5 of 5 Halloween Horror Stories Employment Law: an accountancy employer fails to communicate their new Hybrid Working policy
An accountancy practice with 150 employees acted wrongly when they failed to introduce, clarify and communicate the businesses new approach to hybrid working – where some staff could work from home 3 days per week.
The business had welcomed the new hybrid working approach during the pandemic, but they had failed to communicate this effectively to employees in writing or add it to the employee handbook.
The result was that different members of staff had been told different things about the new hybrid working policy – with some people being informed it was 2 days per week working from home, whilst others being informed it was definitely 2 days per week working in the office.
The confusion led to huge disagreements internally with many staff feeling they had been treated differently to others in other teams and it seemed like there was one rule for administrators and admin staff and another rule for managers and above.
Sejal Patel, Solicitor, Employment Team
Lawson West Solicitors, Leicester
Was this legal for the employer? Answer: Yes.
There is nothing illegal about poor communication, however, the employer is lacking in not communicating their policy in writing so there can be no doubt about the requirement and how it affects all staff and the basis of the approach. Post-pandemic, the management of staff morale to do with working from home is an important one to get right and we would recommend businesses fully engaged with their staff to communicate new working arrangements and policies particularly when they require different approaches for different work types.
A failure to properly communicate working requirements can result in breaches of policy, unfair treatment and potentially constructive dismissal or disciplinary action.
If you have been affected in a similar way to our Halloween Horror Stories, or you have any questions relating to your employment contract or employee contracts, then please Contact Us here. We can provide supportive advice leading to sensible and successful outcomes.
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