Susan Raftery , Acas senior adviser
Susan Raftery is an Acas senior adviser who provides advice and training on best practice in employment relations to a wide range of organisations. She previously worked as an employment lawyer.
There is a saying: ‘it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it’. This will be of small benin phone number library comfort to the many businesses struggling to survive in the shadow of COVID-19, or for those workers who face losing their jobs.
Open and honest is the best policy
But I would argue that it is very important that difficult decisions are carried out in the right way. Despite the extraordinary economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic, employment law has not changed. The same legal requirements apply if, for example, you want to change an employee’s contract or plan and undertake redundancies. And the way you abide adb directory by the law – which is at the heart of all Acas good practice – is more relevant than ever.
At the start of lockdown
I spoke to an employer who was considering making an employee redundant.
“As they are not physically at work,” he said, “surely I don’t have to whatsapp business web for pc: how does it help your business? consult with them?”
Of course, that was not the case. In work, working from home or furloughed; the legal requirements to consult affected staff still apply. The methods of consultation may change, but the duty to do it remains the same.
The business environment is changing so quickly, it can also be easy to forget the difference between individual and collective redundancy. ‘Collective’ is when you plan to make 20 or more staff redundant and requires you to consult with individuals and their recognised trade union or elected representatives.