Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie Solicitors

The employment law tail should never be allowed to wag the business dog.

However, managing employees has become a particularly complex and fast moving area.  Employers must constantly keep up to date with new rules and regulations and the risks of not doing so are high.  Conflict in the workplace is expensive so avoiding that conflict must be a key priority for employers.  WJM HR Assist understands this and provides the solution.

“We don’t have our own HR Manager, do we need one?”
Many organisations don’t have their own HR Manager – instead, they manage their people issues directly, perhaps at owner or Director level.  However, businesses tend to find that, when they need an HR Manager, they need one right away, and that is where WJM HR Assist comes in - we provide you with your “own” HR Manager on tap, helping to stop expensive problems arising down the road.

This can be beneficial, as it allows a good strong link between management and workers.  But as businesses grow, their needs can change and what may have been easy to manage before, now becomes more difficult.  At WJM we recognise that the pressures of our clients’ business needs mean that there are never enough hours in the day to attend to everything.  WJM HR Assist can help you manage your workforce – effectively, efficiently and economically -  and will help you avoid conflict and claims. 

WJM HR Assist provides robust, no nonsense advice which balances the interests of practicality and commercial reality.  We work across Scotland – from Orkney to the Borders.

There are three aspects to the service:-

• Recruitment
• Ongoing HR Support and Training
• On-off Management Support Training

Recruitment
Recruitment is a minefield – you have to comply with the Regulations even as you draft your advertisement.  Once you’ve advertised a job you’ll need to decide which of the candidates is the most suitable while not doing anything, probably unconsciously, which could be called “discrimination”.  Then you will have to provide the new employee with the correct contractual documentation. 

It’s daunting, but WJM HR Assist will help you to recruit and advise you at all stages of the process. 

Our help includes:-

• Assistance with the creation and placement of recruitment adverts, working with agencies and online advertising.
• Drafting of Job Descriptions and Person Specifications.
• CV screening and selection based on key criteria
.
• Identification of suitable candidates for interview.
• Candidate screening and interviewing.
• Liaison with successful and unsuccessful candidates.
• Reference checking and all contractual documentation
.

Ongoing Support and Training
Employment “bumps in the road” can take your mind, and your resources, away from managing your business.  WJM HR Assist will help smooth out those bumps.

Our service is headed up by Julia MacDonald FCIPD, a vastly experienced HR Manager who has wide-ranging experience in both HR and training roles.  Her experience covers professional practice and commercial organisations in many sectors including multi-outlet retailers, manufacturing and telecoms.  She also works closely with family businesses and understands the special qualities of the family dimension.

Julia’s approach to business is commercially focused.  Her advice and approach is professional, practical and “hands on”, and her follow up is very supportive.

Through WJM HR Assist you can tap into this expertise and apply it directly to your business.

Our help includes all aspects of strategic and operational people management that you would expect of a senior manager in your team. This includes planning, policy development, introduction of new systems, processes and measurement structures and employee face-to-face consultation where you require that. 

Areas covered include:-

l Grievance Hearings l Disciplinary Hearings
l Appeal Hearings l Employee Consultations
l Dealing with Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave l Drafting Handbooks, Policies and Procedures
l Retirement Planning l Managing Sickness
l Managing Performance & Capability l Managing Conduct
l Bullying and Harassment Complaints l Redundancy and Restructuring
l Employee Negotiations and Compromises l Recruitment Exercises
l Remuneration studies l Performance Review Schemes
l Implementing Bonus Plans l Communicating and Introducing New Legislation
l Flexible Working Arrangements

Training and Development
We provide a comprehensive range of training for supervisors, managers, directors and others who might be, or wish to be, directly involved in employment issues.  WJM HR Assist’s bespoke training in particular areas or industry practice can also be provided - just let us know what you need!

Example Training Topics:-

l Managing Sickness Absence l Implementing Performance Review Schemes
l Employment Legislation and how to implement it l Better employee communication
l Dealing with Conduct and Performance l Planning and Redundancy
l Understand and Implement the Maternity and Maternity related Legislation l Managing Sickness Absence
l Equal Opportunities l Avoiding Discrimination Complaints
l Difficult Employee Conversations l Carrying out Investigations
l Avoiding Conflict in the Workplace

Training can be delivered in conjunction with lawyers from our Employment team who are able to provide training on the legal aspects of these issues.  Our training product is entirely flexible and can be tailored to suit your requirements.

One Off Assistance
Our service is flexible enough that you can even call on WJM HR Assist in the way which suits your business needs most.  You can choose to pay for a certain number of hours of support per month, or you can choose to use the Service on an ad-hoc basis when you need it.

Our help can be given by email, by phone or in person at your premises depending on your needs. 

WJM HR Assist supports WJM’s affordable, comprehensive Employment Law Protection package, Praesidium.

For more information on WJM HR Assist contact :-

Julia MacDonald jmc@wjm.co.uk 0141 248 3434

 

Our Group

• Julia MacDonald (Head of service)