Employers Genius solution to staff retention issues.

[plasmahal]

OK, here goes.

Yesterday we were split into small groups at work and at short notice told we had a presentation by our senior on site manager.

When we arrived, there also someone from HR on the phone.

We were given a one slide presentation where it stated that out employer was having major issues with staff retention and recruiting replacements.

So there genius solution is for then to 'unilaterally' change the conditions of our contracts of employment so we no longer need to give four weeks notice but must give twelve weeks notice!!!!!!!!!!

Our manger kept saying it benefits everyone but clearly only benefits the company's incompetence.

So rather than address the retention issues they plan to shackle us down, with no incentives to a completed one sided change of contract that makes us extremely inflexible in the job market.

I have now come home to a letter referring the 'MEETING' we had yesterday telling me to sign the contract amendment and return it by 22nd february.

no letter formally explaining the proposed changes and no consultation period.

I'm looking at ACAS website and getting myself educated to my rights by we are mostly all in stunned disbelief at the moment.

 

[plasmahal]

In practise if you want to leave in less than the notice period there is not a lot an employer can do. They can threaten legal action etc, but it would not be worth the bother and cost of carrying it out.

That is an understandable assumption but by no means a guarantee that they won't.

And how does that look to a prospective employer?

 

[plasmahal]

The information here is very insightful:

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=816

While walking out or lining myself up for gross misconduct may seem like an option to some posters, it doesn't look good for me with future employers.

We are putting out collective thoughts and objections together and will then reply in writing to our employer and raise an official grievance and objection to the unilateral change in the contracts.

 

[plasmahal]

I wouldn't agree to moving to a 12 week notice period without a significant salary bump. Tell them to stick it.

I like a few others had plans to move on this year, so I won't be agreeing to these changes.

We will try and force their hand into a consultation but clearly the decision has already been made as the letter must have been in the post while we had the so called meeting.

 

[plasmahal]

I take it that it works both ways, so that they have to give you 12 weeks notice? So it means 12 weeks plus a week for every year you have worked should you ever be made redundant?

Nope, they can give four weeks notice but we have to give twelve weeks notice.

That's why it a unilateral change and only benefits the employer.

They still don't seem to want to tackle the real issue of staff retention.

 

[plasmahal]

Ultimately an enforced notice period would have to be reasonable - for someone in a upper management position for instance its quite reasonable to expect a longer period of notice - typically the full 12 weeks - for someone on minimum wage in a part time position quite hard to justify that if it came to court and the reasonable notice period would most likely be considered more in the region of 4 weeks.

I'd be inclined to agree but as most of us are in a IT desktop support type role, 4 weeks on out current contract seems reasonable.

If i speak to a recruitment agency and tell them i have 12 weeks notice to serve, they'll just laugh and hang up.

 

[plasmahal]

They tried to do something similar to all our contracts at my previous employers. The solution was remarkably easy. Get everyone to say NO and put it in writing. Are they going to put everyone on notice for it?

Do you have a union that deals with such things?

Most of us are not union members but we are trying to collectively object and say no.

Some people though are either just apathetic, too comfortable or not understanding of the potential impact if they want to move on in the future.

 

[plasmahal]

Surely they have to put that in writing and you have to agree to it? And if you refuse isn't it constructive dismissal if they try and sack you?

You certainly would expect it to be reasonable to have the proposals to the contract in writing and a reasonable consultation period.

But no, they have gone from a meeting to a letter with the amendment to the contract in less than 24hrs which tells me the decision was already made.

 

[plasmahal]

so i assume that means the company must also give you 12 weeks notice??

honestly i would say thats a good thing for people working there as said above (its something normally reserved for high level people).

Nope, as already stated they give us the statutory 4 weeks but we have to give 12.

 

[plasmahal]

This is not the case, if you continue to work beyond your contract period, when a new contract has been issued, and continue beyond your notice period to work, then you are subject to the new contract.

Not true as such.

If you have lodged objections and a grievance you will be deemed as working under protest.

You can they still give 4 weeks notice and quit and let them take you to court (or not) and you have followed all reasonable actions to show you didn't agree to the changes.

 

[plasmahal]

What's your current notice period if they make you redundant? I'd make sure the notice you have to give and the notice they have to give are the same.

As Dis86 says, 3 month notice period isn't totally unusual, but is more common in more specialist jobs. I have a 3 month notice period, but on the flip side they also have to give me 3 months notice for redundancy .

They only have to give me 5 weeks notice as the 12 weeks is not reciprocated in my favour, only benefits them.

I have emailed them (HR) today and will back it up with a written letter.

This what I have sent:

FAO HR Manager.

I am writing to you in response to the letter I received on the 4th February 2016 on the reference stated above. With regard to your request for me to agree to a unilateral change in my contract of employment with XXXXX, I formally decline to agree and you are to take this letter as my formal objection to this unilateral change.

I also request to raise a formal grievance with XXXXX over this change which I do not agree too. Can you please inform me on how to raise that formal grievance through XXXXX documented process.

I’d like to take this opportunity to state my extreme disappointment in how this matter has been dealt with in what I see as an unprofessional manner by XXXXX. It is clear that this decision has already been made without any due consideration for the me as an employee.

I have not received any written proposal to the contract changes that XXXXX are implementing on 1st March 2016 and therefore there has not been a reasonable time frame or the formal opportunity to consult over this matter, which I would expect to be at least one month from receipt of the proposals.

Please find attached some bullet points detailing further my objections to this unilateral change in my contract of employment.

Effect for Employer

· Helps Prevent high staff turnover which begs the question why does XXXXX have a high staff turnover and poor staff retention?

· Conveniently shackles employee to current place of employment and account.

· Easy solution without addressing the real reasons for people leaving, difficulties in recruiting and poor staff retention.

· There is every appearance of this being a formal agreement in which only one group of people involved agrees to do something (i.e. a unilateral contract).



Effect for Employee



· De-motivates staff as it’s seen as a restrictive action upon employees.

· Contractual change has no tangible benefit whatsoever for the employee.

· Notice period is not reciprocated by XXXXX to the employee.

· Removes an employee’s ability to be mobile in the work force if seeking career progression with a future employer. Three months’ notice will invariably be unacceptable for a future employer. Contrary to what we have been told three months is NOT an industry standard and certainly not for front line technical IT staff.

· This action has had an immediate negative effect on morale and needs to be recognised by XXXXX management. It is not a good policy for staff retention and has only increased the desire to ‘move on’ amongst individuals and has thus not proved to be a satisfactory solution.

· It leaves XXXXX staff open to further contractual, benefit and pay restrictions knowing that the ability of staff to further their career elsewhere has been made harder.

· Concern was shown that staff were notified in separate groups and not as a whole.

· If staff recruitment is an issue then XXXXX should be looking at more incentives to stay. A three month notice period on a new contract is very unattractive let alone the change to an existing one.

· It is understandable that a company wants to keep a motivated work force but this should not be at the expense of individuals managing their own career prospects.

Regards,

 

[plasmahal]

Hi,

Apologies for taking a while to update this thread.

To cut a long story short, the management recently decided to drop the proposed change which they say is due to staff objections and they are disappointed at the generally negative reactions.

I'm sure this is a small victory in what will become an ongoing campaign.

Before they dropped the proposed change they also changed one of their reasons for the change. They dropped the staff retention issue as a reason and they stated they wanted to look favourable to the customer when the contract comes up for renewal. They citied job security as a reason too!!!!!

As you can guess this cheered us up no end but we also pointed out that if they lost the contract, the majority of the working staff would be TUPE'd over to the next supplier.

On a personal note the job hunting is a lot slower than expected but the slog goes on to find something closer to home.