Creating a Mental Health Strategy

Posted in: HR Updates on 07/05/2021 Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 10 to 16 May 2021. This is a time when many employers will raise awareness of mental health in the workplace and run some initiatives to support and promote it. While this is an important campaign it is worth remembering that mental health support should exten...

Redundancy Outplacement – A Sense of Hope and Direction

Posted in: HR Updates on 28/04/2021 Covid has had a significant impact on when, where and how we work. As the restrictions start to ease businesses are faced with making decisions regarding the transition back to the workplace and dealing with the longer term implications of the pandemic. Over the last year businesses have attempted...

New Rates of Minimum Wage & Other Statutory Payments

Posted in: HR Updates on 13/04/2021 The arrival of April brings with it new statutory increases that are crucial to get in place to ensure that payments to your employees and workers are accurate and compliant. The following rates are now applicable in Northern Ireland as of April 2021: National Living Wage Increase We know that all ...

Diversity and Inclusion – the Fight Goes On

Posted in: HR Updates on 07/04/2021 Were you as surprised as I was when the Sewell report was launched? No systemic racism in GB was the leaked theme of the report. Like all these reports, there is more in the detail, and I would recommend a close reading. I was struck by one of the anomalies, if there is no systemic racism, then w...

HR Trends Emerging During Covid-19

Posted in: HR Updates on 03/03/2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has forever left its mark on how we live and work. As the vaccination roll-out is well underway we begin to cautiously look forward to post-Covid times. It is unlikely however that things will ever return to normalcy and there are some trends that have emerged as an inevitable...

Implementing Redundancies: Five Questions to Ask Yourself to Ensure a Fair Process

Posted in: HR Updates on 03/03/2021 While the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been a welcome reprieve for employers, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be long lasting for many businesses. With the CJRS due to come to an end on 30 April 2021, the continuing impact of the pandemic ...

Future Trends and the Road Ahead in Human Resources

Posted in: HR Updates on 24/02/2021 Former colleagues of mine used to laugh at me when I described Human Resources as ‘relentless’. There is no natural ebb and flow in what is asked of HR professionals – challenges, unforeseen employee relations matters and crisis management arise on an ad hoc basis, demanding attention and expertise...

Coming up in HR in 2021: Five Changes to Prepare for Now

Posted in: HR Updates on 10/02/2021 With the January blues behind us but still in the midst of lockdown, it is an appropriate time to reflect on the turbulence of 2020 whilst simultaneously focusing on ER/HR priorities for the year ahead. In 2020 we saw the global economy spiral downwards with largescale redundancies in some sectors ...

Back at the Kitchen Table

Posted in: HR Updates on 02/02/2021 When we entered lockdown last March, few of us would have thought that we’d facing the same restrictions almost a year later. For those of us that work from home and also have school-aged children, we find ourselves grappling with the challenges that come with being both an employee and a teacher. ...

Homeworking and Home-schooling: Seven Ways Employers Can Support Parents

Posted in: HR Updates on 26/01/2021 With school closures and self-isolation meaning that parents must now also adopt the role of teacher, those employers who ignore the need for additional employee support have a recipe for staffing shortages, unproductivity, and burnout on their hands. A survey from May 2020 found that 41% of parent...