Practical People

‼️ ⏱️ The BIG Countdown to Unfair Dismissal Reform ‼️ ⏱️

Have you started planning for the Government’s intended changes to the unfair dismissal qualifying period❓️

Protection from unfair dismissal will become a right after 6 months of being in a job. This will happen in January 2027. Currently, someone must have worked for their employer for 2 years before claiming unfair dismissal - Source: ACAS

This means employees hired from JULY 2️⃣0️⃣ 2️⃣6️⃣ will gain protection from unfair dismissal after 6️⃣ months.

What I’m advising clients to do is:

✅ Audit current recruitment policy and practices to ensure they are super robust and compliant.

✅ Review probationary period policy, induction training, job descriptions and the frequency of formal reviews and sign offs to ensure they are also super robust and compliant.

✅ Ensure managers are trained and super confident in these updated policies and practices.

🆘️ If you’d like support auditing your recruitment and probationary policies and practices, some guidance on making them more robust, and most importantly, practical support managing your recruitment and new hires, I’d be happy to help 🆘️

Well, the Practical People Christmas party 🥳 was quite subdued compared to the wild parties I investigated during my early career in the 1990's! I thought I'd share my top 3️⃣ Christmas 🔎 investigations from that time with you. These are served with a slice of ⚠️ caution ⚠️ and some light hearted Christmas humour 🤦‍♀️.

✅️3️⃣ - Driver and Administrator breaking the sink off the wall of a disabled toilet 🚻 whilst being amorous 🐇.

✅️2️⃣ - Picture the scene - a Christmas party in a hotel, mechanics doing 'charlie' in the toilets (I had to call my boss to find out what 'charlie' was!), the IT guy asked the Accounts lady to dance 🕺, the mechanic fancied her too, he got jealous when she declined his invitation to dance so hit the IT guy. Then all hell broke loose and a big fight erupted. Chairs were thrown all over the place. The police were called and staff were arrested 👨‍🏭🧑‍🏭👩‍🏭. The Responsible Person had just nipped out for a cigarette 🥴🚬

✅️1️⃣ - my only unsolved case ⚖️. Assume a couple had a passionate embrace on the boardroom table (which had a glass top on it) during the office Christmas party. A few days later, during a board meeting, a director identified a bum mark on the glass when the sun 🌞 was shining through the window and expected me to work out whose bottom it was!! 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the party 🥳 season and stay safe 💗 .

PS If you do need someone to investigate 🔎 inappropriate behaviour at a Christmas party please get intouch! ⚖️🎊

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Had another successful few days with one of my London clients. We did mid-year reviews with the team to formally check-in ✅️ with them and the directors. It's always a wonderful feeling when people exceed your expectations ✨️ and today was no exception. It was also great to see directors taking on board earlier feedback from the team and changing how they do things. This time it included a new spreadsheet to check ✔️ their progress against their financial targets.

We also did some time ⏲️ management training which was made more challenging by the farmers driving down Oxford Street in their tractors 🚜 with musical horns! No doubt on their way to Westminster.

Finally, it was fantastic to see the Christmas lights 💫💫💫down Oxford Street and the window displays at Selfridges 💛.

Now, back home to Yorkshire! 🐑🐮

I'm absolutely delighted ☺️ to have received this wonderful testimonial from one of my long standing clients. This is what Deborah Smith FCCA, Finance Director at Multi-Tech Engineering (UK) Ltd had to say.....

"We were first introduced to Tracey by Blacks Solicitors in Leeds, in 2022 when we sought advice on an employee relations matter. Since then, Tracey has become a trusted partner, supporting us across a wide range of HR and leadership development initiatives.

Her work has included delivering targeted management development training for our Project Engineer and Workshop Supervisors on subjects such as bullying and harassment, coaching and mentoring, developing staff performance and attitude, emotional intelligence, leadership skills, and, more recently, finance for non-finance managers, for our directors.

Tracey has also conducted a comprehensive review of our contracts of employment and HR policies and provided clear guidance through a number of complex employee relations issues. In addition, she has played a key role in recruitment projects, encouraging us to adopt innovative approaches to our benefits offering and employee engagement.

Most recently, she has worked closely with our directors to develop a robust business strategy that not only aligns with our financial objectives but also cascades into departmental and individual performance measures, ensuring clear accountability across the organisation. This process has highlighted her strong commercial awareness and ability to connect different functions to achieve shared goals.

Whatever the challenge, Tracey approaches her work with energy, professionalism, and a consistently positive outlook, inspiring confidence that almost anything is achievable. I would have no hesitation in recommending her to any organisation seeking to strengthen its HR foundations and enhance its leadership capability.

I can't thank her enough for her contribution towards our company, it is greatly appreciated." ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐