Welcome to the HR Blast!
Our fortnightly "HR Blasts" brings you a two-minute update on:
- Current HR, employment and business related topics based on the real issues that come through to our HR helpdesk.
- Pointers that can be passed on to line managers in order to minimise common mistakes.
- A pragmatic and commercial approach using plain English and straight-talking (no jargon!)
- Regular features including blog posts and exclusive special reader offers on our services and products.
We guarantee to avoid unnecessary scare mongering and over-complication of HR matters!
"Jaluch provide a clear and straightforward interpretation of the law! These are the only articles that make sense of it all for me!"
Sandra Smith, Discovery Education
Recent topics
Holding employees accountable: embedding a culture of accountability in the workplace
How important is accountability in your workplace? Do your employees take sufficient personal responsibility on a day to day basis? Do you have specific...
Workplace Investigations – HELP! (Discipline, Grievance and Performance)
Managing discipline, grievance and performance investigations are always a hot topic that we see our clients dealing with, lots of which absorbing too...
Discrimination in the workplace: what you need to be aware of
A longer HR Blast than normal but Discrimination claims are rife and it’s a complex subject…
Do you keep up to date with the changes in the new...
HR as a cyber security champion
Another policy has been issued from the depths of the IT function about encryption, security upgrades and phishing. So what?
If a policy has no obvious...
The role of HR in environmental sustainability
For many years environmental issues have been passed off to departments such as production/manufacturing, PR, logistics etc. but no longer can HR keep...
Preventing Illegal Working in the UK - Are you up to date with the changes?
There have been some recent changes in respect of preventing illegal working in the UK– are you up to date with these changes? Do you really know w...
How to avoid historic grievance claims (they are more common than you might think)
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast for employers. Can employees raise grievances about stuff that happened years ago? Is there any protection for employers w...
Flexible working trends: innovative ways to be a 'flexible' employer
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch about flexibility in the workplace. Are you waking up to the demands to be a more flexible employer? Does the...
Health & wellbeing - helplines and useful articles for staff
Interested in the wellbeing of your staff? Why not issue them with some helpline information? Perhaps they are struggling caring for an elderly or sick...
HR Acronyms Confusion: Do We Really Need Them?
We were shocked a few months ago to be asked by one of the manager’s we were working with ‘what does HR stand for’? He wasn’t being difficult, he genu...
Gender Pay Gap Reporting 2019
It’s that time of year again with the 2019 gender pay gap deadline looming so we thought a brief overview would be valuable. Plus, here are a few o...
Constructive dismissal guidance for employers: a failure to show concern can be expensive
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast! This week we’re taking a look into one of the most talked about HR topics, dismissals, specifically constructive dismissal.
What is ...
The language of inclusivity
In this Blast, we focus on the thorny issue of what you can and cannot say in today’s workplace – assuming, of course, that you wish to steer on the rig...
Fancy fining your staff?
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. Here we look at the issue of fining staff. Can you fine staff? How much can you fine staff? When might fining...
UK Employment legislation 2019: Are you up to date with what you need to know?
In December 2018 the Government launched its Good Work Plan…setting out a major overhaul of employment legislation. Are you up to date?
The Government c...
Long term sickness
In this two minute HR Blast we wanted to focus on the complex and frustrating topic of long term sickness absence - this topic results in more calls ...
Control staffing costs when cash is tight - have you considered lay offs or short time working?
Does your employment contract contain a Lay Offs Clause? Does your contract include a Short Time Working Clause? And would you even know how to use such...
Are managers increasing business risk by running scared of age discrimination laws?
In this HR Blast we discuss the subject of age discrimination and safe working... Are they too old to drive safely? Should I let them pick...
Be Colour ‘wise’ this Christmas!
There are multiple psychometric tools available: Belbin, SHL, Insights and Thomas International (which many of you will have heard of or have experience...
Redundancy risks: what you need to know
We support businesses of all shapes and sizes with redundancy and restructure programmes and unfortunately, it’s a process that many organisations have t...
How to improve your gender pay gap
Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations require all organisations with more than 250 staff to publish data. This was first required last year on the 5th...
The impact bad bosses can have on employees
In this HR Blast, we focus on the impacts of bad ‘bosses’ and how to make sure poor managers aren’t affecting the bottom line in your organisation.
Why is th...
HR paperwork – a necessary evil!
In this Blast, we look at some of the essential HR paperwork you need in place when it comes to performance managing staff, investigating grievances or...
Employment Tribunals – A Broken System?
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast. As HR professionals here at Jaluch we’re often surprised and puzzled by the somewhat arbitrary decisions that some emp...
Staff Reps: Challenges and Benefits
The topic this time is employee / staff reps. For over 16 years, Jaluch has been supporting organisations set up, manage and train staff representatives....
Disciplinary & grievance investigations; beware the Roxanne Pallett’s of this world…
Welcome to this two-minute HR Blast from Jaluch, which examines the importance of conducting thorough investigations when allegations of bullying and abuse...
Employing temporary workers – back to basics!
It ’ s all very well taking on temps, but are you clear on how to bring the arrangement to an end without incurring any discrimination or unfair d...
Effective Staff Representation – A FIVE Way Focus
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast on how to make a representative group effective. At Jaluch, we have delivered hundreds of staff representative training ...
Agile performance management – an opportunity for change?
Over the past year, more and more people are starting to talk about agile performance management . It's becoming more well known, but we find...
Employment law update – amaze your colleagues with your knowledge!
Despite still having no real information about the impact that Brexit will have on our employment laws, there are some changes afoot. In this Blast we...
New to managing staff? Don’t get caught out!
We often write articles for those who are already experienced in HR, but increasingly we have been asked to write guidance for those who are new to managing...
The Future of Recruitment and Retention
It is remarkable how many of us spend our lives focusing on the wrong things. A company we came across recently is busy tripling its graduate intake...
Take Note! The Do’s and Don’ts of Note Taking at Formal Employee Meetings
Are you getting it right? Do your managers feel confident note taking at formal employee meetings?
In a recent Employment Tribunal claim, part of the...
Are 'Cross Functional Working' and 'Collaboration' Swear Words for HR?
Whilst some might like to think that HR is a function that works across the business, given that people are usually spread across the business, in our...
The Workplace HR ‘Tools’ That Can Be Dangerous!
We all use a variety of tools in the workplace to manage or reward staff, but some of these need to be used very carefully to make sure that you aren’t l...
Troubleshooting HR - Are Your Managers in the Dock?
Welcome to our HR Blast which has a bit of a twist to it… We’ve decided to troubleshoot five issues that have cropped up in the HR advice centre thi...
Fines Caused by Managers Inadvertently Breaching Employment Contracts
All too commonly, we see managers either accidentally or, in a few cases, deliberately breaching an employee’s contract of employment. Sometimes the e...
GDPR - What Data Breaches Do You Have To Report?
In this HR Blast we focus on one specific area of the GDPR regulations: Reporting Data Breaches. You may have been hiding under a rock - but if you...
The Latest Employment Law Blast
In this short and sweet HR Blast, we’re aiming to make sure you are up to speed with all things Employment Law and People related! So, take two-minutes to read on and ...
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Are your Employees Saying #MeToo? Are your Managers in Denial?
Welcome to this HR Blast. Today we look at sexual harassment in the workplace, more specifically what you can do to minimise the number of harassment complaints...
HR & the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
Act Now! If you’re not GDPR compliant by 25th May 2018, you could be fined up to €20 Million Euros or 4% of annual company turnover, whichever is ...
TUPE or not TUPE?
…that really is the question (!) that many organisations struggle with in today’s fast changing and complex world. Experience has shown us at Jaluch tha...
Without Prejudice Meetings and Protected Conversations: What You Need to Know
For many employers, the need will arise to have either a without prejudice or protected conversation with an employee. Are you clear on the difference...
UK Employment Law – Are You All Caught Up?
Reflecting on 2017 and Looking Ahead to 2018
As we near the end of 2017 we thought this was a great opportunity to look back at some of the key employment...
Is Microaggression Rife in your Workplace?
You may or may not have heard of the term “microaggression” but you’ve probably, directly or indirectly, experienced it. A microaggression is a subtle sligh...
The Complexity of Discrimination - Do Managers Stand Any Chance of Getting it Right?
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. Discrimination in the modern world is a complex business and it’s no wonder that businesses get tripped up by it o...
Mopping Up The Mess When Staffing Issues Go Pear Shaped
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. In this Blast we take a few minutes to look at how the UK’s business corridors are often filled with the (metaphorically) m...
Employment Law Update (In A Nutshell)
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. What a busy summer we have had! Unprecedented numbers of grievance investigations and hearings being brought to us...
Tribunal Fees Ruled Unlawful - Protecting your Business Going Forwards
Since tribunal fees were introduced in 2013, there has been a 70% drop in the number of claims. This means that there have been thousands and thousands...
What Do You Know About Gross Incompetence?
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. Here we take a look at a few options around dismissal, particularly Gross Incompetence. Gross incompetence is a concept...
Top 10 Bank Holiday Queries - What You Can and Can't Do . . .
Bank Holidays . . . a topic that is always coming up in our HR Advice Centre and causes no end of headaches for both HR and Managers. So here are the...
Is your Senior Management Team Fit for Brexit?
Welcome to this HR Blast. In this Blast we take a brief look at positioning your senior team for Brexit. What have you got? What is needed? Who do...
Redundancy Planning: Take a Professional Approach
The Jaluch Guide to Redundancy Planning (UK).
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast. Currently a significant number of our clients are looking to reduce...
All Change in the Workplace, in a Changing World...
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Arab Spring, China’s Babies, Brexit and ‘Trumpdom’... what's the relevance to your workplace?
This Blast is specifically for HR professionals inter...
Employed, Self employed, or Worker – What’s the Real Difference?
Welcome to this HR Blast. Given some of the recent press over Uber and Amazon, in this Blast we thought it would be apt to explore the distinctions between...
Employing Staff In The UK
Welcome to this HR Blast. After experiencing a few HR issues in recent months as a result of international companies not knowing how to manage their UK...
The 5 Faces of Workplace Bullying
Welcome to this HR blast. In recent months, we have been supporting a wide variety of clients with numerous disciplinaries and grievances relating to bullying....
Brexit: 12 Law Changes HR Would Like
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast from Jaluch. At Jaluch we work with hundreds of organisations around the UK (and also further afield) supporting with b...
Managing Intolerance in the Workplace
Welcome to this HR Blast. Today we look at managing intolerance and prejudice in the
workplace. This is not something that occasionally happens....
The HR Refresher
We have come across a few businesses that have been operating for many years, but working on a shoe string basis when it comes to HR.
However, those...
5 Tips for Dealing With Workplace Disillusionment and Anger
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast. We look at an issue that often arises during the training courses we deliver… Woe is Me!
Some employees suggest the...
The 7 Pillars of Workplace Mayhem and Despondency
Welcome to this two minute HR blast. In recent months, we seem to have given you some pretty heavy employment HR Blasts so to lighten the mood here ...
Need-to-Know Legislation for Organisations With 50+ Staff
Welcome to this HR Blast from Jaluch. In this Blast, we look at employment legislation for larger organisations. This includes legislation that is...
Gender Pay Gap Reporting: What You Need to Do
Welcome to this week’s HR blast from Jaluch. This Blast is on a niche topic and just for larger employers so, if you don’t employ 250+ staff, then cli...
LGBT and Gender Terms – Confusion in the Workplace?
Welcome to this HR Blast. In this 2 minute Blast we wanted to provide an overview of the LGBT and Gender terms that are currently being used in the workplace....
Are You on Trend With L&D?
Welcome to this HR Blast. Have you had a good week? All of us at Jaluch hope so, as surely life is too short to be miserable at work!
This week...
Brexit: What it Means for HR
With Brexit being the 'hot topic' of 2016 and undoubtedly one of the most widely debated topics of the upcoming months, here is a two minute HR Blast...
5 Fair Reasons for Dismissal
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast. This time, we provide a short reminder on the five fair reasons for dismissal. All too often we find managers wanting...
Top 10 Ways to Avoid a Grievance or Tribunal Claim
In this Blast, we take a look at how to avoid a formal grievance or tribunal claim. Not always avoidable, we know, but so often little things escalate...
Using Artificial Intelligence to Solve Day-to-Day Business Issues
Welcome to this HR blast. In this Blast, we look at a few of the staffing issues that frequently cause grief in the workplace. We look at how we might...
Digital Literacy in the Workplace: Deciphering the Gobbledygook
Welcome to this Jaluch HR Blast on the topic of digital literacy. Not our usual 2 minutes this time, but it's an important topic so we thought you...
5 Favourites from 2015
Across 2015 we have written about many topics and often get feedback relating to how these short posts, written in plain English, really help to clarify...
5 Common Christmas Issues in the Workplace
The Christmas season can have a big impact on business, with employers facing a minefield of potential pitfalls and challenges. In this short and sweet,...
The Key to Delivering Cost Effective and Time Efficient Training
Welcome to this HR Blast. This week we wanted to talk briefly about new ways of delivering training to staff in order to maximise effectiveness and...
8 Need-to-Know UK Employment Law Updates
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast. This week we wanted to spend some time ensuring you are up to date with all things employment law. Please feel free...
UK Start-up Advice | Internal or Outsourced HR Support?
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast from Jaluch. This time, we offer some advice to international businesses either looking to open their first UK Office...
Hints & Tips for Managers to Curb Workplace Bullying
Workplace bullying is a costly epidemic, and with almost 60% of people saying that have either witnessed or been victims of bullying in the workplace,...
Trouble at the Office: Time to Involve HR
It can be a difficult decision to know when to involve HR. Maybe you don’t want them “wading in” or maybe you think you don’t want to bother them wi...
The Living Wage – How Much Thought Have You Given It?
Welcome to this HR Blast. This week we focus on the important issues of money and staff. We've been looking at The Living Wage and potential NI cost...
Short Service Staff With Serious Ill Health Issues
Welcome to this HR Blast. In this two minute blast, we look at the issue of managing staff with very short service but with serious health issues.
Over...
The Need-to-Know Bits When Dealing With Employment Contracts
Employment contracts are not the most exciting topic in the world, but understanding your options and knowing what to do and when to do it, ensures...
Top 10 Irritations in Open-Plan Offices
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. In this Blast, we are looking at the top 10 irritations in open-plan offices and then focusing on how to create...
Managing Difficult People in the Workplace
Welcome to this two minute HR blast. In this Blast, we look at the challenging topic of how to manage difficult people in the workplace. If you have...
Five Common Errors When Managing Redundancy
Whilst many organisations are growing rapidly, there are also organisations that are down-sizing, "right-sizing" and re-sizing! Whatever you want to...
They've Refused my Holiday, so I’ll Pull a Sickie
Welcome to this week's HR Blast. Our two minute update on an HR topic that frequently is the cause of ‘office rage’... when your employee phones in ...
Managing the Virtual Workers
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. We are working with an ever increasing number of organisations who have more and more of their staff regularly...
When the Workplace Stress gets Stressful
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast from Jaluch. In this Blast we look at the tough issue of stress management in the workplace.
What causes stress?...
When ‘Other People’ are the Barrier to Improved Performance
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast from Jaluch. Managing poor performance is one of our regular topics, but we have never focused solely on how the...
Contractors, Discipline and Suspension
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. This week we look at how for the past few weeks the UK has been a hotbed of Jeremy Clarkson/Marmite fever – if we c...
Managing Employees During the Probationary Period
Welcome to this week’s HR Blast. Most companies add a probation period to their contracts of employment, but as an employer do you know what rights yo...
Top 5 Challenges for First-Time Supervisors
This week we focus on the challenges often faced by those stepping into first line management roles. Never an easy thing to do, but it is
important...
Jaluch’s Top 10 List of Managers Mistakes!
Welcome to this HR blast. This time we take a 2 minute look at how managers often expose their organisations to risk of litigation. You could even...
L&D - How wisely are you spending your money?
In this two minute HR Blast I wanted to touch on the thorny and emotive topic of money...equally relevant for those in HR with responsibility for L&D,...
Getting it Right When People Exit your Business
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast. In recent months we have supported a fair number of clients with large scale redundancy programmes, a few early...
The most popular Blasts and blogs: 2014
Welcome to this HR blast. Across 2014 we have written on many topics and often get feedback relating to how these short topics, written in plain English,...
It’s Pension Time – Don’t Leave it Too Late.
Welcome to this 2 minute HR Blast.
If you have a pension scheme already and your existing provider has said the scheme will continue to be supported...
Intrapreneurship… Are You Heading for Failure or Success?
Welcome to this 2 minute HR blast on Intrapreneurship.
As we travel around we come across increasing numbers of organisations interested in developing...
Don’t Let Staff Mess up When Managing Domestic Workers
Welcome to this HR Blast. In this blast we look at HR matters for those of your staff who employ people at home (carers, cleaners, nannies, gardeners and...
Holiday Pay and Paid Overtime
Welcome to this HR Blast. Given last week’s ruling, holiday pay has been making press headlines, but at times the messages have been quite confusing. W...
Shared Parental Leave
This time we turn our attention to shared parental leave which is causing some concern in organisations. If you look at what is involved, it shouldn’t j...
Blow your Retention Targets out of the Water
Welcome to this two minute HR blast.
With the job market hotting up and organisations looking to move forwards, it must surely be time to start...
It’s the Final Straw - Disciplining Long Serving Staff
Welcome to this two minute HR blast. In a previous Blast we have looked at how you can manage under performing staff with very short service . This...
Managing Staff...On the Right Side of the Law
Often in the UK we find that when new laws come in there is a flurry of activity that includes training and advice for managers. But as the years fly by,...
Line Manager Confidence
In this two minute HR blast we wanted to look at the issue of manager confidence.
Over the years, the issues that have come across our desks, in...
A Cloud of Confusion Around Dismissing Short Service Staff in the UK
Over the past year the search term that has month on month, generated the most traffic to the Jaluch website is 'how to dismiss a short service employee'....
Holiday Headaches for HR
Welcome to this HR Blast. We are well and truly in holiday season so it’s time for a few HR Headaches. But help is at hand if holiday issues a...
A Deafening Silence…What Legal Advisors are Not Telling Employers
Urgent - a must read legal update for anyone dealing with employee dismissals
Settlement agreements or early conciliation? A deafening silence...what...
App ideas for HR departments
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. In this Blast we thought we would zap and blast you with a few of our favourite apps. The theme of course is HR...
Flexi attitudes with flexible working
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. With changes to flexible working effective from 30th June 2014, the topic this time is all things flexible! Please...
HR and Mobile technology…are you keeping up to date?
Welcome to this HR Blast. In this two minute update we wanted to focus, for just a short while, on the phenomenal surge we have all seen in the past...
2014 – 2020: Managing staff in changing times
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast.
In the UK we are just coming out of a pretty tough six years. In employment terms 2008 – 2013 have n...
Too senior to manage?
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. This time the topic is managing your senior staff. At Jaluch, whilst we advise on hundreds of HR issues every...
TUPE - 2014 changes
Welcome to this HR Blast! In a quick and easy to read Q&A style, we’re updating you on the new changes to TUPE legislation.
As we all know, t...
E-cigarette mayhem in the workplace
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast. In recent weeks and months we’ve had a whole spate of enquiries about the use of e-cigarettes in the workplace s...
Employment Law update
Welcome to this two minute HR Blast! This time we are bringing you an employment law update. Don’t get left behind, find out all you need to know h...
What Is Unconscious Bias
This week our topic is unconscious bias. For the past five years we have been delivering training on this topic, but since the start of 2014 we have...
Tips for employers - effective interviewing
In this two minute HR blast we wanted to focus on interviewing skills and more specifically, making sure you get more of the right people to join your...
Sickness, affairs and plumbing...informal homeworking
In this two minute HR Blast we focus on informal home working. Home working can be a tough topic for line managers to deal with; full of trip...
Zap and blast the irritations! It’s all about productivity…
In this two minute HR Blast our focus is on making easy tweaks and changes to how you operate in order to get significant gains in productivity. Now that’s g...
Managing change against the tide
In this two minute HR Blast we share some of the issues we are seeing businesses face around ‘change’ and some of our ideas about how to manage cha...
Massive surge in use of interns. Time to take advantage?
In this two minute HR Blast we consider a topic that more and more organisations are asking us about: the use of interns; the advantages they can g...
The Over 50s’ – On the way up or on the way out?
In this two minute HR Blast we take a quick look at employing older workers.
Diversity has been much talked about for decades. Often the focus ...
Halloween horrors
Welcome to this spooky HR Blast, in just two minutes we look at unravelling the myths behind some of the Halloween horrors in your team!
Medusa ...
Lean, mean HR machine...
In this two minute HR Blast from Jaluch we focus on ‘waste’ in HR. We don’t think that HR is often subjected to a ‘waste’ assessment (have you ever d...
Employee appraisals – managing awkward conversations
In this two minute HR Blast we focus on employee appraisals – top tips for dealing with the difficult stuff! We thought you would also like to see o...
Settlement Agreements
How confident are you?
Settlement Agreements are the legal tool at your disposal for parting company with an employee in such a way that leaves the organisation...
Safeguarding against rogue employees
In this two minute HR Blast, we thought we would tackle the often frustrating issue of protecting your business from employees who want to take your...
Raised temperatures with redundancy
In the UK in 2008, we experienced an incredible spike in numbers of employees being made redundant and Jaluch supported many clients with...
Unravelling employment law
If you feel a little confused at the moment about employment law changes and what is happening when, don’t panic. You are not alone! In this two m...
Why bother with diversity and inclusion?
If you are one of those who read this title and then immediately decide to click away, then this HR Blast is particularly relevant to you!...
Performance or misconduct?
A challenge for many managers is identifying and differentiating between misconduct and performance issues. Some don’t know how to, others choose n...
Dismissing staff with short service (under two years)
New to the organisation, but giving you grief? Here is our two-minute blast on dismissing staff with short service, or under two years).
Many of you...
Bullied or whingeing?
In this HR Blast we take a brief look at workplace bullying: what we see at Jaluch and what you can prevent in your organisations. Feel free to copy...
Compromise agreement whiplash – how to avoid it!
In this two minute HR Blast we will update you on how to mess up Compromise agreements… ignore this at your peril!
Compromise agreements are the l...
Are you turning a blind eye to employee fraud?
In this two minute HR blast the information comes to you courtesy of one of the Jaluch Partners, Andy Mileham, who owns private investigative agency...
When errors compound errors
Every employee makes errors from time to time. It’s inevitable. However, this two minute HR Blast is about highlighting how these initial errors c...
Spotlight on managing absence
In this very first HR Blast of 2013. In no more than two minutes we will put the spotlight on absence and attempt to update you on some of the key...
Self employed workers - a legal risk to your business?
In this two minute HR Blast, we ask what church organists and lap dancers have in common. Not a lot you might say. But you would be wrong! And into this...
Can't sack him he's stressed
In this very first “HR Blast” from Jaluch, designed to take you no more than a couple of minutes to skim read, we take a look at an issue that is ...
