What is keeping you up at night?

I don’t’ know about you, but if I haven't had a good nights sleep, it affects my whole day!

Especially at the moment while I’m training for next months London Marathon.

Not being rested affects my speed and endurance

And my mood

For the entire day!

How much worse is it when your business is keeping you awake and then you have to spend the day dealing with business challenges whilst exhausted?

Like my client Claire who was drowning under the weight of trying to do ALL THE THINGS.

She had a never-ending list of tasks that were required to take her business to the next level, however, they never got touched because she only had the capacity to focus on delivering to her current clients.

Every time that she sat down to relax (or sleep), all she could think about was the list of things that she hadn’t achieved.

And so her business started to feel like an anchor, rather than a sailboat.

Have you ever felt like that?

When that legacy-building, freedom-giving business you dreamt of feels so very far away.

After taking Claire through our unique systems and processes, we were able to establish achievable objectives and goals for her business growth. We hired a team member and a contractor to increase her capacity and give her peace of mind so that she could sleep peacefully and have the energy need to build her business.

She was able to make small steps every day to move forward and within a month, was able to launch a new service to her customers.

The first step was having fierce clarity on her business and personal objectives, so that she knew what to focus on, but more importantly what to say 'No' to.

I share more on getting unstuck in this LinkedIn live.

Do you want an overhead or an investment

One of the biggest myths that hold businesses back is seeing staff as a cost rather than an investment.

While we must wait until we have the income needed to cover staff costs, hiring the cheapest is very rarely the answer.

Like Julie, an amazing creative who built her business by working with interns and trainees; she came to me because she felt like she was constantly retraining her team.

The interns were great for projects and the trainees would stay for a year and then leave to take a ‘proper job’ that paid them a ‘proper salary’.

This meant that the business that Juile had run for over 10 years was beginning to feel like a burden.

She couldn’t go away on holiday without shutting her shop. She had to keep a watchful eye at all times.

It started affecting her turnover too, so wasn’t creating new items. Her loyal regulars were coming in and recommending friends but that was it, hardly any walk-ins.

Julie didn’t have time to be creative, she was focused on keeping things ticking over and making sure the quality of the finished items was high.

Using our unique systems and processes, we identified the roles and structure that Julie needed to build her business and make it less reliant on her constant presence.

We hired an Operations Manager to oversee the store, interns and trainees. Julie was able to focus on her love of designing and training the trainees. 

Once she was free from the red tape, Julie felt her creative juices start to flow again and she was able to find the time to design new innovative items.

A part-time Marketing Executive was also hired to oversee a website refresh, create and implement the social media strategy.

Even though the pandemic, the online store kept Julie and her team busy – creating items, making repairs and even creating some bespoke designs.

Getting a qualified manager made all the difference to Julies peace of mind and bottom line.

If you hire RIGHT your team should pay for themselves (and then some) through increased sales and efficiencies.

When I look at my balance sheet I think that staff costs should be under the direct product/service cost as it makes it easier the see the correlation between a growing business and an amazing team, with the right skills.

If you are ready to make your first hire or your next hire, my calendar is open for the next two weeks, click this link to book a FREE 20 Team Strategy Call, where you’ll come away with some actionable advice and tips.

Are you ready to thrive ?

Towards the end of last year, I took some time out to rest and plan for 2021 but if I’m honest I found it hard to plan with some much uncertainty, especially with at least another 2 months of homeschooling in my future.

But as I reviewed last year using the Year Compass method, I realised that I’d achieved 90% of my 2020 objectives because I had full clarity on what I wanted to achieve and a vision board above my desk to remind me.

Do you make vision boards or mind-maps?

One of the first things that I have my clients complete is a personal objective plan, you thought it’d be a business plan or people plan, didn’t you? Well, I start with you because I believe that your business should work for you, not the other way around.

Last month I started working with an amazing business owner, who wanted to build a team to support his growing business in preparation for the birth of his second child. Before our meeting, he had completed our personal objective plan template, which detailed his short, medium and long-term goals for Faith, Money, Business, Relationships, Health and Fun. If you want a copy just click here.

Once he’d completed it, it made deciding what help he needed within his team much easier, as he could balance his skills and the time that he had available, with what was needed in his business.

It meant that we were able to structure his team for growth and create new, interesting roles to attract the very best candidates.

Here are five things that you need to do, as you plan for the year ahead:

1. Be clear about what you want, we start our businesses to have freedom as well as financial reward. If you want to work 3 days a week and take the whole of August off write it down

2. Plan your business in alignment with your personal short, medium and long term goals. To get to the place where you can take the whole of August off might take a year or three, what steps can you be taking in-between?

3. Details the resources you’ll need as you progress through your plan; staff, training/skills, office space, equipment etc

4. Plan in milestones and make sure you celebrate achieving every single one!

5. Write in pencil, things will change and deadlines shift but you will get to your ultimate goal

If you need help building or structuring your team for the year ahead, Schedule a FREE Team Strategy Call with us and come away with some actionable tips.

Recruit in haste, repent at leisure

Sue was in a major rush to find a replacement for her finance manager who was about to start maternity leave.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t had 5 months to prepare, it was just that time went by so fast with the business expansion that suddenly she went from not wanting to hire too early, to needing a replacement to start in four weeks.

Sue interviewed several candidates, she had a clear favourite but they could only start in 8 weeks, so she went with her second choice.

Two weeks into handover period, she discovered that her chosen candidate didn’t have as much experience as they’d said and they couldn’t use the accounts software. Sue tried to get her previous first choice back for the role but they’d already secured something else.

We work with clients who are terrified that they’ll recruit the wrong person, especially if it’s one of their first hirers or they are building a new team.

It’s not rocket science but it does take preparation, so that you can be confident in the decision that you make.

Three tips to help you recruit the right candidate:

1. Be super specific about the key skills, experience and behaviours that you need - Then make sure your interview questions and assessments are aligned to them.

2. Do more than interview, test for the skills that you need - whether it’s a presentation, case study or trial day.

3. If you are in doubt, don’t hire

Want more hiring and team management tips, get access to our FREE HR Knowledge Hub

Retaining Top Talent

Priya’s accountancy firm had been running for 4 years, she had painstaking built her business from scratch; knew each client personally and had recruited and developed her team so that she as certain that her clients were receiving an excellent service.

Then Richard one of her longest servicing employees resigned.

She was distraught, “I’ve poured so much into developing him, why would he leave?” she asked. “He seemed happy, what if this is the start of a exodus?”

Ever felt like this?

Losing a valued employee can be a business owners worst nightmare. It’s takes a lot of time, effort and resource to recruit and onboard new team members.

Priya and I met with Richard to get some feedback on his decision to leave to business, turned out that he found a new job, closer to home, that would enable him to spend more time with his young family.

While he wasn’t about to change his mind about his resignation, he did give us some valuable insight in to the team and we used them to communicate effectively with staff and build team morale.

Worried about losing a valued team member? Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Build and maintain great relationships with your team; have a open and respectful relationship with your team, spend time together and show genuine interest in the things that they are interested in.

2. Communicate your team mission and aspirations; ensure that everyone in your team knows how they fit into the aspirations for the business and what their path to growth is.

3. Ask for feedback; it is important that your team feels heard and they their ideas are taken into consideration as you grow and scale your business.

4. Measure morale regularly; team meetings and employee satisfaction surveys are a good way of checking in.

5. Understand what motivates each individual; everyone is different and that may mean communicating and creative incentives differently to suit individual personalities .

Need help recruiting and retaining your team, DM us and we’ll be in touch to schedule a quick call to see how we can help you

How a lack of sight gave me insight

Ever come to the sudden realisation of something that’s been creeping up on you?

On the last Sunday of December 2018, while driving my daughters to church, I realised that I couldn’t see properly out of my left eye. Now I’d been seeing weird lights out of the corner of my eye for a week, but I put it down to overwork and figured it would pass.

But that Sunday, I looked to my left to change lanes and realised that I had no peripheral vision! As soon as I caught up with my husband, I had him take me to the hospital and the next day I had emergency surgery to repair my detached retina.

Now the interesting thing about the surgery is that they put a gas bubble in your eye to help the repair set and that completely covers your pupil so you can’t see at all! I’m four weeks post-surgery and the gas bubble is still covering about 70% of my pupil.

They say that if you lose on of your senses your other senses become stronger, I’m not sure about that but I can say that I am having to be far more intentional in the things that I do and how I do them and that has caused me to look at things differently. For example, I have lost my depth perception, which means that things aren’t where I think they are. This means I have to touch the table before I put my glass down or it may hit the floor. My phone has not made it to the table several times (thank God for screen protectors)!

Sometimes in our rush to get things done, we only look at the surface and don’t look at the depth of an issue. We get carried away with what we assume an issue is and then wonder why the solution didn’t work.

I had a client come to me for assistance with staffing issues, but as the conversation continued and I delved into the situation. I could see how inconsistencies in behaviour and not addressing issues had led to some of the issues. So rather than starting a formal disciplinary process we reviewed the team job descriptions, set clear SMART Objectives and had meetings with staff to clearly communicate to new way forward for the business. Three months later the business is going from strength to strength, as boundaries have been set and reinforced where necessary. 

Disciplining a couple of members of the team wouldn’t have fixed the underlying issues and may even have made the atmosphere in the office worse.

Are you taking the time to really look and listen to assess the depth of the issue or challenge before you move forward?

Need some strategic HR support? Contact us to discuss your needs.

Preparing for Life's Dramas

I spend a lot of time talking to friends and clients about time management and pre-planning; because you never know what can happen and leaving things to last minute can lead to disaster.

Don’t get me wrong sometimes a last minute quick and dirty solution can work, but it’s never the highest quality of work. It’s never the thing you’re most proud of. It’s just a way to get out of a tough situation and this week I found out how important my own preplanning is!

My plan this week was to hit the ground running. I spent a lot of December making plans for all the great things I was going to do come January 2019 and already had a calendar full of meetings and pre-work for training and talks scheduled for the first quarter of the year.

Instead, I am lying in my bed recovering from eye surgery with strict instructions to move from side to side every hour and while I am VERY bored, I’m not panicking because I have a plan.

I set my yearly, quarterly and monthly outcomes, so while I’ve had to move things around a bit, I can still move forward with my business.

To ensure that life’s little challenges don’t put the breaks on your business, here are 5 tips to help you:

1. Set clear objectives for your day, week and month - with milestones dates for each element, so that you don’t leave things to the last minute.

2. Allow extra time to complete your tasks - It’s easy to commit to a quick turnaround, but giving yourself an extra day allows for interruptions (key for me in the HR space where urgencies often pop up).

3. Don’t try to complete tasks in one sitting - planning in time to sit and review your work can be the difference between an A and a C (or a repeat customer rather than a one off).

4. Build your team, it’s important not to be a single point of failure. Work with others so that they can take the reins if you are unable too.

5. Learn from things that don’t go well. It’s always good to review how a project went and work out how it could be done better the next time. I have templates and process flows for some tasks, to help things run smoothly and ensure my knowledge isn’t all contained in my mind.

Using the tips above, I've been able to have a couple of strategy calls today and activate voice recognition on my laptop to write some content, while sticking to my recovery instructions.

For more HR and Management tips and updates sign up for our newsletter here.

Are you Time Poor ?

I’ve been building my CEO skills, with a course to ensure that I know my business stuff as well as I know my HR stuff; and I’ve found that the biggest challenge that I and my fellow business owners have is time.

Time to create, deliver and do all the things that you need to make sure your business runs smoothly.

Can you relate?

It’s so easy to say I’ll do that when I get the time, but to be honest you don’t find time. You have to make time!

I worked with a Manager that was over-worked, he had the budget to hire some more people into his team, but he didn’t have the time to recruit. I’d find candidates and by the time he’d looked at their applications, and shortlisted, they’d have found other employment. He’d miss telephone interviews for client emergencies. In the end I had to block out time in his calendar and sit with him to shortlist and interview. He was able to get some highly skilled additions to his team and get his life back.

But first he needed to make the time investment!

How do you schedule your time to make sure you have time to be proactive, instead of just reacting? 

I use a weekly planner that I stick above my desk, so that I can schedule in what I’m doing and see my availability and to get my tasks done I use my version of the Pomodoro Technique (instead of 25 minute blocks, I do 90 minute blocks). 

Effectively managing time and resource isn’t exclusively an issue for small businesses owners; when I worked corporately, one of the main reasons we’d get a contractor in was because they could focus 100% on the task they were hired for without all of the distractions and it’s the reason why our clients work with us, we have the experience and knowledge to get the HR work done without added drama.

It’s time to make time for the things you want to do for your business, block out the time and turn off the distractions!

If you need to build or scale your team but are struggling to find the time to even THINK about it? Get our free guide to hiring and outsourcing for Small Business here

Why you need a Critical Friend

When I worked corporately, we would always talk to potential clients about being their critical friend as well as their strategic partner. We wanted them to know that while we might highlight any issues within their organisation, we were there to help find a solution. It wasn’t about fault, it was about improvement.

A critical friend is defined as:

“someone who is encouraging  and supportive, but who also provides honest and often candid feedback that may be uncomfortable or difficult to hear. In short, a critical friend is someone who agrees to speak truthfully, but constructively, about weaknesses, problems, and emotionally charged issues”

Do you have anyone like that?

A lot of business owners talk about having a “Business buddy”, they can work in the same way as a critical friend, they are someone to bounce ideas off and share your business woes, it a bit of peer coaching – problem is if this person just comforts you and says that all your ideas are wonderful, ESPECIALLY if they aren’t your ideal client!

You need feedback or input that is based on facts rather than just feelings. A true critical friend should have the knowledge to help you with your business, perhaps you both work with similar client groups, e.g. A Wedding Photographer and a Florist or they work with other clients that provide the type of products or services that you do.

Having critical friendships within peer groups of your organisation is also key, we call them peer coaching groups, for example you could have all your managers as a group (no more than 8) and they can share their learning and challenges with one another, it helps individual fell supported, even if they are normally in another building with their team.

Often the nature of HR work means we end up being critical friends with our clients, because we know the secrets and the strategy. It’s a great compliment to be asked your opinion, but also a great responsibility.

Do you have a critical friend? If not I’d suggest finding one, they could make all the difference to your business and personal growth (and mental health).

You need _____ and _____ to build a team

Whenever I’ve spoken with a client about building their team and I ask when they want their new employee/consultant/temp to start the answer is normally yesterday!

And I totally get it, I should have hired a VA at least four months earlier than I actually did!

Thing is hiring the right person or company to support your business is going to take PLANNING and PAITENCE. It’s pointless getting someone in and not getting the best out of them, after all they are supposed to take some stress away from you, so that you can focus on delivering excellence to your clients.

Like my client Ade who hired a person to do his admin and finance tasks without a job description, this made it hard to monitor if his team member was working effectively and also led to Ade still doing some of the admin tasks, as the finance tasks had priority. Ade was frustrated and the employee felt like they were being set up to fail in their role.

However, once we sat down and looked at the tasks and skills needed, we were able to draw up a Job Description and agree objectives, so that there was clarity, which meant that Ade got the freedom he needed from the admin tasks and his employee, knew when to hand over finance issues to the accountant.

Ade thought his needed our services to help him to manage poor performance, instead he learnt how to manage his team by being outcome focussed.

It is so vital that you take time to PLAN what you need at the beginning of any hiring process NOT just new roles, even when you are replacing a team member, as priorities change.

Next week, I will be sharing the scoop on the 5 things EVERY Small Business Owner needs to know about hiring staff, each day I’ll be LIVE on our Facebook page, sharing a tip each day. By the end of the week you’ll know how to:

Decide what tasks to delegate and what tasks to keep, so that you can focus on the things that bring you joy and revenue.

Work out the best model for building your team, so that you get the help that you need, in the most cost effective way possible.

Select the best candidate for your role(s), so that you can base your decisions on facts and evidence.

Know your legal obligations, so that you can be confident that you are compliant with Employment legislation.

Train, review and motivate, so that you get the help that you need and can confidently address any issues.

Connect with us on Facebook and turn on notifications, so that you’ll be notified when I go LIVE each day.

How to complete a Change Management project with a smile

Yesterday my one OK two minute HR Tip was about allowing things to take time!

I always say that the thing that makes HR so interesting is the people. Everyone behaves differently and those reactions are what can make life as a manager so challenging!

Not that long ago I went all the way to Inverness to close down an office and make all the 80+ staff redundant. This wasn’t a one hit meeting, I’d been visiting the same office every month for the last 5 months. Meeting with unions and staff, dealing with queries and getting to grips with all the little details that ensured the ending would be smooth and the staff would be as happy as possible.

The interesting thing was that no matter how I prepared, every meeting came with a new challenge or issue that I needed to find a solution to. It was like playing pass the parcel; every layer revealed something new!

Whether I’ve been consulting on changes and opportunities that come about from business growth, or the need to save money and create efficiencies. Reactions aren’t always what you expect. I’ve have staff say “No” to promotions or that they’d prefer to take redundancy rather that re-interview for their role, and then cry when they receive their redundancy confirmations.

Timing is everything!

I’ve learnt to allow extra time in my plans as everything takes a little longer than you’d envisage, and no one wants to be stressing, trying to cram everything in at the last minute.

There's no time limit for how long the period of consultation should be, but the minimum is: 20 to 99 redundancies - the consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect. 100 or more redundancies - the consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect.

Even if you aren’t making redundancies you should still give a reasonable time for consultations and take into consideration things like holiday’s and those on maternity leave or long term sick.

Remember to allow time for:

• Preparing documentation
• Union Consultation (where appropriate)
• Group consultation meetings
  • Start
  • Update
  • End
• Applying for roles (where appropriate)
• Interview process (where appropriate)
• Outcomes
• Handovers (where appropriate)
• Notice periods (where appropriate)

Taking time to prepare and address all of the issues that came about in Inverness meant that when the final confirmations were handed out, I received hugs and best wishes rather than anger and frustration. And for me that is the ultimate sign of a job well done.

If you need help with your change management, get in touch and we’ll give you all the support you need

Are your Job Descriptions up to date?

I have to be honest, I’ve personally never had a job description (JD) that was up to date for more than three months at a time, but that’s because I’ve always recognised that to progress my career I needed to do more than my JD.

That being said, it is always good to keep track of how roles are changing and developing within your business.

This week I met with client of mine to discuss an upcoming restructure that has come about because of business growth. We had already established the new structure and additional roles that would be needed.

So we looked at what needed to be removed from his role to ensure that he was able to focus on the important elements, which would ensure the business continued to thrive, and then reviewed the existing JD’s for his team, so we could add some additional responsibilities.

What was interesting was that some of the tasks that the CEO was doing were already in his teams JD and that there was even one individual who did not have a job description at all! Needless to say that has been rectified and we have formulated a plan of action, for consultation and implementation.

It is really hard effectively recruit, set objectives and monitor success without having an up to date job description as a foundation document. Also when dealing with under-performing staff it is important that their job descriptions are correct, as you could be disciplining then for under-performing a task that they morphed into with no training or support.

A JD doesn’t need to be pages and pages, or a To Do list! Just ensure it covers the following:

• Job Title
• Who the role reports to, and other key stakeholders
• Where the role sits within the team, department and business
• Key areas of responsibility and the deliverable's expected
• Required education and training
• Soft skills and behaviours necessary to excel
• Location and travel requirements

And Remember NOT to include:

• Internal terminology, jargon or acronyms
• Anything that could be considered discriminatory
• Writing a Wish List

As a business owner you wear many hats, it’s important for your personal growth, as well as that of your business to ensure that you have an effective and efficient team, where responsibilities and objectives are clear and transparently communicated. Having up to date job descriptions is a big part of that.

Why you need to be flexible with your work space options

I have spent a big chunk of my career working for clients based all over the UK and Ireland. Traveling with my life on my back – Laptop, Mobile Phone, Tablet and Docs!

My office is wherever I can find Wi-Fi or have reception on my mobile – I’ve never had pictures of my family on my desk and can’t remember the last time I had a desk drawer filled with spare shoes, tights and emergency snacks! I’ve gotten used to making myself comfortable wherever I am. Which is pretty useful in my line of business and to be honest, I really love it!

Interestingly for me, it was losing that flexibility in my last corporate role that partially led to me deciding to make Eden Mayers HR Consulting a full-time business, rather than a part-time side hustle!

Flexible working as a way of saving space, creating efficiencies and reducing overheads are being implemented in the majority of companies at the moment. The issue in many organisations is that they haven’t been flexible in the past and so some staff don’t want to work from home and some managers don’t have the skills to manage a workforce they can’t physically see.

On the other hand when I speak with small business owners, often the cost of office space needed to add to their team, can put them off of expanding and I have to remind them that they don’t have to have office space to have staff and they can also consider outsourcing work, too!

Did you know you can have employees who work from their own homes?

You have an obligation to ensure that they have the correct equipment, including a proper chair and workstation. You have to be clear about their objectives and how you monitor success, but with the right framework in place, it is possible and cheaper than expanding your office space.

If you need some help to grow and scale your business, without the cost or commitment of an additional work-space; here are some things to think about:

Does the role require expert knowledge or qualifications?

The cost of employing a full time Accountant, HR Manager, Legal Counsel etc; can be very high. It may well be better to look to outsource these types of skills until you are of the size that can bear the costs of the overheads (including training and development).

Is this a long term or short term need?

Work that is short term, may be able to be packaged as a project and outsourced or advertised as a fixed term contract. If it is a long term need then looking for an individual to employ or a contractor may be a better option.

Is it a full time or part time role?

Often we believe that all roles need to be full time and permanent. There are a lot of highly qualified individuals that wish to use their skills but cannot commit to a full time role. If you can be flexible to open yourself up to a wider skills pool, who may well be open to working from their own homes.

Can the work be carried outside traditional working hours?

Work that isn’t time bound can generally be delivered from anywhere in the world. This opens you up to work with night workers or skilled individual in other countries.

If you need some assistance getting the right policies and procedures in place for a home based worker, book a risk free call and let’s discuss how we can help you to grow your business

Why you need diversity in your business

I really want this job but, what if they don’t like me?

What if don’t fit in the culture?

Should I wear a tie to the interview?

Amazingly qualified and experienced friends and clients often come to me, concerned about whether the role that they really wanted on paper is the one for them; and mainly the concern is around cultural fit.

My response is always “Be yourself. Don’t make yourself uncomfortable. It’s easy to see if someone’s faking and you want them to like and appreciate the real you, otherwise you’ll get the role and be unhappy and so will they”.

Cultural fit is definitely important, but cultural fit is very different to continually recruiting a particular type of candidate.

Cultural fit is about an individual’s alignment to the mission, vision and values of your organisation. If transparency is important then a candidate that would hide hard facts from the client won’t be a good fit,

Having a diverse workforce is about having individuals from different backgrounds, places of education and industries to add flavor, innovation and insight to your organisation. Our experiences shape the person we become and gives us experience and resilience. That is invaluable for any organisation.

I remember when I decided I’d never wear a suit again! I was fed up feeling buttoned up and hated wearing them, so I opted for other smart options and I really don’t think anyone noticed the change. But when I interviewed for my next role, I worried that I wouldn’t be viewed as professional. Until I turned up and my pop of colour and style differentiated me from the sea of black and grey suited wonderfulness. I still needed to know my HR stuff but they also got a bit of my personality too.

Try to leave your preconceptions at the door when you are recruiting and when you are deciding who to promote or who to delegate to. Focus on the skills, the potential, the values and drive that will build your business. Remember we all change over time, so what used to be a challenge, could now be a strength.

Diversity is the key to building your business. People who come from the same background may have the same outlooks, you need to embrace diversity in your team to be able to engage with your ideal clients and to keep ahead of the competition. Getting new blood into your business and listening to the opinions of you existing staff will bring innovation, as well as bandwidth.

Remember that you need to focus on:

-       The Skills you NEED

-       The Experience you NEED

-       The Potential for GROWTH

-       The Values of YOUR Business

If you are planning to add to your team make sure you get our free recruitment cheat sheet.

This FREE document provides you with all the information you need to ensure your interview is carried out in a manner which is both professional and legislatively correct.

Are you Flexibly Friendly?

This is the final week of our July focus on Health and Well-Being. This week we are looking at flexible working and family friendly policies.

When I speak with Entrepreneurs about the reasons why they started their companies, flexibility almost always comes up, whether it is to able collect the children from school, watch their favorite teams home and away games or take a holiday 8 times a year!

Obviously if you are the boss, you can make your day work for you, but that may be different for those that work with and for you. Being able to work flexibly is a really great perk to offer your staff and for more and more individuals it is becoming a deal breaker.

All employees has a legal right to ask for flexible working once they have completed 26 weeks of employment. Flexible working can come in many forms including:

• Job Share – Splitting a role between two individuals
• Working from home – Performing all or part of their role from home
• Part time working – Reducing the contractual days or hours a person works
• Compressed hours – Working the same contractual hours in less days
• Flexi-time – Working core hours, but flexing the start and end times

Employers have to reasonably consider the application and make a decision within 3 months.

If the request is agreed, it should be confirmed in writing, with a start date and any contractual amendments made.

You can reject applications for the following reasons:

• Extra costs that will damage the business
• The work can’t be reorganised among other staff
• People can’t be recruited to do the work
• Flexible working will affect quality and performance
• The business won’t be able to meet customer demand
• There’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
• The business is planning changes to the workforce

Again, this would need to be communicated to the individual in writing. While there is no obligation to allow an employee to appeal the decision, it would be best practice to do so, as you could be taken to employment tribunal if an individual believed that their applications wasn’t being treated fairly and it would be good to be able to evidence a best practice process.

Giving your staff some flexibility around their working times and location, can reap massive benefits for your organisation from a point of view of motivation, retention and work quality.

What flexible policies do you currently offer to your team members?

The link to the blog on this subject is here.

This is the last blog on health and well-being. Do let us know which subject has been most useful for you this month and what changes you have implemented.

For August we will be looking at building our leadership skills.