Just a snapshot of what we do
and some of the cases we have provided expert advice on.
Here we have shared a selection of recent HR issues that we have supported our clients with. As you can see, we are used to dealing with our fair share of weird and wonderful HR challenges!
Supporting an international organisation with a sticky dismissal appeal hearing
The client had made two managers redundant and in line with ACAS code the staff members had the right to appeal the decision.
The organisation asked Nectar HR to provide the necessary HR support to the organisation and the member of the board assigned to conduct the appeal process with the two members of staff that had been made redundant.
As the board member had never conducted such a meeting previously it was important to ensure that time was spent with the manager prior to the meeting ging through the process and purpose of the meeting and the expectations of them as the meeting chair.
The HR consultant assigned to this activity reviewed all the documentation used during the initial consultation and redundancy dismissal process and suggested questions for the Chair to ask and consider during the appeal process. As the HR support all administrative tasks associated with the appeal process were carried out including inviting the staff to their appeal hearings. The HR Consultant working with the client also provided a suitable script for the hearing chair to follow to ensure they covered all of the necessary steps of the appeal process. Following the appeal hearing the HR Consultant then prepared with the client the outcome letter and ensured all correspondence was sent out the staff members within the necessary time frame.
With the support of the HR Consultants the Clients appeal hearing was carried out successfully and the Client was able to ensure they remained compliant with the organisations appeal process.
The perils of social media
The client presented to us with a member of staff in state of extreme upset following a period of comments made on social media prior to the staff member arriving at work. Which resulted in the staff member receiving extensive negative messages that included threats to kill.
As the member of staff was linked to a family member in the public eye and that the social media messaging was also with an individual also in the public eye; first it was important to ensure the safety of the staff member. Following this a Nectar HR Consultant worked with the client to devise a suitable press release statement should members of the press or the organisations social media pages get in contact with the organisation looking for comment on the social media comments.
Following this incident calming down over the weekend a HR consultant within the Nectar HR team at the request of the organisation looked into the matter and the nature of the social media incident to determine if the staff member had breached any of the organisation’s policies and procedures regarding the use of social media. After reviewing the content of the social media posts and discussing the incident with the staff member and other work colleagues, the organisations Head of operations received a Full report on the incident detailing all the findings and recommendations.
On this occasion the organisation took the advice provided by our HR consultant and did not proceed with any formal disciplinary action. The staff member was spoken to be their manager and reminded of the important of our conduct when using social media whether for personal or corporate use.
Supporting with a sponsorship licence application
With our client’s expansion into the UK market, they were finding it increasingly difficult to source UK or even EU based candidates for open vacancies. Resulting in the client looking at candidates further afield to outside of the EU.
We came alongside the organisation to step them through the whole process of applying for Tier 2 sponsorship licence. We reviewed the Tier 2 licence requirements, and the skilled workers needing regulated qualifications framework to establish if the organisation would be able to secure a successful sponsorship licence application.
As the organisation’s skills shortage did fall within the sponsorship licence skilled workers list, we worked with the Head of support services to complete the 8-step online sponsorship application process. This included drafting for the client a ‘2000 character’ statement detailing why there is a need for the organisation to be granted certificates of sponsorship. In-addition it was also important to support the organisation gather all the necessary and certified documents needed to be sent as part of the application process.
After successfully gaining Tier 2 sponsorship status we were able to work with the client to successfully secure their first overseas candidate for one of the many job roles that had been vacant for some time. This required using the Governments online sponsor management system to assign the new candidate with their own unique certificate of sponsorship reference number.
Taking the lead on recruitment for an NHS client
Due to changes within primary care provision our client was looking to expand the provision of care to its patients, and employee staff to fulfil some of the new positions now available to be brough into the primary care setting.
Working with the client Nectar HR looked to ensure that the client remained consistent with its recruitment practices for these new roles. This included ensure they had signed off approval for the recruitment activity. To then move in to working with the client to create a suitable Job Description and Person Specification as well as a suitable salary range for the roles based on current industry standards.
From this point the client went ahead and advertised the new vacancies in the normal health care settings. Within Nectar HR we then worked with the client through the shortlisting and interview stages. This included creating suitable shortlisting pro-forma for the clients recruiting manager to use to select the most suitable candidates for interview. As well as supporting the client with the creation of a suitable interview selection process that included standard classic questions and competency and case-based questions.
Working so closely with the client for these new roles, the client was able to successfully recruit new staff into all 3 of the new roles, with some of these roles recruiting multiple staff.
Our Services
We Specialize In
Absence Management
Competency Framework
Diversity and Equality
Get in touch
Interested in finding out how we can help your business in improving its Human Resources activities? Simply visit our contact page.