roadmap out of lockdown

advo hr looks at the government’s roadmap out of lockdown

In February 2021, the government unveiled their road map towards the lifting of lockdown restrictions in England.

This roadmap has the caveat of caution but has the aim of a gradual and phased release of the lockdown restrictions by 21 June. The roadmap has a 4 phased approach to easing restrictions and giving indicative dates for each step, depending on the science.

The government have created an overview of the roadmap which can be found here.

Making the workplace safe

It is important that employers are talking to their employees about a potential return to work now, so employees can prepare and be ready to return to work at short notice, but also provide the flexibility if the predicted return to work date changes. Employers must make the workplace as safe as possible for all and must consider:

Undertaking a risk assessment to identify what might cause harm and reasonable steps to prevent it, and Following the Government guidelines on working safely during coronavirus.

However, the most important aspect of returning is talking to your team and understanding their views about any plans to return to work.

This should involve a conversation about:

• Travel to and from work

• Health and safety management at the workplace

• Any planned adjustments to the workplace • How the return to work will look; will the return be phased with some of the team returning before others, or by starting at one or two days a week and building this up

• Any future working from home considerations as many may now want to put in flexible working requests. You may have to think about how you can be fair to all and meet the demands of the business

Remember, a change to workplace is also a change to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment and involves consultation and agreement in writing. advo hr will be able to help you with this.

How the return to work will look; will the return be phased with some of the team returning before others, or by starting at one or two days a week and building this up

Any future working from home considerations as many may now want to put in flexible working requests. You may have to think about how you can be fair to all and meet the demands of the

Remember, a change to workplace is also a change to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment and involves consultation and agreement in writing. advo hr will be able to help

Other considerations could include:

• Vaccinations and time-off for vaccinations.

• Employees who do not want the vaccine and considerations of how others may feel.

• Some businesses may wish to consider workplace testing and if so, ensure you adhere to HR and

GDPR guidelines.

• The lack of social interaction could also have an impact on people and therefore on reintegrating staff back into the workplace, consideration should be given to who may struggle with this

• Consider the needs of furloughed staff who may have not been working for some considerable length of time. They may need some refresher training or support to enable them to integrate quickly.

• Many employees may want to take annual leave over the summer period so ensuring a fair process for all will be paramount.

• Inevitably there will always be a handful of cases where circumstances have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Employers should listen to any concerns employees may have, and should take steps to be fair and consistent with all, where possible.

However, if you need further advice then advo’s HR professionals are always on hand to give you the support you need.

Updates to the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended across the UK until the end of September.

Furloughed workers will continue to receive 80% of their salary for hours not worked up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. Employer contributions raise to 10% in July and 20% in August and September.

For periods ending on or before 30 April 2021, you can claim for employees who were employed on 30 October 2020, as long as you have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. You do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before the 30 October 2020 to claim for periods from 1 November 2020.

For periods starting on or after 1 May 2021, you can claim for employees who were employed on 2 March 2021, as long as you have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 2 March 2021, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. You do not need to have previously claimed for an employee before the 2 March 2021 to claim for periods from starting on or after 1 May 2021.

advo hr can help with CJRS advice, so talk to us today on info@advogroup.co.uk

supporting your people through covid-19

A quarter of staff have disclosed that their mental health has deteriorated during the pandemic, with one in five struggling to cope with lockdown restrictions.

The new research undertaken on behalf of Group Risk Development (GRiD) in January 2021, confirms much of what was suspected in that that 20% of employees say they are struggling to cope with Covid-19 restrictions, with 26% disclosing that their mental health has deteriorated due to the pandemic.

The research surveyed 1,216 employees and showed that:

• 76% of employees, to the best of their knowledge, had not had Covid-19

• 13% said they had contracted the virus

• 11% were ‘not sure’.

• Of those who have had the virus, nearly half (46%), said they were struggling to recover.

According to GRiD, these results only stand to highlight the importance of ensuring swift access to health and wellbeing benefits to minimise the impact on the individual.

In fact, the mental repercussions of both the restrictions and the virus itself not only impact the individual but can have an impact others, from their partner, to their children and other dependants; and within a business context, immediate colleagues, their wider team and the business as a whole.

The health and wellbeing industry, and the group risk market in particular has responded to the pandemic by fast-tracking access to support for employees and also by creating entirely new programmes to provide help. In particular, mental health support in relation to Covid-19 has been accelerated, remote/online consultations are more widely available, and early interventions for Long Covid have been developed that address both the fatigue and neurological side of the condition.

In addition, there is greater rehabilitation support to aid employees returning to work, so it’s crucial that employers make themselves aware of all of these new developments.

Katharine Moxham added; “Group risk products: employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness are continually developing and over recent years we’ve seen a marked increase in the capacity and diversity of embedded support.

However, it’s true to say that as in other areas of our lives, the pandemic has hastened developments. As well as providing comprehensive financial help for employees when it’s most needed, the breadth and depth of support within group risk products for mental health issues in general and those arising from the pandemic is now extensive.”

Notes: *The research was undertaken by Opinium during January 2021 among 1,126 employees in UK businesses.

supporting your people through covid-19

A quarter of staff have disclosed that their mental health has deteriorated during the pandemic,

advo hr’s Alison Gill is not surprised by the findings.

“The way of working, personal interaction and even the routine of the work commute has disappeared and change is always challenging. Some people appear to be able to confront and deal with anything but we don’t know what they feeling on the inside and for others, you can see that this has been an outwardly traumatic time.

Everyone’s resilience levels are different. In a working environment, it may be easier to spot how an employee may be feeling, through their body language and demeanour. This is much more difficult in the virtual world.”

But help is at hand as Alison Gill explains “At advo hr, we have received numerous enquiries from our clients about how to deal with an employee’s work performance which has deteriorated. They were previously a star employee!

My first question would be ‘How is that employee feeling?’

This often sparks a conversation when the employer may acknowledge that there have been some differences in their behaviour or they are struggling. We talk about supporting an employee’s wellbeing in the first instance, together with the employer’s legal responsibility to care for the welfare of their employees. We discuss what supportive measures can be taken, this may be through more regular meetings or signposting them to an employee assistance programme or mental health charity or medical professional and only then how to help performance improvement. There has never been such a time when it has been so important to take care of the team and show empathy about how that employee may be feeling.”

If you need help in supporting your staff then advo is here to help. In the first instance email info@advogroup.co.uk to start a conversation.