With just weeks of furlough left and it finishing 30th September what are you doing about returning employees back to work? The Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) recommends employers consider three key questions as you bring people back:-

• Do people feel sufficiently safe?
• Will it enhance performance?
• Are you listening to your people?

Last years absence statistics have been released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and given the pandemic the numbers are certainly not as high as we might have thought. 118.6 million working days were lost due to injury or sickness in the UK. That averages out to 3.6 days per UK worker which is actually the lowest its been since 1995. Lets think about that because yes the Pandemic accounted for 14% of absence in this time period but shielding, furlough and working from home will have helped keep those numbers down. That average 3.6 days is a useful benchmark for employers when your managing your employee absence.

The importance of conducting background checks on potential candidates has been highlighted in a case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently.

Claiming discrimination on the basis that dyspraxia had prevented applicant from completing an online application and failure to make reasonable adjustment by employer. Had employer checked they would have found years of multiple tribunal claims against employers including one where the applicant was made to pay employer costs.