On 10^th May 2020 the Government began to outline its plan to enable certain sectors to return to work.

Whilst employees who can operate from home are being advised to continue to do so, official guidance on the government’s plans for returning to the workplace continue to emerge, and I urge you to ensure you keep up to date with the governments guidance.

1. Planning

Communication is key, and you should be consulting with your staff about returning to work.  If you have trade union, employee and health and safety representatives then you need to be including them. 

If you do have trade union or employee representatives, please check any agreements you have in place with them to see if you should be formally consulting.

Whilst employees and workers should be ready to return to work at short notice, you should be flexible where possible.

• Making the workplace safe

As an employer you must make the workplace as safe as possible for employees, contractors, customers and everyone who needs to visits.  Wherever possible encourage employees to work from home and ensure you follow the government guidelines on working safely during coronavirus on GOV.UK

Risk assessments should be carried out to identify what might cause harm, and reasonable steps taken to prevent them from happening.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have a great managing risks and risk assessment at work section on their website, along with working safely during coronavirus from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at find coronavirus advise on the HSE website

• Discuss plans with your employees

It is important to make sure you talk to your employees as soon as possible with regards to returning to work, and your conversations should include:

• when employees might return to the workplace
• how they will travel to and from work
• how health and safety is being reviewed, managed and the latest risk assessment findings and actions
• any planned adjustments to be made to the workplace, e.g. phased return to work, staggering start and finish times, floor markings to help people keep 2 metres apart
• working from home arrangements

It is so important not to forget any changes that might affect an employee’s employment contract needs to be consulted with them.

• If someone does not want to return

You may find some people are anxious about safety and going back to the workplace, and it is important to encourage them to talk to you about any concerns and try to resolve them together.

Some people may feel they do not want to return to work or they may be unable to return yet, for example, they may be:

• worried about catching coronavirus
• they may be at high risk of getting a severe illness if they catch coronavirus
• caring for children
• living with someone who is shielding

As an employer you need to listen to any concerns your staff may have and take steps to ensure you protect everyone, this may be

• offering extra car parking so employees do not have to use public transport
• keeping someone on furlough if they are temporarily unable to work
• temporarily changing hours of work to avoid peak travel time

If after reviewing any reasonable adjustments the employee still does not want to return to work, you may want to consider letting them book annual leave or unpaid leave.

If someone is refusing to return to work without a valid reason, this could result in disciplinary action and your disciplinary policy and procedure needs to be followed.

S Potter Talent Ltd is an award-winning consultancy offering bespoke apprenticeship scheme management, human resources and learning & development strategies for business.

Contact details:

Mobile phone – 07486 073844

Email – info@spottertalent.com

Website – www.spottertalent.com

The Royal Docks is embarking on an exciting new chapter, with over £8bn being invested in the area over the next 20 years. National Maritime has been discussing with partners about the creation of a destination for London’s Historic Boat collection. A collection of vessels associated with Ports, Rivers, Canals, Docks and trades of London which will be used to develop a tourism, skills and education offer. A creation of linear open-air heritage collection of boats, artefacts, objects and landscape running from East India Dock Basin through to Trinity Buoy Wharf and possibly beyond. Vessels displayed ashore, on river pier structures and afloat to suit age and condition and access. The Draft Masterplan is now out for public consultation. The message coming through is that the public want history of the docks and heritage vessels to be included. Join us, National Historic Ships and the Maritime Heritage Trust in voicing your support too. Have your say on what you think should happen.

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The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Joint Committee has signed-off a detailed business case for the £60 million Pembroke Dock Marine project, which will now be submitted to the UK Government and Welsh Government for final approval.

Led by the private sector and supported by Pembrokeshire County Council, Pembroke Dock Marine is expected to be worth over 1,800 jobs and £73.5 million a year to the Swansea Bay City Region’s economy.

The project is made up of four elements:

• A Marine Energy Test Area (META) led by Marine Energy Wales within the Milford Haven Waterway, enabling technology developers to test their devices near their base of operation. META phase one was officially opened for business in September 2019.
• The Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone (PDZ) delivered by Wave Hub Limited for the testing of full-scale wave and floating wind energy technologies. Located 13 miles off the South Pembrokeshire coast, the 90 square kilometer facility would be the largest of its kind in the world.
• A Marine Energy Engineering Centre of Excellence (MEECE) delivered by offshore wind, wave and tidal energy specialists ORE Catapult. Based at Pembroke Port, MEECE will be a collaboration between ORE Catapult and Welsh universities, providing expert knowledge for the marine energy industry. MEECE will also carry out life testing of marine energy components to boost their longevity.
• Pembroke Dock Infrastructure, led by the Port of Milford Haven, will redevelop gate four at Pembroke Port to create large construction and laydown areas for marine energy devices, helping meet the needs of modern industry. A supersize slipway will be developed alongside extension of berthing space for use by marine energy work boats to meet the demands of the industry as it continues to mature.

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Apprenticeships, easy you don’t need an apprenticeship strategy you just hire a young person and sign them up to college – don’t you?

Well yes, you could adopt this approach, but I strongly recommend you don’t. Would you be this flippant with purchasing a new piece of equipment for your business, I doubt it, so why would you take this approach with hiring an apprentice?

Hiring an apprentice is an investment and like any other business investment you would carry out due diligence, and the same approach needs to be applied to your apprenticeship programme.

Start by looking at the short, mid and long-term business needs ensuring you align your apprenticeship programme to your succession plan, especially for hard to recruit for areas. Once you have identified the needs and aim of the apprenticeship, you will have the basis for your apprentice strategy.

Communication is a key element of the strategy, make sure you share the aims of the apprenticeship throughout the business, especially to those the apprentice will be working with, and invite them to get involved at the early stages to help shape the on-site training the apprentice will need to complete.

Remember an apprenticeship is a collaboration between the apprentice, the business and the training provider, don’t put the onus on one element along, they are all vital components of any apprenticeship.

Sue Potter set up SPotter Talent as a consultancy with a vision to create learning cultures within business, and a mission to motivate, inspire and empower people to do things they never thought were possible.

With over 10 years’ experience in leading apprenticeship programmes, Sue is a strong advocate for apprenticeships, and wants to spread the word to non-levy payers that they can tap into the levy funding.

If you would like to find out how Sue can help your business, get in contact with her via email: info@spottertalent.com, telephone 07486 073844 or via her website www.spottertalent.com