Build effective relationships with your employees

How to be an engaging manager

In this guide:

Engaging new employees

How managers can connect quickly with new employees to make them feel welcome and valued.

Employee engagement can start before a new employee joins. It is important for managers to connect quickly with new staff - the quicker employees become settled the quicker they will start contributing in a positive way to the business.

How to engage new staff

New employees should know what to expect and what is expected of them in their new job role. There are many ways new employees can be welcomed and embedded into an organisation, including:

Tour of the workplace

Even ahead of a new employee's first day, you could invite them into the workplace for an informal tour so that they can familiarise themselves with the layout, where they will be working and where key amenities are located. You could also use this opportunity to introduce them to their new colleagues. This helps to settle nerves and makes the employee feel part of the organisation ahead of their first official day on the job.

Welcome from other staff

You should brief staff in other teams about a new employee starting so they can welcome them and introduce themselves when they meet. This will help the new staff member familiarise themselves with other colleagues who they may not be working with directly but may need to approach at a later stage.

Employee welcome pack

A welcome pack containing essential information for a new staff member could include an employee handbook, HR policies, internal procedures, benefits package, brand guidelines and short welcome profiles from new colleagues in their team. You could also include some gifts such as a branded company mug, notepad, or pens. See new starter pack for staff.

Staff induction

You should establish a formal induction programme to help new employees understand the business's purpose, structure, and culture. See induction programme: what to include.

Work equipment

Make sure new employees are set up and ready with the equipment they need for their first day. This may include a computer, laptop, or tablet, phone mobile, email and other relevant software. It may be helpful to develop a checklist for new starters, so you know exactly what they need ahead of their start date.

Buddy scheme

You could consider introducing a buddy scheme where an existing staff member helps a new employees settle in, shows them key procedures and is on hand to answer any queries they may have.

Social events

Social events are a good way for new employees to get to know their colleagues in a more relaxed environment. Make new employees aware of any regular social events that take place throughout the corporate calendar and invite them to any upcoming events.

Also on this site

Job offers and staff inductions

Employee engagement

Employee value proposition

Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/engaging-new-employees

Links
Build effective relationships with your employees

How managers can effectively engage with their staff to boost motivation, productivity and performance.

It is important that managers have good relationships with employees. If a manager knows and understands an employee as an individual, they will be able to better motivate them to perform well and deliver business success.

How to build effective relationships with your employees

Establishing good relationships with your staff can be done by:

Discovering staff interests

By taking an interest in employee's interests outside of work you can develop better connections. Staff feel valued and that they can bring their whole self to work. You will gain an understanding of what interests and motivates them.

Informal discussions

You could make time for informal discussions away from work distractions eg catch ups over coffee or at social events. By making yourself visible and approachable you give staff the confidence to converse with you.

Keep in regular touch with employees

You should regularly visit or hold conference calls with staff, especially those based in different locations or company sites. Just checking in every so often with individual staff members lets them know they are involved and supported.

Social events

Holding social events before or after business meetings helps you get to know individual team members and colleagues get to know each other eg monthly breakfasts or lunches after meetings.

Family events

You could host an annual party where employees have the chance to bring along their families eg for a family fun day. This shows that you value what is important in your employees' lives.

Regular staff communication

Managers also need to communicate with employees and give them the chance to share their views, contribute to improving business processes and define organisational goals. You could consider:

Regular staff updates

Regular meetings where staff are updated on the latest issues and ongoing developments in the business are very powerful in creating an open and honest culture. You could also use this platform to outline progress on corporate targets and key activities. You should have an agenda for each meeting so that you cover the key points and set enough time aside for staff to ask questions.

Ideas generation

You could set up forums where staff have the platform to address specific business issues and have the opportunity to suggest solutions and other ideas for improvement.

Team Q&A sessions

Develop sessions where employees can come and talk to you about any issues or ideas. These could be in an informal format eg lunchtime discussions or coffee catchup sessions.

Encourage feedback

Posing regular team challenges, asking for staff views, and encouraging team members to collaborate on ideas. See encourage staff feedback and ideas.

Responding to feedback

By acknowledging suggestions or concerns, explaining your views - whether you agree or not - and involving employees in developing actions to address emerging issues. Taking action on issues identified and sharing the steps you are taking so that employees know their voices are being heard.

Talking to individual employees

Talking to staff on a regular basis to check their understanding of objectives or key issues and inviting them to raise any questions or concerns they haven't discussed.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/build-effective-relationships-your-employees

Links
Support and motivate employees

Practical ways you can support your staff to give them the confidence and motivation to deliver business success.

The way managers shape the roles of employees, oversee and support them in their work has a huge effect on individual wellbeing, commitment and performance.

Practical ways to support and motivate staff

To help you support and motivate your employees you could consider:

Job design and responsibilities

Employees who have input into shaping the work they do and how they do it are far more engaged than those who are simply given tasks to complete.

Objectives linked to business goals

When employees can see how their objectives, whether at an individual or team level, directly contribute to the overall strategy and success of the business they will feel motivated and invested in what they do.

Trusting in staff

Give employees the freedom to carry out their work in ways that suit them without being micro-managed. You could set SMART targets but give staff the autonomy to work out how they will deliver on these tragets. See agreeing performance objectives with staff.

Staff autonomy

Where applicable, give employees the autonomy to manage projects and take responsibility for managing budgets or other resources and meeting measurable targets. This will help develop their skills and abilities while also freeing up your time to manage other areas of the business or focus on other priorities.

Performance feedback

Providing regular, open and honest feedback on individual performance to help employees understand how they are progressing, identify areas for improvement or development will motivate staff to continually improve their perfromance in line with their objectives and business goals.

Supportive behavious

You should encourage and spotlight staff that exhibit positive behaviours and challenge inappropriate behaviour that is contrary to accepted business values or standards.

Directing employees

Direct employees more firmly when needed to help them deliver the level of performance required.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Lead and motivate your staff

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/support-and-motivate-employees

Links
Coach and develop employees

How to help employees enhance their skills and confidence by offering them development paths and coaching opportunities.

Managers need to help employees identify solutions to issues they encounter so they keep developing their skills and confidence. Offering clear development paths and the opportunoity to be coached can be useful in helping your staff reach their full potential. Below are some ideas to help you make employee development a core part of your business culture.

Personal development plans

Create personal development plans for each team member. Make sure these plans have clear links with individual roles, team activities and corporate goals.

Give employees the opportunity to try new areas of work and develop new skills in line with this plan.

See managing staff performance.

Open discussions about goals

Encourage team members to be open about their ambitions. By doing so you can help them feel their ambitions are compatible with the business. SMART objectives are a clear way to outline what is required from an employees to meet their goals and makes it easier to track progress and identify milestones that have been reached or missed. This approach eliminates guesswork as progress is easily measured.

Everyday coaching

Encourage team members to discuss challenges they encounter so you can help them identify the issues. Give staff the space to set their own plan and decide on a course of action.

See mentoring versus coaching.

Informal opportunities

Create on-the-job development opportunities eg shadowing employees in different roles or working alongside colleagues in other teams. This can help people understand more about different job roles within the organisation and improve their interaction with other teams and colleagues they wouldn't normally work alongside.

Mentors or personal managers

Give employees career mentors to help share experiences and encourage their personal development - this could be someone who joined in the same position a few years ago and is further along in their career path.

You could also consider introducing a personal management system to provide care and support.

See use mentoring to improve staff performance.

Internal transfers and promotions

Be willing to let employees move around the business. This can help individuals develop new skills and experiences that will benefit the business as a whole. If you try to hold people back it could undermine the engagement and enthusiasm of others within the team.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/coach-and-develop-employees

Links
Handle and respond to staff feedback

How to effectively utilise and respond to feedback from your employees.

Seeking and responding to feedback from employees is vital to building a strong relationship with them. The way managers handle feedback has a major influence on employee engagement, trust, and confidence. Try to keep the following points in mind.

Actively listen to staff feedback

If an employee gives you feedback let them raise their point. Don't cut across them. If their point is long-winded, help conclude it by rephrasing it as you have interpreted it.

Body language when receiving staff feedback

When receiving staff feedback the way you behave is as important as how you respond. Maintain open body language and keep eye contact with the employee as they explain their point to you.

Understand the other person's perspective

Try to see the issue from the employee's point of view. Try to understand why they are concerned and don't be judgemental.

Don't let one person dominate feedback sessions

If you are inviting feedback from a group of staff members, on occasions, one person can dominate the discussion and others may be reluctant to speak in front of their colleagues. This may limit good quality suggestions coming to the fore. To counteract this and encourage feedback from a diverse range of staff you could try to encourage feedback by email or staff suggestions boxes, especially if anonymity is important to your staff.

Don't rush to respond to staff feedback

Take a moment to consider what has been said and form your response carefully especially if the feedback isn't positive or you don't agree with it. Don't take feedback personally and avoid giving a quick response that you might later regret. You might find it more constructive to address staff feedback in a written manner first and then follow up with face-to-face conversations with your staff to discuss further and allow your employees to seek further clarity and ask questions.

Be calm, clear, and concise with your feedback response

If you find yourself waffling in your response to staff feedback, stop. Don't pretend to have answers if you don't know them but commit to finding out and responding in due course.

If possible, find a way to end on a positive note. Sum up any agreements you have made. Check that everyone has the same understanding. Be positive where possible and highlight any next steps.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Business values

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/handle-and-respond-staff-feedback

Links
Recognise and reward employee contribution

How to show genuine appreciation for staff contribution and recognise the improvements employees make to your business.

To help motivate employees you need to show genuine appreciation for the contribution they have made through hard work, feedback, and engagement. Recognise their efforts and the improvements they make to the business.

Steps to recognise and reward employee efforts

Here are some steps you could take:

Saying thank you

Just saying thank you to staff for a job well done is a powerful way of recognising staff contribution and motivating them to keep performing to a high standard.

Celebrate success

Use internal publications, an email to the team, or a poster to celebrate an individual's success to show employees that their commitment and efforts are appreciated by you and the business as a whole.

Internal staff forum

If you have an intranet create a bulletin board or forum so employees can thank colleagues for their efforts and help with work-related issues or tasks.

Rewards

Give spot prizes for specific contributions or tasks where employees have exceeded all expectations eg this could be a personal reward relevant to their interests outside work.

Award schemes

Establish an award scheme so employees can nominate colleagues for their work and the way they have helped drive the business forward. See implement staff incentive schemes.

Social events

Host social events when you achieve key milestones or targets to thank your team or teams for their work.

Personal celebrations

Hold celebrations to mark employee's personal milestones or significant life events.

See how to encourage employee engagement in your business.

Also on this site

Manage staff performance

Implement staff incentive schemes

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/recognise-and-reward-employee-contribution

Links
Improve your performance as a manager

Keep improving your own performance by seeking views and feedback from the people you work with.
Engaging managers keep improving their own performance by seeking views and feedback from the people they work with. Here are some steps to consider.

Ask your team for their views on your performance

Ask your team members for their views on your management style and effectiveness. For example, ensure evaluation forms or cards are always available after any briefings or presentations you have given - download a template post-event feedback form (DOC, 16K).

Approach your manager for feedback

Managers should proactively ask their line managers for feedback on their objectives. You could also use a 360-degree feedback approach so that formal reviews include feedback from team members.

Download a sample performance agreement - for managers (DOC, 14K).

Download a sample performance review form (DOC, 18K).

Explore management styles

Explore your strengths and weaknesses to help you improve your management style and encourage other managers to do the same. Your workplace may have its own approach for this, or you could use external methods - for example, psychometric tests.

Set up a mentor system

Ask more experienced management colleagues to act as mentors for new managers. This helps them learn from experience and allows them to seek advice on any issues. Alternatively, you could consider hiring an external coach. Use mentoring to improve staff performance.

See more on performance management and staff training templates.
Actions

Sample performance agreement – for managers (DOC, 14K)

Sample performance review form (DOC, 18K)

Also on this site

Performance management and staff training templates

Manage staff performance

Employee engagement

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills
Source URL
/content/improve-your-performance-manager

Links

Read more about Build effective relationships with your employees

How to be an engaging manager

In this guide:

Engaging new employees

How managers can connect quickly with new employees to make them feel welcome and valued.

Employee engagement can start before a new employee joins. It is important for managers to connect quickly with new staff - the quicker employees become settled the quicker they will start contributing in a positive way to the business.

How to engage new staff

New employees should know what to expect and what is expected of them in their new job role. There are many ways new employees can be welcomed and embedded into an organisation, including:

Tour of the workplace

Even ahead of a new employee's first day, you could invite them into the workplace for an informal tour so that they can familiarise themselves with the layout, where they will be working and where key amenities are located. You could also use this opportunity to introduce them to their new colleagues. This helps to settle nerves and makes the employee feel part of the organisation ahead of their first official day on the job.

Welcome from other staff

You should brief staff in other teams about a new employee starting so they can welcome them and introduce themselves when they meet. This will help the new staff member familiarise themselves with other colleagues who they may not be working with directly but may need to approach at a later stage.

Employee welcome pack

A welcome pack containing essential information for a new staff member could include an employee handbook, HR policies, internal procedures, benefits package, brand guidelines and short welcome profiles from new colleagues in their team. You could also include some gifts such as a branded company mug, notepad, or pens. See new starter pack for staff.

Staff induction

You should establish a formal induction programme to help new employees understand the business's purpose, structure, and culture. See induction programme: what to include.

Work equipment

Make sure new employees are set up and ready with the equipment they need for their first day. This may include a computer, laptop, or tablet, phone mobile, email and other relevant software. It may be helpful to develop a checklist for new starters, so you know exactly what they need ahead of their start date.

Buddy scheme

You could consider introducing a buddy scheme where an existing staff member helps a new employees settle in, shows them key procedures and is on hand to answer any queries they may have.

Social events

Social events are a good way for new employees to get to know their colleagues in a more relaxed environment. Make new employees aware of any regular social events that take place throughout the corporate calendar and invite them to any upcoming events.

Also on this site

Job offers and staff inductions

Employee engagement

Employee value proposition

Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/engaging-new-employees

Links
Build effective relationships with your employees

How managers can effectively engage with their staff to boost motivation, productivity and performance.

It is important that managers have good relationships with employees. If a manager knows and understands an employee as an individual, they will be able to better motivate them to perform well and deliver business success.

How to build effective relationships with your employees

Establishing good relationships with your staff can be done by:

Discovering staff interests

By taking an interest in employee's interests outside of work you can develop better connections. Staff feel valued and that they can bring their whole self to work. You will gain an understanding of what interests and motivates them.

Informal discussions

You could make time for informal discussions away from work distractions eg catch ups over coffee or at social events. By making yourself visible and approachable you give staff the confidence to converse with you.

Keep in regular touch with employees

You should regularly visit or hold conference calls with staff, especially those based in different locations or company sites. Just checking in every so often with individual staff members lets them know they are involved and supported.

Social events

Holding social events before or after business meetings helps you get to know individual team members and colleagues get to know each other eg monthly breakfasts or lunches after meetings.

Family events

You could host an annual party where employees have the chance to bring along their families eg for a family fun day. This shows that you value what is important in your employees' lives.

Regular staff communication

Managers also need to communicate with employees and give them the chance to share their views, contribute to improving business processes and define organisational goals. You could consider:

Regular staff updates

Regular meetings where staff are updated on the latest issues and ongoing developments in the business are very powerful in creating an open and honest culture. You could also use this platform to outline progress on corporate targets and key activities. You should have an agenda for each meeting so that you cover the key points and set enough time aside for staff to ask questions.

Ideas generation

You could set up forums where staff have the platform to address specific business issues and have the opportunity to suggest solutions and other ideas for improvement.

Team Q&A sessions

Develop sessions where employees can come and talk to you about any issues or ideas. These could be in an informal format eg lunchtime discussions or coffee catchup sessions.

Encourage feedback

Posing regular team challenges, asking for staff views, and encouraging team members to collaborate on ideas. See encourage staff feedback and ideas.

Responding to feedback

By acknowledging suggestions or concerns, explaining your views - whether you agree or not - and involving employees in developing actions to address emerging issues. Taking action on issues identified and sharing the steps you are taking so that employees know their voices are being heard.

Talking to individual employees

Talking to staff on a regular basis to check their understanding of objectives or key issues and inviting them to raise any questions or concerns they haven't discussed.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/build-effective-relationships-your-employees

Links
Support and motivate employees

Practical ways you can support your staff to give them the confidence and motivation to deliver business success.

The way managers shape the roles of employees, oversee and support them in their work has a huge effect on individual wellbeing, commitment and performance.

Practical ways to support and motivate staff

To help you support and motivate your employees you could consider:

Job design and responsibilities

Employees who have input into shaping the work they do and how they do it are far more engaged than those who are simply given tasks to complete.

Objectives linked to business goals

When employees can see how their objectives, whether at an individual or team level, directly contribute to the overall strategy and success of the business they will feel motivated and invested in what they do.

Trusting in staff

Give employees the freedom to carry out their work in ways that suit them without being micro-managed. You could set SMART targets but give staff the autonomy to work out how they will deliver on these tragets. See agreeing performance objectives with staff.

Staff autonomy

Where applicable, give employees the autonomy to manage projects and take responsibility for managing budgets or other resources and meeting measurable targets. This will help develop their skills and abilities while also freeing up your time to manage other areas of the business or focus on other priorities.

Performance feedback

Providing regular, open and honest feedback on individual performance to help employees understand how they are progressing, identify areas for improvement or development will motivate staff to continually improve their perfromance in line with their objectives and business goals.

Supportive behavious

You should encourage and spotlight staff that exhibit positive behaviours and challenge inappropriate behaviour that is contrary to accepted business values or standards.

Directing employees

Direct employees more firmly when needed to help them deliver the level of performance required.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Lead and motivate your staff

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/support-and-motivate-employees

Links
Coach and develop employees

How to help employees enhance their skills and confidence by offering them development paths and coaching opportunities.

Managers need to help employees identify solutions to issues they encounter so they keep developing their skills and confidence. Offering clear development paths and the opportunoity to be coached can be useful in helping your staff reach their full potential. Below are some ideas to help you make employee development a core part of your business culture.

Personal development plans

Create personal development plans for each team member. Make sure these plans have clear links with individual roles, team activities and corporate goals.

Give employees the opportunity to try new areas of work and develop new skills in line with this plan.

See managing staff performance.

Open discussions about goals

Encourage team members to be open about their ambitions. By doing so you can help them feel their ambitions are compatible with the business. SMART objectives are a clear way to outline what is required from an employees to meet their goals and makes it easier to track progress and identify milestones that have been reached or missed. This approach eliminates guesswork as progress is easily measured.

Everyday coaching

Encourage team members to discuss challenges they encounter so you can help them identify the issues. Give staff the space to set their own plan and decide on a course of action.

See mentoring versus coaching.

Informal opportunities

Create on-the-job development opportunities eg shadowing employees in different roles or working alongside colleagues in other teams. This can help people understand more about different job roles within the organisation and improve their interaction with other teams and colleagues they wouldn't normally work alongside.

Mentors or personal managers

Give employees career mentors to help share experiences and encourage their personal development - this could be someone who joined in the same position a few years ago and is further along in their career path.

You could also consider introducing a personal management system to provide care and support.

See use mentoring to improve staff performance.

Internal transfers and promotions

Be willing to let employees move around the business. This can help individuals develop new skills and experiences that will benefit the business as a whole. If you try to hold people back it could undermine the engagement and enthusiasm of others within the team.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/coach-and-develop-employees

Links
Handle and respond to staff feedback

How to effectively utilise and respond to feedback from your employees.

Seeking and responding to feedback from employees is vital to building a strong relationship with them. The way managers handle feedback has a major influence on employee engagement, trust, and confidence. Try to keep the following points in mind.

Actively listen to staff feedback

If an employee gives you feedback let them raise their point. Don't cut across them. If their point is long-winded, help conclude it by rephrasing it as you have interpreted it.

Body language when receiving staff feedback

When receiving staff feedback the way you behave is as important as how you respond. Maintain open body language and keep eye contact with the employee as they explain their point to you.

Understand the other person's perspective

Try to see the issue from the employee's point of view. Try to understand why they are concerned and don't be judgemental.

Don't let one person dominate feedback sessions

If you are inviting feedback from a group of staff members, on occasions, one person can dominate the discussion and others may be reluctant to speak in front of their colleagues. This may limit good quality suggestions coming to the fore. To counteract this and encourage feedback from a diverse range of staff you could try to encourage feedback by email or staff suggestions boxes, especially if anonymity is important to your staff.

Don't rush to respond to staff feedback

Take a moment to consider what has been said and form your response carefully especially if the feedback isn't positive or you don't agree with it. Don't take feedback personally and avoid giving a quick response that you might later regret. You might find it more constructive to address staff feedback in a written manner first and then follow up with face-to-face conversations with your staff to discuss further and allow your employees to seek further clarity and ask questions.

Be calm, clear, and concise with your feedback response

If you find yourself waffling in your response to staff feedback, stop. Don't pretend to have answers if you don't know them but commit to finding out and responding in due course.

If possible, find a way to end on a positive note. Sum up any agreements you have made. Check that everyone has the same understanding. Be positive where possible and highlight any next steps.

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Business values

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/handle-and-respond-staff-feedback

Links
Recognise and reward employee contribution

How to show genuine appreciation for staff contribution and recognise the improvements employees make to your business.

To help motivate employees you need to show genuine appreciation for the contribution they have made through hard work, feedback, and engagement. Recognise their efforts and the improvements they make to the business.

Steps to recognise and reward employee efforts

Here are some steps you could take:

Saying thank you

Just saying thank you to staff for a job well done is a powerful way of recognising staff contribution and motivating them to keep performing to a high standard.

Celebrate success

Use internal publications, an email to the team, or a poster to celebrate an individual's success to show employees that their commitment and efforts are appreciated by you and the business as a whole.

Internal staff forum

If you have an intranet create a bulletin board or forum so employees can thank colleagues for their efforts and help with work-related issues or tasks.

Rewards

Give spot prizes for specific contributions or tasks where employees have exceeded all expectations eg this could be a personal reward relevant to their interests outside work.

Award schemes

Establish an award scheme so employees can nominate colleagues for their work and the way they have helped drive the business forward. See implement staff incentive schemes.

Social events

Host social events when you achieve key milestones or targets to thank your team or teams for their work.

Personal celebrations

Hold celebrations to mark employee's personal milestones or significant life events.

See how to encourage employee engagement in your business.

Also on this site

Manage staff performance

Implement staff incentive schemes

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Employee value proposition

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/recognise-and-reward-employee-contribution

Links
Improve your performance as a manager

Keep improving your own performance by seeking views and feedback from the people you work with.
Engaging managers keep improving their own performance by seeking views and feedback from the people they work with. Here are some steps to consider.

Ask your team for their views on your performance

Ask your team members for their views on your management style and effectiveness. For example, ensure evaluation forms or cards are always available after any briefings or presentations you have given - download a template post-event feedback form (DOC, 16K).

Approach your manager for feedback

Managers should proactively ask their line managers for feedback on their objectives. You could also use a 360-degree feedback approach so that formal reviews include feedback from team members.

Download a sample performance agreement - for managers (DOC, 14K).

Download a sample performance review form (DOC, 18K).

Explore management styles

Explore your strengths and weaknesses to help you improve your management style and encourage other managers to do the same. Your workplace may have its own approach for this, or you could use external methods - for example, psychometric tests.

Set up a mentor system

Ask more experienced management colleagues to act as mentors for new managers. This helps them learn from experience and allows them to seek advice on any issues. Alternatively, you could consider hiring an external coach. Use mentoring to improve staff performance.

See more on performance management and staff training templates.
Actions

Sample performance agreement – for managers (DOC, 14K)

Sample performance review form (DOC, 18K)

Also on this site

Performance management and staff training templates

Manage staff performance

Employee engagement

How to build and manage an effective team

Content category

Employment and skills
Source URL
/content/improve-your-performance-manager

Links

Read more about Engaging new employees

Introduction

Read more about How to be an engaging manager

Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

In this guide:

Outline your strategy through your business story

How to create a narrative to outline your business strategy.

Your strategic narrative or business story should include details of your business origins, how it has gotten to where it is, and how you plan to move forward and grow through your business strategy. Your business story can be written or verbal, shown through images, videos, or diagrams. It is a good idea to publish your business story on your company website so that people, including potential customers and suppliers, are aware of your background and future business direction.

Use your story to outline your business strategy

You can use your strategic narrative to help you communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy-in. You should be clear on the vision for your business, future direction, and what inspires you about it. Outlining your business strategy in clear unambiguous terms so that all your staff understands it can help build a common purpose across all levels of your organisation.

Map out your business narrative

Mapping out your own thoughts can help you form a framework for the story of your business, which you can then ask senior managers and employees to contribute to or amend. Download a sample structure for a strategic narrative (DOC, 14K).

Work with senior managers to develop a strategic narrative

You need to work closely with senior managers to decide how to tell your business story and develop your business strategy. You all need to make a clear and consistent commitment to communicate and support this business narrative.

Some businesses hold away days for this purpose, others use workshops.

Actions

Sample structure for a strategic narrative (DOC, 14K)

Also on this site

Employee engagement

Staff feedback, ideas and forums

Business values

How to be an engaging manager

Content category

Employment and skills

Source URL
/content/outline-your-strategy-through-your-business-story

Links
Involve staff in the development of your business strategy and story

How to involve your employees in the development of a narrative and business strategy and how this can benefit your business.

Involving your employees in developing your narrative and business strategy can help them make a personal connection to it and strengthen their commitment to achieving your business goals.

Your narrative has to mean something to your employees so get them involved in telling the story highlighting key milestones you shared together along the business journey such as winning key contracts, business awards, or launching new products or services. It has to be about more than facts and figures. You could make it more personal by including photos or videos of various staff members and their contributions to your business over the years.

How to get employees involved

There are many methods you can use to involve your employees to contribute to your company story and business strategy. Here are some approaches you could consider:

Workshops

Hold a workshop or series of workshops for employees to help them contribute to the business narrative - download a sample format for a strategic narrative workshop (DOC, 18K).

Staff suggestions

Ask employees to submit their views, for example, you could set up a suggestions box or create a diary room and invite employees to give their views on three or four questions about your business.

Involve all staff

Involve employees who work remotely or from satellite sites - try to visit them or organise conference calls.

Employee engagement champions

Identify employee engagement champions in different departments or teams who can identify and share examples from their parts of your business - they can have a key role in linking managers with the ideas and experiences of employees

With any method you use collate the results, identify key themes, and discuss them with your employees.

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Communicate your business strategy and narrative

How to communicate your business strategy and narrative to employees.
You need to communicate your strategy and business story to build a common purpose across your organisation and to guide everyday behaviour from your employees.

How to communicate your business strategy and story

You could:

publish your business story on your website along with photos or videos to help bring it to life

make your business narrative document freely available for all employees eg through your intranet

publish a summary of your business strategy and strategic narrative on a range of materials for your workplace eg posters, postcards, business cards, desk-drop leaflets or screensavers

include regular features or case studies in internal newsletters - or on the intranet if you have one - to show how employees have used the business values to inform their decision-making

be creative in how you communicate your narrative - eg use graphics, photos, maps or timelines to illustrate your business' past, present and future

hold a regular meeting for all employees - eg every six months or annually - to communicate your strategic narrative and its link to business plans - and give everyone the chance to ask questions, raise any concerns and feed into the business strategy and narrative

arrange a conference call for any employees who can't attend your regular meetings, are based in global locations or who work remotely

link new internal programmes back to the strategic narrative - eg briefings on new products

make sure that you communicate your narrative to every new employee so they understand the business culture and its importance from the start eg make it a key part of the induction process - see induction programme: what to include
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Update your business story

Help employees build a personal attachment to your narrative by encouraging individuals or teams to tell their stories.
To help employees build a personal attachment to your business story encourage teams to tailor the strategic narrative to fit their area of work. Keep involving your employees in updating your story so that it evolves and includes new examples, case studies, and opportunities to celebrate and highlight success.

Tailor strategic narrative to specific teams

Teams may want to do this by:

developing their team-focused summary statement of what the strategic narrative means to them and their work

writing articles for internal publications, blogs, or the intranet on how their team is using the narrative

hosting lunchtime seminars for others to explain their role and how they support the narrative in their everyday work

filming their take on the business narrative or what key elements mean to them to be shown in communal areas or as part of a video gallery for the staff intranet

working together to strengthen the link between the narrative and everyday activities giving you their views, examples, and achievements
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Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

Introduction

Read more about Communicate your business strategy and gain employee buy in

Use mentoring to improve staff performance

In this guide:

Mentoring versus coaching

The differences between coaching and mentoring and how your business might benefit from one over the other
Although coaching and mentoring can overlap, they perform different functions.
Mentoring
Mentoring is the long-term provision of guidance to someone less experienced in order to support their general development at work and involves:
a reactive approach with the mentor guiding the mentee

the mentor listening, offering advice and making suggestions that can help the mentee develop

a broader view of the person - personal issues can be discussed

an informal and less structured provision - meetings take place as and when the mentee needs guidance
Mentoring is a supportive form of employee training that many experts believe should be independent from other training activities.
Mentoring usually takes place outside the conventional top-down employee-manager relationship. Instead, the mentee sets the agenda based on their own development needs, with the mentor providing guidance to help the mentee achieve their goals.
The CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) provides further guidance on the differences between coaching and mentoring.
Try to avoid a situation where an individual is mentored by their immediate manager. This is because combining the management relationship with the more personal and equal nature of the mentoring relationship could damage the former. However, for smaller businesses, it may be more difficult to avoid immediate managers being mentors. In these situations, you could consider external mentors.
Another form of mentoring, business mentoring, focuses more on the overall needs and goals of a business, rather than an individual's personal development. To find out more, see the benefits of business mentoring.
Coaching
Coaching is aimed at developing a person's skills and knowledge in a specific area of work leading to achievement of an objective and is:
proactive

generally on a short term basis focusing on performance at work

based on the coach directing the learner
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Mentoring types

Different types of mentoring, including one-to-one, group and remote mentoring
Mentoring can take several forms including one-to-one mentoring, group mentoring, peer learning alliances and remote mentoring. To get the most from mentoring for your business you may find that a combination of these mentoring types works best.

One-to-one mentoring

One-to-one mentoring consists of usually one but sometimes more than one mentee to each mentor, with each mentoring relationship existing independently.

Group mentoring

Group mentoring or mentoring circles typically consists of a group of several individuals being mentored by one mentor, usually with the ratio of one mentor for every two to three mentees, but no individual mentor being allocated to a mentee.

Advantages of group mentoring

The advantages of group mentoring are:

efficiency - efficient use of mentors, with a higher ratio of mentees to mentors

relationships between individuals - the mentees in the group can build a rapport and integrate with colleagues

feedback - the mentees can receive multiple sources of feedback

However, there are some disadvantages to group mentoring, such as:

some people do not work well in a group environment

there may be concerns about confidentiality

the mentee has less or possibly no one-on-one contact with a mentor and so sometimes their individual needs aren't fully met

Group mentoring has to be more structured than one-to-one mentoring as scheduling is necessary in order to accommodate everyone.

Peer learning alliances

Peer learning alliances or peer-to-peer learning have a different structure to standard peer mentoring in that there is no mentor or mentee.

Instead, both participants have similar levels of experience within the business - preferably in different areas - and each partner guides the other.

The purpose of a peer learning alliance is to:

share experiences and knowledge

challenge each other's assumptions

act as a sounding board

expand each other's networks

provide a different point of view

Remote mentoring

If the mentor and mentee do not work in the same location, the mentoring may have to be done over the phone, using video conferencing, via email or social networking. If the needs and aims of the individual are clearly outlined and a structure set in place remote mentoring can work as effectively as face-to-face contact between the individual and their mentor.
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Advantages of mentoring

How a successful mentoring programme can benefit the business, mentor, and the individual being mentored
A well-structured mentoring programme can benefit both your business and your employees.

Mentoring: business benefits

Some benefits that mentoring can bring to your business are:

staff development - employees being mentored will develop both in a professional and personal capacity

business insight - broaden staff's insight into your business

productivity and performance - increase productivity and improve the individual's performance

staff retention - help to engage employees, which should lead to better retention levels and lower staff turnover

knowledge sharing - give the mentor a sense of responsibility and the satisfaction of passing on their knowledge

stronger relationships - build relationships between employees by encouraging the exchange of information and experience

Benefits of mentoring to the individual

Mentoring can be very beneficial to individuals being mentored including:

integration - helping the individual integrate more effectively within the organisation

confidence - increase the individual's confidence

business awareness - give the mentee a stronger awareness of the culture and objectives of the business

identify strengths and weaknesses - allow the mentee to acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses, which can in turn lead to faster learning and personal development
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Set up a mentoring programme

How to establish an effective mentoring programme in your business
When establishing a mentoring programme in your workplace the first thing you need to do is decide what you want your mentoring programme to achieve.
Formal or informal mentoring?
An informal mentoring programme may aim to induct the mentee into the business, and identify a sympathetic colleague for them to discuss any issues with.
A more formal mentoring programme may aim to encourage the mentee to achieve specific development goals set by themselves or by their line manager.
See more on mentoring: formal and informal programmes.
It may be a good idea to set up a pilot mentoring programme with just a few people participating, to see whether mentoring will work in your business. If successful, it can then be extended.
Guidelines for mentoring programmes
Both the mentor and the mentee should know what their roles are, and the objectives of the mentoring programme should be clear. Draw up guidelines as to how the programme will operate and be monitored.
Mentoring programmes should:
use mentors who are well-matched to their mentees

be supported by an objective co-ordinator, such as a human resources practitioner

make a clear distinction between the roles of line managers and mentors
The International Standards for Mentoring Programmes in Employment (ISMPE) set the standard for mentoring programmes. You may wish to use them to design your programme and/or to achieve the standard after one year of operation.
Training staff to become mentors
Mentoring is more likely to be successful if the individual you choose as the mentor has the necessary mentoring skills.
Identify employees who you think will make good mentors and consider enrolling them on a training programme.
Using mentoring co-ordinators
Ideally, your mentoring programme should be designed by trained co-ordinators.
You can hire consultants to design an effective programme for your business and train your employees in mentoring - however, this can be expensive.
Training providers should be accredited by the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC).
There are also courses to train mentoring coordinators.
Supporting the mentoring relationship
Just training mentors is not enough. They will need support for at least the first year of the mentoring programme in order to help maximise its success.
Useful support methods include:
having a steering group, who monitor relationships

bringing mentors together to review their experience and reinforce their skills in the role

having an online information resource to answer their queries in real time
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Mentoring: formal and informal programmes

How formal or informal mentoring programmes work and an example structure for a mentoring programme
In informal mentoring programmes, a mentor will induct the mentee into the business and lead the initial meetings, which may be regular and frequent.

As the mentee becomes more confident and experienced in their role, they can ask for guidance from the mentor only when needed.

Formal mentoring programmes may be more structured, with the development of the mentoring relationship set out according to mentoring guidelines.

One approach is for a mentoring supervisor to agree the mentee's developmental objectives, with the mentor helping the mentee to check their overall plan.

Mentoring programme: example structure

The mentoring supervisor briefs the mentee and mentor separately on the aims of the mentoring scheme, the behavioural guidelines, and discussions of their expectations and concerns.

The mentee and the supervisor identify the mentee's strengths and weaknesses, and the skills they wish to improve, and then set developmental objectives to build on the strengths and address any weaknesses.

The supervisor discusses the mentee's objectives with the mentor.

The mentor and mentee use the objectives to develop simple goals as part of the mentoring programme. Discussions continue at appropriate intervals.

Discussion of the mentee's progress takes place between the mentor and the supervisor.

After a predetermined length of time, the mentor and mentee assess whether their mentoring relationship has accomplished its goals. This is reported back to the supervisor who can then evaluate its effectiveness and suggest any further course of action if required.
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Developing effective mentoring relationships

How to get the best from the mentoring relationship
The mentoring relationship will be more effective if both parties have the same expectations from the beginning. If these are not set out in mentoring guidelines, you should encourage the mentee and mentor to establish their own ground rules in their initial meeting.

Mentoring relationship: setting ground rules

Encourage the mentee to use the initial meeting to establish the attitude and behaviour expected of them, and as a way of gaining an understanding of the business.

To establish the nature of the mentoring relationship, the mentor and mentee should discuss:

how much time the mentor will have to spend on mentoring

how much interaction the mentor expects

how the mentee should ask for guidance

who the mentee should speak to if the mentor is unavailable

Regarding the work and company structure, you should encourage discussion as to:

what the most challenging aspects of the job are

whether the mentor has taken any courses they would recommend

what type of training the mentee will receive

how the mentee can expect to advance

Making the best use of the mentor

A well-organised approach to mentoring is preferable. The mentee should have a clear idea of what they want out of each meeting with their mentor, possibly using an agenda.

The mentee should:

keep to scheduled meetings

seek to resolve problems themselves, but entrust the mentor with any concerns they have

be prepared to accept constructive criticism

prepare questions in advance

The mentor should:

allocate sufficient, uninterrupted time where discussion can go beyond any immediate issue

ensure the mentee feels comfortable instigating meetings

listen carefully to the mentee's ideas and concerns and try to offer a new perspective

identify strengths and weaknesses - and recommend ways to further their development

assist the mentee to set goals

be fair when giving feedback on performance

What makes a good mentor?

Good communication skills - the mentor will share information with the mentee and should encourage the mentee to develop their own views and opinions.

Skills and experience - to develop and provide guidance to the mentee. The mentor should be able to clarify the mentee's ideas and help them plan to achieve their goals.

Good interpersonal skills - the mentor should help the mentee expand their network of contacts by developing networking skills.
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Clarifying mentoring roles

The importance of clearly defining all aspects of the mentoring relationship

Your business should issue guidelines on the structure and objectives of any mentoring programme, including how it will be monitored. See set up a mentoring programme.
Both mentor and mentee must be sure of their function in the mentoring relationship. The guidelines should make a clear distinction between the mentor's responsibilities and those of the line manager.
The business should also provide training as to what does and does not fall within the remit of a mentor - for example how to deal with issues of confidentiality and how to respond when discussion leads into issues outside of the working environment.
How long should the mentoring relationship last?
The aim of mentoring is to help the mentee move forward in their career and life goals.
In a structured mentoring programme, the relationship will come to an end in accordance with the development plan.
Where the mentoring scheme is more informal, the relationship will come to a natural end when the mentee feels that they have achieved their goals.
It's worth having procedures in place to deal with situations where mentees wish to end their mentoring relationship prematurely if a mentoring relationship doesn't work out. See mentoring: resolving problems.
Contact between mentor and mentee
How often the mentor and mentee meet is ultimately their decision.
However, regular meetings should be arranged to ensure an effective, continuous relationship.

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Mentoring programmes: monitoring, evaluating and reviewing

How to monitor and assess your business mentoring programme
Whether your mentoring programme is structured formally or is more informal, you should ensure you monitor, record and evaluate it in order for your business to get the most from mentoring.

Monitoring informal mentoring programmes

You can monitor an informal mentoring scheme, by getting the mentor to:

record each meeting, what it involved and the main objectives of the activity

record a summary of discussion and action points

Monitoring formal mentoring programmes

In more formal mentoring programmes, you can monitor the programme by:

training the mentors

considering how to match mentors to mentees

issuing guidelines as to what mentoring involves

understanding when mentoring would be effective

setting up contractual arrangements where necessary

developing a system to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme

It is good practice to measure the progress of the mentoring relationship:

at the beginning to establish expectations

after six months to assess how well the relationship is working

after 12 months to measure outcomes

Evaluating a mentoring programme

It is important to evaluate your mentoring programme to ensure that it is achieving its aims. You should do this by assessing the mentors as well as the programme itself.

To evaluate the programme, you could ask all participants to give feedback on the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship.

The formats for the feedback could include:

a simple questionnaire where the participants answer specific questions about the programme

a written report from each participant

an interview of each of the participants

You can evaluate the mentor in the same way. However, also consider including specific mentoring criteria as development goals for mentors.
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Mentoring: resolving problems

Planning for the situation where a mentoring relationship breaks down
Mentoring relationships may not work out for several reasons. For example:

time - the mentor may become involved in other projects, thus taking up time set aside for mentoring

personality clash - there could be a clash of personalities, when the mentor and mentee fail to agree on the objectives of their relationship

goals - the mentee could become frustrated that their goals are not being achieved

How to resolve problems with a mentoring relationship

You should devise a procedure for dealing with a failing mentoring relationship that creates the minimum amount of disruption to work or bad feeling from either party. Mentors and mentees should be made aware from the beginning of the programme that they should inform you if problems develop.

Methods of resolving issues include:

encouraging the pair to resolve their differences by setting up a meeting where they can discuss their issues - and with a mediator present if necessary

setting up separate support groups for mentors and mentees

if the pair cannot resolve their differences, don't force them to work together and instead find a new mentor for the mentee

If you find that a mentor proves to be incompatible with two or more mentees, you might need to reassess their suitability for such a role. Equally, mentees who are not compatible with more than one mentor may have wider problems that should be addressed.

In order to give the mentor clear feedback about what they might do differently and what they did well, you should try to find out from the mentee why they wanted to end the relationship.
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Trade union membership rights of job applicants - employment agencies

Trade union membership rights

In this guide:

Trade union membership rights of job applicants - employers

The right of job applicants not to be treated unfairly by a prospective employer as a result of trade union membership status.
An individual has the right not to be refused employment because:

they are not a member of a trade union, or will not agree to become a member

they are a member of a trade union or will not agree to cease being a member

they will not agree to make a payment - eg to a union or charity - in lieu of union membership or to allow a prospective employer to deduct a sum of money from their pay to make such a payment

It is unlawful for an employer to refuse employment in contravention of any of these rights.

What types of employment are covered?

'Employment' means employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

It does not include self-employment under a contract for services.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' means:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

Refusal of employment

A person will be regarded as having been refused the employment they are seeking if the prospective employer or agent acting on the employer's behalf:

refuses or deliberately omits to deal with their application or enquiry

causes them to withdraw or stop pursuing their application or enquiry - eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

refuses or deliberately omits to offer them employment of the kind they are seeking

makes them an offer of employment of the kind they are seeking but on terms - eg the rate of pay - that no reasonable employer who wished to fill the vacancy would offer, and which is not accepted

makes them an offer of employment of the kind they are seeking but withdraws it or causes them not to accept it - eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

Where a person is offered employment subject to any of the requirements listed below and they do not accept the offer because they do not satisfy the requirement, or are unwilling to comply with it, they will be regarded as having been unlawfully refused employment for that reason.

The requirements are that:

they are or should remain a member of a trade union

they should take steps to become a member of a trade union

they are not, or should not become, a member of a trade union

they should take steps to cease to be a member of a trade union

they should make payments or suffer deductions in lieu of union membership

Job advertisements specifying union membership requirements

Where a job advertisement appears specifying any of the union membership or non-membership requirements listed above, a person who does not satisfy the requirements, or is unwilling to comply with them, and who applies for and is refused the job, will be presumed to have been refused it unlawfully.

'Advertisement' means every form of advertisement or notice, whether to the public or not. For example, it could be an advertisement in a newspaper or periodical, or a notice posted in or outside a factory.

Recruitment through trade unions

Where there is an arrangement or practice under which an employer recruits only people who have been supplied - ie put forward or approved - by a trade union from among its membership, a person who is not a member of the trade union concerned and who is refused the employment because they have not been supplied by the union, will be regarded as having been refused employment because they are not a union member.
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Trade union membership rights of job applicants - employment agencies

The right of job applicants not to be treated unfairly by an employment agency as a result of trade union membership status.
An individual has the right not to be refused the services of an employment agency because:

they are not a member of a trade union, or will not agree to become a member

they are a member of a trade union or will not agree to cease being a member

It is unlawful for an employment agency to refuse its services in contravention of any of these rights.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' means:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by an 'employment agency'?

'Employment agency' means any person or organisation that provides services - whether for profit or not - for the purpose of finding employment for workers or supplying employers with workers.

A trade union is not regarded as an employment agency if it provides services only to its own members to assist them in finding employment.

However, if a trade union provides such services to non-members, it will be regarded as an employment agency.

Refusal of the services of an employment agency

A person who seeks to use the services of an employment agency will be regarded as having been refused that service if the agency:

refuses or deliberately omits to make the service available to them

does not provide the service to them on the same terms as it provides the service to other people

causes them not to make use of the service, or to stop making use of it, eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

Where a person is offered the service of an employment agency, subject to any of the requirements listed below, and they do not accept the offer because they do not satisfy the requirement, or are unwilling to comply with it, they will be regarded as having been unlawfully refused the service for that reason.

The requirements are that:

they are - or should - remain a member of a trade union

they should take steps to become a member of a trade union

they are not - or should not - become a member of a trade union

they should take steps to cease being a member of a trade union

Employment agency advertisements specifying trade union membership requirements

Where an advertisement about the services of an employment agency specifies any of the union membership or non-membership requirements listed above, a person who does not satisfy the requirements or is unwilling to comply with them, and who seeks to use and is refused the services, will be presumed to have been refused them unlawfully.

'Advertisement' means every form of advertisement or notice, whether to the public or not. For example, it could be a list of job vacancies supplied by an employment agency to people who have registered with that agency.
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Tribunal claims: unlawful refusal of employment or employment agency services on TU membership grounds

Industrial tribunal claims where an individual has been refused employment or the services of an employment agency.
Individuals can make an industrial tribunal claim if they think they have been unlawfully refused employment or the services of an employment agency on trade union membership grounds - see trade union membership rights of job applicants - employers and trade union membership rights of job applicants - employment agencies.

An individual - the claimant - can bring a claim against either or both a prospective employer and an employment agency where the claim arises out of the same situation.

If a claimant brings a claim against only one of them, either the employer/employment agency or the claimant can ask the tribunal to join the other - ie either the employment agency or employer - as a party to the proceedings.

A tribunal will grant such a request if it is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is not made until after the start of the hearing. This 'request for joinder' cannot be made after the tribunal has decided whether or not the claim was well founded.

If a claimant brings a claim against both an employer and an employment agency or if joinder has been granted and the tribunal finds the claim to be well founded against both the employer and the agency, the tribunal can order any compensation it may award to be paid only by the employment agency, paid only by the employer or divided between the two.

Pressure exerted by a trade union or other person

If the prospective employer or employment agency claims that they were induced to act unlawfully by pressure exerted on them by a trade union or other person - eg by threatening or organising industrial action - they can ask the Industrial Tribunal to join the trade union or other person as a party to the proceedings.

The claimant can also ask that a trade union or other person be joined as a party to the proceedings if they believe that they induced the employer or employment agency by these means to act unlawfully.

A tribunal will grant such a request for joinder - made by either the prospective employer/employment agency or the claimant - if the request is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is made after the start of the hearing.

A request for joinder cannot be made after the tribunal has decided whether or not the claim was well-founded.

Where a trade union or other person has been joined to the proceedings and the tribunal finds the claim to be well-founded, it will also consider whether pressure was exerted on the prospective employer or employment agency, as alleged.

If the tribunal finds that such pressure was exerted, it can order the trade union or other person to pay some or all of any compensation it may award.

Remedies for unlawful refusal of employment or the services of an employment agency

If a tribunal finds that an individual has been unlawfully refused employment or the services of an employment agency because of their membership or non-membership of a trade union, it will make a declaration to that effect.

The tribunal may also:

award the claimant compensation to be paid by the prospective employer and/or employment agency

recommend that the prospective employer or employment agency takes action to remedy the adverse effect of their unlawful refusal on the claimant, eg by recommending that the employer considers the claimant for a job vacancy

Compensation

The tribunal will assess and award compensation as it sees fit. It may include compensation for injury to feelings.

In cases where a claim is made and upheld against a party and they fail without reasonable justification to comply with a recommendation to take action, the tribunal may increase its award of compensation, or make an award if it has not already done so.

The amount of compensation payable, including any additional compensation awarded for failure to comply with a recommendation, is subject to an upper limit.

See current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.
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Trade union membership rights in the workplace

The rights of those in work not to be treated unfairly as a result of trade union membership or non-membership.
You must not treat employees and other workers unfairly on the grounds of trade union membership or non-membership. Unfair treatment includes dismissal and subjecting a worker to a detriment.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' includes:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by the term 'detriment'?

A person can be subjected to a detriment through either an act or a deliberate decision not to act by an employer. Whether a worker has suffered a detriment is for an industrial tribunal to decide.

Examples of a detriment include withholding a pay increase, discrimination in promotion, transfer or training opportunities, or threats of dismissal. For a worker who is not an employee, a detriment could also be ending their employment.

In addition, a detriment could be the failure to confer a benefit on a person who failed to accept an unlawful inducement that would have been conferred on them had they accepted the offer.

For example, if an employer offered £1,000 to workers with the sole or main purpose of inducing them to give up their trade union membership, any worker who did not accept that offer and was therefore not paid the £1,000 would have been subjected to a detriment of £1,000.

Right not to belong to a trade union

No person has to join or remain a member of, a trade union.

All employees have the right:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for not belonging to a trade union or for refusing to join one

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for failing to accept an offer made by their employer with the sole or main purpose of inducing them to be or become a trade union member

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer (for not being or refusing to become a trade union member)

not to be made an offer by their employer where the sole or main purpose of the employer is to induce them to be or to become a trade union member

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

Right not to make payments in lieu of union membership

Employees have the right not to be dismissed for refusing to make a payment, eg to a union or a charity, in lieu of union membership or for objecting to their employer deducting a sum of money from their pay to make such a payment.

Employees and other workers have the right not to have other action taken by their employer to force them to make such a payment. If their employer deducts a sum of money from their pay, this counts as an action to force them to make such a payment.

Right to belong to a trade union

All employees have the right:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for being a member of an independent trade union or for proposing to become a member

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for failing to accept an offer made by their employer with the sole or main purpose of inducing them not to be or become a trade union member

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer, to prevent or deter them from belonging to an independent trade union or from seeking to become a member, or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer where the sole or main purpose of the offer is to induce them not to be (or seek to become) a member

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of their rights as set out above have been infringed can make an industrial tribunal claim. For more information, see tribunal claims: discrimination against workers on TU membership grounds.
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Tribunal claims: discrimination against workers on TU membership grounds

Industrial tribunal claims when workers are discriminated against due to trade union membership.
Individuals who think that any of their rights (as set out in trade union membership rights in the workplace) have been infringed can make an Industrial Tribunal claim.

If an employee has been dismissed - including cases where they have been dismissed on grounds of redundancy - their claim is one of unfair dismissal.

If an employee or other worker considers that they have been subjected to a detriment by an act, or deliberate failure to act, by their employer, their claim is one of detriment.

For the detriment to be unlawful, the person must have been subjected to it with the intention of putting pressure on them in respect of non-membership or membership of a union, or for other unlawful purposes relating to failure to accept unlawful inducements.

If a worker believes that you have made an unlawful inducement relating to trade union membership as described above, their claim is one of unlawful inducement.

Pressure exerted by a trade union or other person

An employer who faces a claim of unfair dismissal may have dismissed the employee concerned as a result of pressure applied by a union or other person because the employee was not a member of a trade union. The pressure could be in the form of actual or threatened industrial action.

If the employer or the employee making the complaint claims this is so, either of them may make a request to the tribunal for the union or other person concerned to be joined - ie brought in as a party - to the proceedings.

A request by either an employer or a dismissed employee for a trade union or other person in unfair dismissal proceedings to be joined in this way will be granted by the tribunal if it is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is made after the start of the hearing.

If the tribunal finds the dismissal unfair and the claim of pressure well founded, it may make any award of compensation wholly or partly against the union or other person concerned instead of - or as well as - against the employer.

Compensation

The compensatory awards for the claims in relation to union membership, non-membership, and unlawful inducements vary. For more information, see current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.

Note that in cases where a worker makes a related claim to the tribunal concerning detriment and the tribunal upholds that claim, the tribunal may award compensation for the detriment suffered.

In deciding the amount of such compensation, a tribunal may not make a reduction on the ground that a complainant:

contributed to their loss by accepting or not accepting an unlawful inducement

has received or is entitled to an award on the grounds that an unlawful inducement has been made to them

Status of contractual changes resulting from unlawful inducements

If a worker has accepted an unlawful inducement, but any consequent agreement by them to vary their terms and conditions has not yet been effected, the agreement to vary the terms and conditions is not enforceable.

In such circumstances, the employer cannot recover any cash paid or other benefits conferred on the worker concerned.

However, in cases where the agreed variation of terms and conditions has been effected, those variations are enforceable.
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Rights of workers relating to trade union activities and services

The right of workers who are union members not to be treated unfairly when interacting with their union.
You must not treat employees and other workers unfairly on the grounds that they have taken part in the activities of the trade union to which they belong or have made use of their union's services at an appropriate time.

Unfair treatment includes dismissal and subjecting a worker to a detriment.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' includes:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by the term 'detriment'?

Detriment can be either an act or a deliberate decision not to act by an employer. Whether an employee or other worker has suffered a detriment is for a tribunal to decide.

Examples of a detriment would be withholding a pay increase, discrimination in promotion, transfer or training opportunities, or threats of dismissal. For a worker who is not an employee, detriment could also take the form of dismissal.

In addition, a detriment could be the failure to confer a benefit on a person who failed to accept an unlawful inducement that would have been conferred on them had they accepted the offer.

For example, if an employer offered £1,000 to workers not to take advice from their union, any worker who did not accept that offer and was therefore not paid the £1,000 would have been subjected to a detriment of £1,000.

Right to take part in trade union activities

All employees have the following rights relating to their trade union activities:

Not to be dismissed or selected for redundancy, for taking part - or proposing to take part - in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time.

Not to be dismissed or selected for redundancy because they failed to accept an offer made by their employer. The sole or main purpose of the offer must be to induce them not to take part in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time.

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer to prevent or deter them from taking part in trade union activities at an appropriate time, or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which is to induce them not to take part in an independent trade union's activities at an appropriate time

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

The kinds of union activity a worker may take part in are not set out in law. However, union activities involving a worker acting on behalf of the union would be covered, eg a shop steward representing a union that is recognised for collective bargaining purposes or activities connected with the election or appointment of union officials.

Right to make use of trade union services

All employees have the following rights relating to the use they make of their union's services:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for making use, or proposing to make use, of the services of an independent trade union at an appropriate time

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, because they failed to accept an offer made by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which was to induce them not to use the services of an independent trade union at an appropriate time

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer to prevent or deter them from using their union's services at an appropriate time or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which is to induce them not to make use of an independent trade union's services at an appropriate time

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer for failing to accept such an offer

'Trade union services' are services made available to an employee or other worker by virtue of their membership of an independent trade union. They include the union agreeing to raise a matter on behalf of the employee or other worker by, for example, writing to the employer about a grievance.

However, such services do not include having a member's terms and conditions determined by collective agreement.

The 'appropriate time' for the union member to take part in union activities or to make use of their union's services is time either:

outside the member's working hours - this could cover activities that take place or services which are used when the person is on the employer's premises but not actually required to be working, eg during lunch breaks

within the member's working hours where the employer has agreed that the worker may take part in trade union activities or use the trade union's services

Rights to reasonable time off for trade union duties and activities also exist where an employer recognises a union for collective bargaining. For more information on collective bargaining, see meaning and types of trade union recognition.

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of their rights as set out above have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal. See tribunal claims: discrimination regarding trade union activities and services.
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Tribunal claims: discrimination regarding trade union activities and services

Industrial tribunal claims due to discrimination relating to trade union activities and services.
Individuals who think that any of their rights (as in rights of workers relating to trade union activities and services) have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal.

If an employee has been dismissed - including cases where they have been dismissed on grounds of redundancy - their complaint is one of unfair dismissal.

If employees or other workers consider that they have been subjected to a detriment by an act, or deliberate failure to act, by their employer, their complaint is one of detriment.

If employees or other workers consider that you have made an unlawful inducement relating to trade union activities and services, their complaint is one of unlawful inducement.

Compensation

The compensatory awards for the claims in relation to dismissal and detriment vary. A tribunal can make an award to an individual for claims of unlawful inducements in relation to trade union membership/non-membership, activities, or collective bargaining. For more information, see current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.

Note that in cases where an employee or other worker makes a related complaint to the tribunal concerning detriment, and the tribunal upholds that complaint, the tribunal may award compensation for the detriment suffered.

In deciding the amount of such compensation, a tribunal may not make a reduction on the ground that a complainant:

contributed to their loss by accepting or not accepting an unlawful inducement

has received or is entitled to an award on the grounds that an unlawful inducement has been made to them

Status of contractual changes resulting from unlawful inducements

If an employee or other worker accepts an unlawful inducement, but any consequent agreement by them to vary their terms and conditions has not yet been effected, the agreement to vary the terms and conditions is not enforceable.

Also, in such circumstances, the employer cannot recover any cash paid or other benefits conferred on the employee or worker concerned.

However, in cases where the agreed variation of terms and conditions has been effected, those variations are enforceable.
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Time-off rights for union officials and members

Rights to time off for union duties and activities and the circumstances under which this should be paid time off.
Trade union officials and members have rights to time off under certain circumstances. The time off may or may not be paid.

The right to paid time off for union duties

You must give an employee who is an official of a recognised union reasonable paid time off:

to carry out their union duties

for training related to union duties

A trade union official's typical duties may include:

recruiting, organising and representing members of a trade union, either individually or collectively

attending meetings with members of the workforce and management

accompanying workers to disciplinary and grievance hearings

negotiating with the employer on terms and conditions of employment or matters of discipline

The right to time off for union activities

You must give union officials and members reasonable unpaid time off for carrying out union activities.

Such activities might include:

voting in union elections

meeting full-time officials to discuss issues relevant to the workplace

attending workplace meetings to discuss and vote on the outcome of negotiations

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of these rights have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal.

If the tribunal finds the complaint well founded, it will make a declaration to that effect and award compensation as it sees fit.

In cases where the employer has failed to pay the employee for the time off, it will order the employer to pay the amount due.
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Rights of union learning representatives

The rights of union learning representatives, including arranging and undertaking training.
What are union learning representatives?

Union learning representatives have the same status as union officials and are allowed paid time off to carry out their duties.

Union learning representatives are:

representatives of a recognised union who provide advice to union members about their training, educational, and developmental needs

elected or appointed in accordance with the union's rules

trained in line with statutory training conditions

notified to the employer in writing

Rights of union learning representatives

Union learning representatives have a legal right to reasonable paid time off during working hours to carry out their duties, which may include:

undertaking relevant training

analysing the learning or training needs of union members

providing information and advice on learning or training

arranging learning or training

consulting the employer about learning and training

preparing for the above

The law does not assign a negotiating role to union learning representatives. However, some employers have voluntarily negotiated learning agreements with their union learning representatives.

Advantages of union learning representatives for employers

Union learning representatives can be a source of expert advice. They cost you comparatively little and can help with identifying the training needs of staff and encouraging a learning culture within the company.
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Blacklisting of trade union members

Description of the law that prohibits the blacklisting of trade unionists.
From 6 April 2014 the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014 came into operation which prohibits the blacklisting of trade unionists.

The Regulations make it unlawful to compile, supply, sell or use a 'prohibited list' (ie a blacklist).

Employers and employment agencies cannot:

refuse a person employment for a reason related to a blacklist

dismiss an employee for a reason related to a blacklist

subject a person to any other detriment for a reason related to a blacklist

refuse the services of an employment agency to a person for a reason related to a blacklist.

What is a blacklist?

A blacklist must:

Contain 'details' about current or former trade union members or of persons who are taking part or have taken part in trade union activities. These 'details' could include names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, occupations or work histories.

Have been compiled for employers or employment agencies to use in order to discriminate on grounds of trade union membership or activities when recruiting or during employment.

Blacklists would include any index or other set of items whether recorded manually, electronically or in other forms, and can include haphazard or unstructured collections of information with a common connection - such as a shared purpose.

You can act unlawfully if you indirectly access a blacklist. It may not be a defence for you to claim that you did not know you were using information from a blacklist.

Everyone on a blacklist is protected, even non-trade union members.

There are some incidences where the law does not prohibit blacklists. It is lawful if you:

Supply a blacklist in circumstances where you could not reasonably be expected to know it was a prohibited list.

Compile, supply or use a blacklist in order to draw attention to possible or actual blacklisting activity. For this to apply, no information about the person on the list should have been published without their consent, and the activity is justified in the public interest.

Compiled, sold, supplied or used a prohibited list for the sole or main purpose of appointing or electing an office-holder in a trade union; or appointing a person to a post or office where the appointee must have experience or knowledge of trade unions, and it is reasonable to apply such a requirement.

Compile, sell, supply or use a blacklist to comply with a statutory or legal requirement or to obey a court order.

It is also lawful to access a blacklist either:

in connection with legal proceedings

to obtain or provide legal advice about blacklisting compliance

Industrial Tribunal claims

If an employer is suspected of blacklisting, or an employment agency refuses employment based on blacklist information, they could be taken to an industrial tribunal.

If successful in an Industrial Tribunal, the claimant could be awarded compensation.

Court claims

A claim to a court can be made by anyone if they have suffered loss or been threatened by a potential loss.

If a complaint is successful, the court can award damages and compensation for injury to feelings. They are also empowered to make orders to stop organisations from blacklisting or using blacklists.

An individual cannot make a complaint to an Industrial Tribunal and the court in relation to the same conduct. However, if a complaint is made to an industrial tribunal, the same complainant could also ask the court to restrain or prevent an employer from blacklisting.
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Current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits

Minimum and maximum amounts that may be ordered to be paid by a tribunal.

The following table lists the different tribunal and arbitration compensation awards and the most recent changes to their limits in the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024.

Table of increase of limits

Compensation	From 6 April 2023	From 6 April 2024
Maximum basic award for unfair dismissal (30 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£20,070	£21,870
Minimum additional award for failure to comply with a tribunal's order to reinstate or re-employ an employee who has been unfairly dismissed (26 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£17,394	£18,954
Maximum additional award for failure to comply with a tribunal's order to reinstate or re-employ an employee who has been unfairly dismissed (52 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£34,788	£37,908
Maximum amount of 'a week's pay' for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or for various awards including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal	£669	£729
Minimum amount of basic award of compensation where dismissal is unfair	£8,139	£8,863
Limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal	£105,915	£115,341
Limit on guarantee pay (per day)	£35	£38
Amount of award for unlawful inducement relating to trade union membership, activities, or services, or for unlawful inducement relating to collective bargaining	£5,382	£5,861
Minimum amount of compensation where an individual is expelled from a union in contravention of Article 38 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and not readmitted by date of tribunal application	£12,206	£13,292
Limit on amount in respect of any one week payable to an employee in respect of debt to which Part XIV of the 1996 Order applies and which is referable to a period of time	£669	£729

The limit for the maximum award in breach of contract cases is £25,000.

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Rights of workers relating to trade union activities and services

Trade union membership rights

In this guide:

Trade union membership rights of job applicants - employers

The right of job applicants not to be treated unfairly by a prospective employer as a result of trade union membership status.
An individual has the right not to be refused employment because:

they are not a member of a trade union, or will not agree to become a member

they are a member of a trade union or will not agree to cease being a member

they will not agree to make a payment - eg to a union or charity - in lieu of union membership or to allow a prospective employer to deduct a sum of money from their pay to make such a payment

It is unlawful for an employer to refuse employment in contravention of any of these rights.

What types of employment are covered?

'Employment' means employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

It does not include self-employment under a contract for services.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' means:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

Refusal of employment

A person will be regarded as having been refused the employment they are seeking if the prospective employer or agent acting on the employer's behalf:

refuses or deliberately omits to deal with their application or enquiry

causes them to withdraw or stop pursuing their application or enquiry - eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

refuses or deliberately omits to offer them employment of the kind they are seeking

makes them an offer of employment of the kind they are seeking but on terms - eg the rate of pay - that no reasonable employer who wished to fill the vacancy would offer, and which is not accepted

makes them an offer of employment of the kind they are seeking but withdraws it or causes them not to accept it - eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

Where a person is offered employment subject to any of the requirements listed below and they do not accept the offer because they do not satisfy the requirement, or are unwilling to comply with it, they will be regarded as having been unlawfully refused employment for that reason.

The requirements are that:

they are or should remain a member of a trade union

they should take steps to become a member of a trade union

they are not, or should not become, a member of a trade union

they should take steps to cease to be a member of a trade union

they should make payments or suffer deductions in lieu of union membership

Job advertisements specifying union membership requirements

Where a job advertisement appears specifying any of the union membership or non-membership requirements listed above, a person who does not satisfy the requirements, or is unwilling to comply with them, and who applies for and is refused the job, will be presumed to have been refused it unlawfully.

'Advertisement' means every form of advertisement or notice, whether to the public or not. For example, it could be an advertisement in a newspaper or periodical, or a notice posted in or outside a factory.

Recruitment through trade unions

Where there is an arrangement or practice under which an employer recruits only people who have been supplied - ie put forward or approved - by a trade union from among its membership, a person who is not a member of the trade union concerned and who is refused the employment because they have not been supplied by the union, will be regarded as having been refused employment because they are not a union member.
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Trade union membership rights of job applicants - employment agencies

The right of job applicants not to be treated unfairly by an employment agency as a result of trade union membership status.
An individual has the right not to be refused the services of an employment agency because:

they are not a member of a trade union, or will not agree to become a member

they are a member of a trade union or will not agree to cease being a member

It is unlawful for an employment agency to refuse its services in contravention of any of these rights.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' means:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by an 'employment agency'?

'Employment agency' means any person or organisation that provides services - whether for profit or not - for the purpose of finding employment for workers or supplying employers with workers.

A trade union is not regarded as an employment agency if it provides services only to its own members to assist them in finding employment.

However, if a trade union provides such services to non-members, it will be regarded as an employment agency.

Refusal of the services of an employment agency

A person who seeks to use the services of an employment agency will be regarded as having been refused that service if the agency:

refuses or deliberately omits to make the service available to them

does not provide the service to them on the same terms as it provides the service to other people

causes them not to make use of the service, or to stop making use of it, eg by making threats or discouraging remarks

Where a person is offered the service of an employment agency, subject to any of the requirements listed below, and they do not accept the offer because they do not satisfy the requirement, or are unwilling to comply with it, they will be regarded as having been unlawfully refused the service for that reason.

The requirements are that:

they are - or should - remain a member of a trade union

they should take steps to become a member of a trade union

they are not - or should not - become a member of a trade union

they should take steps to cease being a member of a trade union

Employment agency advertisements specifying trade union membership requirements

Where an advertisement about the services of an employment agency specifies any of the union membership or non-membership requirements listed above, a person who does not satisfy the requirements or is unwilling to comply with them, and who seeks to use and is refused the services, will be presumed to have been refused them unlawfully.

'Advertisement' means every form of advertisement or notice, whether to the public or not. For example, it could be a list of job vacancies supplied by an employment agency to people who have registered with that agency.
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Tribunal claims: unlawful refusal of employment or employment agency services on TU membership grounds

Industrial tribunal claims where an individual has been refused employment or the services of an employment agency.
Individuals can make an industrial tribunal claim if they think they have been unlawfully refused employment or the services of an employment agency on trade union membership grounds - see trade union membership rights of job applicants - employers and trade union membership rights of job applicants - employment agencies.

An individual - the claimant - can bring a claim against either or both a prospective employer and an employment agency where the claim arises out of the same situation.

If a claimant brings a claim against only one of them, either the employer/employment agency or the claimant can ask the tribunal to join the other - ie either the employment agency or employer - as a party to the proceedings.

A tribunal will grant such a request if it is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is not made until after the start of the hearing. This 'request for joinder' cannot be made after the tribunal has decided whether or not the claim was well founded.

If a claimant brings a claim against both an employer and an employment agency or if joinder has been granted and the tribunal finds the claim to be well founded against both the employer and the agency, the tribunal can order any compensation it may award to be paid only by the employment agency, paid only by the employer or divided between the two.

Pressure exerted by a trade union or other person

If the prospective employer or employment agency claims that they were induced to act unlawfully by pressure exerted on them by a trade union or other person - eg by threatening or organising industrial action - they can ask the Industrial Tribunal to join the trade union or other person as a party to the proceedings.

The claimant can also ask that a trade union or other person be joined as a party to the proceedings if they believe that they induced the employer or employment agency by these means to act unlawfully.

A tribunal will grant such a request for joinder - made by either the prospective employer/employment agency or the claimant - if the request is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is made after the start of the hearing.

A request for joinder cannot be made after the tribunal has decided whether or not the claim was well-founded.

Where a trade union or other person has been joined to the proceedings and the tribunal finds the claim to be well-founded, it will also consider whether pressure was exerted on the prospective employer or employment agency, as alleged.

If the tribunal finds that such pressure was exerted, it can order the trade union or other person to pay some or all of any compensation it may award.

Remedies for unlawful refusal of employment or the services of an employment agency

If a tribunal finds that an individual has been unlawfully refused employment or the services of an employment agency because of their membership or non-membership of a trade union, it will make a declaration to that effect.

The tribunal may also:

award the claimant compensation to be paid by the prospective employer and/or employment agency

recommend that the prospective employer or employment agency takes action to remedy the adverse effect of their unlawful refusal on the claimant, eg by recommending that the employer considers the claimant for a job vacancy

Compensation

The tribunal will assess and award compensation as it sees fit. It may include compensation for injury to feelings.

In cases where a claim is made and upheld against a party and they fail without reasonable justification to comply with a recommendation to take action, the tribunal may increase its award of compensation, or make an award if it has not already done so.

The amount of compensation payable, including any additional compensation awarded for failure to comply with a recommendation, is subject to an upper limit.

See current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.
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Trade union membership rights in the workplace

The rights of those in work not to be treated unfairly as a result of trade union membership or non-membership.
You must not treat employees and other workers unfairly on the grounds of trade union membership or non-membership. Unfair treatment includes dismissal and subjecting a worker to a detriment.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' includes:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by the term 'detriment'?

A person can be subjected to a detriment through either an act or a deliberate decision not to act by an employer. Whether a worker has suffered a detriment is for an industrial tribunal to decide.

Examples of a detriment include withholding a pay increase, discrimination in promotion, transfer or training opportunities, or threats of dismissal. For a worker who is not an employee, a detriment could also be ending their employment.

In addition, a detriment could be the failure to confer a benefit on a person who failed to accept an unlawful inducement that would have been conferred on them had they accepted the offer.

For example, if an employer offered £1,000 to workers with the sole or main purpose of inducing them to give up their trade union membership, any worker who did not accept that offer and was therefore not paid the £1,000 would have been subjected to a detriment of £1,000.

Right not to belong to a trade union

No person has to join or remain a member of, a trade union.

All employees have the right:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for not belonging to a trade union or for refusing to join one

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for failing to accept an offer made by their employer with the sole or main purpose of inducing them to be or become a trade union member

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer (for not being or refusing to become a trade union member)

not to be made an offer by their employer where the sole or main purpose of the employer is to induce them to be or to become a trade union member

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

Right not to make payments in lieu of union membership

Employees have the right not to be dismissed for refusing to make a payment, eg to a union or a charity, in lieu of union membership or for objecting to their employer deducting a sum of money from their pay to make such a payment.

Employees and other workers have the right not to have other action taken by their employer to force them to make such a payment. If their employer deducts a sum of money from their pay, this counts as an action to force them to make such a payment.

Right to belong to a trade union

All employees have the right:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for being a member of an independent trade union or for proposing to become a member

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for failing to accept an offer made by their employer with the sole or main purpose of inducing them not to be or become a trade union member

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer, to prevent or deter them from belonging to an independent trade union or from seeking to become a member, or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer where the sole or main purpose of the offer is to induce them not to be (or seek to become) a member

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of their rights as set out above have been infringed can make an industrial tribunal claim. For more information, see tribunal claims: discrimination against workers on TU membership grounds.
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Tribunal claims: discrimination against workers on TU membership grounds

Industrial tribunal claims when workers are discriminated against due to trade union membership.
Individuals who think that any of their rights (as set out in trade union membership rights in the workplace) have been infringed can make an Industrial Tribunal claim.

If an employee has been dismissed - including cases where they have been dismissed on grounds of redundancy - their claim is one of unfair dismissal.

If an employee or other worker considers that they have been subjected to a detriment by an act, or deliberate failure to act, by their employer, their claim is one of detriment.

For the detriment to be unlawful, the person must have been subjected to it with the intention of putting pressure on them in respect of non-membership or membership of a union, or for other unlawful purposes relating to failure to accept unlawful inducements.

If a worker believes that you have made an unlawful inducement relating to trade union membership as described above, their claim is one of unlawful inducement.

Pressure exerted by a trade union or other person

An employer who faces a claim of unfair dismissal may have dismissed the employee concerned as a result of pressure applied by a union or other person because the employee was not a member of a trade union. The pressure could be in the form of actual or threatened industrial action.

If the employer or the employee making the complaint claims this is so, either of them may make a request to the tribunal for the union or other person concerned to be joined - ie brought in as a party - to the proceedings.

A request by either an employer or a dismissed employee for a trade union or other person in unfair dismissal proceedings to be joined in this way will be granted by the tribunal if it is made before the hearing begins. However, the tribunal may refuse the request if it is made after the start of the hearing.

If the tribunal finds the dismissal unfair and the claim of pressure well founded, it may make any award of compensation wholly or partly against the union or other person concerned instead of - or as well as - against the employer.

Compensation

The compensatory awards for the claims in relation to union membership, non-membership, and unlawful inducements vary. For more information, see current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.

Note that in cases where a worker makes a related claim to the tribunal concerning detriment and the tribunal upholds that claim, the tribunal may award compensation for the detriment suffered.

In deciding the amount of such compensation, a tribunal may not make a reduction on the ground that a complainant:

contributed to their loss by accepting or not accepting an unlawful inducement

has received or is entitled to an award on the grounds that an unlawful inducement has been made to them

Status of contractual changes resulting from unlawful inducements

If a worker has accepted an unlawful inducement, but any consequent agreement by them to vary their terms and conditions has not yet been effected, the agreement to vary the terms and conditions is not enforceable.

In such circumstances, the employer cannot recover any cash paid or other benefits conferred on the worker concerned.

However, in cases where the agreed variation of terms and conditions has been effected, those variations are enforceable.
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Rights of workers relating to trade union activities and services

The right of workers who are union members not to be treated unfairly when interacting with their union.
You must not treat employees and other workers unfairly on the grounds that they have taken part in the activities of the trade union to which they belong or have made use of their union's services at an appropriate time.

Unfair treatment includes dismissal and subjecting a worker to a detriment.

What is meant by the term 'trade union'?

The term 'trade union' includes:

any trade union

a particular trade union

one of a number of particular trade unions

a particular branch or section of a trade union

one of a number of particular branches or sections of a trade union

What is meant by the term 'detriment'?

Detriment can be either an act or a deliberate decision not to act by an employer. Whether an employee or other worker has suffered a detriment is for a tribunal to decide.

Examples of a detriment would be withholding a pay increase, discrimination in promotion, transfer or training opportunities, or threats of dismissal. For a worker who is not an employee, detriment could also take the form of dismissal.

In addition, a detriment could be the failure to confer a benefit on a person who failed to accept an unlawful inducement that would have been conferred on them had they accepted the offer.

For example, if an employer offered £1,000 to workers not to take advice from their union, any worker who did not accept that offer and was therefore not paid the £1,000 would have been subjected to a detriment of £1,000.

Right to take part in trade union activities

All employees have the following rights relating to their trade union activities:

Not to be dismissed or selected for redundancy, for taking part - or proposing to take part - in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time.

Not to be dismissed or selected for redundancy because they failed to accept an offer made by their employer. The sole or main purpose of the offer must be to induce them not to take part in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time.

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer to prevent or deter them from taking part in trade union activities at an appropriate time, or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which is to induce them not to take part in an independent trade union's activities at an appropriate time

not to be subjected to a detriment for failing to accept such an offer

The kinds of union activity a worker may take part in are not set out in law. However, union activities involving a worker acting on behalf of the union would be covered, eg a shop steward representing a union that is recognised for collective bargaining purposes or activities connected with the election or appointment of union officials.

Right to make use of trade union services

All employees have the following rights relating to the use they make of their union's services:

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, for making use, or proposing to make use, of the services of an independent trade union at an appropriate time

not to be dismissed, or selected for redundancy, because they failed to accept an offer made by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which was to induce them not to use the services of an independent trade union at an appropriate time

In addition, all employees and other workers have the right:

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer to prevent or deter them from using their union's services at an appropriate time or to penalise them for doing so

not to be made an offer by their employer, the sole or main purpose of which is to induce them not to make use of an independent trade union's services at an appropriate time

not to be subjected to a detriment by their employer for failing to accept such an offer

'Trade union services' are services made available to an employee or other worker by virtue of their membership of an independent trade union. They include the union agreeing to raise a matter on behalf of the employee or other worker by, for example, writing to the employer about a grievance.

However, such services do not include having a member's terms and conditions determined by collective agreement.

The 'appropriate time' for the union member to take part in union activities or to make use of their union's services is time either:

outside the member's working hours - this could cover activities that take place or services which are used when the person is on the employer's premises but not actually required to be working, eg during lunch breaks

within the member's working hours where the employer has agreed that the worker may take part in trade union activities or use the trade union's services

Rights to reasonable time off for trade union duties and activities also exist where an employer recognises a union for collective bargaining. For more information on collective bargaining, see meaning and types of trade union recognition.

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of their rights as set out above have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal. See tribunal claims: discrimination regarding trade union activities and services.
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Tribunal claims: discrimination regarding trade union activities and services

Industrial tribunal claims due to discrimination relating to trade union activities and services.
Individuals who think that any of their rights (as in rights of workers relating to trade union activities and services) have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal.

If an employee has been dismissed - including cases where they have been dismissed on grounds of redundancy - their complaint is one of unfair dismissal.

If employees or other workers consider that they have been subjected to a detriment by an act, or deliberate failure to act, by their employer, their complaint is one of detriment.

If employees or other workers consider that you have made an unlawful inducement relating to trade union activities and services, their complaint is one of unlawful inducement.

Compensation

The compensatory awards for the claims in relation to dismissal and detriment vary. A tribunal can make an award to an individual for claims of unlawful inducements in relation to trade union membership/non-membership, activities, or collective bargaining. For more information, see current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits.

Note that in cases where an employee or other worker makes a related complaint to the tribunal concerning detriment, and the tribunal upholds that complaint, the tribunal may award compensation for the detriment suffered.

In deciding the amount of such compensation, a tribunal may not make a reduction on the ground that a complainant:

contributed to their loss by accepting or not accepting an unlawful inducement

has received or is entitled to an award on the grounds that an unlawful inducement has been made to them

Status of contractual changes resulting from unlawful inducements

If an employee or other worker accepts an unlawful inducement, but any consequent agreement by them to vary their terms and conditions has not yet been effected, the agreement to vary the terms and conditions is not enforceable.

Also, in such circumstances, the employer cannot recover any cash paid or other benefits conferred on the employee or worker concerned.

However, in cases where the agreed variation of terms and conditions has been effected, those variations are enforceable.
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Time-off rights for union officials and members

Rights to time off for union duties and activities and the circumstances under which this should be paid time off.
Trade union officials and members have rights to time off under certain circumstances. The time off may or may not be paid.

The right to paid time off for union duties

You must give an employee who is an official of a recognised union reasonable paid time off:

to carry out their union duties

for training related to union duties

A trade union official's typical duties may include:

recruiting, organising and representing members of a trade union, either individually or collectively

attending meetings with members of the workforce and management

accompanying workers to disciplinary and grievance hearings

negotiating with the employer on terms and conditions of employment or matters of discipline

The right to time off for union activities

You must give union officials and members reasonable unpaid time off for carrying out union activities.

Such activities might include:

voting in union elections

meeting full-time officials to discuss issues relevant to the workplace

attending workplace meetings to discuss and vote on the outcome of negotiations

Right of complaint to an Industrial Tribunal

Individuals who think that any of these rights have been infringed can complain to an industrial tribunal.

If the tribunal finds the complaint well founded, it will make a declaration to that effect and award compensation as it sees fit.

In cases where the employer has failed to pay the employee for the time off, it will order the employer to pay the amount due.
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Rights of union learning representatives

The rights of union learning representatives, including arranging and undertaking training.
What are union learning representatives?

Union learning representatives have the same status as union officials and are allowed paid time off to carry out their duties.

Union learning representatives are:

representatives of a recognised union who provide advice to union members about their training, educational, and developmental needs

elected or appointed in accordance with the union's rules

trained in line with statutory training conditions

notified to the employer in writing

Rights of union learning representatives

Union learning representatives have a legal right to reasonable paid time off during working hours to carry out their duties, which may include:

undertaking relevant training

analysing the learning or training needs of union members

providing information and advice on learning or training

arranging learning or training

consulting the employer about learning and training

preparing for the above

The law does not assign a negotiating role to union learning representatives. However, some employers have voluntarily negotiated learning agreements with their union learning representatives.

Advantages of union learning representatives for employers

Union learning representatives can be a source of expert advice. They cost you comparatively little and can help with identifying the training needs of staff and encouraging a learning culture within the company.
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Blacklisting of trade union members

Description of the law that prohibits the blacklisting of trade unionists.
From 6 April 2014 the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014 came into operation which prohibits the blacklisting of trade unionists.

The Regulations make it unlawful to compile, supply, sell or use a 'prohibited list' (ie a blacklist).

Employers and employment agencies cannot:

refuse a person employment for a reason related to a blacklist

dismiss an employee for a reason related to a blacklist

subject a person to any other detriment for a reason related to a blacklist

refuse the services of an employment agency to a person for a reason related to a blacklist.

What is a blacklist?

A blacklist must:

Contain 'details' about current or former trade union members or of persons who are taking part or have taken part in trade union activities. These 'details' could include names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, occupations or work histories.

Have been compiled for employers or employment agencies to use in order to discriminate on grounds of trade union membership or activities when recruiting or during employment.

Blacklists would include any index or other set of items whether recorded manually, electronically or in other forms, and can include haphazard or unstructured collections of information with a common connection - such as a shared purpose.

You can act unlawfully if you indirectly access a blacklist. It may not be a defence for you to claim that you did not know you were using information from a blacklist.

Everyone on a blacklist is protected, even non-trade union members.

There are some incidences where the law does not prohibit blacklists. It is lawful if you:

Supply a blacklist in circumstances where you could not reasonably be expected to know it was a prohibited list.

Compile, supply or use a blacklist in order to draw attention to possible or actual blacklisting activity. For this to apply, no information about the person on the list should have been published without their consent, and the activity is justified in the public interest.

Compiled, sold, supplied or used a prohibited list for the sole or main purpose of appointing or electing an office-holder in a trade union; or appointing a person to a post or office where the appointee must have experience or knowledge of trade unions, and it is reasonable to apply such a requirement.

Compile, sell, supply or use a blacklist to comply with a statutory or legal requirement or to obey a court order.

It is also lawful to access a blacklist either:

in connection with legal proceedings

to obtain or provide legal advice about blacklisting compliance

Industrial Tribunal claims

If an employer is suspected of blacklisting, or an employment agency refuses employment based on blacklist information, they could be taken to an industrial tribunal.

If successful in an Industrial Tribunal, the claimant could be awarded compensation.

Court claims

A claim to a court can be made by anyone if they have suffered loss or been threatened by a potential loss.

If a complaint is successful, the court can award damages and compensation for injury to feelings. They are also empowered to make orders to stop organisations from blacklisting or using blacklists.

An individual cannot make a complaint to an Industrial Tribunal and the court in relation to the same conduct. However, if a complaint is made to an industrial tribunal, the same complainant could also ask the court to restrain or prevent an employer from blacklisting.
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Current tribunal and arbitration compensation limits

Minimum and maximum amounts that may be ordered to be paid by a tribunal.

Table of increase of limits

Compensation	From 6 April 2023	From 6 April 2024
Maximum basic award for unfair dismissal (30 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£20,070	£21,870
Minimum additional award for failure to comply with a tribunal's order to reinstate or re-employ an employee who has been unfairly dismissed (26 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£17,394	£18,954
Maximum additional award for failure to comply with a tribunal's order to reinstate or re-employ an employee who has been unfairly dismissed (52 weeks' pay, subject to the limit on a week's pay)	£34,788	£37,908
Maximum amount of 'a week's pay' for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or for various awards including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal	£669	£729
Minimum amount of basic award of compensation where dismissal is unfair	£8,139	£8,863
Limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal	£105,915	£115,341
Limit on guarantee pay (per day)	£35	£38
Amount of award for unlawful inducement relating to trade union membership, activities, or services, or for unlawful inducement relating to collective bargaining	£5,382	£5,861
Minimum amount of compensation where an individual is expelled from a union in contravention of Article 38 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and not readmitted by date of tribunal application	£12,206	£13,292
Limit on amount in respect of any one week payable to an employee in respect of debt to which Part XIV of the 1996 Order applies and which is referable to a period of time	£669	£729

The limit for the maximum award in breach of contract cases is £25,000.

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Changing an employee's working hours

Employing part-time workers

In this guide:

Advantages of employing part-time workers

The benefits to employers of employing a part-time worker.
Employing part-time workers has a range of potential business benefits, such as:

being an efficient way to keep costs down in areas where you don't yet need full-time cover

increasing recruitment and retention of staff by offering family-friendly working practices

being able to show potential clients and customers that you value having a diverse workforce and ethical employment practices

allowing you to bring in highly skilled and experienced staff members even when you have a fixed budget and can't afford to bring someone in on a full-time basis

expanding the pool of potential recruits - part-time work tends to attract parents with younger children and older people, who may not want to work full-time but can bring a wealth of skills, experience, and expertise

increasing the ability of your business to respond to change and peaks of demands - for example, you can use more workers at peak times and extend your operating hours by using part-time workers in the evening or at weekends

helping to reduce the workloads of other workers, eg when you don't have enough work for a new full-time position but are regularly using overtime to meet demands - this can reduce your overtime costs and help prevent the negative effects of stress and fatigue
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Options for part-time working

Considering term-time-only workers and job sharing as options for part-time working.
The most obvious form of part-time working is where the worker simply works fewer than the normal basic full-time hours.

For example, they could work:

every weekday morning, afternoon or evening

a full day every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

weekend shifts and the occasional evening shift in the week

However, there are other part-time working options that may suit your business needs:

term-time-only workers tend to be parents who work during term time and take paid or unpaid leave during school holidays

job-sharing is where two or more people share the responsibilities, pay and benefits of a full-time job - see introducing job-sharing

Alternatives to part-time working

If you feel that part-time working doesn't suit a particular job or your business as a whole, you could consider other types of flexible working.
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Recruiting and managing part-time workers

How employers can bring part-time workers into their business.
If you decide to employ part-time workers, you should ensure that:

the roles suit part-time working arrangements

your recruitment process is convenient for potential candidates

you can effectively communicate with and manage part-time workers

Designing part-time jobs

When designing a job for a part-time worker, you first need to specify what you want the jobholder to achieve.

Think carefully about the tasks that they need to do to achieve these objectives. These will determine how much flexibility there is around the hours the jobholder must work.

When determining working hours, consider:

how much time is needed to do each task

whether the tasks require someone to work at a specific time or can be done at any time

how the jobholder will fit into the existing structure of your business

It is important to consider the skills and personal attributes needed to perform the role effectively and specify these in the person specification.

Do not include any requirements that are not necessary to succeed in the post and that might exclude some candidates.

Recruiting for part-time jobs

When advertising for jobs, make it clear whether the job is either purely part-time or part of a job-share - see introducing job-sharing.

Think creatively about how to reach experienced workers who may be looking for part-time work, eg parents with young children, carers, and older people.

Try to arrange interviews and other stages of the recruitment process at times that are convenient for those applying for the job, eg if the job is for part-time evening work, hold interviews during the evening.

Managing part-time workers

Make sure that:

your part-time workers receive all staff communications

you inform them of all major decisions affecting their jobs

This may require you to contact - by phone, email, or text message - those part-time workers who are not in the workplace when you send out messages for the first time.

You could consider setting core hours during the week when all staff will be present. This is a time when you can hold meetings and make or communicate important decisions.

If there isn't a time when all workers are in the workplace, vary the times of key meetings so everyone can attend at least some of the time. Ensure that the outcomes of meetings are shared with workers who were not there.

To help you manage your part-time workers more easily, try to find out if they:

have any flexibility to work additional hours on major projects or to attend meetings outside their scheduled hours

are happy for you to contact them outside of their normal working hours

Make sure that any part-time staff has opportunities to attend training courses offered to full-time staff.

This might mean you have to offer training courses that can be delivered more flexibly. For example, a course could:

have an element of home study time

be condensed into two days instead of three

be made up of short units that the worker can complete whenever they are at work

External help for introducing part-time working

There are a number of organisations that can advise you on introducing part-time employment in your business.

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides free advice and guidance on the employment rights of part-time workers.

The Jobs & Benefits Office can help you fill both part-time and full-time vacancies. Support varies from recruitment planning right through to practical vacancy filling, including matching and sorting of application forms.

In many regions, there are specialist organisations that can help employers to implement flexible working - including part-time working - and to recruit suitable candidates.

For more information on the provision in your area, you should contact your local enterprise agency.

You could also try picking up tips from other employers that have already employed part-time workers successfully.
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Part-time workers' rights

The right of part-time workers to receive the same pay, equal treatment, and pro rata contractual benefits.
All workers have basic employment protection rights - regardless of whether they work full or part-time.

Part-time workers must be treated equally to comparable full-time workers who work for the same employer and do similar work under the same type of employment contract.

Pay for part-time workers

Compared with full-time workers, part-time workers should receive equal:

Rates of pay

Part-time workers must receive the same rate of pay as full-time workers carrying out work of equal value.

Overtime pay

But only once they have worked more than the normal full-time hours of a comparable full-time worker, eg if a comparable full-time worker normally works 40 hours per week, a part-time worker working 20 hours per week would have to work another 20 hours before receiving overtime pay.

Enhanced rates of pay

For working outside normal contractual hours, eg bonus pay, shift allowances, unsocial hours payments and weekend payments.

Equal treatment of part-time workers

Compared with full-time workers, part-time workers should receive equal:

access to any occupational pension scheme

access to training and career development - when scheduling training courses, you should do as much as possible to include part-time workers

rights to career breaks

rights to receive enhanced sick, maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay

parental leave and other time off rights eg dependents' leave

consideration for promotion

the fact that an employee works part-time cannot be used as a reason for selection for transfer or redundancy

Pro rata contractual benefits

Part-time workers have the right to receive contractual benefits pro rata, ie in proportion to the hours they work.

This applies to benefits such as:

paid annual leave above the statutory minimum

company cars

staff discounts

health insurance

subsidised mortgages

profit-sharing and share-option schemes

For example, if you allow your full-time workers 30 days' paid annual leave, a part-time worker working three days a week would be entitled to 18 days.

If you cannot easily divide a benefit, eg health insurance or a car, you could withhold it from part-time workers. However, you must justify this decision on objective grounds.

The best thing to do is to work out the cash value of the benefit and give the appropriate pro rata amount to the part-time worker. For example, you could calculate the financial benefit of a company car and pay half that amount to part-time workers who work half the number of hours of full-time workers.

Term-time / part-year workers

Case law has determined that workers employed on a continuous contract throughout the year, and who work for varying hours during certain weeks of the year, such as those who work only term time, are entitled to 5.6 weeks of leave each year. This entitlement applies regardless of the fact that there are some weeks in the year when they do not work.

In such instances, holiday pay is calculated by averaging the pay received during the 12 weeks prior to the commencement of their leave. If there are weeks during the 12-week period where no pay was received, these weeks are disregarded and the employer must count back to include a total of 12 weeks in which pay was received.

Although there may be times when a part-year worker receives a higher payment than a full-time worker, this is compliant with the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, as the part-time worker is not being treated less favourably. There is no legislative provision to prevent part-time workers from being treated more favourably.

Justifying less favourable treatment

You should generally treat full-time and part-time workers equally. You will only be able to justify less favourable treatment if it can be shown objectively that it is necessary and appropriate to achieve a legitimate business objective.

For instance, you may be justified in withholding health insurance if you can show that the cost of providing this benefit is disproportionate.

In the case of share-option schemes, you may be able to justify the exclusion of a part-time worker where the value of the share options is so small that the potential benefit to the part-timer of the options is less than the likely cost of realising them.

Complaints of less favourable treatment

Part-time workers who believe you have treated them less favourably can ask you for a written statement of reasons for this. You have 21 days in which to respond.

Part-time workers who still believe you are treating them less favourably, and don't believe you have objectively justified this, can make a complaint to an industrial tribunal. A tribunal can make you pay compensation if they find it in the part-time worker's favour.

The Labour Relations Agency provides an alternative to the Industrial Tribunal under the Labour Relations Agency Arbitration Scheme. Under this scheme, claimants and respondents can choose to refer a claim to an arbitrator to decide instead of going to a tribunal. The arbitrator's decision is binding as a matter of law and has the same effect as a tribunal.
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Introducing job-sharing

Job-sharing is a good way of allowing part-time workers to cover full-time job positions.
Job-sharing is an increasingly popular way for people who used to work full-time to move into part-time work.

What is job-sharing?

Job-sharing is when two - or sometimes more - people share the responsibility, pay, and benefits of a full-time job.

The job sharers share the pay and benefits in proportion to the hours each works. They may work split days, split weeks, or alternate weeks, or their hours may overlap.

For example, one job sharer could work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, while the other works either Thursday and Friday or Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, using Wednesday as a handover period.

The benefits of job-sharing

As an employer, the benefits of job-sharing include:

retention of valued workers who can no longer work full-time and may otherwise leave

a wider range of skills, experience, views and ideas

increased flexibility to meet peaks in demand

greater continuity when one worker is sick or on holiday

a wider pool from which to recruit

increased commitment and loyalty

a potential reduction in absenteeism, sickness and stress

The advantages of job-sharing for workers include:

less stress, particularly if they are parents or carers

a greater sense of responsibility and control of working life

Introducing job-sharing arrangements

Once you have decided that a job-sharing arrangement may be suitable, you may need to agree with workplace representatives on how it will work.

During the recruitment process, you should aim to choose candidates who have demonstrated that they can work well with others, and have complementary skills and experience.

Managing job-sharing arrangements

Once the job sharers are in place, you need to ensure that:

you divide the work fairly

you explain how holidays, particularly customary days, will work

there are clear lines of responsibility

the job sharers have clear lines of communication between themselves to ensure continuity - eg introducing a log to supplement face-to-face communication between the job sharers

Measure both job sharers' performance against full-time staff members. If there are performance issues, deal with them evenly rather than placing the responsibility on one job sharer rather than the other.

Don't forget to plan ahead for hiring a replacement. It may take you longer to recruit a suitable individual who can work the required hours if one of the job sharers leaves.
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Considering requests to change working hours

Points to think about when workers ask to work part-time or any other flexible working pattern.
All employees, who have 26 weeks of service at the date of application, have the statutory right to request to work flexibly.

This includes working part-time or under some other form of flexible working arrangement, eg working from home.

You have a legal duty to consider any such request seriously - and you may only reject it on a limited number of specified business grounds.

For more information on statutory flexible working requests, see flexible working: the law and best practice.

Considering whether part-time working is appropriate

Before taking a decision, you need to consider:

if a job-share would be appropriate and whether there is a suitable candidate to work as the other job sharer - see introducing job-sharing

whether someone needs to be present in the post during all hours of work

whether all the necessary work can be done in the number of hours the worker wants to work

whether there is a similar type of job the worker could do part-time

the cost of recruiting and training a replacement if a compromise cannot be found

the business benefits of a part-time arrangement

the consequences on the business' systems, procedures and resources

reaching agreement with workers and/or their representatives before making changes

any effects on other staff

Bear in mind that, once you agree to a part-time working arrangement, this is a permanent change to the worker's terms and conditions of employment (unless you agree otherwise). You should notify the worker of this, pointing out in particular that they will receive less pay as a result.

Requests from part-time workers to work full-time

If a part-time worker requests a change to full-time hours, you have no legal duty to agree to - or even consider - such a request unless otherwise agreed.

However, it is best practice to at least ask the worker to provide you with a good reason as to why this would help your business.

You could then consider whether or not:

there is sufficient work for the increased hours

you could use the extra hours to reorganise a number of jobs to make them more effective

your business could afford the increase in pay, bearing in mind that you could offset any increase against saving money on recruitment and/or training

If you refuse the request, you should explain why and/or look for alternative ways of reshaping the job.

Flexible working policies

If you don't have one already, consider putting together a policy for dealing with all flexible-working requests. This will help you deal with such requests consistently and fairly.

Your policy should also cover recruitment and part-time working, ie how you would consider requests to work part-time from both internal and external job applicants applying for full-time positions.

You should, if possible, assess all the jobs in your business - including skilled and managerial ones - to determine which, if any, could be performed part-time or under a job-sharing arrangement.

See how to set up employment policies for your business.

Practical measures to facilitate part-time working

If you are a larger employer, you could consider:

offering a contribution towards childcare costs

providing childcare facilities on site, eg a nursery

See childcare support for your staff.

If you have new employees who are parents, and who would like to find out if they are entitled to any other form of financial support with their childcare costs, the Employers for Childcare Family Benefits Advice Service can help - Tel 028 9267 8200 for free, impartial and confidential advice (lines open Monday to Friday 8am-5pm).

You might also consider introducing other flexible forms of working, such as term-time working, lunchtime working, flexi-time and home-working. See types of flexible working.
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Changing an employee's working hours

How an employer can reach an agreement with a worker when you want to change their working hours.
At some point, you may want to change the hours a worker works perhaps as a result of changing business needs or demands.

Can an employer change an employee's working hours?

A change to a worker's working hours amounts to a change to their terms and conditions of employment. As such, you need the worker to agree to any changes. See change an employee's terms of employment.

Requesting a change to working hours

Before requesting a change to a worker's working hours, you should look at the individual circumstances of the worker. For example, a change from part-time to full-time work may affect their care arrangements, while a reduction in hours may cause them financial problems.

You should notify the worker of your proposed changes to their working hours as soon as possible and explain to them why these alterations are necessary. If you do this, they may be more willing to consider and agree to your plans.

You should then consult with the worker and/or their representatives, eg trade union representatives or representatives of any relevant information and consultation forum, to reach an agreement. See inform and consult your employees.

Worker refuses the change to working hours

If the worker refuses to agree to your proposed change in hours, you could terminate the whole contract and offer employment on the revised terms.

However, this amounts to a dismissal - and could potentially be unfair. Therefore, you need to:

follow a fair and reasonable procedure when dismissing the worker with appropriate notice, prior to the start date of the new contract - see dismissing employees

terminate the contract by giving the worker proper notice - see issue the correct periods of notice
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Read more about Changing an employee's working hours

Pay, rewards and benefits policies

Set up employment policies for your business

In this guide:

Advantages of employment policies

Why it’s beneficial to have employment policies in place in your business.
There are many advantages to having suitable employment policies in place. For example, setting standards within your business can help with healthy workplace relations.

Benefits of having employment policies

Other advantages of having employment policies can include:

a reduction in the need for disciplinary and legal action

increased productivity and morale

better employee retention

employees know what is expected of them

protection from breaches of employment legislation

a framework where a delegation of decision-making is equitably agreed upon can maintain morale

providing a means of communicating information to new employees

Clear policy making can also be positive for your business' reputation externally, eg among clients and the local community.

Having suitable policies in place can also make it easier to attract new staff.

To access templates for workplace policies that you can download, tailor, and use, see HR documents and templates.

Employment document toolkit

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) also has a free employment document toolkit, once employers are registered they can unlock free core employment guides to help them build documents, policies, and procedures for their own organisation.
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Employment policies: what types should I use?

A list of the common types of employment policies that employers can set up.

The employment policies that you have will depend on the size and nature of your business. For example, if your staff operate machinery, it may be a good idea to implement a specific staff policy on drugs and alcohol use. If most of your staff use computers most of the time, you should have an email and internet acceptable use policy.

Common types of employment policies

Type of Employment policy	Further Information
Maternity/paternity/adoption/parental bereavement policy	Statutory leave and pay entitlements
Working time and time off policy	Working time
Equality and diversity workplace policy	Diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace
Health and safety policy	Health and safety
Pay policy	Staff pay
Bullying and harassment policy	Bullying and harassment
Rewards, benefits and expenses policy	Expenses and benefits
Discipline/dismissal and grievance policy	Dismissing employees
Redundancy policy	Redundancy, restructures, and change
Measures to improve performance or manage change	Managing staff performance Change management
Bribery policy	Anti-bribery policies
Policies on the use of company facilities, eg email, internet, and phone use	Other key HR policies and templates
Training and development policy	Performance management and staff training templates
Policy of right of search/social media usage	Policies to help you protect your assets
Patents and copyrights policy	Patents, trademarks, copyright, and design
Confidential information policy	UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
Policies on whistleblowing/protected disclosures	Policies to help you protect your assets
Smoking, drugs, and alcohol policies	Workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol
Sickness absence policy	Absence and sickness policies: what to include
Flexible working policy	Flexible working: the law and best practice
Hybrid working policy	Hybrid working - employer guidance

To access employment policy templates that you can download, tailor, and use for your business, see HR documents and templates.

Employment document toolkit

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) also has a free employment document toolkit, once employers are registered they can unlock free core employment guides to help them build documents, policies, and procedures for their own organisation.

Employment policies: legal requirements

Note that it is a legal requirement to set out your health and safety policy in writing if you have five or more employees. It is also a legal requirement to set out your disciplinary rules and discipline and grievance procedures in writing.

If, following an assessment, there is a risk that someone performing services for your business might carry out acts of bribery, you will need to have a procedure in place to prevent such acts. Read more on anti-bribery policies.

Communicating your employment policies

A workplace policy can be part of your employee/company handbook or you could set it out in a separate document. However, for your discipline and grievance policies, you must either set them out in a written statement of main terms and conditions of employment or refer in a written statement to a place where the employee can read them, eg the company intranet.

You should make staff aware that your employment policies exist, particularly during the induction process - see induction programme: what to include, and make sure workers can easily access them if necessary, eg by having them pinned up on a noticeboard or put on the company intranet.

Employment policies: contractual status

Workplace policies generally aren't contractually binding unless they expressly state otherwise.

However, terms of some employment policies could be seen as contractually binding through custom and practice, ie where workers follow certain working practices or receive certain benefits over a significant period of time, and ultimately it will be up to an Industrial Tribunal to decide on the contractual nature of policies.

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Working time and time off policies

Policies covering leave and absence, working hours, and overtime.
A policy on working time and time off should cover a number of areas.

Leave and absence

Occasionally, your workers will want or need time off.

In certain circumstances, you are legally obliged to give your workers time off, eg to take annual leave, attend health and safety training, time off for dependants, and carry out trade union duties. See parental leave and time off for dependants and allowing time off work.

In other circumstances, you can use your discretion, eg requests involving moving house or looking after a sick relative. However, having policies in place that pre-empt these types of requests will ensure that you deal with such matters consistently.

Working hours

Workers aged 18 years old or above may only work an average of 48 hours per week averaged out over a 17-week period (other limits apply for younger workers). However, they have the right to sign an opt-out agreement, which allows them to work more than this.

It's a good idea to manage these working hours and keep appropriate records. See hours, rest breaks, and the working week.

Overtime

You are not obliged to offer overtime to your workers or require them to work it. However, any overtime policy should still set out the rules on overtime. This is particularly important if your workers have come to expect regular overtime - they could claim it had become a contractual entitlement through custom and practice.

Rates of overtime pay should be agreed with employees, as no minimum statutory levels apply, although you should ensure that workers are paid at least the national minimum wage for all hours worked. See how to manage overtime.

Work-life balance

Encouraging work-life balance is important for your business. To achieve this, and as they are statutory rights, you should definitely have policies on:

parental leave

flexible working

maternity, adoption, and paternity leave and pay

See how to promote good work/life balance in your business.

To access templates that you can download, tailor, and use, see time off work policies and procedures.
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Equality and diversity workplace policies

How promoting equality and diversity policies can benefit your business and create an open, communicative workplace.
Workers are protected from discrimination on a wide range of grounds, eg gender, sexual orientation, and age. See how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.

Business benefits of promoting diversity

Many successful businesses go much further and actively promote diversity in both their strategic and human resources policies. If you value everyone as an individual, research shows that diversity can help stimulate creative interaction, motivate employees, and improve business performance.

If you do not yet have an equality and diversity policy in place, you could find it a useful management and recruitment tool. It should:

explain your business' stance on diversity

show how you intend to achieve a diverse working environment

describe how managers and staff can participate in the business's commitment to diversity both within and outside the organisation

It's therefore important that workers contribute to the policy-making process. You can do this by asking them for their views on, for example:

promoting good relationships in the workplace between individuals, managers, teams, and employers

treating all workers fairly

valuing and respecting differences

understanding workers' needs to balance work and family commitments

how to communicate with individuals through formal and informal communication channels

Equality guidance for small businesses

The Equality Commission supports businesses and helps to promote good practice in equality, diversity, and inclusion. Read the Equality Commission guidance for small businesses.
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Health and safety workplace policies

Legal obligations and best practices when writing health and safety policies.
If you have five or more employees, you must by law have a written health and safety policy. The health and safety policy should set out:

your general approach and objectives in relation to health and safety

the arrangements you have in place for managing health and safety in your business

However, good health and safety practice means that you should not only have such a policy but also manage it in a way that benefits your business, workers, clients, and local community.

Write a health and safety policy for your business.

Read Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) guidance on health and safety.

Policies to promote staff well-being

To promote the health and well-being of your staff, you also might want to consider policies on specific health-related issues, such as:

stress at work - see how to deal with stress

smoking, drugs, and alcohol - see workplace policies on smoking, drugs, and alcohol

To back up your health and safety policies, you may decide to introduce a range of facilities promoting good health amongst your workforce, eg gym access deals (dependant on gym contract terms), advice on how to give up smoking, alcohol or drugs counselling, and routine health check-ups.

The benefits for your business can include the improved overall health of your workers, and improved morale and productivity. See what you need to do about health and safety.

Consultation on health and safety matters

You're required by law to consult your employees on health and safety issues in the workplace and to make them aware of what's in your policy. See how to provide health and safety training and information.

However, you may decide to encourage them to get involved more fully in the process. This could involve devising safety rules, as well as giving useful feedback on how effectively policies are working.

To access templates that you can download, tailor, and use, see other key HR policies and templates.
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Disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment policies

The legal requirement to have written workplace disciplinary and grievance policies.
You are required by law to set out your disciplinary rules and disciplinary and grievance procedures, in writing.

It's also common for employers to have a separate bullying and harassment policy for their workplace.

Discipline and grievance policies

You must tell each employee about:

your disciplinary rules

your disciplinary/dismissal and grievance procedure

the name of the person to whom they should appeal if they are unhappy about a disciplinary or dismissal decision, or to seek redress for a grievance

This information can be included in the employee's written statement or the written statement may refer the employee to a document where they can read it, eg in a staff handbook - see Invest Northern Ireland Employers' Handbook.

If you fail to issue this information in writing, and one of your employees makes an industrial tribunal case against you and wins, you may have to pay up to four weeks' wages on top of any other compensation the tribunal may award.

It's important that your disciplinary rules give examples of the types of behaviour that qualify as gross misconduct, eg fighting, bullying, and stealing. If you find that an employee has committed an act of gross misconduct, you could be entitled to dismiss them summarily without notice or pay in lieu of notice. You should ensure that you comply with the statutory dismissal procedures and the LRA Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance even when dismissing for gross misconduct.

Read more on disciplinary procedures, hearings, and appeals, handling grievances, and dismissing employees.

To access templates that you can download, tailor, and use, see grievance and disciplinary procedures and templates.

Employment document toolkit

If you require further help with drawing up your disciplinary and grievance policies, the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) has a free employment document toolkit. Once you have registered you can get access to their free core employment guides to help you build documents, policies, and procedures for your own organisation.

Bullying and harassment policies

Bullying and harassment are conduct issues and therefore would normally fall under your disciplinary policy. However, many employers have a separate bullying and harassment policy given that such behaviour:

needs dealing with sensitively

can amount to gross misconduct

may involve unlawful discrimination

There is no legislation that is specifically designed to address workplace bullying. However, bullying can be successfully challenged through existing legislation, ie civil, criminal, and employment law.

You have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of your workers. Bullying can also lead to a breakdown in trust and confidence between you and the alleged victim, leading to the employee resigning and claiming constructive dismissal.

Sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, religion/belief, and age are unlawful. Even if a worker harasses a colleague, the victim can make a discrimination claim against you.

You should have a clear policy on bullying and harassment so that staff understands that it's unacceptable. The policy should also include a procedure for dealing with claims of harassment or bullying should they arise.
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Workplace policies to help you protect your assets

Policies that should help to protect your physical property, intellectual property, branding, reputation, and image.
It makes good business sense to have workplace policies on issues such as:

intellectual property

confidentiality

social media usage

use of company facilities

dress and appearance

whistleblowing

the right to search

These help you protect both your tangible and intangible business assets, which, once lost, may be difficult to regain.

Policies on intellectual property protection and confidentiality

If you design products or create other original output, eg music or printed matter, it is important to protect your intellectual property.

Therefore you need a workplace policy that states that:

any original product or material developed in the course of an employee's work remains the property of the business

employees have a duty to keep company information confidential

If you intend to rely on any kind of penalty clauses, you should always seek legal advice.

Read more on protecting intellectual property.

Social media workplace policy

The use of social media at work presents responsibilities regarding employees using various sites. Having a written social media policy for your business provides clear guidelines for employees.

Read more on managing employee use of social media. Read the Labour Relations Agency's advice on social media and the employment relationship.

Policies on dress and appearance

You are entitled to set out a code covering how you expect employees to dress and generally present themselves. This is particularly important where there are health and safety issues involved, eg in factories, building sites, or kitchens.

However, you must ensure that these codes are non-discriminatory, particularly in relation to gender and religion/belief. Read the Fair Employment Code of Practice from the Equality Commission.

Policy on the use of company facilities

It's a good idea to set up clear policies about the use of company facilities. In particular, you should have a policy on the use of the internet, email, and telephone.

Most email and internet policies aim to strike a balance between business and personal use. Setting out boundaries will help to minimise the risk of:

having to take disciplinary action against staff

a third party taking legal action against you

harm to your IT system

leakage of confidential information

In addition, if you intend to monitor staff usage of company facilities then you should carry out an impact assessment in advance of this.

To access templates that you can download, tailor, and use, see other key HR policies and templates.

Read more on monitoring and security of staff.

Whistleblowing policies

It is a good idea to have a policy on making protected disclosures - or 'whistleblowing'. This is because it will encourage workers to raise concerns about illegal activities and bad business practices internally - and prevent your business from receiving negative publicity.

Note that you do not need to treat the making of a protected disclosure as a grievance unless:

the disclosure relates to a matter that the employee could raise as a grievance with you

the employee intends for the disclosure to constitute the raising of a grievance

Read more on whistleblowing - qualifying disclosures.

Also see discipline, grievance, bullying, and harassment policies.

Right-to-search policies

You may only search an employee if this is allowed under their terms and conditions of employment.

Therefore, if you have a right-to-search policy, you should state that it is contractual. It is also important to remember that you should get an employee's consent before conducting a search.
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Anti-bribery policies

How to set up anti-bribery policies, and when your business may require them.
Your business may need to have a procedure in place to prevent acts of bribery.

You will only need such a procedure if - following an assessment - there is a risk that an agent, subsidiary or other person performing services for your business might carry out such acts.

Under UK law, there is a general offence of bribery, and of bribing a foreign official. Bribery is defined as giving someone financial or other advantages to induce them to perform their functions or activities improperly or to reward them for having already done so.

In addition, there is an offence relating to failure by a business to prevent a person associated with it from committing the above offences on its behalf in order to win business, keep business or gain a business advantage for the organisation.

You will have a statutory defence to the last of these offences if your business has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery on your behalf.

Preventing bribery

To prevent bribery - and have a defence in case a charge of bribery is made against you - you should:

assess whether your business is at risk and, if so, the level of that risk

have an anti-bribery policy in place containing procedures proportionate to the risk you have identified, the scope and size of your business, and the country/countries in which you do business

use due diligence to assess who you are dealing with and who you appoint to represent you

communicate, train and raise awareness among employees and business partners

monitor and review your procedures

Anti-bribery policy

Your anti-bribery policy should:

include a clear prohibition of the offer, gift or acceptance of bribes

detail the procedures that should be followed during business transactions

give guidance on the provision of gifts, hospitality or expenses that may influence the outcome of business transactions

provide guidance on political and charitable donations, including a prohibition of the payment of donations to political parties or charities that are directly linked to obtaining new business or gaining a business advantage

require that any donations made in good faith are publicly disclosed

Note that the following are not considered acts of bribery:

providing genuine business hospitality

carrying out proportionate and reasonable promotional activities
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Training and performance management policies

Implement training policies and appraisal systems to encourage and develop the skills of your employees.

Having a training policy in place will enable you to plug any skills shortages in your workplace. This is beneficial to employees and will also have a positive impact on business performance.

A training policy can be implemented to allow employees to perform their current role more effectively or support them through a change in role.

You should ensure that your training policy is appropriate. This can be achieved by assessing whether it fits with your business plan and through discussions with employees, eg you may decide to offer training in-house for specific tasks, general company guidance for new starters, or refresher training for existing employees. Develop a staff training plan.

Performance management

Implementing an appraisal system is another way of improving your business performance. It represents a good opportunity to discuss with individual employees both their strengths and weaknesses, areas for development, and agree on new aims and objectives with them.

Businesses commonly carry out appraisals within a few months of a new employee starting or changing role within the business. For established employees, you may decide to use the appraisal system once or twice per year.

Some of the benefits of having appraisal-related performance targets are that employees understand what is expected of them and how these fit into the wider aims of the business. Targets are also a way of gaining useful feedback and ideas on how your business can be more effective in the future. Read more on managing staff performance.

To access templates that you can download, tailor and use, see performance management and staff training templates.

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Pay, rewards and benefits policies

Setting the right pay rates for your employees and establishing policies around rewards and benefits.
Pay is a key aspect of your relationship with your employees. Setting the right pay rates for your business will likely take into account your need to attract talented employees and retain those that you have already. Above all, pay rewards should be fair, and the process transparent. See how to set the right pay rates.

You may decide to implement a results-related pay system, such as commission or bonuses. These are provided by your business in addition to basic pay and can be used to reward employees who perform at a high level:

commission is calculated based on the performance of an individual or a team

bonuses may be connected to the performance of the entire business

Depending on the sector in which your business operates, eg in the catering trade, setting up a tips and gratuities system may be more appropriate. There are some circumstances when tips and gratuities can count towards the national minimum wage. See guidance on tips at work. For further advice on this, you may wish to contact HMRC.

You should be aware that there are certain types of business expenses that are tax deductible and others that are not. They may need to be disclosed to the relevant authorities. Read more on expenses and benefits.
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Managing personal relationships at work

Issues to consider on intimate personal or family relationships in the workplace.
Many personal relationships begin with people meeting at work, and many of these lead to long-term partnerships. This should not be viewed as a problem in itself, but it's important to recognise that relationships at work can cause a number of issues for both employers and the workforce.

Why have a workplace relationships policy?

Any employment policy about relationships at work is intended to ensure that staff don't commit - and are not open to allegations of acts of:

inappropriate behaviour, including harassment

favouritism

abuse of authority

conflict of interest

It is also intended to ensure that all employees feel confident of fair and consistent treatment without the fear that a relationship will influence their or other employees' treatment or wider working relationships.

Depending on the size of your business, you may also want to extend the policy to cover other types of relationships, such as those between relatives or family members.

Some companies go so far as to specify in employment contracts that employees can't form an intimate relationship with someone they work with, although this is probably unnecessary in most workplaces.

What types of relationships would a policy cover?

For the purposes of creating a policy, 'intimate relationships' or 'close personal or family relationships' apply to those relationships between people in the same team or department, or between a line manager and one of their team that could potentially be problematic. It does not refer to a straightforward friendship between colleagues.

Issues that could arise include the following:

If one of the couple is the other's manager, what happens if disciplinary action has to be taken against the employee? Who will do the employee appraisals or performance reviews?

Does either of the couple have any financial responsibilities, such as authorising expense claims or overtime payments, or deciding pay rates or increases?

What happens when the employee applies for a post for which the manager would be conducting the interviews? Or when someone related to an existing employee applies for a job? (Conflicts of interest should, where possible, be avoided. This would minimise tribunal risks.)

General policy on relationships at work: what might it cover?

If you choose to have a policy about personal relationships at work, it should clarify the behaviour you expect from employees, eg that the relationship shouldn't affect their work and that there should be no favouritism or preferential treatment, particularly where one employee is more senior than the other.

You may wish to include guidance on what to do if an employee involved in recruitment is aware that a partner, relative, or even a close friend has applied for a job. You could state that they should declare this at the earliest opportunity.

Depending on the position and the employee's own role, you should consider:

any potential conflict of interest

how an appointment might affect the working environment

any resulting risks that the relationship might cause

what steps could be taken to address these matters

Remember that it can be a positive thing to have friends and family working together, as well as considering the potential risks.
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Writing and communicating staff policies

How to create staff policies and communicate them to your staff.
When writing staff policies the main steps are:

Preparing - collecting information (anonymous staff views can be sought via a survey or series of surveys), opinions, and examining the options. Policies are more likely to be accepted if staff are involved in drawing them up. Involve unions, especially if you have collective agreements that specify they should be consulted, or existing elected employee representatives. Alternatively, set up a joint working group.

Developing - policies should suit the specific needs of the business.

Implementing - inform staff and provide training.

Reviewing - this is to check that the policy is being used and is not damaging the business.

Check that your workplace policies are not unlawfully discriminatory, eg in relation to pay or dress/appearance.

Employment document toolkit

If in doubt, or if you require additional help with drawing up your employment documentation, the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) has a free employment document toolkit. Once registered you can access their free core employment guides to help you build documents, policies, and procedures for your own organisation. Find out about the free employment document toolkit.

How should policies be communicated to staff?

You could inform your staff of workplace policies by:

displaying them on noticeboards where staff can easily read them

adding details of them to the company network or intranet

communicating in presentations

including in a staff handbook

including in a collective agreement with a union

emailing details of your policies to staff

sending as a written letter to the staff

consider including any new policy as an item on team meeting agendas

including in a staff induction programme

Making changes to workplace policies

If you wish to make a change to a policy, you will need the employee to agree to the changes, unless their contract allows you to make such variations without such agreement (typically terms in relation to working hours, place of work, and duties).

If you fail to get employees' agreement, they may be entitled to sue for breach of contract, or resign and claim constructive dismissal. Ultimately it will be up to an Industrial Tribunal to decide on the contractual nature of policies.

Introducing new workplace policies

If you are planning to introduce a new policy in your workplace, you should consider the following:

What is the purpose of the policy?

Have you consulted with managers, workers, and their representatives?

Has someone been given overall responsibility for the policy?

How are you going to communicate the policy to all workers?

Have you given workers enough notice about the new policy?

Have you thought through the potential cost of the policy?

Does the policy change anyone's employment contract?

How are you going to monitor and maintain the policy?
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