In the July 2024 HR Roundup, we cover King Charles III’s speech at the new parliament’s opening, detailing proposed legislation affecting employment rights, workplace inclusivity, health and safety, and more. Learn how these changes impact HR professionals and employers, with advice on navigating the new policies. Additionally, we explore lessons from the recent CrowdStrike-induced Microsoft outage and offer support strategies for working parents during the summer holidays.
The King’s Opening of Parliament Speech – what you need to know
Upon the opening of the new parliament under the new Labour government, King Charles III gave a speech outlining the new government’s proposed bills and plans for the United Kingdom in the future. We’ve outlined some of the key takeaways from this speech relevant to HR professionals and employers, and advice on what to do based on these plans.
Employment Rights Legislation:
- Plans for a bill to ban zero-hour contracts, end fire and rehire, as well as strengthening sick pay and protections for new mothers.
- Introduction of new measures to enhance all workers’ rights, focusing on flexible working arrangements and work-life balance.
Health and Safety Regulations:
- Updates to health and safety standards, particularly in response to post-pandemic work environments.
- Enhanced mental health support provisions, requiring businesses to implement mental well-being strategies.
Skills and Training:
- Expansion of apprenticeship programs and vocational training initiatives to address skill shortages.
- Support for continuous professional development (CPD) programs to keep the workforce adaptable to changing market needs.
Remote Work and Digital Infrastructure:
- Legislation encouraging the adoption of remote work policies, along with investment in digital infrastructure to support remote working environments.
- Guidelines for cybersecurity and data protection for remote workers.
Parental and Family Leave:
- Enhancements to parental leave policies, providing greater flexibility and support for working parents.
- Introduction of family leave entitlements to support caregivers and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Employment Dispute Resolution:
• Streamlining of employment dispute resolution processes to make it easier and faster for employees and employers to resolve conflicts.
• Promotion of mediation and arbitration as alternative dispute resolution methods.
Advice for HR Departments and Employers on navigating these proposed changes in the future:
• Review and Update Policies: Ensure compliance with new employment rights legislation, such as around flexible working and parental leave.
• Promote Diversity and Inclusion: Implement and enhance inclusive hiring practices and support diversity training programs.
• Enhance Health and Safety Measures: Update health and safety protocols, including mental health support strategies.
• Invest in Training: Expand CPD training opportunities to address skill shortages and future-proof the workforce.
• Strengthen Digital Infrastructures: Adopt robust remote work policies if applicable to your business and invest in effective cybersecurity and data protection strategies.
• Simplify Dispute Resolution: Review and streamline dispute resolution processes to ensure they are efficient and effective.
By taking these actions, HR professionals and Employers can ensure they are aligned with upcoming legislative changes and are well-positioned to support their organisations in a rapidly evolving work environment.
Crowdstrike update bug – what we can learn from the outage of Microsoft
In July, a global tech failure caused chaos and led to disrupted banking, business, and healthcare services, as well as grounding worldwide flights. Tech company CrowdStrike admitted its antivirus update caused the issue, affecting Windows devices and causing them to display blue error screens.
So, what can employers and HR learn from this and how to protect themselves from software outages and guard against any potential cyber-attacks during this time? We asked our Chief Information Security Officer, Ryan Pogson, on what advice he would give to employers regarding this:
“It is important to take some lessons from the outage and see how companies can learn from this incident. Firstly, a trusted and tested Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process needs to be at the root of any software development company. The confidence in a test before deployment process allows for small mistakes to be caught before they are rolled out. Secondly, an appropriate set of policies and procedures that help companies be more intentional and specific around information security. ISO27001 is a perfect framework that helps drive these from a companywide risk point of view and gives confidence to customers that information is taken seriously as a supplier. And thirdly, a robust incident process. Companies will never be perfect, but if they can continue to learn and not shy away from incidents, they can continue improving every day.
Guarding against cyber-attacks is a trickier answer, threat actors (hackers) are becoming more and more savvy in the way that they try to hack companies. At the core of the guarding against these attacks is ongoing awareness from staff at the avenues that these might come from and being aware of things like phishing and social engineering. As a company it is important that they empower staff to see these threats, not only in their professional life but their private life. By creating an awareness in both phases of your lives we can be more attune to the attempts that cyber-attacks employ.”
School holidays begin for parent workers
July marked the beginning of the summer holidays for schools across the UK, marking the start of a 6-week period of no schools for children.
As a result, it means that working parents must juggle their professional responsibilities with finding suitable childcare arrangements, often facing increased stress and logistical challenges during this period. Here are some ways that employers can support these working parents during the summer holidays:
• Flexible Hours: If possible, providing flexibility in working hours can be a huge help for parents coordinating childcare. This could be in the form of staggered start and end times, condensed work weeks, or flexible lunchtime/breaktime periods.
• Workload Management: Ensure that employees who are working over the summer holiday period feel supported with their workloads during this period. This includes managing times of multiple cases of absences due to annual leave or childcare requirements effectively and ensuring that there is an adequate amount of cover during any working periods of time. Using a rota or holiday management system can be crucial to managing this smoothly and with clear oversight.
• Family-Friendly Benefits: Implement benefits such as childcare vouchers, discounts at retailers, and the ability to buy or sell annual leave to give parents more time with their children.
• Support Programs: Establish support programs that include resources such as internal employee parent support groups, or signposting to any counselling services available within the company’s benefit programs (if applicable).
• Encourage Communication: Foster a culture of open communication where employees feel comfortable discussing their needs and managers can offer appropriate support.
These measures can help reduce stress for working parents and improve their overall productivity and shows an employer’s commitment to supporting employees with childcare responsibilities.
