HR Space

Help!!!! Advice please!!!

Gazs12 — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:58:28 GMT

Hi all

im looking for some advice, I work at a hotel in Lincoln. Our reception manager was faced with being Over booked by 10 rooms one weekend. Our CEO has a room at the hotel which was not in use as he was off work.

Due to the over booking, the manger authorised that a member of her staff use the room for a booked guest. In the course of doing this, she took pictures of the room in order that all items of the CEO, a few shirts and couple of books, were placed back where they were moved from.

The following day the room was cleaned and all belongings replaced in their original position. Before all of this the manager did attempt to text message the CEO beforehand but did not get a response until 24 hours later.

I was asked to invite her to an Investigation meeting for "Inappropriate Conduct in the removal of personal belongings" after this investigation my MD has organised a disciplinary hearing as the CEO is pushing the issue. My MD has asked for recommendations of appropriate action against the manager in question.

She has been made aware of her right to be occumpanied and has arranged for her trade union representative to attend with her.

Any advice would be apappreciate many thanks

Paying back training fees

kitchmufc — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:57:52 GMT

Pay Cuts

Clyde — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:14:22 GMT

Hi, i have worked with my local council for 20 years and as many people will know recently an excercise to rate or grade many jobs including my own was carried out and i am apparantly overpaid for the job i do by £479. Obviously it would appear that i am being overpaid but to get to my current level of pay is only due to annual national agreed rises i have been entitled to during my time of employment, am i wrong in thinking that for that reason my present wage is justified ?

Recently all employees affected including myself have met with management to discuss our salaries and options available to address the gap in our pay. Here is the problem i have, many employees have been given the opportunity of working an extra half hour/ hour per week to bridge the gap and in a lot of cases their pay will increase but the only option myself and others have been offered is to surrender 9 days holiday to keep our present salary or retain the 9 days holiday but have our salaries reduced.

I don't believe this to be fair, do i have any rights to given the same option of working additional time as others have been offered ?

CATS

angdeer — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:26:52 GMT

Started out working in CATS but we need to move onto something bigger. As the business has grown so has our need pull everything together into one software program to save my sanity! I would like the option to be able to go through the entire process of our employees hire, payroll and retirerment. I just recently got in contact with Infor, are any of you using them for your HR needs and if so how do you like your setup? Thanks in addvace for your thoughts.

http://www.infor.com/solutions/hcm/

Am I in trouble

Banks — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:57:23 GMT

Hi,

i'm looking for some assistance, and whilst I work for a medium size company with a hr department, I am worried about the outcome and how I should handle matters...

The situation...

I am an area manager, however recently due to some nessisary movements, I have been left attending to the management of one of my branches in addition to my area duties. The branch I am managing has been under performing and as I successfully ran that office previously, I know what needs to be done to turn it around.

I have been working on the branch results for a couple of weeks now, however one particular member of staff has been difficult, not responding to instructions, even when managed correctly, continuous insubordinationwith responses to requests etc etc. anyway, I had him upstairs to have it out and lost my temper when he started to shout at me and even to share...I asked for his keys and he started to walk out, as he left I stated that he was quitting he said he was being sacked, I said no, if that is the case then you are suspended...this was on Friday eve and its now sunday(although he was due in sat and sun)... Where this has gone wrong for me is when he goaded me, with 'come on then' comments, having already sworn at me several times, I grabbed him around the neck with one hand then held my other up to punch him...I did stop myself however I am aware I saw red and touched him aggressively.

I have since heard that the individual has said he will get me fired and get compensation from my company, and that he has sent a letter the hr department on Saturday.

what I want to know, is where do I stand? Not well I'm guessing..

pany advise on how I handle myself from here would be welcomed.

banks

Payroll outsourcing

ARYA — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:04:09 GMT

I want to outsource my payroll department and my location is in Dubai, have 50 employees, any companies which can forward me a cost effective offer??

OH referral

Fee81 — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:53:43 GMT

Hi all. We have arranged an OH assessment for a disabled employee due to the level of sickness absence. I would like to give the employee a copy of the referral paperwork to be transparent and so that she is fully prepared for the assessment. She is aware that the the appointment is being arranged and that it is due to sickness levels. Can anyone see any issues with this? Thanks.

Career change to HR from teaching and training

candu — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:32:25 GMT

Hi there,

I would really value some opinions on the following; I am planning to leave my teaching job in July after 16 years in the profession. I desperately need a change and a new challenge. I had a good long think about my existing skills and experience and what I can offer that 'transferable'. I already undertake supervisions and annual appraisals of staff and provide some staff training. Before becoming a teacher, I was a PA and also sold pensions and mortgage products. After some research, I made the decision that a career in HR would be very attractive and rewarding to me. I've now commenced the CIPD Intermediate course (on the advice of my course provider, given experience and qualifications).

I am fully prepared to start at the bottom and work my way up. I'm also prepared for a large drop in salary in order to get my foot in the door and on the ladder. I'm also open minded about the options available to me within the field of HR, in fact, recruitment appeals very strongly to me. I've spent a long time writing my CV, trying to emphasis the transferable skills, whilst being honest about my skills and achievements (so I can back them up). I've sent off a lot of electronic job applications and so far, had a lot of rejections. I am very determined so will not be put off by rejection. Any advice and opinions would be very welcome, thanks

New Offices - Welfare Rules/Constitution

Julian — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:40:04 GMT

So we are now at the point where we are looking forward to moving into our new purpose built offices, from the old 1960's run down offices!

As a result of this move into open plan offices in a nice environment, we need to make sure that we manage the correct etiquette and that "rules" are put in place, particularly in the following areas:

Tidy Desk Policy,

Eating at desks

Using the facilities as you would at home (I do sometimes wonder what employees houses are like at home!

Is anyone willing to share any such rules/etiquette/constitition that they have in place that I could develop as a base?

Many thanks

Julian

48 hour working week

entershikari — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:45:35 GMT

Hi Guys,

I am currently working for a food retail company on a 48-hour a week contract. My Area manager has massively over staffed the store and due to poor sales growth we have been for the last few months sent home by our line manager due to this. Because of this I have been working 40 hour weeks, and being paid for 48 hour weeks, no fault of my own.

I am at the stage now were me and another assistant manager owe the company just under 200 hours. I have been given 17 weeks to make the hours up, which will be nearly 60 hours a week, which is nearly impossible as they are not many hours to use in my store, so I will need to travel an hour minimum to make up my hours. My contract states no 'home store' and i can be employed in any of it's trading stores.

My questions are...

#Can they legally make me work over 48 hours a week
#Can they deduct payments from my salary in respect to the hours owed, even if i have been SENT home early by my line manager (and this is on record)
#Can my line manager say 'if you don't do this, i think you are the wrong person for the job'

This is really worrying me, and I would very much like to know my rights on this one.

Kind Regards,

Changing from fix term contract to permanent - can i ask for pay increase?

SP19 — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:58:56 GMT

Hi,

I need some advice regarding my current employment situation.

I was hired on fixed term contract last May in the current company as maternity cover. Now, the lady on maternity leave is due to complete her maternity leave officially on 15^th May however has requested to extend her leave until June 2013. Company has agreed to put her on leave of absence until june 2013 and there have been talks that they would like me to be permanent however I do not have anything in writing yet.

Now, there has been salary increase to staff this month and I received salary increase too. However my salary is well lower than compared to other 3 team members. The difference in salary is atleast £6000 and the type of work is the same. We all share the workload and my performance has been consistent. Now, before I accept the permanent position I’ve requested with my manager to have salary discussion and he has agreed to it.

I am hoping to atleast request for an increase of £3000. I believe my salary is well low even the maternity lady for whom I am the cover received £6000 more than me. Am I reasonable in asking for an increase of £3000. Plus looking at the market for the same job – I can expect to get £5000 more.

CIPD Experienced Assessment

Rhi — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:12:16 GMT

I've recently signed up to complete the CIPD Experienced Assessment at the Associate Level. I was wondering if anyone else had completed this since it opened in Jan 2011 and if there are any tips on the different work examples you need to provide. As well as what to expect at the 3 hour long professional discussion to sign off your work, just looking for a heads up on what will be the most difficult areas to tackle. Many thanks Rhi

resignation at probation period

prinka — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:49:10 GMT

Hi twam,

I am working in a biotech company & completed 3 months of probationary period, I need to complete more 3 months probation to get confirmation in a company. But my manager is not good & also my previous job was better & they are asking me to come back & join the position, for that purpose I want to leave this company but in the 1st month of joining me with my manager & a colegue went to overseas for meeting & company paid for that travel, but noe I am thinking if I will ask to manager for resignation he will tell me to pay the amount that company spend ovr me for foregn tour, so please guide me is it ok to leave the job? is company will take the travel amount from me? One thing I want to mention is there were no any document where they took my sign for repayment of travel bills but I have doubt if they will ask then what shall I do? Please experts answer my question. Thanks Priyanks

Assessing an organisations culture

a.c.hughes — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:18:47 GMT

Hello,

I hope someone out there is able to help me!

I am currently studying and i need some ideas/help to get me going with reagrds to assessing an organisations culture, and in particular the issues that you may encounter in doing so.

I hope someone is able to give me a few ideas to get me going.

Thank you

employee dismissal

cardel2211 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:43:09 GMT

hello, I just want to check that our department has gone through the right procedure for a dismissal for a former employee.the employee purchased stuff and gave it to her friend. When being invistigated the emplyee said she did give her friend Ian item she had bought in a sample sale held by the company but she didn't make profits as her friend gave her the same amount she paid for the item. she also admitted knowing that it was wrong. After careful consideration the employee has been dismissed for gross misconduct. But I want to check if we covered. The employee contract doesn't states anything in regards to discount benefits or sample sale but there's is a paragraph on the employee contract stating the company has an employee handbook and it's is the employee responsibility to ensure they are familiar with the rules and polices. the last meeting held when we told the employee our decision, she claimed she had never seen a handbook in her work place and that her line manager didn't mention anything. is she appeals does she have a cases? We have spoke to other staff members who claimed to know where the employee handbook is kept in that store but these staff started after the employee who was dismissed. Also the employee was sent contract 2 months before starting her job with our organisation. Thanks

Learning & Development and Outsourcing

LisaM — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:36:54 GMT

I am looking at considering outsourcing our L&D function.

I wondered if anyone had experience of doing this and could recommend any suppliers? and out of interest how large do L&D departments tend to be? I work in an organisation of 1,000 and we have 4 individuals at the moment which the business view as too big.

overtaken holiday and deduction from wages

johnj — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:01:46 GMT

Hi All,

Could someone please advise on the following,

I have overtaken by some days I believed I was taking these based on the information on my payslip unaware that this was actually a delayed amount and wasn't up to date, I have since been advised by the company that they will be deducting this amount from my next monthly pay,

1. can they do this? from what I have been reading it appears that unless it stipulates this in my contract this cannot legally be done? (I’m still waiting for a copy of this as the HR department is currently unable to find this!)

2. if they have emailed employees since the holidays year end and have now stated on email that it is the employee's responsibility to keep track of holidays and that any overtaken holiday will be deducted, can this be done is it legally binding if not stated in my contract? and for this to take effect if not previously stated do they have to give a notice period for this to come into effect?

To me this seems very odd in all the various companies I have worked for I have never before had to keep track of my holidays to me this is the Job of the manager / HR / Payroll department to ensure these records are up to date and if I was trying to book additional holidays I am not entitled to for them to decline the holidays?

Thanks,

Holiday Entitlement - Part time Casual worker - Actual Time Off

chezabelle — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:13:28 GMT

I am seeking advice regarding a part time member of staff who is on a zero hour contract.

The worker works 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) for two weeks and 5 days(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday) for two weeks of the month.

The worker takes a lot of time off unpaid as is their contractual right.

I am working out the holidays for the whole company, and they have requested they take one weeks paid holiday starting from the Monday (on the 5 day week) until the following Monday, so missing their weekend on. This will cause a major rota nightmare as not enough staff to cover the work. In total they would be having 9 days off work as they will not work thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of the previous week.

Could I say I want them back on the Saturday (7 days off -4 Paid days)? I realise that contractually they can make themselves unavailable so I know this is the route they will go down.

They have said even though they are only entitled to 22 days paid holiday they are still entitled to take 28 working days off even though the remaining time is unpaid.Is this correct?

Hope this makes sense!! Thanks in Advance

CIPD L&D foundation or intermediate course ?

thruft — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:54:23 GMT

Hi everyone,

Basically i just graduated from my BSc(hons) Psychology degree and I'm also a Life coach.

I was looking to go into HR and probabbly L&D.

As i was doing that i saw that looking into CIPD courses will make me more employable given that i have 0 work experience in HR.

But given that I have a degree already i dont know if i should do a fundation course or an intermediate course. I emailed one company that provides them (http://www.selhurstconsulting.co.uk/ ) and they told me that the difference is :

"The intermediate course will focus on the academic side of HR so would

not give you practical skills in interviewing, delivering learning

activities or appraisals. If you feel that you already covered these

areas in your previous experience and would prefer to focus on the

>academics then the intermediate would be better suited and with your

qualifications I can't imagine you'd have any trouble at this level."

Can anyone tell me if is worth starting from the foundation or go straight into the intermediate?, Isnt intermediate expanding on fundation, thus by studying intermediate level i will overlap some skills from fundation and same myself money?

Im just confused on where to start because i know that they would prefer me to do both... if anyone can help me with this desicion i will really appreciate it

Thanks =)

New to HR - advice needed please

Laura99 — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:12:09 GMT

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and to the area of HR, as it stands I have a psychology degree, but no relevant experience or HR qualification and would appreciate anyone's advice with my current situation - please bare with me, I know it's a little lengthy, but feel that I need to explain where I currently am:

I have done some research into the HR field and so far the L&D area is the one that catches my attention the most. This preference is based on the reading I have done alongside watching a few Internet clips and talking to a contact in the L&D field; also I shall be attending the HRD conference/exhibiton in April to hopefully increase my knowledge of the area. Although I feel that I my research is thorough I am worried that this does not give me any practical experience in the role and I would like to gage if i would have the same level of interest in the day to day activities as I do now when reading about the area.

An L&D internship is an option, but I am currently working part time and am finding it very difficult to find a L&D part time, entry level internship. I did, however, start on a home based role whereby I carry out recruitment consultant tasks, including reviewing candidates CV's/cover letter's, suggesting potential improvements, matching them up with company vacancies by liaising interviews and obtaining feedback; that is the extent of the role, I am aware that recruitment consutlants carry out other aspects such as advertsing the job role, carrying out interviews themselves etc. Based on my reading, resourcing talent and looking at the candidates skillset can be, depending on the size of the organisation, part and parcel of L&D - is this correct, or is it completely unrelated? I am unsure how relevant this internship experience is to L&D area, what are your thoughts? I am trying to gage if the position, which I started 2 weeks ago, is worth hanging onto and if I will be able to use it as leverage on my CV when applying to a L&D role.

Another option I am considering, is to embark on a CIPD L&D, foundation diploma course as I have read that this will raise my chances of entering the HR field. I am worried that by taking this course and specialising in L&D, at such a premature stage, I may be closing off other doors incase I do later realise that L&D is not for me and that I would prefer another HR area. What are your thoughts? Should I specialise at this early stage? I have also heard that people don't usually enter the L&D area directly, but instead usually start off in a generalist role and later specialize into L&D - is that the best route to take? Would it, therefore, be more beneficial for me to study a more generalist course (CIPD HR Practice) to broaden my options?

I know I have embedded the questions within the text, but I do hope it has been easy to follow and I appreciate any advice anyone can offer to help me along my journey.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Kind Regards

Laura

Internal secondment for 3 months

Zianiazi786 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:07:28 GMT

Hi everyone

i need your help on this issue. I work in IT and due to restructure and people got promotion a vacancy created for senior IT team. ICT director sent an email which clearly says I have a vacancy in senior team and in first instance would like to open it for secondment for junior IT engineer.

Me and one of colleague applied we both been told that your are both having secondment 3 month each. I was told to start first from 11th march till 11th June. My other colleague would start his secondment from June for 3months.

We both got the confirming letter from HR. I have started on 11th march 2013 and on 4th day 14th march we both told by director that due to a lot of work we need to suspend secondments temporarily.

But in yesterday meeting Ict director mention that he is going to re-advertise the job. I asked him it is already seconded to us can't be advertise. He says it was training opportunity not vacancy and your secondment is on hold. Although I know there was a contractor working in senior engineer team who applied permanent position of my level now got permeant position might be on 6month probation would be the main reason to stop our secondment and get him back in the team.

my question is can Ict director re-advertise the secondment position. Also what should be the length of secondment job at the moment 3 month but in past my collegues had it for year and at the end got permeant .

also if at the end of our secondment period if that job still exist can they advertised to benefit the old contractor

Please help. Also director won't like me for example he stopped me going to visit hp and lie to me. Also I have 2 cases of discrimination outstanding in tribunal and mist likely being victimised ?

please advise

Helpppp!!! Gross misconduct/resignation

Theonestar — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:13:04 GMT

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice, i handed my notice in last week as i Have found a new job due to start in 4 weeks

the problem I have is that is that my company owe me a large amount of unpaid commission and today decided that because I sent some spreadsheets a few weeks back with company data on they want to suspend me which they have.

I have two questions am I entitled to that money if I get dismissed

what could the outcome be in this situation?

Pleadr help

the one

Pension scheme and contracts

Ergono — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:11:56 GMT

Hi,

I'm supposed to finish my probation soon with my current employer.

There was the "Pension scheme enrolment" included in my package when I've been offered the job and it says in my contract that I can join the pension scheme after my probation.

The problem is that our HR manager just confirmed that there is actually no pension scheme with the company at the moment and it seems like there won't be one any time soon "unless more employees ask to join a scheme"...

Is that a breach of my contract? If yes, what are my rights as an employee?

Thanks and regards.

Unruly staff

Doggyk9 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:47:01 GMT

I have a young man, 24 year old working under me and up until about a year and a half ago his work was fairly good, then he started to go downhill, he does not take criticism well though as every time I try to find out why he turns his back on me and walks off, not speaking to me for days. The other day I finally had enough of this behaviour and told him that we needed to chat. His immediate reaction was defensive and I got a big why ? I want to chat about your work standards lately I told him, to this he turned his back and stormed off after a couple of failed attempts to stop him, I said to his back fine if you want to be immature about it then you might as well not be here. He stormed into the office pushing past the general manager, where he told her I had told him to f*** off so that was what he was doing, she tried to stop him but he still left the sight with work that needed doing. He then phoned up and said I was being abusive aggressive and threatening, none of which is true. He now has to come to work for a disciplinary because he left the site without permission, he is enraged that I am not being disciplined also. He can not see the fact that the conversation we had was on a one to one and nobody else heard it, and being his manager it is part of my job to tell him if something is wrong. What more can be done about this?

Training Costs - Help

RBright — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:42:28 GMT

I recently left an employer after 6 weeks, during that time they paid me an extra £1000 into my bank for 'training costs' I have never signed anything to say that I would repay this but my employment offer letter states that if i left within 6 months this was repayable.

They are now asking for the money back in 1 payment which I can't afford, I have offered to make installments and they said no. Can they take me to court over this? Bear in mind that I never received a payslip or P45 and don't think they even put me on payroll so they haven't paid any NI or tax on my employment.

Thanks