If a client complains about one of your employees, reacting to please the client without considering your employee's rights could be a costly mistake. Understandably, you have a commercial relationship to protect. Many business owners over-apologise to the client, pull the employee in for a sharp word and hope it blows over. But, as the £66k Andrew Escourt unfair dismissal case earlier this year showed, simply acting on what a client wants, without proper process, can b

If your business breaches basic employee rights, the consequences could be huge. You could be ordered to pay back everything you owe, going back years. A worker can make a tribunal claim without a lawyer. The new Fair Work Agency (FWA) can audit your records, issue financial penalties and name you publicly. And, if your staff find out that their rights have been breached, even accidentally, this breaks their trust and can damage your business from a retention point of

If you can't measure every employee benefit you offer and how it impacts your bottom line, you're not doing it right. Yes, perks are primarily there to support your employees. They keep your people happy and improve your work culture. But you're running a business, not a charity. Any perks and benefits you offer must also have a positive, measurable impact on your metrics, whether that's performance, retention or revenue. You need a strategy to measure whether your perk

Dismissing employees is getting much more risky for business owners in the UK. Recent changes in the law mean that you can't just let someone go and assume that everything will be okay. It's easier (and therefore more likely) that an employee will claim that they were let go unfairly and the amount they can claim will be uncapped from January 2027. Let's look at what's changing, how it affects you and what you need to do to keep your business safe. What's changing R

Interim HR support might be your most cost-effective HR option If you think HR support means hiring someone full-time or managing without because that's too expensive, think again. There's a middle option that a lot of businesses overlook. Interim HR support has been growing as a solution for businesses that need real expertise for a specific period. Maybe for a restructure, a complex people issue or for getting ahead of Employment Rights Act changes. The appeal is straightfo

There’s a big employment law change being enforced on 1 January 2027 that will affect every hire you make on and after 1 July this year. Anyone you hire on or after 1 July 2026 could gain the right to claim unfair dismissal after just six months of service (down from two years). What this actually changes You no longer have two years as a buffer and the risk of dismissing someone and getting sued for unfair dismissal has dramatically increased. If something goes wron