INDEPENDENT EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ADVICE

When the problem is about more than employment law

Not every employment law issue is really a legal problem.

There is always a human side to the relationship between employment law and employee relations. Some of the most difficult workplace problems do not arise because an employer does not know what the law says. They arise because knowing the law does not necessarily tell you what to do.

The issue may involve a senior employee, director, founder or somebody with considerable influence within the organisation. There may be competing legal, commercial and employment relations considerations. Sometimes what appears initially to be an employment law problem is really a problem of relationships, behaviour, judgement or organisational dynamics.

That is where experienced independent employment relations advice can be particularly useful.

A senior sounding board

HR Directors and senior managers sometimes need somewhere to test their thinking.

Not another lengthy legal opinion. Not somebody simply repeating what the organisation already believes. And not necessarily somebody to take over management of the issue.

Sometimes what is needed is an experienced independent practitioner who can look at the problem from outside the organisation, ask the difficult questions and help identify a practical way forward.

That may mean considering what has actually happened rather than what people assume has happened; the employment law implications; the personalities and relationships involved; the position and influence of the individuals concerned; and the practical consequences of the available options.

The objective is not simply to identify what an employer can legally do, but to help determine what it should sensibly do.

When seniority changes the problem

Workplace problems involving senior people can be particularly difficult.

A founder, director, senior executive or major shareholder may occupy a position which makes the ordinary HR response unrealistic. That does not mean inappropriate behaviour should be ignored. But dealing with it effectively may require more than quoting a policy or immediately commencing a formal procedure.

Earlier in my career I advised a business where its Chairman, who had founded the company and remained its principal shareholder, was behaving inappropriately towards female employees. The Managing Director and Company Secretary understood the seriousness of the behaviour but, despite their own seniority, were uncertain how to confront somebody who effectively regarded the company as his business.

The solution I proposed was a Board and senior-management discrimination training intervention. It enabled the behaviour to be addressed at peer level while securing a wider commitment from the leadership team about the standards expected within the organisation. The behaviour stopped.

The legal issues mattered.

But understanding the human and organisational problem behind them mattered just as much.

The value of independent challenge

People working inside an organisation inevitably know its history, personalities and politics. That knowledge can be invaluable, but it can also influence how a problem is perceived.

An independent adviser starts somewhere different.

I do not need to defend an earlier HR decision, support a particular manager's preferred outcome or tell the organisation what it would like to hear.

My role is to provide an experienced external perspective, challenge assumptions where necessary and help senior decision-makers think through the consequences of the available options.

Sometimes that will confirm the organisation's existing approach.

Sometimes it will not.

That is the value of independence.

Employment law and employee relations

My background spans both.

I am a law graduate and Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, with previous senior HR management experience and many years' experience advising employers on disciplinary, dismissal and difficult employment relations matters.

That combination matters because workplace problems rarely arrive neatly labelled as either “legal” or “HR”.

Employment law establishes important boundaries. Policies and procedures provide necessary structure. But neither removes the need for judgement.

Independent employment relations advice can be particularly useful where a difficult issue involves a senior or influential individual; an HR Director wants to test a proposed approach before acting; personalities or organisational relationships are complicating the issue; the matter is commercially or reputationally sensitive; or senior management wants objective challenge rather than reassurance.

The human side matters

It is easy to discuss disciplinary systems, investigations, grievances and employment law as though they operate independently of human frailties.

They do not.

Organisations consist of people. People have relationships, loyalties, anxieties, ambitions and differing perceptions of what has happened. Power and status can affect how people behave and how willing others are to challenge them.

Good employment relations advice has to recognise that reality.

At the heart of even the most complicated employment law problem, there is usually a human story. It pays to remember that.