AVOIDING WORKPLACE DISPUTES & TRIBUNALS

Individual employment rights have really increased over these last five years and likely to increase still further; with this increase comes the associated increase in risk that employers will need to deal with an increase in grievance issues and potentially employment tribunal claims. Consequently it is important that all companies, businesses, organisations be they private, public or not for profit take every effort to ensure their managers, systems and procedures are sufficiently well developed to firstly minimise the risk of problems occurring, secondly to diffuse issues, quickly, if they arise and thirdly provide a robust defense if matters escalate to ACAS or a tribunal Clearly, the best way of minimising the risk of tribunal claims is to have a workforce that is completely engaged, happy and content in their duties and persuaded about real prospects of career development. In the real world however, even with the best will in the world, problems will inevitably arise and the procedures, processes and management skills need to be in place before they do. A good starting point is to strike the right balance between rights and responsibilities. This is best achieved with clear terms of employment, policies and procedures setting out what each party expects (and is entitled to receive) from the other – whether that be salary and benefits from the employer or performance and conduct to the required standard from the employee. Many employment grievances and tribunal claims arise due to a lack of clarity or understanding in these areas or as a consequence of unreasonable behaviour, whether on the part of the employer or employee or sometimes both. Much of employment law is underpinned by the principles of ‘fairness‘ and ‘reasonableness‘. The question is “what is reasonable, practical and proportionate?” http://concrew-training.co.uk/?page_id=552