mental health issues, it’s important that you do have the knowledge and confidence to signpost an employee to the most appropriate source of support. This could include a GP recommendation, an Occupational Health referral, or a referral to your employee support service. By providing managers with the right training, you can help to reduce issues and promote better wellbeing in the workplace.

Promoting Awareness at Work

Help to reduce any stigma attached to mental ill health by educating your workforce and promoting awareness. Keep talking about mental wellbeing and look to embed mental health into inductions, training, and your policies and procedures.

Promote Work-Life Balance

If your employees are working long hours and are feeling stressed, this is likely to have an impact on their mental wellbeing, as well as productivity. Consider making sustainable changes, or offering flexible working arrangements so that work, and personal lives can be more manageable. Don’t be afraid to talk to your employees and make sure they get the support they need. 

For specialist HR advice on how you can best support mental wellbeing in your workplace, or any related issues, please contact Kirsty Hunt in our team on 07384813077.

What Are the Latest Employment Law Changes in April 2022?

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There are several employment law changes coming into force in April 2022.

National Minimum Wage Rises

From 1 April the national minimum wage will increase. You should ensure that your hourly wage rates of your employees meet the new threshold in your April salary payments.

  • Increase from £8.91 to £9.50 for workers aged 23 and over (the national living wage).
  • Increase from £8.36 to £9.18 for workers aged 21 or 22.
  • Increase from £6.56 to £6.83 for workers aged 18 to 20.
  • Increase from £4.62 to £4.81 for workers aged under 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age.
  • Increase from £4.30 to £4.81 for apprentices under 19, or over 19 and in the first year of the apprenticeship.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

The deadline for gender pay gap reporting is 30 March for public-sector employers and 4 April for private and voluntary sector employers. You can submit your report through the GOV.UK website and you should also ensure you publish it on your organisation’s website. Read further government guidance.

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Family-Related Pay and Sick Pay

The statutory minimum rate for maternity, adoption, paternity and parental bereavement pay increases to £156.66 per week from 3 April 2022.

The statutory sick pay rate increases to £99.35 per week from 6 April 2022.

You may wish to review your policies to check that you have amended these pay rates in line with these changes.

IR35 Compliance

The grace period for enforcement of non-compliance to IR35 rules ends on 6 April 2022. Organisations should review their IR35 compliance and ensure they update their status determinations where necessary. As a reminder, employers are now responsible for determining a contractors’ employment status to assess if IR35 applies. If IR35 does apply, the employer is deemed to be their employer for tax and national insurance purposes. Find out more information on IR35.

Right to Work Checks

There has been an extension to the Home Office online right to work check process, until 30 September 2022. You can continue to use the online right to work service and make document checks remotely until this date.

British and Irish citizens, who are currently unable to evidence their right to work through the online service will be able to start using the new digital identity checking service online which is due to be introduced 6 April 2022. This new service will use Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) providers who will carry out checks on behalf of employers.

Statutory Redundancy Pay

From 6 April 2022 the weekly statutory redundancy pay for employees with two years’ service will increase to £571.

For specialist support or advice on how these changes may affect you and your employees, please get in touch with Helen Couchman in our team on 07799 901 669. 

Living with COVID-19, Long COVID and the Impact on Business

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Along with the much anticipated arrival of Spring, comes the Government’s equally anticipated response to Living with COVID-19.

As part of its response the Government have effected a number of changes to current arrangements which will have an impact on businesses and employees alike – including:

  • changes to SSP rules for COVID-19 related absences
  • removal of COVID-19 as a consideration for risk assessments
  • the consolidation of guidance to businesses in line with public health advice

Find out more detailed information about these changes.

Long COVID – Is it Classified as a Disability?

A challenge for employers as we move into a post pandemic working environment, is the long-term consequences of ‘long COVID’ – its medical impact and whether it is likely to be classified as a disability under Equality Act 2010.  

Rebecca Thomas, Head of Employment Policy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), recently suggested that organisations should presume that an individual’s long COVID symptoms meet the threshold required to be classified as a disability in order to avoid falling foul of equality law.

Managing Long COVID

In the absence of official EHRC or legislative guidance on long COVID, businesses should endeavour to manage this risk by assessing individuals on a case by case basis, against the statutory definition of disability:

  • they have a physical or mental impairment
  • the impairment has an adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities
  • the adverse effect is substantial and long term (lasting 12 months or more)

Employers should seek medical advice as to whether an employee’s condition meets the definition of a disability for equality law purposes. This advice may also be able to provide details on the individual’s prognosis and timescales for recovery, along with any reasonable adjustments which might help their return to work.

If you would like advice on how to deal with long term absences or undertaking an occupational health referral please contact Sue Meehan Boyes in our team on 07384 468 797.