A new survey by HR and payroll software provider Ciphr has revealed which measures in the Employment Rights Bill are thought to be the most challenging for organisations to implement.<\/p>\n
Ciphr\u2019s poll asked 300 UK HR decision-makers to identify which, if any, of the many proposed new policies were going to be the most challenging in terms of time, resources and increased costs for their business.<\/p>\n
More than a fifth (22%) of those surveyed felt that the planned change to flexible working \u2013 namely expanding or improving access to flexible working to make it the \u2018default\u2019 where practical \u2013 is likely to be the most challenging of the incoming employment reforms. The strengthening of legal protections for workers taking part in industrial action, and the extension of employment tribunal time limits (which could lead to an increase in claims), were also identified as being among the most challenging for many employers (selected by 21% and 17% of respondents respectively).<\/p>\n
Currently, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working, such as remote or hybrid working, reduced or compressed hours, or flexitime, but employers can refuse these applications on one or more of eight statutory business grounds. The Bill\u2019s new requirements puts the onus on employers to ensure that any flexible working request is properly considered and only refused on \u201creasonable\u201d grounds, with these reasons clearly explained. Employers will also have to follow specific steps to consult with the employee before any decision is reached.<\/p>\n
HR professionals working at organisations in sectors where remote or hybrid work is less prominent, and in-person work is the typical employment model, were among those most likely to find the implications of improved access to flexible working a concern. Based on Ciphr\u2019s survey, around a third of retail, and hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses (35% and 33% respectively), as well as over a quarter of organisations in engineering, manufacturing, and construction (29%), and transport and logistics (25%) are expecting to find this change in flexible working policies and practices particularly challenging to implement.<\/p>\n
Extending the entitlement to statutory sick pay (SSP) by removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period, making paternity leave a day one right, and changes to the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, also represent significant challenges for as many one in six (16%) organisations. The same percentage (16%) highlighted their concerns over proposals for employers to offer minimum guaranteed hours contracts to qualifying zero and low hours workers.<\/p>\n
The \u2018most\u2019 challenging measures in the Employment Rights Bill to implement, according to 300 UK HR decision-makers:<\/p>\n
Improved access to flexible working: 22% of all respondents
\nImproved legal protections for workers taking part in industrial action: 21%
\nRequirement for organisations with 250+ employees to publish Equality Action Plans (including menopause action plans), alongside gender pay gap data: 17%
\nExtension of time limits for bringing tribunal claims (from 3 to 6 months): 17%
\nRequirement \/ obligation to offer guaranteed hours to qualifying zero and low hours workers (including agency workers): 16%
\nStatutory sick pay (no lower earnings limit and waiting period): 16%
\nChanges to the qualifying period for unfair dismissal: 16%
\nDay one right to paternity leave: 16%
\nAdditional threshold for collective redundancy consultation: 14%
\nWhistleblowing protections (to include disclosure of sexual harassment): 14%
\nRequirement for employers to take \u201call reasonable steps\u201d to prevent sexual harassment: 14%
\nStronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers against dismissal: 14%
\nDay one right to bereavement leave (including leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks): 14%
\nObligation to keep working time records of annual leave and pay entitlements: 14%
\nCode of practice to prevent two-tier workforces in public sector outsourcing contracts: 13%
\nLiability to not permit harassment of workers by third parties: 13%
\nStatutory probation period (length of \u2018initial period\u2019 still in consultation): 12%
\nStopping the use of NDAs to silence harassment or discrimination allegations: 12%
\nDay one right to unpaid parental leave: 11%
\nRestrictions on fire and rehire practices: 8.3%
\nRegulation of umbrella companies: 7%
\nNone of the above: 9.3%<\/p>\n
For HR professionals working at organisations with 250 or more employees, the move to require them to publish Equality Action Plans, including gender pay gap and menopause action plans, was their most-selected challenge (chosen by 22% of respondents in this group). This regulation is being introduced on a voluntary basis from next April and will become compulsory from April 2027.<\/p>\n
HR decision-makers at the largest enterprises in the UK, those with over 1,500 employees, appear the most likely to be concerned about the business challenges and financial burden of affording SSP reforms (27% of respondents in this group) and being liable to protect their workforce from third party harassment (23%).<\/p>\n
In comparison, nearly a quarter (23%) of HR professionals looking after smaller workforces, of 10-49 staff, expect the introduction of a statutory probation period, and stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers against dismissal, to be their biggest compliance challenges.<\/p>\n
Claire Hawes, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr, said: <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m encouraged but also a little surprised to see that expanding the remit of flexible working still tops the list of challenges for organisations. After years of hybrid working, and the proven business benefits of supporting good work\/life balance for employees, you might expect employers to feel more confident. But the data tells us the difficulty now lies less in writing the policy and more in embedding fair and transparent decision-making, especially in sectors where presence on-site is the norm. There are, of course, many front-line or in-person roles that simply cannot be done remotely, and many employees who do not want to work remotely either. At its heart, flexible working is about giving people more autonomy and flexibility over how they work, and should be embraced.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that many of these employment reforms are going to prove complex, admin-heavy, and perhaps costly for some employers to implement. The changes that may create the biggest compliance headaches share some common themes \u2013 they all demand better processes and better use of people data, which is sometimes easier said than done. Whether it\u2019s managing multiple flexible-working requests, meeting new consultation steps, publishing Equality Action Plans, or, potentially, dealing with increased employment tribunal claims, HR will be at the forefront and in the firing line. HR has a vital role to play in the successful implementation of this bill \u2013 helping to build clear frameworks, train managers, and ensure auditable records.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDone well, the changes introduced by the Employment Rights Bill could help employers to broaden talent pools, boost retention and engagement, reduce absenteeism and create more inclusive, trusting workplaces. In the short-term, the administrative lift will be challenging. But it is far outweighed by the long-term business gains.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Hawes, the earlier employers start to prepare for the new regulations the better. Some of the actions she recommends include: completing an audit and gap analysis of current policies and procedures; prepping leadership so they have a full understanding of what\u2019s changing and clear expectations around what needs to happen; and upskilling line managers so they are trained in the new requirements. Investing in integrated HR and payroll software can also help streamline legislative compliance. Ciphr\u2019s payroll software, for example, has built-in presets that automatically incorporate the latest regulatory changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new survey by HR and payroll software provider Ciphr has revealed which measures in the Employment Rights…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[84,1371,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-38461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}