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HR News Room – March 2023

Want to be a great leader?

Here are 5 things your need to stop doing.

Great leaders guide teams towards success.


They understand what motivates not just the team, but the individuals that make up the team, too. That means everyone understands what’s expected of them. They know what they’re working towards. They
share a vision of what success looks like.

The result of this is a group of engaged, motivated and happy people. People who want to come to work every day and do the best job they can do. And for your business, that means better productivity,
a better culture, and even better profitability. Bad leaders on the other hand, will not help you achieve this.

While great leaders may all have different ways of inspiring their teams (after all, not all teams want the same things), bad leaders mostly demonstrate a lot of the same traits. And a lot of those traits are somewhat
narcissistic.


If you want to be a great leader, or to develop great leaders in your business, you need to stamp out these 5 key bad leader behaviours…

  1. Vanity
    Bad leaders think the future performance of the business can be driven by them and them alone. This can make them rude, disrespectful, and stops them from recognising others’ achievements.
  2. Setting a bad example
    Bad leaders forget that their actions have an impact on the people around them. Failing to behave in the right way can make entire teams disengage.
  3. Poor communication
    Bad leaders don’t communicate well. What that looks like can vary between too much communication and too little. Either way, employees are left with little understanding of what is expected of them.
  4. Ignoring individuals
    Bad leaders don’t realise the importance of understanding what drives individuals as well as teams. This means they’re unable to motivate and engage people to reach success.
  5. Not giving feedback
    Bad leaders don’t offer regular feedback to help individuals move closer to their professional goals. This means relationships with their teams don’t have trust, and open conversation isn’t easy.

We’ve written a guide that talks about all of this in more detail and includes the things that great leaders do to help drive a business forward. Find the guide on the FREE resources page of our
website here: FREE HR RESOURCES

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3 ways to avoid racial discrimination in your business

The 21st of March is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. As a diverse and inclusive employer, it’s a good idea for you to recognise this day and raise awareness of discrimination within your
business.

We all know how important it is to maintain a diverse business that treats everyone appropriately, regardless of their characteristics or background. But does the same go for the people working for you? Making sure that everyone in your business understands and aligns with your business’s values and beliefs is one of the best ways to create a great business culture, and makes sure that no one ever feels less valued, less important, or singled out for any reason.


So, what are the best ways to make sure you avoid racial discrimination (or any kind of discrimination) in your business?

  1. Update your equality policy
    Your equality policy is a written agreement that states that you will avoid discriminating against anyone and create a safe and inclusive environment for everyone within the business, and who works with
    your business. It should clarify what is expected of employees, as well as the repercussions if someone is found guilty of discrimination in any sense. It should also provide information on how to report incidents
    of discrimination. Everyone in the business should have access to a copy of the policy, and if you update it, make sure everyone is aware. If you don’t already have an equality policy, create one!
  2. Provide training
    There are lots of ways you can give your people training in diversity of all kinds. You can arrange workshops, invite speakers into your workplace, or hold interactive sessions in-house. Whatever you decide, make sure you include everyone in the business in your training sessions. You may also like to consider creating focus groups where people who may be discriminated against (whether that’s race, age, sex, or
    another kind of discrimination) to find out their experiences. This can be a good way to see what improvements still need to be made in your business and to gather suggestions for positive change.
  3. Make it simple to complain
    As mentioned in point number one, you need to make your complaints procedure clear to everyone. Every person in your business should know who they should make a complaint to, should they face discrimination, how they should make their complaint, and they should understand how the investigation process works after that. Include this in your policy, and again, always ensure that it’s accessible to everyone. It’s also important to make it clear that any discrimination will be punished, and that may even result in dismissal. It’s a big topic to cover. If you’d like any help or advice on making sure your business is as diverse and inclusive as it can be, let’s talk.

Q&A

Can I stop my employee from picking up their sick child from school?

Employees have the statutory right to take time off to care for those dependent on them. This is an unpaid right and is to be used in unexpected situations where their dependent is in need of urgent support,
such as where they become unwell and need to leave school or have an accident. If the employee needs to, they can leave work under this right to provide immediate care to the dependent, and then make
arrangements for further care. This does not give the right to an extended time off.

Can I tell staff to cover up their tattoos whilst at work?

Yes, you can set rules on acceptable standards of appearance at work and you might decide that it doesn’t fit your professionalism or health and safety standards if someone has visible tattoos or piercings.
You must make sure you are able to objectively justify your decision in the event that an employee has a reason protected under discrimination laws (e.g. religion) for not being able to cover up, and the rules
must be equally applied to all employees, unless there are particular reasons that apply, such as religious or reasons related to an individuals ethnicity.

How do I handle the extra bank holiday for the King’s Coronation on 8th May?

There is no statutory right to time off so employers will need to review their contracts of employment to determine whether their staff are entitled to time off on this additional bank holiday. Where contracts do not include an automatic right to time off, employers can choose to give their employees an additional day of paid leave or staff can make an annual leave request in the usual way.

Let’s chat

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  • Do you currently have a HR consultant?
  • On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you with them?

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CHO Corner

We’ve made it….

Yes, we’ve been celebrating again in the Haus of HR! This time we’ve been named as a finalist in the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Celebrating Small Business Awards for Start-Up Business of the Year 2023, East Midlands. It’s a great way to kick off the 2023 award session, and we can’t wait to celebrate with all the finalists at next month’s award ceremony.

Download below the latest copy of our HR News Room to read, so grab a coffee and sit back and relax – enjoy!

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