How will the Employment Rights Bill impact your business?

We are getting closer to the implementation of the Employment Rights Bill, as it is set to get royal assent before the end of the year.

While it has been making its way through parliament, you should have been thinking about how its implementation would impact your business to ensure that you can make any necessary preparations in a timely fashion.

There is still time to adapt to the Bill before it becomes law if you have not yet already done so, which is why we are looking at what the Bill means for businesses and what your new obligations will be.

What major reforms does the Bill introduce?

The Employment Rights Bill, as the name would suggest, seeks to foreground the rights of workers and bolster an environment in every workplace where all employees are treated fairly.

The main way in which this is being achieved is with the reduction or removal of qualifying periods before an employee is entitled to certain key rights and allowances.

Under the new rules, every worker will immediately qualify for:

• Protection against unfair dismissal
• The right to request flexible working arrangements
• Parental leave
• Paternity leave

This is significant for businesses that have a high turnover of staff or utilise seasonal workers, as they may need to make considerations about how to incorporate these allowances into contracts by default.

The Bill is also eradicating the ability to create new zero-hour contracts and also seeks to abolish existing ones.

By law, employees will be permitted to convert their existing agreements into fixed-hour contracts upon request.

Agency staff will feel the benefit of equal-pay rights once they have worked twelve weeks of continuous service, so it will be important to closely monitor your business’s reliance on agency staff and ensure that you manage the length of time any individual works with your company accordingly.

“Fire and rehire” tactics will be forbidden to ensure that staff do not have to endure the uncertainty that this practice brings about.

Pregnancy loss before 24 weeks will soon be covered by bereavement leave, which will enable more compassion to be shown to those who are struggling through emotional hardship.

How will the Bill affect your business?

Keeping compliant with the Bill will be incredibly important, as you will risk penalties and fines if you breach the new laws.

Alongside this, breaching employment laws is a surefire way to tarnish your business’s reputation and alienate potential employees, leading to a recruitment crisis.

With employees getting greater power, there comes an increased financial responsibility to ensure that their wages are paid.

Budgets could be placed under notable strain if the removal of zero-hour contracts is not properly managed, and guaranteed fixed hours will soon incur additional payroll requirements that will also need to be properly managed.

This will be paired with the need to provide the statutory rates of pay for staff on leave, although these tend to be lower than typical salaries, so this will be more of a compliance challenge.

To ensure that nothing vital slips through the cracks, you should seek the support of HR and payroll specialists to ensure your business is ready for the Bill to become law.

We are on hand to guide you through the process to make sure that your business does not suffer and can better accommodate your employees.

Speak to our team today to get expert advice on preparing for the Employment Rights Bill and safeguarding your business’s future.