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When is Notice of Dismissal Effective?

9th Nov 2018
Absence Management, Employment Law, Human Resources Recruitment

An employee was given notice of redundancy but was on holiday when the letter arrived. There was a significant difference in her pension entitlement between leaving at age 49 and age 50 – which everyone involved knew about … In the case of Haywood vs Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust - what happened next? This case hinged on the date when notice of termination of employment began to run. This...

Mental Health and Well-Being at Work

9th Nov 2018
Absence Management, Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Employment Law, Human Resources Training

Mental health problems are common, experienced by up to one in four of the population. Problems are often hidden, stigma is still widespread and many people do not receive adequate support from services. Mental health problems often start early in life and can be prevented through creating mentally healthy environments in schools, neighbourhoods and workplaces and in providing services to individuals and families that promote mental health, help identify signs...

A Budget for Hard-Working Families – the Strivers, Grafters and Carers….

30th Oct 2018
Business, Employment Law Human Resources

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond’s opening statement which was greeted by laughter in the House with the claim that it will “pave the way for a brighter future”. With talk of the economy and Brexit being a daily event, the Autumn statement has never been more in the focus for business owners. With £20bn needing to be found for the NHS alone and government debt to be controlled, there...

Giving Notice To Leave A Job is Not Always A Letter Of Resignation

22nd Oct 2018
Employee Engagement, Employment Law Human Resources

A letter that gives one month’s notice should not automatically be interpreted as a letter of resignation, an employment appeal tribunal judgment has confirmed. The Facts The claimant, Mrs Levy, was employed in the Records Department by East Kent Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). Mrs Levy successfully applied for an internal position in the Trust's Radiology Department, subject to pre-appointment checks. After having been given the conditional offer,...

How has MAD-HR made a difference to your business?

3rd Sep 2018
Business Human Resources

We like to let our customers speak for us when it comes to our services so when John Jackaman from Infusions Ltd gave us feedback about our HR toolkit we wanted to share it with EVERYONE. Please take a few minutes to watch our video and if you think the toolkit would help your business, get in touch. We thank John for his testimonial and you can read...

Is a Four-Day Week Practical?

3rd Sep 2018
Business Human Resources

We're very lucky to be well known in our region as one of the go-to HR service providers, and our Director Carole Burman was happy to help answer The Big Question in a recent edition of the Business East Magazine. This month the question was - Is a four-day week practical? Here's what Carole had to say - Our work sees us delivering HR advice to all shapes and sizes...

Planning for Paternity

15th Aug 2018
Employee Engagement, Employment Law Human Resources

Why Less Men Are Taking Leave…And What Employers Need to Know When you’re male employee skips into work after the summer holidays and proudly proclaims he’s going to be a Daddy, do you: A – Leap across the office, shake his hand and offer to take him for a pint? B – Immediately start recalling the sleepless nights which you experienced when your own first-born landed several years ago? C...

When The Temperatures Climb, The Responsibilities Soar

25th Jul 2018
Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Human Resources Leadership

We can plan for all kinds of scenarios as HR advisors. We’re often waiting like a coiled spring for the next recruitment wave for one of our clients, or their sudden requirement on a tricky dismissal, or responding when a member of staff walks in the office and announces they’re seven months pregnant! Weather is such a tricky one. While many of us are, for the most part, delighted to...

Is the MAD-HR Toolkit right for your business?

25th Jul 2018
Employee Benefits, Human Resources, Recruitment Training

Lessons In Management From Southgate

16th Jul 2018
Business, Employee Engagement, Human Resources, Leadership Training

One of our clients recently invited us to a celebration for an employee who’d been with them 20 years. Perhaps not a long time, when compared with the 35-plus years for which some staff used to pick up watches and clocks and tie-pins in generations gone by, but today, without a shadow of a doubt, two decades is a long time to stay on the same ‘team’. It doesn’t take...

What do the new GCSE grades mean?

16th Jul 2018
Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment Training

If you employ school leavers or apprentices, you’ll begin notice a difference on CV’s coming across your desk soon. If you’re not already aware, the GCSE grading system had an overhaul beginning in 2017 which among other changes sees grades changing from letters to numbers. Instead of grades A* to G, you’ll see the numbers 9 – 1, with 9 being the highest grade. English Language, English Literature and Mathematics...

When Football Comes Home Does That Mean Your Staff Will Stay Home Too?

11th Jul 2018
Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Employment Law Human Resources

Absenteeism after World Cup matches is well known phenomenon and has historically cost British businesses millions. So what about this year? How has this affected you? Gareth Southgate has been turning us on with his snazzy waistcoats and ace management style but now that it's all over (bar the game for 3rd place) have hungover staff cost you business money in lost revenue? Have you been tackling employee absences in...

Summertime and Retention Protection

9th Jul 2018
Employee Engagement, Human Resources, Leadership Recruitment

What’s more infectious than a common cold in the workplace? What’s likely to set the jungle-drums of workplace gossip on fire more so than when the guy from sales disappeared with the woman from finance at the Christmas party? Answer? A plague of summertime resignations. Okay, it’s not necessarily the case that scores of staff will go handing in their notice during the summer period, but as it’s likely to...

Contractor, Worker, Employee? What Does the Pimlico Case Mean?

3rd Jul 2018
Business, Change Management, Employment Law, Human Resources Recruitment

Every so often, a case hits the media which immediately sets the phone ringing and the emails hitting the MAD inbox. The latest? Pimlico Plumbers. In case you’ve not followed the headlines and the ruling, it centred on the decision by the Supreme Court to conclude in favour of contractor Gary Smith. Whilst Mr Smith was paying self employed tax, and was also VAT registered, he was effectively a ‘worker’,...

Why You Should Choose MAD-HR!

25th Jun 2018
Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment Uncategorised

A (Moving) Picture Speaks Louder Than Words We're very lucky to have lots of wonderful clients in our MAD-HR crowd. We know HR is not the easiest topic for business people to open up about, there are so many private and personal aspects to it, but we have some clients who want to explain why they chose us. Firstly John Jackaman from Infusions Ltd. Enjoy! John's testimonial is lovely and we're...

What’s the Solution to Finding and Keeping the Best Talent?

10th Jun 2018
Business, Change Management, Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Employment Law, Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment Training

If I could name one question which gets asked of me most among new and existing clients, it’s along the lines of ‘how do I find and keep the best talent?’ As consultants in the HR world, there’s not a week goes by where we’re not asked to help a company who are losing a key member of staff, wanting to recruit that ‘Superstar Employee’, or once again battling their...

Succession Planning & Talent Spotting are the Key to Diversity

5th Jun 2018
Employee Engagement, Employment Law, Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment Training

For our latest blog, MAD-HR founder Carole Burman discusses talent-spotting, board diversity, and succession planning. Last week saw reaction travel far and wide, over a new report which revealed major companies had some pretty dire excuses as to why they’re not appointing women to the board. The findings of the government-backed Hampton-Alexander Review were that CEOs at some FTSE 350 companies were still of the belief that women would not...

Managing the World Cup 2018 and potential disruption

17th May 2018
Absence Management, Employee Engagement Human Resources

The FIFA World Cup is due to start on 14th June, with 60 matches being played in Russia over the course of a four weeks before the final on 15th July. With some matches taking place during or close to many employees’ normal working hours, we look at ways to support you in managing any disruption that may be arising. 1. Deal fairly with competing requests for time off Employers may...

When does the notice start from?

27th Apr 2018
Employment Law, Human Resources Payroll

An NHS worker sent a redundancy notice when she was on holiday abroad has won her case at the Supreme Court. The High Court and Appeal Court had upheld Sandi Haywood's claim that notice began when she read the letter, not when it was sent. The later timing resulted in a higher pension. The details of the case Mrs Haywood, from Gateshead, worked for Newcastle and North Tyneside Primary Care...

What you need to know about employee record retention

16th Mar 2018
Employment Law Human Resources

With GDPR looming, we are often asked “how long do you have to keep employee records for?” If you are looking to save space, reduce cost, minimise the risk of losing or damaging vital information and are moving towards sustainable ‘green’ practices such as going paperless, the following information will help you get your house in order. This information is to be used as a guideline for retention times, in the...

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