UK HR Update

HR Update by Sandra Beale

While the recent media reporting of swine flu has dwelt on the obvious health and safety issues, the threat of a pandemic, whether now or in the next few months, also raises some practical challenges for companies across the country.

Companies should consider taking proactive measures such as:

• providing employees with access to the latest government information and advice via emails, posters, etc.
• advising unwell employees to seek medical advice and to stay away from work
• restating absence reporting procedures to ensure that employees report their illness at the earliest opportunity
• postponing face to face meetings and training courses or replacing them with teleconferencing; cancelling unnecessary travel and social events.

There should also be the development of a contingency plan to include:

• how the organisation could continue to function with a skeleton staff
• whether and how to train more employees in essential business-critical knowledge and skills, to ensure the organisation can continue to operate
• how to manage working hours and overtime where employees agree to cover absent employees
• how and when employees will be permitted to work from home to avoid workplace infection
• whether the employer has the right to require employees to submit to a medical examination
• how to deal with employees who are well but who are refusing to attend work to avoid the risk of general infection
• whether and how normal absence recording will include quarantine time, working from home to avoid infection and falling ill with swine flu (one risk being that employees are ‘penalised’ for reporting symptoms)

Rise in Alcohol Abuse
Research done by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has highlighted five main trends related to the rise in alcohol abuse:

• An increase in drinking among women
• An increase in drinking among middle age and older groups
• A recent decrease in drinking 16-24 year olds
• Increase in alcohol consumption among children
• An increase in drinking in Northern Ireland compared with rest of UK

According to the government’s Know Your Limits survey, England’s biggest drinkers are media workers, consuming more than 10 units above the NHS recommended weekly average limit. Workers in the media, publishing or entertainment industry drink an average of 44 units a week, with the recommended average limit being 28 units a week for men and 21 units for women. IT workers are the second heaviest drinkers (34 units a week), followed by service-sector workers (33 units) and people in finance, insurance and real estate (29 units). An office drinking culture could be partly responsible, as many workers felt pressured to drink by colleagues. One in 10 drinkers felt their alcohol consumption affected their work.

Teachers were found to consume less overall but the survey found they are among the most prone to rely on booze to unwind after a stressful day, along with journalists, builders, bankers and estate agents.

The main issue for an employer is how can the symptoms of serious alcohol abuse be recognized and how can they be dealt with as there are potentially moral and ethical obligations to fulfil. A starting point would be the implementation of a drugs and alcohol policy which manages alcohol misuse making it clear to employees that drinking to a level negatively affects performance, attendance or behaviour at work and is unacceptable. The policy should spell out the health risks of excessive drinking and make it clear about available support.

Health & Safety Poster Change
All businesses are required by law to display a health and safety poster. From 6 April 2009 following the implementation of the Employment Act 2008 there has been change to the format of these posters. The new poster clarifies your responsibility as an employer and those of the employee. Best practice states you should display this poster at the entrance to your building.

Other health and safety products required in by law in the workplace are an accident book, a first aid kit and no smoking signs at the entrance to your building.

National Minimum Wage Increases
NMW hourly rates that will apply from 1 October 2009:

• workers aged 22 and over: £5.80 (up from the current £5.73 per hour)
• workers aged 18-21: £4.83 (an increase on the present rate of £4.77 per hour)
• workers aged 16 and 17 (provided they are above compulsory school age): £3.57 (up from the current £3.53).

Sandra Beale FCIPD SJ Beale HR Consult Ltd www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk