Personnel concerns Top of small business agendas

Small UK businesses have moved personnel issues to the top of the agenda when consulting third party advice, according to findings from BT.

The figures come from a recent user analysis by BT of its on-line small business advice service. The results show that users of the Business Admin Pack (BAP), a product specifically designed to help small companies overcome red tape, spent more time visiting pages devoted to personnel issues than any other topic.

Independent analysis of BT website usage, conducted by Cobweb Information, shows the Personnel advice section recorded a 43 per cent increase in unique visits over those pages devoted to IT advice in the last month.

Questioning of a random sample of these users revealed that, in particular, concerns about legal liability had grown in light of recent high profile court cases.
Commenting on the findings, Neville Manuel, vice-president, value added services, Business Broadband, at BT Retail said: ìHigh profile court cases seem to have acted as a wake up call to our small businesses customers. Suddenly they canít get enough information about employment terms and conditions, disciplinary and grievance procedures and grounds for dismissal. Itís as if theyíve only just realised the financial dangers of non-compliance, and that if it can happen to the ëbig boysí it can certainly happen to them.î

The increased demand for this type of information has prompted BT to put together a ëchecklistí for SMEs dealing with personnel concerns. This is not meant as a comprehensive guide, but rather as a quick way for concerned small businesses to identify gaps in their HR systems before seeking further advice.

Five point personnel systems checklist

ï Do your staff understand your policy for reporting bullying or harassment? Itís your responsibility to make them aware of the procedures.

ï Are male and female staff in similar roles receiving equal pay? If not, the burden is on you to prove the difference is justifiable.

ï Have you disciplined any of your workers recently? If so, they were entitled to be accompanied at every formal stage of the disciplinary procedure.

ï Are all staff complaints recorded, regardless of their seemingly minor nature?

ï Have you responded to parentsí requests for more flexible working conditions? By law you must consider requests from parents of young children.

Small businesses are facing further changes to employment legislation over the next few months, as new rules on disciplinary procedures, the disabled, dispute resolution and employment tribunals come into force in October.
As a result of the changes, managers will have to follow strict guidelines under the new statutory disciplinary and grievance procedure rules, while businesses with fewer than 15 staff will no longer be exempt from the Disability Discrimination Act.