HR Articles

The pandemic has brought the topic of health and wellbeing to the forefront, not least in the employment sphere. With an overnight move for many from office to homeworking, there was an increased focus on mental resilience, loneliness, and the blurred lines between work and rest, and between work and home life. Across the country, many employees suddenly had the opportunity to experience both the perks of working away from the office, as well as the detriments.  

It’s inevitable that many employers will now find themselves facing an increasing number of flexible working requests from employees who have been able to work remotely from home in recent months and wish to continue to do so in some form.   

Workers at IKEA’s distribution centre in Peterborough may well be horrified to learn this week that their employer has just removed hidden surveillance cameras installed in the male and female toilets some six years ago. 

The Government has recently announced a consultation on flexible working, the Making flexible working the default consultation takes place from the Governments Good Work Plan which was published in July 2019.

The pandemic has seen employees re-evaluate their working habits and some may try to change their working terms and conditions e.g., working one day less a week, changing their hours and/or place of work. Employees will need to seek approval from their employers. 

Online grocer Ocado have announced that they will be allowing staff to work remotely from any overseas location of choice for one month each year. This bid comes as employers start to re-think their ways of working and how these may change post pandemic.

The Claimant, a hairdresser, sought to pursue claims for unfair dismissal, notice pay, holiday pay and redundancy pay following

Covid-19 has changed at lot about how we work. After the Government’s announcement that those who could work from home should now do so, many employers have seen a rapid shift in how, and where, its employees carry out their roles...

As of 6th April 2020, the rules relating to agency workers will change, something which may prove costly to businesses presently using agency workers, and which requires action to ensure businesses are compliant with the new law.