Good evening, and welcome to From the Boundary #2, a whistle-stop round up of the latest in HR and business news from Sightscreen HR.
We start this round up with news from the employment tribunal that greater protection should have been afforded to an employee who was dismissed after he ‘ blew the whistle' on bad practices at the bank he worked for. Despite having legitimate complaints about his ongoing lateness and time-keeping, the judge found that the Royal Bank of Canada should have taken steps to properly investigate its employee’s disclosure relating to box-ticking on compliance issues. A nudge to employers that they must take protected disclosures seriously, whether or not they have other legitimate complaints about an employee’s conduct or performance.
On to much discussed news about Hermes new ‘self-employed plus’ status for its couriers. Under their previous self-employed status, Hermes couriers were not entitled to minimum wage, annual leave, sick pay and other rights afforded to ‘workers’. Under this new ‘plus’ status Hermes is offering a fixed hourly rate and all of the aforementioned benefits but will exercise more control over the routes the couriers take. Hermes drivers will be given the option of remaining under the current arrangement or moving on to the new terms. There are varying opinions on this innovation, with Personnel Today describing it as potentially 'revolutionary' and People Management quoting experts who say that it won’t ‘ 'solve' the gig economy. Despite the mixed reaction, this is certainly a sign of innovation in a sector grappling with the tax and legal implications of operating in a way that current legislation wasn’t designed for. Hermes have worked with Trade Unions to try and get on the front foot, what remains to be seen is how the tribunal views this status if tested (although working with the Unions was a smart move on this front).
Back to the tribunal and Morrisons have followed in the footsteps of Tesco and Asda to be the latest supermarket to face an equal pay claim from staff past and present. The claims hinge on the fact that male dominated roles in warehouses had greater rates of pay than ‘shop floor’ roles that were largely undertaken by women. The claims argue that the in-store roles are of equal value to the company to the work undertaken by warehouse staff. And this is where employers need to think very carefully- have you objectively evaluated roles across your organisation in a consistent and fair manner to determine the fair salary or pay rate? This is not about two people doing the same job, but two people doing different jobs of equal value getting the same pay- and this is where it can get tricky. The BBC helpfully illustrate this with their example of cleaners v binmen. This is not new legislation, it’s been around since 1984, but it could start to get costly for employers who ignore it- some estimates have put Tesco’s possible bill at £4 billion.
Finally, new research has concluded that accent bias still exists and that a broad accent can be a barrier to career progression and social mobility. It’s 2019! It was a surprise to me to read this at first, but I then thought about all the times I’d heard of people having to hide their accents- from Directors moving from North to South being told they’d need to ‘soften’ their accent to progress, to teachers moving South to North changing their accent to ‘fit in’. Yet another reason for businesses to assess the evidence basis for the decisions they make and do all they can to mitigate unconscious bias – diverse teams equal business advantage.
As ever, if you have any questions about any of these topics or need HR support for your organisation, please don't hesitate to get in touch using info@sightscreenhr.co.uk or by giving Ben a call on 07703063913