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Men's Health Week 2022

This year, Men’s Health Week is running from 13th to 19th of June 2022. This year’s theme is ‘time for your Man MOT’. You may be wondering what a Man MOT is...

Managing Employee Holiday Requests

With summer months and school holidays just around the corner, travel abroad as well as staycations are about to take off! Holiday requests (especially those made last minute...

Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

Mental health awareness has been a pivotal talking point for many organisations across the country, and what better time to discuss the issues than now, as the 9th – 15th May...

Supporting Employees with the Rising Cost of Living

Inflation has increased the cost of food to its highest price in 13 years, along with the rise in energy bills and the rocketing prices of petrol and diesel, there will be few empl...

NEWS- Our Feature in Business News Wales

Welsh HR Firm Celebrates the Creation of Over 120 Work Placements As the Kickstart Scheme draws to a close this month, Bridgend-based HR consultancy and scheme gateway provider, H...

The Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday: Employee Holiday Entitlement FAQs

To celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee there will be an extra Bank Holiday and as such your employees may be entitled to an extra day of holiday depending on the exact wor...

Your April 2022 Employment Law Checklist

See below our list of employment law changes, reminders and actions for April 2022... National Minimum Wage changes From 1 April the National Minimum Wage rates wi...

Kickstart Scheme in Review

The Kickstart Scheme has provided a boost to the careers of over 100,000 young people since its beginnings in September 2020. During the stress and upheaval of a pandemic, the init...

Shortening the Notice Period of an Employee who has Resigned: What Should Employers Consider?

In the recent case of Mr M Fentem v Outform EMEA Limited, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) upheld the decision that shortening Mr Fentem's notice period by paying salary in li...

Recruitment in the Social Media Age: How Can Businesses Win the Talent War?

The number of job vacancies in the UK significantly increases every year, and this year is no exception. Many individuals are either seeking new roles, new companies or a complete ...

Controlling Banter in the Workplace

Promoting a healthy, positive, and inclusive working environment for employees is one of the most important aspects of running a successful business. Without providing a safe envir...

The Latest Trend: A 4 Day Work Week

Across the UK some businesses are beginning to trial a 4-day work week to innovate the traditional 5-day work week. Countries such as Norway, Denmark, and Netherlands are already a...

Employment Law Changes for 2022

As the new year commences, there are many new employment law changes that are coming into place and it can be difficult to keep on top of it. This blog covers just a few of the mos...

Omicron: Controlling Workplace Absences

With cases of COVID-19 rising as the Omicron variant becomes more widespread in our communities, so too is the level of absences in the workplace. While densely populated areas suc...

Working From Home: Facilitate or Face the Fines

As of Monday 27th December 2021, a new procedure surrounding COVID-19, specifically working from home, has come into place. It is now required that employers in Wales take all reas...

Why are Employment Contracts so Important?

You’ve found the perfect candidate, congratulations! The next step is to prepare the employment contract to ensure you avoid any future misunderstandings or disagreements&nbs...

Creating a Climate Conscious Culture Within the Workplace: Tips for SMEs

With COP26 (Conference of Parties) drawing to a close today, climate discussions have likely left employers questioning how sustainable and climate conscious their business and wor...

Flexible Working: Could It Be Made The Default?

On the 23rd September 2021, the government issued a consultation regarding “making flexible working the default”. Rather than making significant changes to the current ...

World Suicide Prevention Day: Managing Mental Health in the Workplace

During the pandemic, discussions surrounding mental health have become more common. According to research carried out by the Mental Health Foundation, the amount of people saying t...

Alert Level Zero: What Does It Mean for Employers in the Hospitality Industry?

Last Saturday (7th August) the Welsh Government went ahead with their decision to move the country to alert level zero, allowing for unlimited numbers of people to meet indoors and...

Managing Employee Holiday Requests for Travel Abroad During COVID-19

As a nation we are in a period of relief and celebration! As national lockdown restrictions begin to lift, vaccines roll out, and foreign travel begins to take off, many are optimi...

Fair or Unfair Dismissal? What Employers Need to Know

On the 20th May 2021, an employment tribunal found that a man spotted at a pub while signed off from work for illness had been unfairly dismissed by his employer. Th...

EU Settlement Scheme: What Should Employers Do If Employees Miss The Deadline?

The deadline to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme has now passed. It is possible that some EEA citizens working in the UK did not apply in time, which can leave employers unsure o...

The Kickstart Scheme: Brighter Future for Young People

"In summer 2020, the UK Government announced the Kickstart Scheme, an employer initiative aiming to place 16 to 24 year olds at risk of long-term unemployment in six-month paid wor...

Pride and Beyond: Being an LGBTQ+ Friendly Employer

Each June, the LGBTQ+ community across the globe celebrates Pride, a recognition of how far equal rights have come and a celebration of individuality, friendship, and love that has...

Right to Work Checks – Changes from 1st July 2021

On the 1st of July 2021, the UK transitions to its new right to work system, as part of adjustments to the law following Brexit. Free movement between the EU and the UK ended ...

Men’s Health Week 2021 – Promoting Men’s Health at Work

Men’s Health Week 2021 is running from the 14th to the 21st of June. Men’s Health Forum are promoting a five step Can Do Challenge, encouraging men to get in touch with...

Carers Week 2021 – Valuing Carers in the Workplace

This year, Carers Week is running between the 7th and the 13th of June with a focus on making caring visible and valued. The 2011 census showed that 6.5 million people, or around 1...

Why Are Social Media Policies So Important?

More people are connecting online now than ever before, as many of us have turned to online platforms to keep in touch with friends and family throughout the pandemic. Having emplo...

Returning to the Workplace: Health and Safety

Most employers will now be preparing for a phased return to the workplace ready for when the government start encouraging those working from home to return to the office. Employers...

Why are Employee Handbooks so Important?

What is an employee handbook? An employee handbook is a document that highlights key information an employee should be aware of when starting at a new organisation. Most employee ...

Returning to the Workplace: Can Employers Make the Vaccine Mandatory?

It has recently been reported that half of UK adults have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Considering the fast-paced rollout of the vaccine, many employers w...

Returning to the Workplace: How to Handle Requests for Remote Working

As we approach the end of another national lockdown, workers will soon be invited to return to the workplace. There are many reasons, such as a better work-life balance or reduced ...

EU Settlement Scheme: Ensure Your Workers Do Not Miss Out

The EU Settlement Scheme allows EU citizens resident in the UK to apply for the status required to remain after June 2021. Successful applicants will be granted ‘settled&rsqu...

Employment Law Changes for 2021

Here we highlight some of the key employment law changes to look out for in 2021. IR35 The changes to the off-payroll tax legislation, IR35, will see the responsibility of assess...

Working from Home - Supporting Staff With Their Emotional Wellbeing

Working from home has become the new normal over the past year as businesses were forced to adapt their operations last march as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesse...

Are you Ready for IR35?

IR35 are the off-payroll working rules that currently apply to a contractor that provides their services to a client or organisation through their own limited company or any other ...

Grow your Workforce Through the Government Kickstart Scheme

What is the Kickstart Scheme? The Kickstart Scheme provides funding for employers of all sizes to create new 6-month placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are ...

England’s Three Tier Lockdown and Wales’ Firebreak Lockdown

Recently, the UK government announced the introduction of the Three Tier Lockdown for those living and working in England. Following a series of local lockdowns across Wales, inclu...

End of Furlough, Start of the new CJSS and the Job Retention Bonus

A little bit if a warning comes with this blog, its slightly longer than normal but there are a few changes happening in the next few weeks that we think will be useful for you to ...

Handling Flexible Working Requests

The impact of the current pandemic has resulted in many employees having to work flexibly. While there are many employees that are eager to return to the workplace, many have...

Local lockdowns Many companies have been in the process of bringing their employees back to work from furlough as lockdown restrictions continue to relax. As we’ve re...

Dealing with quarantine restrictions

In recent weeks we have seen the government have announced changes to quarantine rules for those returning to the UK, which requires them to self-isolate for two weeks upon return....

Making Employees Redundant While Still on Furlough

Last Friday (10th July 2020), the HMRC issued some further changes to its guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). The main change for employers to be aware of is t...

Workplace wellbeing - Getting to the ‘core’ of employee absence

Guest Blog written by Laura Bryan the Founder of Mind Nourishing “All disease starts in the gut”- Hippocrates. Although made over 2000 years ago, there is a dept...

Working From Home – Is This the New Normal?

Six months ago, ‘Zoom’ was a word used by camera enthusiasts or by a toddler to explain how fast a toy car moved. ‘Working from home’ generally meant taking...

Guest Blog - Covid Secure Workplace

Guest Blog by Cherie Coughlan (Managing Director) of Coregenic If you are planning on reopening your business, Coregenic can provide you with help and advice. After ma...

Redundancies – The Small Business Guide

If you are reading this blog you are likely to be a small business owner faced with the difficult situation of needing to reduce staffing levels. Making someone redundant is ...

When should a business consider outsourced HR?

In these unprecedented times, it is even more important that businesses receive the correct advice regarding people management and support. An outsourced HR partner cou...

Staggered Withdrawal of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

We love how the Chancellor likes to make his detailed announcements at 5pm on a Friday! However, we will forgive him as there was a small piece of good news for employers. T...

Furlough Exit Strategy

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is set to end on 30th June and there is no news yet as to whether the scheme will be extended by the government. Employers th...

Making a successful claim under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

There are inconsistencies between the Government Guidance (updated on 17 April 2020) and the Treasury Direction dated 15 April 2020 additionally the guidance has been updated a num...

Working from home – how to get it right

For many businesses’ working from home may be a completely new concept. Others will be seeing the numbers of employees that work from home increase significantly in light of ...

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - Updated Guidance

HMRC have issued further guidance on the new Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme this weekend for employers and employees. This is the third update to the guidance documents whi...

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Following the Chancellor’s announcement on about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, employers are keen to find out how to access the support. At this point very litt...

Managing Sickness Absence

Long-term sickness absence is usually defined as a period of continuous absence of more than four weeks. When an employee is off sick for a long time, it can often feel like you&rs...

The Good Work Plan: UK Employment Law is changing

Have you heard of the Good Work Plan yet? While it may not be familiar to you just yet, it is set to affect almost every business in the country when its policies start to come int...

Taking on your first employee

Taking on your first employee can be really exciting but if you haven't had to think about issues such as employment law before it can be daunting! Here are our top tips to help yo...

Holiday Management

Managing Holidays The majority of us look forward to the sunny weather, school holidays and the chance of a well-earned break. For many employers the holiday season can be a bit o...

Extreme Weather and Working

Unless you have been lucky enough to be on holiday in warmer climates you will have experienced the recent bad weather. Many employers do not have a Policy to cover this as situat...

Employment Tribunals

No-one is surprised that the number of tribunal applications has increased since the abolition of fees. This article from HR Magazine is an interesting read and explains why the fu...

Employment law changes for 2018

30th March 2018 Gender pay gap reporting for public sector employers Public sector employers must publish first reports before this date (with a snapshot date of 31 March 2017). ...

Quotes

"We have been very impressed with the service and professionalism from Highfield HR, previously we have used much bigger companies which didn’t come close to providing the support we get from Leanne and Highfield HR team. "

Sadie Lougher - Lougher Home Care

"I have recommended Highfield HR to a charity I support and the feedback was excellent. Jayne Symons is very professional and clearly knows her HR onions. I've also used her in my own business to carry out exit interviews - and again, her response rate and feedback was first-class. Thanks Jayne!"

Carmen Gray, Heath Marketing

"Professional level of advice and service delivered. We were grateful for the dedication and commitment, nothing was too much trouble. Keep up the high level of service you are achieving. "

Zac Williams - Greenfield Contractors

"Highfield HR as a company are professional, extremely knowledgeable, so friendly and lovely and for this reason i would always recommend them to any of my business acquaintances and clients who are looking for support with HR and employment issues. "

Marcella Kenny - owner of MK Administration and Bookkeeping

"I want to thank Highfield HR so much for the help they gave one of my very special clients - they assisted with finding a Kickstarter at the last minute whilst the scheme was ending. They handled everything so professionally and found, what i hope to be, a wonderful asset to the company. They have also assisted with employment contracts for existing employees and are always there for support when needed. "

Marcella Kenny - owner of MK Administration and Bookkeeping