A Guide to the Employment Rights Bill

As an employer, you have a far vaster array of responsibilities than if you are running a business solo. Although employees can enrich, invigorate and support your company, allowing it to thrive, they also bring an assortment of rules and regulations it is vital you follow, or else you might find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Here is a quick guide to getting started when it comes to the Employment Rights Bill.

What is the Employment Rights Bill?

The Employment Rights Bill, which came into power in October 2024, aims to protect the welfare of anyone in your employ and reforms some of the laws that were originally in place for employees. This is part of the UK government’s wider Make Work Pay project.

How Does it Affect Your Workplace?

The bill includes a number of reforms that could affect your workplace. The biggest change that the new regulations enact is the abolition of the requirement that employees have to have worked for an employer for two years before they can claim unfair dismissal. This allows them to claim that an employer has dismissed them on discriminatory grounds from day one, unless they have not yet started working for the employer in question. The bill also makes bereavement leave and parental leave a day 1 employment right.

Not only this, but the bill also changes the rights of zero-hour workers, forcing employers to give them ample notice of shift patterns and ensuring that zero-hours workers are able to enjoy guaranteed hours if they work the same hours on a regular basis.

Additionally, the bill creates stricter regulations around sexual harassment, the gender pay gap, and discrimination, encouraging employers to take measures to prevent this from happening in the workplace and boost transparency.

What Should You Do if You Are Worried About It?

There is no need to fear the new Employment Rights Bill, and many of the measures are ones that benevolent and employee-focused employers will be taking or want to take already. However, if you are worried about breaking a boundary or missing out one of the regulations that now affect you, the first step to take is to hire an HR company. They will know the ins and outs of new regulations and will be able to give you advice on how to follow them correctly. Additionally, they can provide you with continual support, especially if there is an issue in your workplace, and ensure that all of your team members are happy, know their rights, and are on the same page as you. This means that you should look out for a renowned business such as HR Dept.

Before this, though, you should consider assessing your HR strategies as they currently stand. By doing this, you will be able to see the gaps in your policies and what you need to do to meet the current legislation and to boost the productivity, happiness, and rights of your staff members. You should carry out these reviews often so that you never end up falling behind.
It is also vital that you keep up with the ever-changing regulations that could happen in the future. To do this, you should make sure that you continue to read business journals and magazines, as well as digital websites and other sources that often upload advice for entrepreneurs and those with a team of employees. This will mean that you never miss a change in legislation that could put you on the back foot.

What Happens if You Neglect It?

If you let the Employment Rights Bill pass you by without taking action, you could find yourself facing repercussions. You could find yourself in court, or you might have to pay large fines that you are able to afford. This could spell the end of your business, or could lad to a large dent in your profits and ability to reinvest in your company. Not only this, but you might find that this creates a PR nightmare that you then have to battle and spend years trying to rectify. This means that it is important that you try to improve any issues and meet employment laws as soon as they come into force.

As a good employer, it is likely that you will want to do the best by your employees as possible so that they can grow and shine in your workplace. Although you might always be thinking of how to make life better for your team, it is important that the steps you take are also in line with the law. Although these can be confusing, especially due to the size of legislative documents, there is no need to panic, These documents are often simpler to follow than you expect, especially once you pare them down to the information that solely affects you.