The changes under the UK’s Employment Rights Bill have been outlined, which includes 28 measures marked as ‘the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation’.
Implementation will take some time, but we know the changes will affect the way that we need to think about hiring and performance management, whilst highlighting the importance of good communication between managers and their team members.
The Employment Rights Bill is wide ranging; one area of change being employees will have day-one rights to unfair dismissal, subject to a probation period (the length of which we don’t yet know). At the moment, an employer has up to two years to dismiss an employee without going through too much of a process such as a performance improvement plan, (assuming there is no risk of discrimination). The new Bill proposes to change this to a day one right. Meaning that from the first day of hire, even if it’s clear that you’ve hired the wrong person to fulfil the role, employers will be required to manage performance concerns as diligently from day one, as they would post two years. Any flexibility from the employer’s side will depend on the probation period, yet to be defined, but is expected to become standardized under the new Bill. A 9-month period is currently being suggested by government.
These new protections will greatly benefit the employee, but it puts further pressure on the hiring manager to get that new hire right. If not, you’re looking at an increase in time and resource in trying to manage their performance, and more time without that vital role being correctly filled. This leads to further disruption within teams, further resource allocation within a team that’s already missing a headcount and extra time to manage the poor hire effectively. A 2022 study by SHRM claims that the average cost to hire somebody can be 3 or 4 times their annual salary. That’s a huge figure just to get someone through the door, let alone the cost if that hire ends up not being the right person for the role. In short: hiring accuracy is more important than ever.
So, given the new looming employment bill and the additional pressure to get hiring right first time, there will be renewed focus on the methodologies you rely on to attract, assess and manage talent in your business.
CVs and interviews of course determine skill profiles, but one important ingredient to get right is hiring around soft skills - something that simply can’t be done on gut instinct alone.
In the world of psychometric testing and assessments, soft skills refer to a person’s interpersonal abilities and emotional intelligence, which influence how they interact, communicate, and work with others. These skills are not tied to specific technical knowledge or qualifications but are crucial for collaboration, problem-solving, and adaptability in the workplace.
Soft skills include:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Problem-solving
- Adaptability
- Emotional intelligence
- Time management
With Thomas Assess, you can measure someone’s soft skills using our industry-leading psychometrics assessments, which are evaluated by our behavioural frameworks. These frameworks assess tendencies, preferences, and traits that reflect these abilities – a valuable tool for employers to accurately see how individuals may fit into team dynamics, handle conflict, and contribute to a workplace culture.
The second hurdle employers will undoubtedly have to face under the new Bill, once implemented, is their performance management process. You can’t start somebody on a performance improvement plan without clear communication and expectations between the employee and their manager being set in the first place. And with over a third of managers uncomfortable giving direct feedback to their team members (according to Harvard Business Review), their ability to performance manage their team, without requiring further support, becomes limited. This will no doubt pull on HR resources that are already stretched.
At Thomas, we have recently launched our new product: Connect. It’s a great way to share behaviorual insights between team members to understand how someone likes to behave and interact with others at work.
When you look at a Thomas Connect profile, it holds detailed insights on how someone likes to behave at work. This includes their communication style, how to motivate them, how they like to receive feedback and how to manage a difficult conversation with them. It’s all based on industry-leading science and the advice is written by our team of Psychologists.
If you need to have a difficult conversation with a team member, you can ask our Thom AI directly for advice and it will scan the profile of the employee and give you tailored, actionable points to consider. It’s like a business coach, always ready to help, and if you know how someone likes to receive feedback and you’re able to tailor your communication style to fit this, you’re far more likely to get a positive outcome. Perhaps they like direct feedback with clear steps on how to improve, or maybe they prefer a softer approach with the need to feel like they have control over how to move forward. Ask our Thom AI, and it’ll tell you instantly.
The Employment Rights Bill is described as a once in a generation change to worker rights and we need to equip our managers with tools to manage these changes effectively. Thomas Assess is ready to improve your hiring accuracy, and Thomas Connect is ready to propel those performance management conversations.
While the details of the Bill are being ironed out, we’ll be here to keep you updated on what it includes and what this could mean for your business. Sign up to our newsletter to make sure you get the latest updates.
