Human Resources Management 03

1.      As a manager responsible for health and safety, what steps could you take to prevent or reduce the occurrence of accidents?

·         Identify any potential hazards in the workplace. A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm. Common hazards for hotels include wet floors, gas leaks in the restaurant areas, faulty or dangerous plugs, dangerous substances (i.e. chlorine) used for cleaning, ergonomic issues and heavy items that can strain employees' backs. ·         Clearly mark all potential hazard areas and substances with proper signage. In many industries, proper signage is required by law and can be a valuable tool in protecting employees. ·         Create a Safety Manual.  Include procedures for handling all potentially dangerous situations in the workplace. Add a disaster management plan for events like fires or natural disasters. Give each employee a copy of the safety manual. ·         Develop a specific safety training program for the hotel. A safety training program should cover basics like ergonomics, use of machines in the office, evacuation plans, sanitation procedures and basic first aid. Safety training should be mandatory for all employees. ·         Monitor the workplace for potential dangers. Usually hotels are not as dangerous to as a nuclear plant and don't require a safety manager but still there should be one qualified person that will act as a safety coordinator. Employees should be monitored to make sure that safety rules are followed. ·         Empower employees to participate by checking one another and training the newest members of the team about the latest rules and regulations of health and safety. ·         Request the employees impute on regular bases about potential dangers they might be facing and how to best tackle them. After all none knows the workplace better than the people who actually work there and management might miss situations that employees do not.

2.      Identify and explain the stages involved in the recruitment process that are directly affected by legislation.

Stages that are involved in the recruitment process are: ·         Job analysis and developing a person specification. The responsibilities and authority of the position must be clear followed by a description of the person that would best fulfil the role. ·         The sourcing of candidates by networking, advertising, or other search methods. The company usually looks among its employees to see if anyone is qualified and interested in the position. If not then depending on the job it must be advertised through the available venues. ·         Matching candidates to job requirements and screening individuals using testing (skills or personality assessment). Usually for every ad there are hundreds of replies that must be sorted and checked out until only the potential job matches are left. ·         Assessment of candidates' motivations and their fit with organisational requirements by interviewing and other assessment techniques. That means actually interviewing the potential candidates that have passed the screening process. ·         The making and finalising of job offers and the induction and on boarding of new employees Legislation regarding recruiting are: ·         The Equality Act 2010. This applies throughout the whole process of selecting staff and ensures that no applicant is treated unfairly due to race, religion, gender, age etc. ·         Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. Applies to people who works temporarily at a position to make sure their rights are safeguarded. ·         Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. An individual who has had a conviction for an offence may, with some exceptions, be rehabilitated and allowed to treat the conviction as if it had never occurred. A conviction will become 'spent' where the person has not, after a period of time, committed another serious offence. Employers may not, under the Act, ask prospective employees if they have 'spent' convictions during the recruitment process. There are of course exception. ·         The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. The Act establishes a central database of offenders in respect of people working, or applying to work, with children or vulnerable adults. Any person named on the list will be barred from working with children and/or vulnerable adults, or subject to monitoring. ·         Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. This applies at the selection stage and determines which people have the right to work in the UK. ·         The Data Protection Act 1998. Protects the privacy of applicants and safeguards the personal date that people are entrusting the company with.

3.      Which of the following could legally appear in a newspaper advert: a)      Food service staff required for restaurant  b)     Barman required for public house c)      Drummer for steel band must be Jamaican d)     Female assistant for ladies shoe shop Explain your decision and why other adverts fail.

a)      Food service staff required for restaurant. This is a perfectly acceptable advertisement. It doesn’t discriminate against gender, age or nationality. It is clear from the wording that anyone could apply. b)      Barman required for public house. This statement is illegal. Bartending is a job that can be performed equally by men and women. It sometimes require heavy lifting but nothing so stressing as to exclude female workers who have served as barwomen for a long time. The proper phrasing should be ‘Serving staff for bar’ or ‘Barman or barwoman required for public house’. c)       Drummer for steel band must be Jamaican. Steel bands originated from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago which is very close to Jamaica. I can understand why for reasons of authenticity the musician must look the part but the requirements are too specific and also wrong. Jamaicans are for the most part of African descent but surely there are people with Nordic features among them, are they excluded? And what about people of African descent that are actually British citizens or from Africa? They can look the part as well so I would say that this advertisement is wrong too. d)      Female assistant for ladies shoe shop. A shoe shop assistant is required due to the nature of their job to come to physical contact with the customers. Some of the clientele might not feel comfortable if a man is touching their feet, so I believe that this business does not violate the discrimination law.

4.      Which Act relates to unfair dismissal? In such circumstances, does an employee have to prove dismissal was unfair if that is the case?

The Employment Protection Act deals with dismissal. The process goes like this: The employee who is dismissed can make a claim to a tribunal within three months of his dismissal. Then it is the tribunal’s responsibility to find out the circumstances of the dismissal namely (1) the reason and if it was a valid one for being let go, (2) whether it was reasonable to be dismissed for that reason, and (3) the way the dismissal took place. If the dismissal was fair then the matter goes no further but if it wasn’t then further actions are taken. This is to safeguard the employee so that he cannot be dismissed on a whim by his employers. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/dismissal/what-to-do-if-youre-dismissed

5.      It was recently reported in the local news that an employee for over 15 years at the ‘Dog and Gun’ Inn was given just one weeks’ notice. Was she entitled to a longer period of notice? Explain your answer.

According to the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 there are specific periods of notice when dismissing someone: Less than 2 years’ continuous service is one week and for over two years of continuous service is two weeks plus one week for each year’s service. However these rules don’t apply if different periods are stated in the contract of employment. So if the employee of the Inn did not sign a personal contract that stated she could be dismissed with only one weeks’ notice then the employer was in the wrong. Also in the local news the sentence says ‘for over 15 years’ but that does not automatically mean continuous service. The employee could have long absences or gaps in the employment at the establishment but then always returned. So that must be clarified in order to pass an informed judgment.