Your day off.

[Chippy_Tea]

If an employee hasn't been with you for two years, you can end their contract without needing to investigate further or give them a warning.
You don't have to justify your decision or how you handle the dismissal.

But, if someone has worked for you for two years or more, you must have one or more of the five fair reasons to dismiss them, as stated in the Employment Rights Act 1996. These reasons are things such as their ability to do the job, their behaviour, redundancy, breaking a legal rule, or another significant reason. If you dismiss someone for one of these reasons, you need to show that you were reasonable in your decision and that you followed a fair process and the outcome was proportionate to the wrong done.

https://www.winstonsolicitors.co.uk/unfair-dismissal-under-2-years-what-you-need-know#:~:text=In most cases, you can,is no qualifying service period.

 

[Clint]

Disability, race,pregnancy.

 

[Graz]

Whilst I mostly disagree with this, and personally in my job I'm only contactable when my laptop is switched on during my usual working hours, some jobs may necessitate being contactable out of hours.

My Dad worked in an oil refinery and did shift work. The plant ran 24/7 needing a minimum number of operators to ensure it ran smoothly and safely. Stopping production was not an option if short of staff. If someone phoned in sick or had some other emergency then cover was needed. We didn't have cell phones back then but he'd sometimes get a call at home asking if he could cover someone's shift. This was accepted as part of the job. He could turn it down if there were reasons he couldn't go in but the overtime was quite lucrative so he often did.

 

[Stu]

Whilst I mostly disagree with this, and personally in my job I'm only contactable when my laptop is switched on during my usual working hours, some jobs may necessitate being contactable out of hours.

My Dad worked in an oil refinery and did shift work. The plant ran 24/7 needing a minimum number of operators to ensure it ran smoothly and safely. Stopping production was not an option if short of staff. If someone phoned in sick or had some other emergency then cover was needed. We didn't have cell phones back then but he'd sometimes get a call at home asking if he could cover someone's shift. This was accepted as part of the job. He could turn it down if there were reasons he couldn't go in but the overtime was quite lucrative so he often did.

This is what I alluded to above.
Although I never called people. Only ever text.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This is what I alluded to above.
Although I never called people. Only ever text.

There are times when a boss will have no option but to ring an employee who is on holiday, if you work in a small business with few staff and several go sick at the same time then it would be an emergency call this is not what i was discussing its bosses who think they have the right to email, text and phone staff at anytime (like those who phoned 5 live) that are in the wrong.



We’re growing increasingly more connected through technology and social media. For many, working from home has become the new normal. It's becoming more and more difficult to separate work from our personal lives. It's commonplace to check emails at all hours, take business calls at the dinner table and work on our laptops on weekends. How has this become acceptable?

Employers expect more from their people, which leads to them feeling more pressure to achieve greater results. These pressures appear to have reached a breaking point, as people realise that they need to achieve better balance in their lives. As a business leader, you have a responsibility to help all your team juggle the demands of their work and personal lives. Even your most engaged employees may still be struggling to find balance…

How Important is Work-Life Balance?​

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is not only important for health and relationships, but it can also improve your employee’s productivity, and ultimately performance. Put simply, if your people don’t view work as a chore, then they will work harder, make fewer mistakes and are more likely to become advocates for your brand.

Businesses that gain a reputation for encouraging work-life balance have become very attractive – especially when you consider how difficult it can be to attract and retain younger workers these days. The Oxford Economic suggests, “Replacing an employee costs on average around £30,000 and it takes up to 28 weeks to get them up to speed.” Bearing this in mind, it might be a good idea to keep your existing employees happy. Focusing on work-life balance will help you draw a valuable talent-pool for new recruits and boost retention rates. It will save time and money, whilst ensuring a high level of in-house talent.

Full article - https://thehappinessindex.com/blog/importance-work-life-balance/

 

[Clint]

The company I work for has turned for want of a better word,toxic.
I'm seriously considering leaving. They're unapproachable and rotten to the core.
I'm back tomorrow and it makes me sick.
I've had a really bad day so far,thinking about tomorrow just tops it off...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The company I work for has turned for want of a better word,toxic.
I'm seriously considering leaving. They're unapproachable and rotten to the core.
I'm back tomorrow and it makes me sick.
I've had a really bad day so far,thinking about tomorrow just tops it off...

Go for it @Clint, i was stuck in a job i hated for years because i was worried about job security if i left (not much work round here) but in the end i went for it and the company i now work for are great people noticed a change in my moods etc straight away as i was no longer stressed going into the **** hole, i wish i had done it years ago but as they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

You have to leave @Clint , it's seriously unhealthy to think like that about work. Obviously easier said than done though.

 

[tigertim]

I panicked about leaving a previous job for many years. My direct colleagues and even my direct managers were brilliant, like-minded people, but the senior management and executive team were all utterly toxic and the continual corner cutting and lying to the customers resulted in stress for us trying to both support and cover up. Every three years, after milking the company dry, many of the senior management would leave for "new challenges" and, no doubt, their impressive-looking CVs would let them through the door of another similar company where they could rinse and repeat. Meanwhile we'd get a new crop of the same type of people - full of promises, but really just planning on how they were also going to spend three years treading water whilst blaming the last lot for all the problems.

Eventually, the stress of yet another failed critical system as a result of their ineptitude and lack of investment caused one of my colleagues, who was working from home, to have an episode where his wife had to call an ambulance. He handed in his notice the day afterwards and I handed in my notice the day after that. Nothing to go to, and no plans other than to work the three months notice (I was hoping for garden leave but they absolutely couldn't afford to let any of us to go any sooner).

I got a call a couple of days later from an old boss who was running his own company who heard through the grapevine that I'd resigned and offered me a job straight off. More money, fewer hours, nicer work and insanely flexible.

 

[Nicks90]

When I was in a people manager role, I asked each member of the team if they agreed to be added to a WhatsApp group,
When extra shifts became available I would post it up and if anyone wanted it they could reply.

Never EVER contacted anyone directly when they weren't actually on the clock.

Now I'm in an account manager role, I still use similar WhatsApp groups, one with all my customer contacts in case they need me ooh for an emergency outage, and another for the internal escalation contacts and on-call engineers. There is always one of them on shift, so it saves me opening my laptop and looking on the emergency rota and calling them direct, I just ping it to WhatsApp and whoever is on shift picks the issue up.

(Also has the side benefit that if they don't pick it up, the escalation managers are generally the ooh engineers bosses, so there will be come back if engineer A is on shift but tossing it off and ignoring priority 1 escalations)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

When I was in a people manager role, I asked each member of the team if they agreed to be added to a WhatsApp group,
When extra shifts became available I would post it up and if anyone wanted it they could reply.

Was installing it optional did you find anyone like me who doesn't do WhatsApp and wouldn't install it.

 

[RichardM]

No but it does say "there are some instances of unfair dismissal where you're protected from your first day" i bet there are not many of those.

They are discrimination against protected characteristics, race, religion, sex etc.

 

[Nicks90]

Was installing it optional did you find anyone like me who doesn't do WhatsApp and wouldn't install it.

Yep, completely optional, but on the knowledge that if they didn't install it they wouldn't know about extra shifts on offer.
I literally only use WhatsApp for work, it has 6 threads (if that's what it's called) for different customers and escalation teams and only use it for work.
If anyone asks me if I'm on WhatsApp I say no. :-)

 

[Clint]

I'm on wattsapp...
It's really useful. Like when my mate sends beer emoji.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I worked in a bakery for 30 years but in the end i got so ****** off i retired, the reason i got ****** off they brought a guy in a one man band time and motion man, when it was my turn i just did my normal shift as i always did at the end he said is that it i said no it's clean up time he just smiled and walked away me i said to myself thats it i'm done here. anyway in November of 2017 i walked in can't remember the day now but i had my notice in my pocket i was going to give 4 weeks which would see christmas out this is were i got very very lucky at 10am a meeting was called of all staff, the chairman told us they entering into a cva and they were asking for volanteers for redundency and their would be compulsary ones as well so my notice stayed in my pocket. following morning bakery manager walks at 6am says morning to me i said morning followed by can i put my name forward he said are you serious i said deadly he asked me why i said i can't keep doing this for 2 more years ( i was lieing) i said there are guys here with mortgages and young kids, anyway 45 days later 17-2-17 i was retired with a nice lump sum in the bank, my mate made me laugh he asked what i was talking about with the manager i said you know i always said i would be the first in the queue i said i told him to put my name down my mate said so you wern't telling porkys then me no