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Legal Services, Lawyers, SolicitorsLegal services online advice |
| 4 April |

Workplace flexibility demands participation coming from the personnel equally as much as it requires a good will approach from the employers. This versatility will as a result permit hiring managers to achieve their business ambitions while at the same time let personnel to manage their way of living and family numerous other obligations. By way of initiating family friendly arrangements and habits, the managers can help personnel accomplish their private and also professional objectives in a controlled style.
Seven strategies that will help toward more equate and family friendly workplace are listed below:
1. Assemble training and development seminars and courses during regular work hours. Cutting into people’s individual time is one way of depriving employees from possessing a normal work life balance in their everyday lives and can add to their frustration.
2. Keep absent employees up to date with what is going on in the workplace and any changes since they had gone on leave. For instance people on workers compensation, maternity, paternity or adopting leave.
3. Permit flexible working hours that suit both the employer and the personnel. Employees ought to be accommodated to have flexible hours in the event that they need to pick their sons and daughters up from school or look after their own elderly family member for example.
4. Business owners ought to provide certain periods of compensated paternal leave plus unpaid leave during school holiday time periods. This will likely accommodate parenting, family and career needs concurrently.
5. Make sure that as many workers meetings are organized when the majority people can attend. Abstain from arranging workplace gatherings whether it is the business or more enjoyable type social events, at times when most people are somewhere else, around school or public holidays time for example.
6. Generate valuable part-time work opportunities for people who may have infants or need to take care of their aged family members. This could involve measures just like working at home few days weekly to accommodate private requirements.
7. There is no use of having superior work life balance guidelines in the event the personnel are not educated about them. Be certain that employees and likely job applicants are aware of the actions that the company has put set up in regards to benefits and to help staff’s family and lifestyle friendly workplace.
The benefits of making family and work life balance friendly guidelines and putting them into practice include:
- workforce retention and enticing new employees; making the business a desirable workplace in the industry to become an employer of choice
- improved staff spirits which will cause wider labor force involvement and lessened absenteeism
- turnover reduction that will result in decreased cost of recruiting and training
As our humanity, our everyday lives and subsequently our workplace changes, each employees and enterprises really need to be aware of the need for work life balance at work. Thus personnel should adapt to the general industry climate and the organisations should regularly analyze their guidelines and procedures providing they are not out-of-date of less relevant to their organization.
| 6 September |
Key issues associated with work, equality and professional relations law are heavily influenced by the current economic system. Companies trying to implement changes to handle the financial downturn will have to be aware of employment rights and problems that will influence their decision making.
Emergency Cost Reducing Measures in Work – The degree of the recession has caused many employers to achieve very significant financial savings by reducing all their assets, including human resources. As a consequence, every aspect of remuneration continues to be reviewed including pay, bonuses and incentive payments, expenses and advantages including pension advantages. In addition to direct cost cutting measures, companies also have thought of paid and unpaid intervals of leave in addition to part-time work, short time and lay-offs of workers for periods of time.
Employers should know if personnel are let go or put on short-time for four or more straight weeks, or for six or more weeks within a period of thirteen consecutive weeks, they may be eligible for a redundancy payment. Due to the outstanding financial conditions and in opposition to a backdrop of possible redundancy, employees have, in general, decided to or haven’t objected to the announced measures such as reductions in aspects of pay and/or benefits.
Nevertheless, there are a number of legal and practical considerations facing a company when trying to implement unilateral versions in agreement terms. Failure to take account of such considerations can give rise to some breach of contract claim, a potential claim for constructive termination, a claim under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 (the “1991 Act”) and even commercial action.
Unilateral Pay Cuts – Within the last year the Rights Commissioner Service has recorded an unprecedented number of claims with the 1991 Act.
Changing Pension Benefits – There have been a significant amount of cases before the Labour Court dealing with issues about the restructuring of pension schemes, meeting funding shortfalls, or relocating employees between defined benefit and defined contribution schemes.