In the first of her new diary column, Sue Kingston a self-employed HR Consultant with 23 years experience in the HR field tackles TUPE transfers, drink and drugs and lands a new contract while ‘fessing up to her singleton status revealing just how many chocolate bars and glasses of wine she has quaffed – read onto find out more.

One or two interesting topics to ponder this week, the first being the acquisition and potential relocation of a business.

TUPE joy
The initial hurdle of the acquisition was really quite straightforward in that it was a simple change of shareholders, but the business strategy and staffing requirement remained the same as before.

Existing employees were able to continue with an enhanced package including various benefits such as life cover, pension and private health cover. Looking good so far and complying nicely with TUPE issues. It’s only a small team of five, however, three of those have between 15 and 20 years service, so very interesting in terms of continuous service and potential redundancy packages!

The problem is that they need to vacate their building by the end of 2005 and the new shareholder is looking to relocate them some 20/25 miles away. This creates the situation for potential redundancies and, therefore, the full consultation process – oh joy! Gone are the days of last in, first out – it’s amazing how many business owners still believe that the old rule still applies! I have recommended that their prospective package includes travel allowance to soften the blow if the move goes ahead – so it’s really a case of wait and see at the moment until an alternative property is secured.

Time at the bar?
The second thought relates to a topical subject raised on HRZone on 17 May – drink and drugs in the workplace. There are still questions being asked about whether random testing is appropriate in relation to human rights.

This got me thinking, so I spoke to an associate who actually provides a training and testing service on this very subject. He is a serving UK police officer of some 30 years who was trained in California, USA by ‘CHIPS (remember the American series of those gorgeous officers on their shiny bikes)!! Well, my associate is one of two qualified officers in Europe delivering this training, he’s about to leave for New Zealand to lecture for three weeks (and may enjoy the scenery while he’s there!)

He has delivered courses tackling this subject numerous times and in many locations to educational facilities, local and national businesses.

Many of his delegates have appreciated the education and insight he has offered which at times has been quite shocking and spine chilling. A number of his clients have already benefited from this process in managing absenteeism where drink and drugs may have been the associated problem.

The very real benefit has also been in relation to the transport and production industry where the operation of vehicles and machinery is a real danger to both individuals and business owners in respect of Health and Safety issues. One of his clients is a national firm of solicitors who have been able to root out some drug problems with staff – only the other week they were singing his praises to me.

I’m very comfortable recommending his services to my clients and am due to refer him to a client who is a very large international brewery, so that should be fun with the staff rewards available!

Landed the deal
Ended the week by delivering a unique concept to a holding group and all its subsidiaries. What a simple system – Job Specification, Job Matrices, Performance Reviews and Training Needs Analysis. An easy way of meeting the compliance and competency requirements of regulatory bodies. Got the deal, so I now need to get this project underway and delivered to their staff swiftly – great result, especially as the staff commented that they feel they are now being acknowledged and validated – can’t wait to see what next week brings.

Vital stats
For all of those ‘singletons’ out there:

• weight – 9st 12lbs




• chocolate – 1 bar




• wine – 3 glasses




• boyfriends – nil dates




• deep thoughts – two: (1) weighing up sanity of making myself redundant in February and steaming ahead to establish my own business, or (2) should I revert to employed status? Decided do not want to make tea for MD’s anymore so will pursue being self employed – hurrah!)

Keep it simple everyone and enjoy your week ahead!

Sue

*Sue Kingston is a self-employed HR Consultant with 23 years HR experience. Sue can be contacted on T: 07966 216561 or at hr@suekingston.co.uk