Dealing with
Disciplinary and the Employment Tribunal
Have you had the unfortunate pleasure of defending your organisation's actions in front of the mighty Employment Tribunal? If this hasn't happened yet, congratulations! You must be doing something right. Or maybe you've only recently opened the doors to your brand new venture. Or maybe you run a one-person operation. Or maybe, you've simply been lucky so far.
With many thousands of Tribunal claims made during the one-year period from 2004 to 2005 alone, if you rely on others to help run your operation you need to take notice.
Employees don't like being let go and they know the Employment Tribunal is their most powerful retaliatory weapon. During that 2004-2005 period, unfair dismissal was the primary reason both employers and employees went before the Tribunal to present their versions of the situation.
But plenty of other issues triggered claims including issues with employee compensation, accusations of racial, age, or some other type of discrimination, breach of contract and more.
Gone are the days when employees showed up, did their jobs, went home on time and in exchange, got paid at the end of the week. Nowadays lives are complicated, family units are broken up and spread further apart, and the cost of goods more expensive. In these modern times, both parents work and many employees prolong retirement in order to keep up with the rising cost of living.
And that often spells trouble for employers who find more and more of their time being consumed tending to the work-related and personal needs of their employees. Employers have little choice but to tend to these needs. If employers aren't more flexible, more understanding, or more forthcoming with appraisals and pay increases they risk having to appear before the Employment Tribunal.
All this doesn't even take into consideration the huge amount of time employers spend disciplining their employees. Employers can't just dock pay and rarely can they fire right on the spot. Instead their decisions and their actions must be detailed and documented and those actions had better be in full compliance with complex and confusing employment laws. If they aren't, they'll arrive to work one day and find that a disgruntled employee has made a claim against the organisation.
That's why every employer needs Simply Personnel HR software
With the future of an organisation under constant threat of attack, it seems crazy to forgo using tools designed to protect employers by helping ensure their actions are fair and consistent. Most employers think the only tool they need is their Employee Manual, and fortunately most companies today have such a document. That's a great starting point and certainly eliminates the "You never told me" excuse. But by no means is it sufficient. Did you know: Simply Personnel can even allow your own staff to record time using our Timesheet Software online.
Simply Personnel HR software is designed to assist with all your HR needs. With it you can keep track of all the details associated with every employee. Attendance, appraisals, disciplinary actions, job duty, pay and pay increases, work documents, employment contracts - the list goes on and on.
Simply Personnel HR software also comes loaded with templates and sample letters that you can use as is or modify as needed. It's a great time-saving feature, especially if you aren't good with the written word. But what's even better is that using these standardized letters helps ensure that your actions are consistent across the board. In other words, they help ensure you treat all employees in the same manner. That right there is a great way to defend your organisation against claims of discrimination.
This is just a small sampling of the ways that HR software like Simply Personnel can help your organisation deal with employee issues. More importantly, a powerful tool like this can better prepare you for the day you find out you have to present your side of a situation to the members of the Employment Tribunal.
When you have the tools you need to deal more effectively with employee issues, you can be confident you're acting in accordance with the law. And that right there is reason enough to give Simply Personnel HR software a try!
