Change is coming!

Now is the time to get ready!  And good people management will be more important than ever before.

Good people management isn’t new, I’ve written a number of articles about this over the years; but now more than ever ensuring your people managers are up to the job could make or break your business.

Your people are your largest and most valuable investment.  It takes time, money and effort to hire, train and retain staff.  Doing your best to ensure they thrive is a no-brainer and that’s where your people managers come in. I talked about this in this article in 2019 and nothing has changed.

The law is changing.

From 1 January 2027 the law on unfair dismissal rights changes!  This means that any employee hired on or before 1 July 2026 will receive automatic rights to bring a claim for unfair dismissal.  The current term for this right is two years; from 1 January 2027 it reduces to six months; this is often the end of the probationary period for many businesses.

It is going to be harder for businesses to dismiss people without scrutiny and increased risk.  Employees can bring a claim if they feel their dismissal is unfair – win or lose, this is expensive, time-consuming, disruptive and public – it could affect your business’ reputation.  In addition to this, the compensation cap (currently c. £118k) will be removed and therefore unlimited compensation may be awarded for successful claims.

Get ready!

Preparing for these changes now will protect your business from such claims and ensuring your people managers are up to the task will be critical.  Below are some considerations:

  • Look at your recruitment process – how robust is it?
  • Ensure your onboarding/induction is relevant, thorough and appropriate – this should be tailored to each person.
  • Ensure you have the right managers in place – train them, set expectations and provide ongoing support.
  • Review your policies and procedures in particular in relation to probation and disciplinaries – ensure they are consistently used.
  • Review current employees – let’s manage any issues now.
  • Document everything – clients I work with regularly will hear me say this over and over.
  • Have the right insurance in place – this should include tribunal cover.
  • Budget for claims and increases in insurance premiums.

Not everyone is cut out to be an effective leader, it’s not all about ticking boxes and following process, it’s about the soft skills that are learnt through training and experience. Having the right people in place to manage your teams, ensuring there is a robust and fair process in place to do so, and most importantly that it is followed consistently across the business is more important than ever.

This really is a huge change and I can’t stress enough the importance of being prepared.  Please do get in touch if you wish to discuss this and/or need help in getting ready.