February 2007 ~ Edition 18

 
February 2007  

Edition no. 18

 
 

 

In this issue:

  1. Changes to maternity & sick pay
  2. Interviewing Hints & Tips
  3. Flexible working extended
  4. SMART goals - S is for.. ~ Tim Hodgson

If you would like more information about any of the issues raised in this newsletter or any other people management query please contact The HR Tap on 

0870 432 43 93 

or by email on

enquiries@thehrtap.co.uk

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Inspiration Centre

08456 101 460 

http://www.theinspirationcentre.com/

 

 

 This newsletter is written for general interest only.  The HR Tap can accept no liability for any reliance placed on its content without further advice.  Please contact us for specific advice before acting 

 

The HOT Tap News

Welcome to the February edition of the HOT Tap News.  This month we are delighted to introduce a new member of the HR Tap team, John Bartlett.  John is a Health & Safety consultant with many years experience of supporting SMEs in this field.  John brings a healthy (excuse the pun) sense of humour to his training sessions and offers a pragmatic level of advice to managers.  We like his style (and the fact that he is a sailor!!) which is why he will be working with us to offer our clients a one-stop shop for HR and H&S.  So if you are thinking that you really should review your health & safety documents and practices please give us a call.  John will be contributing to the HOT Tap News in the future so our readers will get the benefit of updates on Health and safety matters.  If you would like to find out more about what he can offer your business then please go to www.jrbconsulting.co.uk 

This month our resident Coach, Tim Hodgson of the Inspiration Centre, takes us on the first step of the SMART process for goal setting that we were introduced to at the beginning of the year.  Goals are vital to the success of a business but also to our own personal lives, if we are going to spend the time setting them for ourselves it makes sense to write them in such a way that we can truly judge our achievements against them.  To learn more please see Tim’s site for many interesting ideas on www.theinspirationcentre.com

With regard to Human Resources we have an update on Flexible working and maternity and sickness pay changes in April.  We also have the first in a two part article of hints and tips for successful interviewing. 

We hope you find these articles interesting but if you would like us to cover anything specifically please email on enquiries@thehrtap.co.uk  

Changes to Maternity etc & Sick pay

With effect from April 2007 Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay will increase to £112.75 per week.  Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £72.55.  Payments of this type are only payable to those employees who earn more than £87 per week. 
 

Interview hints & Tips

Sadly one of the things that employers do most often carries with it a big risk of making costly mistakes from frightening ones like being accused of discrimination by a candidate to a more normal but time consuming problem of picking the wrong person for the job. 

Some things you need to think about as you start the recruitment process are: 

  • Work out exactly what you need this person to do – what is thejob? 
  • Work out what skills or knowledge this person will need 
  • Decide how you will test those skills – if you need them to be a good typist then there are various ways you can test that. 
  • Decide how you want to advertise – where is your ideal person going to be looking to find a job.  Many job hunters use online job sites rather than the newspaper. 
  • Construct your advert – be very careful about the words you use this is where discrimination, either direct or indirect can slip in. 
  • Put in your diary the closing date for your advert and put aside dates for shortlisting and interviewing – if you don’t it will drag on and you will lose the good candidates to more organised employers! 
  • Be fair in your shortlisting – pick the people that appear to have the skills you need. 
  • If your shortlist is too long consider doing a telephone interview where you ask all the candidates the same questions which will give you more information so that you can prune down your shortlist! 
  • As you can see there is a lot to think about and you haven’t even got face to face with your candidates yet – we’ll look at interview tips next month.

    In the meantime if you have any questions regarding recruitment or interviewing please give us a call.  

Flexible working extended

You will all be aware that parents have the right to ask employers to change their working pattern to work flexibly and that employers are obliged to seriously consider these requests.  However from 6th April this year this will be extended to those who are carers of adults.  Briefly the rules are: 

Employees who have worked for you continuously for 26 weeks or more may apply 

  • They must be parents (or guardians or adoptive parents) of children under 6 years old (or under 18 if the child is disabled) 
  • Must be caring for a spouse, partner, civil-partner, relative or another adult living at the same address.

    More information is available at: 

http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page35663.html#Intro

SMART Goals - S is for...

So, following on from the last couple of months’ looking at how we set our goals – and why – and covering the S-M-A-R-T acronym, let’s look specifically at some of the ways we can make our goals happen. 

And so to the letter S – for Specific and Simple. 

So, is your goal SPECIFIC?  In other words, is it sufficiently precise that you will know when you have achieved it?  So, a goal to ‘increase sales’ isn’t particularly specific – in fact, if you only sold one more unit then you would have met that goal – so you need to be more precise about what you really want!  ‘Doubling my sales’ would be better – although you really need to know what the target is.  So ‘doubling my sales to 2000 units per month’ would be even better.  This gives you something specific to aim at, and you will know when you get there. 

 

So when you are setting a goal, make it very, very specific.  Know exactly what it is you want.  If it’s a new car, then what model?  What colour?  What upholstery?  What engine?  If it’s a new love in your life, then what specifically does your ideal man/woman look like?  If you want to lose weight, then exactly what weight do you want to be?   

When you are very specific about your goal, then your unconscious mind can start to be very specific about how to get you there. 

  

And is it SIMPLE?  Could you explain it in words of one syllable?  Would your friends understand it?  Is it easy to calculate?  So if your goal is to make more money, then once you’ve been specific about how much more money, then make sure that you haven’t tied your goal up in some complicated accounting rules around the money remaining on the corporate ledger or referring to your profit and loss accounts and balance sheets (although, of course, if you are an accountant, that’s probably simple – for you!  Your unconscious mind is incredibly powerful – and yet it needs simple instructions.

Having a simple goal also makes it much easier to track progress toward the goal as well.  

 

Next month:  The letter ‘M’ - Making your goal Measurable and Meaningful   

 

If you’re looking to create new and empowering goals in your business or in your life – and finding ways to actually meet them – then give Tim a call at 08456 101460 or email him at tim@theinspirationcentre.com

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The author hereby asserts the moral rights afforded by S77-89 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

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