With globalisation and remote working being current and upward trends, it is unsurprising that many job opportunities are created in UK through foreign investments. Notably, recently released government statistics reveal that over 55,000 jobs were created across the UK in 2020/21 by overseas entities. In this backdrop, it is vital that foreign businesses considering recruiting a UK workforce abide by applicable employment legislation and best practices.
The UK government describes the Equality Act 2010 as a landmark piece of legislation and takes pride in UK’s equality laws being among the most robust in the world. Therefore, in order to avoid negative consequences, employers must ensure that they do not fall short of such legislation from the outset.
During the recruitment stage, hiring decisions should not be made generally based on candidates’ sex, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status or disabilities. Seemingly harmless phrases which may engage equality legislation and unnecessarily restrict the talent pool should also be avoided in recruitment campaigns. For example, phrases such as “recent graduate”, “highly experienced” or “mature candidate” can be perceived to be associated with the candidate’s age as opposed to their ability to perform in the prospective role.
Another aspect which will require attention is drafting and maintaining employee handbooks as well as policies & procedures relating to disciplinary and grievance issues, prevention of bullying and harassment, sickness and absence management, equality and diversity as well as health and safety at work to name a few. It is also prudent for an employer to make it explicit that some of such policies & procedures are not contractual, in order to prevent employees pursuing breach of contract claims in the event of inadvertent minor infringements of such policies & procedures by the employer.
It is noteworthy that, pursuant to provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, employees’ rights in UK improve significantly along with their length of service. Two such examples include employees with at least two years of continuous service gaining the right not to be “unfairly dismissed” and being entitled to redundancy payments which increase dependent upon factors including their length of service. Employees who feel that their employment rights have been violated can also seek remedies via an Employment Tribunal.
Employment Tribunals, which are part of UK’s Courts and Tribunals system are responsible for hearing claims from those who believe that their employer or potential employer has treated them unlawfully. Notably, since the abolition of Employment Tribunal claim fees in 2017, there has been a substantial increase in the number of claims pursued against employers. Therefore, it is vital that foreign businesses who may not be familiar with UK’s employment legislation seek advice and guidance from reputable employment law practitioners from the outset, thus minimising the risk of costly Employment Tribunal claims.
Bhayani HR & Employment Law, which is one of a small number of firms in the UK specialising exclusively in employment law and human resources is best placed to advise overseas business on how to navigate this potentially unfamiliar territory. In addition to employment related legal advice, services offered by us include HR audits; drafting employee handbooks and policies & procedures; as well as conducting training sessions relating to human resource management. Further, Bhayani Recruitment can offer overseas businesses with recruiting solutions in UK, thereby providing a total Employment Law, Human Resources and Recruitment solutions package.
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