Early Advice Can Prevent Employment Tribunals
As someone involved
with a small business, you are probably
aware of the huge amounts of time and money
that employment tribunals can take up; but
results show that looking after your
employment policies and getting advice at an
early stage can prevent a large number of
disputes from going to a tribunal.
New research for Acas,
the organisation aimed at improving
employment relations, has found that calls
to its helpline helped avoid around 16,000
employment disputes from going to tribunals
in 2006; saving businesses roughly £120
million.
Information provided by the Acas telephone
helpline was found to be valuable in
assisting employees to be aware of their
rights and seek solutions to their problems,
and as a result were spared the costs and
anxieties linked with putting in a tribunal
claim.
Carried out by the Institute for Employment
Studies, the Acas helpline Survey 2007 was
undertaken with employers, employees and
third parties who had used the Acas national
helpline. It showed that almost a quarter
(23%) of employees had been considering
making an employment tribunal claim before
calling, but of this percentage, almost a
third (30%) decided against pursuing a claim
as a result of the information provided,
meaning 16,000 were averted.
In addition, almost half of the employers
who responded said that their call to the
helpline had prompted them to update or
improve existing policies at their
workplace, and 45% reported that their call
had motivated them to implement new
policies. Around three-quarters of all
tribunal claims are resolved before they go
to a hearing, often with Acas' help. But the
cost in financial terms and the stress these
cases cause is still too high.
Ed Sweeney, Acas Chair (designate): "These
findings show that talking things through
can make a huge difference. Clearly there
are savings to be made for both business and
the individual. Employment tribunals can be
expensive, time-intensive and stressful. As
well as using our helpline service and
website, we are urging businesses and
employees to take a 'prevention over cure'
approach and stop these types of problem
escalating to employment tribunals."
For help with Sacking Dismissal and
Redundancy visit our free article here.
For further employment help visit our
Employment and Personal Development section
here.
Visit the ACAS site here.
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