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The National Crime Agency has warned that thousands of people across the UK are being held in squalor and undertaking forced labour. Combating modern slavery and human trafficking is one of the highest priorities for the National Crime Agency.

Vulnerable members of our society, such as rough sleepers, are often targeted as the next victims of modern slavery. These people find that their dreams turn into a nightmare as their life descends into fear, debt and drudgery.

Mel Stead, Managing Director of Optimal People & Business Services, says “Between 2016 and 2019 there were a shocking 276 cases linking modern slavery and homelessness. It is a truly nationwide problem with the highest three regions for exploitation being; Greater London, Avon and Somerset and Sussex. The key message is to always be aware of modern slavery and be prepared to report it to the Modern Slavery Helpline.”

Make sure you know how to spot the signs of exploitation and report concerns to the Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700.

Mel Stead
Managing Director
Optimal PBS

Source: https://lnkd.in/dbwQtCC

#contract #employment #business #recruitment

Do you record every hour you work?

The European Court of Justice has ruled that employers must have a system in place to record every hour that employees work. And Brexit or not, that applies to UK organisations too.

Measuring your employees’ working hours and their break periods is now the law and those who fail to do so could face a hefty fine or even a criminal conviction.  Employers are now under an obligation to set up an “objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured“.

The change in legislation came about when one of Spain’s biggest trade unions argued that Deutsche Bank had a duty to record the actual hours worked each day by full-time employees. The bank believed that its only obligation under Spanish law was to record overtime hours.

The Spanish courts referred the case to the European Court of Justice which supported the trade union’s view. As the UK was still within the European Union when this legislation was passed it is set in statute and is likely to remain so.

Without a system for measuring the number of hours worked, there can be no guarantee that all the limits laid down by the Directive (in relation to maximum weekly working time, rest breaks, daily and weekly rest periods etc.) will actually be observed or that workers will be able to exercise their rights.  Member states are free to determine the required method of recording working hours.

Optimal PBS provide time and attendance (T&A) software and support to organisations of all sizes across the UK.

To find out more about how we can support your business to implement leading software to manage your employees working hours, contact us on 01422 897 673 or email enquiries@optimal-hr.co.uk

Ever heard the saying “a job is no longer for life?” It may come as a surprise, but in UK today a fifth of workers are non-permanent which is actually the same as in 1998 according to the CIPD.

We hear lots of bad news about zero-hours contracts in the press which suggests there has been a steep rise in the use of them. The good news is, most workers do actually choose these types of contracts which give them the flexibility to manage other things in their life such as family, college or even other jobs. Whilst not everyone is happy with them, the majority who work on them are satisfied.

Mel Stead, Managing Director of Optimal People & Business Services, says “Employers are trying to get the right balance for both the business and the employee. Zero hour contracts genuinely do work really well for a lot of people but not everyone, and it’s important to ensure we don’t use these types of contracts simply as the best way for an employee to be able to work flexibly. Business owners need to think about other options for this as well so people don’t forfeit job stability for flexibility.”

So where is it all leading? More flexibility, collaboration, businesses being more work life balance friendly? What’s your thoughts?

Mel Stead
Managing Director
Optimal PBS

Source: https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/insecure-work-2018-cipd/

#contract #employment #business #recruitment

When employees go to work, they expect to enjoy a healthy and positive working environment and often that includes a bit of banter between employees. But when does banter become inappropriate and move to harassment?

A recent tribunal has ruled an employee at pub chain Green King had been the victim of sexual harassment by her former employer when her line manager made a joke which she found uncomfortable and inappropriate. The employee resigned and claimed both unfair dismissal and sexual harassment. The tribunal dismissed her claims of unfair dismissal but unanimously ruled she had been the victim of sexual harassment and an award of £5,000 was ordered.

Melanie Stead, Managing Director of Optimal PBS, a HR outsourcing and consultancy business said “It is critical for employers to educate their workforce on acceptable behaviour in the workplace. It is not acceptable for employees to come to work and feel uncomfortable at office banter. The boundary between banter and harassment, even when it is unintentional and not directed at a specific employee, is a fine line and therefore employees should tread very carefully.”

Read the full story on People Management at: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/pub-manager-wins-harassment-claim- poor-taste-sexual-innunendos-boss

If you have never heard of this before you are probably wondering what I am referring to. Read on and let me know if you have spotted this in the past!

Definition

In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their competence or incompetence.

As described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the cognitive bias of illusory superiority results from an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability; that is, “the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.

In 2011 David Dunning wrote about his observations that people with substantial, measurable deficits in their knowledge or expertise lack the ability to recognize those deficits and therefore, despite potentially making error after error, tend to think they are performing competently when they are not: “In short, those who are incompetent, for lack of a better term, should have little insight into their incompetence—an assertion that has come to be known as the Dunning–Kruger effect”.

Can you relate?

I think we can all be affected by this at some point or another. As an example take the A-Level Student who aced their exams and received top marks. They feel like a guru strutting about proud of that mark and how it shows how much they know in respect of this topic. They embark on a degree and straight away they realise the A-Level was just a small taste and there is so much more to the subject than they first thought. They panic and wonder if they actually know anything useful about the topic and all confidence fades!

I remember when I first started to learn how to drive. I wanted my license before I even stepped foot in an instructors car. I was eager to have this sense of freedom and after a few lessons, I felt like I had earned it. When I received that certificate it was the best news and I felt like I could conquer the world. Fast Forward 3 hours later… the first time being alone in the car I scraped a neighbour’s car trying to reverse out of a tight parking spot! Panic hit me and I realised I had never practiced parking in bays before, then it all started to hit me! I had never driven on my own before, never driven through rush hour in a city centre, I hadn’t even driven through a city centre and I had never driven on a motorway! I lost all confidence and froze feeling unable to manoeuvre the car out of the parking space! Luckily the neighbour was understanding and there wasn’t any damage, but I had still gone from hero to zero in just a few hours!

What should we do?

Well, this is quite simple. We just need to ensure we are always checking our knowledge and understanding and being prepared to upskill and learn more where required. We should always be assessing if our knowledge is still accurate and up to date. Have things changed with the time and do we need to learn more?

If you are a Manager

You need to continually assess your teams’ capabilities and skill set. As we know from the Dunning-Kruger Effect poor performers are not in a position to recognize the shortcomings in their performance and we, therefore, cannot leave it completely to individuals to manage their own personal development.

Some questions to ask are:

Do we have a skills matrix and are we aware of everyone’s full capabilities?

How do you know? What did you use for assessment?

Have things changed and did we circulate a memo/email rather than provide training?

Do some team members outperform their colleagues, if so why is this?

Do all employees have clear objectives and targets?

What is used to check the teams understanding of their objectives and targets?

What is used to monitor and evaluate the team’s objectives and targets?

As we now know an individual may feel they know everything about the role and are performing well when in reality they are underperforming! It is, therefore, the Managers responsibility to ensure their team are capable and are receiving the correct support and development opportunities.

This can easily be carried out as part of regular Performance Review Meetings and Assessments. Performance Reviews are a great opportunity for both the individual and their manager to raise any development needs and opportunities and also assess how the individual is feeling.

I don’t believe that anyone ever wants to do a bad job however sometimes they may fall into this bracket without the right support and assistance.

There are lots of solutions to address underperformance at work but first, you have to know what the cause is.

Contact us at Optimal PBS to see how we can work with you to ensure your teams are working effectively and efficiently. We can undertake a full review of your current performance management processes or create you one from scratch. We can also work with your managers to ensure they know how to spot the signs of poor performance and equip them with the knowledge and tools to tackle this when required.