Employing People
Answer 1:
The employment rights of workers in UK are protected by a variety of legislation. The main employment legislation that governs the business in the UK includes:
l Employment Equality Act 2006: This act fights against ageism in employment in the United Kingdom. It protects workers from any kind of unfair treatment in the workplace because of their age.
l Disability Discrimination Act 1995: Discrimination based on disability is governed by this act and it is considered illegal in the United Kingdom. The discrimination based on disabilities with respect to employment, access to goods and facilities and services are covered by this law.
l Equal Pay Act 1970: This act deals with the pay related aspects of the employees. It fosters equality with respect to the payment of salaries to both the male and female employees of the organisation.
l Race Relations Act 1976: This act is concerned with the protection of individuals who are discriminated on the basis of colour, nationality race, ethnicity or any kinds of religious belief. In relation to employment, there are four major types of discrimination such as harassment, victimization, direct and indirect discrimination (What are Your Employment Rights? 2011).
l Sex Discrimination Act 1975: In order to provide equal opportunities to both male and female employees, various laws have been enacted in UK. The Sex Discrimination Act is one such act that protects employees from discrimination on the basis of sex/gender.
Such employment legislation is important because they are designed to protect the employees of the organisation from any kinds of discrimination and also for ensuring better employer-employee relations (Employment legislation 2011). The Equalities Act of 2010 adds to these laws, as does the Human Rights Act, adopted to comply with the EU.
Answer 2:
Some of the possible consequences that would arise from not following employment legislation are discussed as follows:
l There would be high discrimination at the workplace between employees of different ages. Employees belonging to an older age group might not be given fair treatment in comparison to new employees of a younger age group (or, in theory, vice versa).
l There would be situations which led to discrimination on the basis of disability factor of employees. People with a disability may not be recruited or they may not be given equal opportunities in comparison to employees who are perfectly fit for performing the business activities.
l Violation of employment legislation would also result in differences in the pay of both the male and female employees of the organisation. The pay of male employees would arguably differ significantly from that of the female employees.
l There would also be discrimination on the basis of sex of the employees. It might be possible that male employees are given higher preference in almost all the major tasks in comparison to female employees, or vice versa.
l There would be circumstances that would lead to discrimination between employees on the basis of colour, race, nationality, ethnicity etc. White people may be given higher preferences than their black counterparts in organisation (FL Memo Ltd 2005), or vice-versa.
All these are possible consequences that could arise from not following employment legislation in an organisation. The nature of all such consequences indicates that they are not favourable for the effective conduct of business operations. An organisation may face expensive legal action by employees’ representatives if they do not comply with these laws.
Answer 3:
There are various ways through which an organisation can ensure compliance with employment legislation. Some of the important ways includes:
- By establishing a contract of employment with the employees that contains all the information concerning the rights of employers and the obligations of employees. This will help the organisation in ensuring better compliance with the employment legislation as the employees can be forced to follow the rules and regulations as per such legislation. The main purpose of writing such contracts of employment is to address the issue that arises from equal opportunities, harassment, discrimination etc.
- By ensuring checks on employees, their right to work in UK can be established and ultimately ensures the better compliance with the employment legislation. As per the employment legislation, the employee should have the right to work for working in UK and their right can be assessed by asking them for the necessary evidence. For example, by imposing the fear of fines on employees, they can be asked to comply with such employment legislation.
- Before undertaking any major activities in the organisation, consult with the senior HR managers of the organisation so that the compliance with the employment legislation can be possible in an efficient manner. The senior HR manager has a better knowledge of all such employment legislations that are deemed necessary.
- The employment legislation comprises of various aspects of employment ranging from recruitment to termination. In order to ensure proper compliance with such legislation, seeking assistance from an expert HR professional would be effective. For example, consulting the process of recruitment will help in protecting from any kind of discrimination in the selection process (Employment Legislation – 10 Ways to Minimise Your Risk Exposure 2010).
Answer 4:
There are certain requirements that must be fulfilled when a contract of employment is ended by self. The minimum statutory notice period has been set by the Employment Rights Act in case if the express notice periods are not provided in the contract of employment. The statutory minimum notice is considered to be one week in case, if the notice has been given by employees. Depending upon the responsibility and seniority of employees concerned, it may result into hand over problem for the employer because of too short time period for employers. However, the employee’s length of service increases the statutory minimum notice period which the employers are required to give (UK Employment Law 2005). According to law, a worker can terminate the contract of employment by giving a prior notice of fifteen days. However, it is also essential that the employee should give reasons for the termination in writing, for ensuring the completion of such termination.
There are various other factors that have to be taken into account when the reason for such ending of contract is redundancy. One of the most important factors that has to be considered when the employer is primarily responsible for making the employee redundant is the responsibility of the employer to provide fair treatment to employees. Another major factor that has to be considered is the assurance provided by the employer for the loss of job because of redundancy (Your rights if made redundant 2011).
Answer 5:
The evaluation of staff performance is essential and should be performed by the HR managers of the organisation. This helps in identifying the areas that need improvements for ensuring efficiency in all the major tasks undertaken by employees in organisation. As a result, the evaluation of staff performance is considered crucial and it can be improved in a number of ways. Some of these include:
- The 360 Feedback Method: This is an important method of improving the evaluation of staff performance in organisation. This method is helpful in the critical analysis of the employee being reviewed. This type of employee evaluation requires a 360 form to be sent to the employees of the organisation for getting input. The input can be critically analysed in getting useful insights about the employees and necessary actions can be easily taken (Wyrostek 2011).
- Team Rating: It is another important method of improving the evaluation of staff performance. Each member of the team performed in the organisation needs to be evaluated by ranking against appropriate categories that are included in the evaluation form. Some of these categories can be the staff attendance, performance, idea contribution, participation etc. This will give a better idea about each employee of the team and ultimately results into better evaluation of staff.
- SMART Evaluation Ranking: The performance of employees during a specific period can be judged by way of SMART (specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, realistic/relevant and timed/timely) goals. By the development of SMART goals, employees can be judged on each and every aspect of their performance (Wyrostek 2011).
Answer 6:
Employees in the organisation need to be motivated regularly for encouraging them to perform their best towards the accomplishment of organisational goals. There are various ways through which the employee motivation can be improved. Some of these include:
- Creating a Positive Working Environment: By providing a positive working environment, employees can be motivated to perform their best for achieving organisational goals. Such environment would encourage them to remain committed towards the organisational goals and also a feeling of being valued in organisation.
- Better Career Planning: It is quite obvious that the employees in organisation look for advancement in their career. By providing opportunities for advancement within the company, employees can be motivated to contribute their maximum effort in attaining organisational goals.
- Educating Employees: By providing on the job training to employees, their professional skills can be improved and they can be encouraged to remain committed towards the organisational goal, as such training would develop a feeling that the organisation is investing on them and they also need to perform their best for the welfare of organisation.
- Acknowledge Contribution: The contribution made by each and every employee of the organisation need to be acknowledged. This would boost the employee morale and give them confidence to perform even better for attaining organisational goals comprehensively.
- Providing Incentives: It is another important method of encouraging employee in the organisation. By providing incentives in the form of gifts, hike in salary, promotions etc, employees can be encouraged to perform their best in the organisation (Ten Tips on Improving Employee Motivation 2011).
References
Employment legislation, 2011 {Online]. Available at: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory–employment-legislation–261.php [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
Employment Legislation – 10 Ways to Minimise Your Risk Exposure, 2010 [Online]. Available at: https://www.allbusiness.com/ [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
FL Memo Ltd, 2005. Employment 2006: law and practice, human resources. FL Memo Ltd.
Ten Tips on Improving Employee Motivation, 2011 [Online]. Available at: https://www.allbusiness.com/ [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
UK Employment Law, 2005 [Online]. Available at: http://www.roydens.co.uk/content01.htm [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
Wyrostek, S. 2011. Employee Evaluation Methods [Online]. Available at: http://www.ehow.com/way_5210139_employee-evaluation-methods.html [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
What are Your Employment Rights?, 2011 [Online]. Available at: http://www.aboutequalopportunities.co.uk/employment-rights.html [Accessed: 08 February 2011].
Your rights if made redundant, 2011 [Online]. Available at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/Redundancy/DG_10026616 [Accessed: 08 February 2011].