Love is in the air!

Well it's Valentine's Day and love is in the air.  But a survey commissioned by XpertHR, based on responses from HR professionals at 200 UK organisations, indicates that a third of employers say they have prohibited relationships between managers and subordinates and one-in-six employers have prohibited relationships between employees and customers.

Interestingly, the survey found that more than two-thirds of employers do not have a policy in place to deal with workplace relationships. Among those that have no policy, the most common approach is to cover it within broader policies, such as those on conduct or ethics.

Respondents to the survey gave some insight into the type of action taken when relationships develop in the workplace. Most commonly employees are asked to inform line managers or HR departments when notifying the company of a workplace relationship.

Respondents also said they embarked on informal discussions with HR or line managers, while on a more negative note, some said that they monitor colleagues in relationships "for problematic behaviour".

But all is not lost on this Valentine's Day, some employers said they support workplace relationships and the most common response from those surveyed was to take no action at all on learning of relationships between colleagues.  As many people meet their future spouses in the workplace, let's hope that employers take a sensible approach to such developments.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Are footballers above the law?

Employment law that is!

I can't be the only person who watched with disgust as Luis Suarez deliberately snubbed Patrice Evra by refusing to shake his hand ahead of the game at Old Trafford last Saturday.  I'm not a football supporter and was not aware of the eight match ban that Suarez had already served for racially abusing Patrice Evra last October but I was watching the news and my hackles were raised by the simple lack of common decency displayed by Suarez, so I started to take an interest.

Employment law covers issues of bullying, harassment and racism for a reason.  These players were doing their job, and are employed by the football clubs, so surely action should be taken to resolve this issue!?

I was pleased to see that both Suarez and the football club issued apologies the following day.  Call me cynical but I suspect this was only as a result of media coverage and public opinion, rather than a genuine apology.  If I was in Patrice Evra's football boots I would be thinking 'too little, too late'!

Check it out !

I'm very excited to have launched my first e-newsletter and my revamped website is now live.  If you haven't already looked at the website please check it out.

If you weren't on the distribution list for my e-newsletter and would like a copy, please let me know.  The newsletter is designed to keep my clients and followers up-to-date with things that are happening in HR and employment legislation which have an impact on all those running a business.  We're all in danger of getting 'information overload' so the newsletter is short, snappy and without jargon.  It's completely free and may just provide you with some surprising and interesting information.

My thanks, as always, go to Neil Priddey the brilliant creative director at CFH Design who put up with me during the website revamp and has made sure all my communications are properly branded.  I'd be lost without you!