Policy & procedures design or review, management & strategy, specialist project support, onsite & offsite HR
Policy design, reviews & audits, site inspection, accident investigation, mitigating risk, IOSH training
Enhancing capabilities, cultivating high-performing teams, transforming team effectiveness
Strategy development, culture & change, employee engagement, succession planning, DEI
Management development, coaching, workshops & online learning academy
Confidential calls & reporting, secure case management, policy best practice & compliance
Expert tax, audit & advisory services
Financial planning, cash flow modelling, retirement planning
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AAB People / Sectors / Technology / Page 3
Large international organisations.
Recruitment & selection. Improving HR Functions. Optimising HR Processes. Pre-Employment Checks. Salary Benchmarking & Reports. Recruitment & Onboarding. Recruitment process management. Coaching & Supporting Managers.
Technolohy.
As a Resourcing Manager, Basit Zaman’s role is to provide a recruitment function A-Team, which is responsible for recruiting across multiple countries, as well as multiple sectors and specialisms for his client. Basit is responsible for providing resources for up to 50 vacancies at a time across multiple sectors.
Despite also managing a team of a fellow recruiter and a resourcing coordinator, Basit is hands-on with the work he does for his client. He remains involved in every aspect of the recruitment life cycle, including headhunting, administration management, stakeholder engagement, stakeholder management, and more.
“First and foremost, for me, an ideal relationship with a client or a candidate is one that is built on trust and honesty from both sides. It’s obviously important for me to be honest and transparent with clients, but it’s great when they know they can be honest with me. From a recruitment perspective, if a client isn’t honest and clear about what they’re looking for, I may not be able to find the right candidate for them. So, for me, open and regular communication is key to making sure the process is as efficient and successful as possible.
Being able to challenge and disagree with each other is really important as well. If there’s a chance for improvements to be made, you need to feel comfortable enough to push back, and I think that’s something that can be overlooked sometimes.”
“Ultimately, clients expect results. At the end of the day, when you’re in recruitment, when you’re tasked to find candidates for a job, the main purpose is to find the right candidate essentially. So it’s as simple as that. I also think, again, communication is what they expect. So if you’re unable to find someone because of various challenges, letting them know and having regular touchpoints is also important.
Accountability is so important as well. You need to take ownership of the situation and make sure that you’re responsible for the overall process, and not just leaving it to other people.”
“The most satisfying aspect of working with clients for me is delivering results. That’s what makes clients happy, and that’s what makes me happy as a recruiter: being able to find the right people for the job. There’s nothing better than when you find a candidate and then in six months, the manager tells you how great they are, that kind of the perfect scenario.
I also think the people aspect is satisfying to me. I mean, whether it’s colleagues or clients, being able to build long-term relationships and friendships where we look forward to catching up… those are the kind of things that appeal to me.
I really love learning from clients and colleagues. Everyone in the team has slightly different expertise – they’ve come from different backgrounds and different companies. For me personally, learning, developing and sharing knowledge is incredibly important.”
“In terms of communication, my ideal scenario is a blend of virtual and more ‘hands-on’ or in-person approaches. I’m very much used to working remotely, but meeting people face-to-face and spending time with them is really helpful. It builds trust, and helps to develop relationships.”
“In the tech sector in particular, a lot of roles are very niche, so there are often more jobs than candidates, which can be a challenge. For us, it just means we have to be a bit creative in recruiting candidates. We can’t do things in the same way as other recruiters; we have to be a step ahead, try different things, and be proactive. It’s not a case of just putting out adverts and hoping people apply – we have to go out there and target people to get in touch with. We have to be different, and stand out.
Another challenge is dealing with the negative perception of recruiters that some people have, usually after they’ve had a bad experience with a recruiter. But, of course, the easiest way of changing someone’s perceptions about recruiters is by delivering results – which is exactly what we do.”
“The thing that most excites me about the future for myself as part of AAB People is probably the growth journey that we’re going through right now. There are lots of opportunities ahead to grow and develop. Things like being able to share knowledge across such an experienced and dedicated team is really exciting. There are so many experts in different fields on the team, so there’s so much we learn from each other.
It’s also exciting to be able to share my thoughts and ideas with people on how to continually improve processes and methods, and provide solutions to challenges. I’m someone who doesn’t like to just be stagnant and do the same thing day in and day out. I’m ambitious, and I’m always keen to keep growing.”
“One of the AAB Group Values that really stood out to me was that ‘collaboration is our superpower’ – I’m someone who always likes working together with people, whether it’s with my team, my clients, or stakeholders. I think having that team player mindset is really important. Being a lone wolf or someone who just wants to do things on your own can have a detrimental effect on relationships and lead to long term problems.
I believe you can achieve goals a lot more quickly if you work together, regardless of whether they’re personal goals or shared goals. Taking a team approach just has a more successful outcome in general. Working together can lead to better, more efficient, and more sustainable processes which is what we’re all striving for.”
“The greatest strength I think I bring to AAB People is my work ethic. I’m someone who lives and breathes my work. I love getting things done, and I never put something off if I can do it today.
I think my other major strength is just being able to deliver results. I make a huge number of hires, and recently, for example, I saved my client half a million pounds in six months. So delivering results and exceeding expectations is what I’m all about!
I’m also adaptable – I’m always able to change and adapt depending on what the situation requires of me. People are different, organisations are different, and so my approach has to be different. I’m very motivated to be adaptable, as I’m keenly aware that things can change at any time. I need to be ready for all kinds of situations and challenges. I’m very good at putting out fires, as well as pre-empting and avoiding potential issues.”
Proud to support a diverse range of clients
SMEs. Internal clients. Large international organisations.
Recruitment & selection. Onboarding. Outsourced HR function. Pre-Employment Checks. Salary benchmarking & reports. Operational HR administration. HR meeting support. Recruitment process management. Coaching & Supporting Managers.
Technology. Not for Profit. Public Sector.
Jai Rocca is a Senior Resourcing Consultant for a large global client. His role is to provide recruitment support across various locations and markets, providing end-to-end recruitment support. This includes proactive sourcing, screening, interview selection, and managing direct applications. Jai also handles negotiations, and acts as the key point of contact for candidates.
Jai specialises in fast-growth technology companies and has extensive experience of working on project-based recruitment, contingent recruitment, and business critical recruitment. He is also heavily involved in streamlining processes, and ensuring that both the team and the client are following best practice at all times.
Having worked with a wide variety of businesses, from SMEs to large international organisations across multiple sectors, Jai is able to draw from his considerable experience to provide the highest quality recruitment services.
“To me, the ideal relationship with a client would probably be one that’s based on or built on transparency and trust; a relationship where we have open and honest communication. I think being able to fully consult with clients means I’m able to deliver value outside of traditional recruitment processes sometimes. It’s also important to feel comfortable in challenging clients at times, and be completely honest with them, even if it’s something they may not necessarily want to hear.
That is exactly what clients can expect from me: honesty. If I feel that we’re not doing things in the right way or if a process is failing or whatever it may be, it’s crucial to be able to go back, look at what went wrong, figure out how we can do things better moving forward, and then be able to communicate that to the client. Continuous improvement is something I strive for, so I think constructive feedback is hugely important. To be able to do that effectively, it’s key to have a foundation of trust and honesty.”
“Clients expect me to be a friendly and professional consultative service that they can rely on. They know that I’ll always have their best interests at heart, and that I have a thorough understanding of what they do and what they want.
They obviously expect me to deliver what I say I’ll deliver, within agreed upon timeframes and in a professional manner. A big part of making sure clients feel looked after is being available. They know they can phone me or email me, and I’ll always be available to help them in any way that I can.”
“I really enjoy the challenge of solving recruitment problems; I see it as kind of a puzzle. So I like to try and build that puzzle as effectively and efficiently as I can. I find it satisfying to help clients solve whatever challenges they’re facing. It’s important to really partner with clients and gain a thorough understanding of the challenges in order to overcome them.
The other side of it that gives me a really great sense of satisfaction comes from the candidate side of the process. It’s great to be able to change people’s lives – to be the facilitator that meant that someone achieved a higher paying position, greater responsibility, or even their perfect role.
I really enjoy working with my colleagues too – being able to collaborate and support each other and learn from each other is invaluable. But a lot of what I do requires me to work alone – so I’m very comfortable taking initiative and managing my work myself.”
“With the times we live in, being able to work seamlessly through a virtual approach is really important. Businesses often operate across multiple locations or countries, and its not always possible to physically be everywhere that a client is operating, so it’s important to utilise the technology we now have. It’s amazing how much time it can save, making sure our processes are as efficient as possible.
It’s just about having the ability to build relationships and collaborate remotely – this is crucial, and it’s something I’ve become skilled at.
Having said that, getting some face-to-face interaction does allow you to nurture relationships, and get a really strong feel for the kind of culture and people you’re working with. So, in an ideal world, that’s a part of the communication approach too.”
“In terms of the biggest challenge we face in recruitment, it’s probably recruitment itself! The whole area is the process of solving problems. Within this though, the toughest aspect is probably that we work in very competitive markets. A lot of the roles we recruit for are quite niche, so the pool of candidates is small.
One of the ways we deal with this is ensuring we use multiple approaches. Perhaps, for example, referral schemes, being more proactive with candidates who are more passive, or ‘boomerang hiring’ which is an approach which is becoming more common. This is where we might try to encourage former employees to come back to the business. Sometimes people might be less likely to reach out to a previous employer, but if they left on positive terms there’s no reason why we wouldn’t want to help encourage them to come back.
Recruitment is a challenge but, ultimately, the key aspect to approaching it is persistence. Working in recruitment, there is an inevitable amount of rejection, but it’s never personal. You just have to be persistent, and not allow yourself to feel daunted by obstacles or rejection. It’s a case of creating your own luck in that sense.”
“Of the AAB Group Values, the one that stands out to me the most is that we respect and trust each other. Trust and respect are so important when it comes to collaborating and sharing different ideas from different and diverse perspectives. Building that kind of supportive working environment allows people to feel confident in doing that, and it means that people’s contributions, ideas, and opinions are value and appreciated.”
“The greatest strength I bring to AAB People is probably just my depth of knowledge across the area of recruitment. I have a considerable amount of experience of working with and supporting different types of businesses operating in various sectors, which always informs my approach to different situations.
I’m also good at building strong, lasting relationships with people, including both stakeholders and candidates.
Since in recruitment you are nearly always working under pressure, it’s important to be level-headed. You’ve got to be able to remain calm and composed, regardless of what’s happening. Sometimes that’s challenging, but I also think I work well under pressure.”
“In terms of the best compliments I’ve received, I’ve been told that I have a great tenacity for getting the job done and for ensuring that I give the best experience for both candidates and clients. Clients have also expressed appreciation that I never go missing when things become difficult or challenging – I’m always available and make sure to communicate with clients and candidates, regardless of if it’s good news or bad news. It’s also a huge compliment when people recommend me to their peers and are willing to put their name to my skills and ability.”
“There’s a certain the perception of recruiters as being perhaps unethical that people sometimes have, who maybe had a bad experience with a business or was ghosted by a certain consultant. But there are plenty of great consultants in the industry that I’ve probably worked in who genuinely want to provide the best experience for a client or a candidate.
Whenever I come across a candidate that’s maybe standoffish has that kind of perception, I enjoy taking on the challenge of trying to change it. I do this by making sure I have regular touch points with a candidate, and always try and keep them informed whether they’re successful or not. I always try to treat people like I would want to be treated, with open communication, honesty, and transparency.”
Large international organisation. SMEs.
Employee Relations Management. Coaching & Supporting Managers. Investigation and Disciplinary procedures. Review of HR Documentation and Policies/Procedures. Day-to-day HR queries.
Tech. Food & Drink. Leisure, Retail & Hospitality. Education. Business Services.
Helen Lee is a HR Manager, she manages and influences human resources strategy and provides guidance to organisations. She collaborates with clients to streamline their HR process and ensure they adhere to UK employment legislation.
Functioning as the HR expert for her clients, Helen provides guidance on employee relations, policy, recruitment, reward and benefits, absence management, wellbeing, training and development.
“For me, relationships with clients are all about open communication and mutual trust. It’s great when you build a rapport with a client and get to a point where they know they can tell me exactly what’s happened, however bad it is, and they know I won’t prematurely form an opinion or be judgemental. Clients can always trust that I’ll provide professionalism and confidentiality.”
“Clients also expect me to have a good understanding of their business, a be a reliable and consistent support. They also expect me to have excellent HR knowledge, of course, and be able to adapt to their business, providing a range of solutions and the ability to problem solve.
Ultimately, they want me to take the headache away, in whichever way I can, and they want to feel reassured that I can deal with whatever problems crop up – there are always solutions!”
“I find the variety of my work very interesting. It’s great getting to know clients, really getting under the skin of the business and understanding how it operates. Being ‘neutral’ rather than an official employee of the business allows me to sit outside of a lot of the company politics that may arise, which is often reassuring for the client.”
“The great thing about being part of such a fantastic team is that we all work together and support each other With our range of knowledge– we share ideas, suggest improvements, or just do a sense check, and that kind of teamwork is invaluable.
Even when you’re dealing with a tough situation, or having a difficult day, there’s always somebody you can phone for advice.”
“Before 2020, it was thought to be crucial to physically be in front of clients to form a strong relationship, but there have been a lot of changes since then, and now I think people realise a bit more that virtual and remote communication can play a significant role.
I strongly believe that there’s a place for both in person and tech-enabled communication, and it’s about judging what each situation requires.”
“The biggest challenge in my field is skill shortage within the tech world and the knock-on effects of this, such as salary inflation. I overcome this challenge by being a creative in how to fill skills gaps for clients. Creativity is certainly an attribute that comes in handy when it comes to recruitment.”
“The AAB Group Value that jumps out at me the most is the ‘ethos of positivity, enthusiasm and fun.’ I’m a hard worker, but it’s also important to me to stay positive and enthusiastic about the work and demonstrate this to clients and colleagues.
As keen to listen and support clients and colleagues as we are, inevitably in HR, there are difficult situations. But I think if you can try to stay on the positive side of things, it really helps. With the tougher decisions, you have to remember that they’re being made for the sake of the business. in difficult situations, as long as you’re being open, fair, and supportive, you can help to make it easier and mitigate potential negative consequences… As long as you you’ve treated people as you would want to be treated yourself, then there isn’t much more you can do. You know that you’ve done your job.”
“I believe that the greatest strength I bring to AAB People is my calmness in the face of potentially stressful situations. I think it’s something I’ve developed with experience over the years of solving problems and having difficult conversations. I don’t panic, the chances are I’ve already seen this problem before, and I know how to handle it and what the ideal solution is.
Another strength is my flexible approach. I understand the legislation, and will always let the client know the risk associated if they don’t follow best practise and all the available options, but I never dictate to my clients what they have to do. I’m also approachable and easy to talk to, and I genuinely care about my clients.”
Medium sized and large organisations. Large international organisations.
Outsourced HR Function. HR Strategy development. Organisational design. Change management.
Technology. Leisure, retail & hospitality. Food & drink. The internal People & Culture team.
Katie Aldred is an HR Director within AAB People. Katie’s main specialism is HR strategy for organisations: the designing, developing, and implementing of it. To be able to do this most effectively, Katie works in a remarkably integrated way with the organisations she helps, working alongside the leadership teams of the businesses.
This integrated approach allows her to really get under the skin of an organisation, understand the challenges and find the best solutions for them. These solutions could mean working directly with people or helping to develop broader HR strategy – for example, tackling engagement issues or organisational design challenges. She designs and delivers these solutions as well as overseeing the management of them on a day-to-day basis.
“For me, the ideal relationship with a client is where you’re both looking at the bigger picture. Anyone on the team can go in and identify a particular problem in isolation, but for me, the ideal is when organisations are looking for me to be part of something longer term. Looking at an organisation from a strategic perspective and then being able to break things down into smaller pieces, whether that’s dealing with a problematic person, or redesigning a team to better fit the way the organisation wants to operate in the future.”
“Personally, the most satisfying aspect of what I do is when clients trust us and allow us to get that all-important exposure of the bigger picture of the organisation: its main focus, its challenges, its aims for the future. Getting the bigger picture allows us to be the most effective at what we do. We might be asked to come in and fix one seemingly isolated problem, but it’s often the case that the problem was just a symptom of a wider, more embedded or structural issue.
What interests and fulfils me most is working with organisations long term. It allows me to find the root causes of seemingly isolated problems, truly understanding them, and then being able to provide the most effective solutions. I like to solve the real problem – not just the surface level ones, and help organisations evolve into what they want to be. Being a key part of that process is what I enjoy the most.”
“Clients expect us to have a pragmatic approach, with commercially focused thinking. They expect me to draw on my considerable experience and utilise it to help them. They can trust that I know what works and what doesn’t work.
I think they also expect us to be pleasant to work with – most people want a relationship that is professional and respectful, but also one in which they can be themselves, and are able to have a laugh. This is particularly important when you’re working with people on a long-term basis. You have to know how to have a bit of fun!”
“We have an incredible sense of camaraderie amongst the team. Some of us work in a very integrated way with clients where it would be easy to stay in that ‘bubble’, but we don’t – we are always working to listen to and leverage each other’s experience and knowledge in a way that is incredibly helpful, particularly for more junior members of the team.
It’s always fantastic to see those more junior members grow in confidence and capability, and take on things that perhaps a year ago they would have said that they weren’t ready for.”
“Obviously, over the last few years, a lot of what we’ve done has become even more virtual. Demonstrating that we can deliver HR services to an excellent standard and not have to be onsite and present every day has actually been quite an enjoyable journey. Being able to work remotely is one of the ways we’ve navigated delivering the size of the services that we offer. A lot of our clients are in the tech sector, and quite often have a hybrid or remote approach themselves, so they understand that it’s not necessarily a barrier or a limit to providing top quality work – it can often be the facilitator.
Our clients always know that we’re here, even if we’re not physically present. We’re always on hand to help – if they have an issue or a query, they know they can pick up the phone or message us on Teams or send us an e-mail, and we’ll deal with that problem or question quickly.”
“The greatest challenge in my specialist area is being able to ‘switch hats’ quickly. It’s crucial to have the ability to take yourself out of one situation with a client and then focus your attention completely on another, very different one. Dealing with entirely different situations requires using entirely different approaches and methods – and we have to be able to swiftly move from one to another. The deeper and more complex the issues, the more difficult it can be to have that agile mindset.
Additionally, when it comes to being fully integrated with clients, you become very mentally and emotionally absorbed in that business. So, you have to learn how to extract yourself and put yourself in a totally different culture. It almost feels like teleportation sometimes between one business and the next business! Agility is absolutely the name of the game.”
“I’m thrilled to be a part of a bigger group, and get to see how it continues to evolve! It’s always a great feeling to be a part of the growth journey of a business, and help drive its ongoing. It’s also very exciting to see the team develop and become part of something bigger. Gaining more exposure to the depth and breadth of expertise and experience at AAB People and the wider AAB Group across different sectors and types of organisation is fantastic. It provides opportunities for everyone to really expand their body of knowledge, and evolve and streamline their own processes.”
“At AAB Group you are really able to see how the Group Values are woven into every aspect of the organisation. There are the things that most organisations list – trusting people, having integrity, etc., but for me what differentiates AAB Group is our value that ‘nothing is more important that people’ and our ethos of ‘positivity, enthusiasm, and fun.’
The nature of HR work means that we are often involved in handling difficult situations, so it’s especially important that our own organisational culture genuinely values fun and coming together in a positive environment to strengthen our team relationships.”
“My greatest strength is probably my ability to build relationships. I’m able to do this with almost anyone, even if they’re not necessarily ‘my kind of person.’ Whenever necessary, I’m able to put certain things aside and find common ground, common understanding, and mutual respect, which can then develop into a good relationship. There’s always something I can find to build on with someone, and with people who perhaps need to be drawn out slightly more, I’m good at doing that too.”
“The biggest compliment I’ve had is probably that one of our clients always say that if they were employing me directly, they’d have to pay me a lot more money than they pay for the entire service.”
“My biggest pet hate in terms of how people see HR, is when they reduce it to ‘tea and tissues.’ HR is not simply a case of giving someone tissues when they’re upset! The implication is that what we do is simple, or is simply a sticking plaster, and that we don’t understand the business.
HR is not peripheral, or a box-ticking exercise – it’s absolutely integral, and businesses that value their people and know that the success of the organisation relies on its people, already know that.”
We know that employers are facing more challenges than ever before when running their business. From the risk of losing staff, the worry of how best to be a supportive employer to the uncertainty of using AI in your business when it is such an unknown but powerful tool.
In this webinar our team covered some of the most topical HR matters facing employers right now, based on our conversations with clients and from what we see in businesses we deal with day to day. We included a varied range of topics detailed further below and provide pragmatic advice to business owners, manager and HR professionals on how to effectively deal with the issues we believe they are facing.
SMEs. Start-ups.
Being the client’s internal HR Manager and encouraging them to unlock the potential of their employees while focusing upon strategic growth within their company.
Tech. Health sciences. Software based companies.
Based in our Glasgow office, Ailsa Smillie is a highly experienced HR Manager and is responsible for all aspects of the HR function for her clients. Ailsa is passionate about breaking down the barriers between employers and employees and working together to grow the company and establish an employer of choice brand.
“To me, there are three things that are essential for a strong relationship with a client: openness, honesty and mutual respect. Clients can always expect honesty, professionalism and a jargon-free approach to advice and guidance from us. I always strive to provide informed advice to my client and not just what I think the client wants to hear as I feel it’s important not to be afraid to have those difficult conversations with clients. My favourite thing to do is to challenge everything, which I believe is essential to consistently generate innovative ideas to solving our clients’ problems. An ex-colleague once told me, “just because you’ve done it before, doesn’t mean it is right,” and this has stuck with me and I’m always trying to think of new ways of working for our clients.”
“I personally enjoy the variety of work that working in HR offers me. The opportunity to work with different clients allows me to gain exposure to an array of interesting businesses and various industries. No two days or businesses are ever the same and not every idea will work for every business, so we must take the time to get to know each client and consider their working environment when proposing ideas. We always aim to tailor our approach or ideas specifically to what will suit each client’s culture.”
“When we’re spending the majority of our day at work, I believe it’s important create a positive and light-hearted culture in the workplace. Similarly, when I approach my work, I focus upon the positive outcome it will have for the client, such as developing a new way of doing things that could improve employee engagement in their workplace.
I also love that there are endless learning opportunities. Within our team, we all have different areas of enthusiasm or expertise so it’s great being able to learn from my colleagues and gain their different ideas, viewpoints or perceptions on a situation. I believe that is the beauty of the HR discipline, there is never a one-size-fits-all solution and it’s our job to provide our clients with the right advice to make the right decisions.”
“I’m known for my ability to be straight talking with a no-frills approach. To me, a spade is a spade, and I don’t see the need to overcomplicate things for our clients. I believe it’s essential to break things down and explain them in a way that everyone can understand, follow and get on board with. I feel that clients really appreciate this jargon-free approach which often allows me to build relationships with them quickly.
A client once said to me, “talking to you just makes everything better and a bit easier,” and I thought this was lovely as sometimes HR can be viewed negatively but it was great to hear that discussing problems and solutions with the client makes them feel better and a bit more positive about everything.”
Nordhealth is a fast-growing international SaaS company which builds software to empower healthcare professionals to focus on what matters most – delivering great care, great experiences and growing their businesses. Their solutions serve more than 30,000 healthcare professionals across 7,000 clinics and hospitals in over 25 countries.
They have over 400 employees globally, and 14 employees based in the UK. Nordhealth is a remote-first employer, meaning that staff work remotely and are based throughout the UK.
AAB People started working with Nordhealth in October 2021, working closely with the UK General Manager to support the growth of the newly established team in the UK. The business had recently acquired a location in the UK, having initially started out in Finland. Their HR policies and procedures were not UK specific and it was of the utmost importance that these were created in order to recruit UK based employees and ensure that they are following UK law. They required the help of qualified HR professionals to create specific documentation and advise on best practices.
As the business unit was new, the AAB People team supported with the creation of HR documentation, including contracts of employment and an Employee Handbook. The team also gave advice and recommendations, taking into account current employment legislation and HR best practice. One of the key challenges faced by Nordhealth was how to embed these new HR policies and practices as the team grows, and how to build the culture of the company when team members are based remotely throughout the UK. To support these objectives, AAB People facilitated a DISC Insights session for Nordhealth as the DISC model can be used to build awareness and enhance communication and performance within a company. DISC Insights is particularly useful for remote teams, as it is a powerful team building tool.
The DISC Insights session was a great success and gave Nordhealth’s UK team the opportunity to not only get to know each other better, but also to get to know themselves better. This helped the team understand why people might act in a particular way, enabling easier conversation between team members which ultimately contributes towards building a higher-performing team.
‘We’re delighted by our partnership with AAB People and the HR services they continue to provide, having the best practice advice only a phone call away is extremely valuable and the team have taken the time to understand our business and tailor the service we receive to our specific needs helping us to grow.’
SMEs.
Understanding our clients’ businesses and how they go about it, then working together to make sure that the structures are in place to protect their most valuable asset: people.
Across all sectors.
Mark Girvan is a Senior Health & Safety Consultant based in our Glasgow office. Mark manages a portfolio of AAB People’s Health and Safety clients, assisting them to go beyond compliance and strive for excellence. In his role, he is also involved in assisting in the development of our Health and Safety service.
“An ideal relationship with a client is based on mutual respect and trust. We need clients to feel comfortable letting us peer into the dark corners so that we can shine a light into the shadows.
I strive to provide honest and transparent advice and support to our clients. I also try not to bamboozle them with regulatory numbers and paragraphs but to take a common sense approach and work with them to find practical solutions. Alongside this, whatever I do I always try to do it with humility and a sense of humour.”
“I love that in my line of work, there are endless learning opportunities. I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues and feel very fortunate that I have great colleagues from whom I can learn every day. Likewise, our clients are the subject matter experts in what they and their people do, and I love getting to learn from their determination to build and maintain a thriving business and passion for protecting their employees.”
“Some of the biggest challenges in safety happen during a financial downturn, where streamlining budgets and saving on safety might sometimes be seen as quick fixes. What’s not always appreciated is the hidden cost of failing to maintain a safe workplace and invest in training, equipment, and maintenance. Any search engine search for “safety iceberg” will highlight the dangers of sacrificing safety and neglecting worker health and wellbeing. At AAB People, we firmly believe that investment in safety is an investment in business longevity, and that’s why we’re passionate about assisting clients to understand their priorities without breaking the bank or falling foul of the law.”
“As safety professionals, we need to continue to evolve and seek new opportunities for growth and development to assist us in assisting our clients. It’s essential that we fully understand new and emergent hazards and risks to keep our clients right. Working for a company that values and commits to continuing professional and personal development and views it not only desirable but essential demonstrates that nothing is indeed more important than our people.
Similarly, when working with clients we want to ensure that businesses understand not only the safety requirements but also the benefits of providing training and instruction to their workforce and value it as an investment in their future.”
“The thing that excites me most about the future is how we continue to see the Health & Safety service grow and become a leading provider in the market.”
When possible disciplinary or grievance issues occur in the workplace, employers have a responsibility to find out all they reasonably can about the situation to ensure matters are resolved fairly and effectively. To do this, they should conduct a workplace investigation as soon as possible after the issue is raised.
A workplace investigation is an objective, independent, and systematic process of uncovering facts about a particular incident that occurred at work. It involves carefully discussing a complaint or grievance for specific misconduct, policy violation, or unethical behaviour to reach a final decision and determine the appropriate course of action.
A thorough investigation will allow employers to decide whether there is a case to answer and whether a formal process should be followed.
During the investigation process, employers should gather as much evidence as reasonably possible from all sides to understand what has occurred and to help determine next steps. It is essential that everyone involved in the process is treated fairly at all times.
If conducted properly, investigations can help to protect the interests of the organisation by identifying wrongdoings and to support the employer with fair, objective and informed decision-making. An investigation may uncover extenuating circumstances which mitigate or justify the allegations that were made, meaning that formal action is not required. Instead, the employer may decide it is more appropriate to deal with the matter informally instead.
If a reasonable and fair investigation is not carried out, any decisions an employer makes in relation to the allegations may be unfair which could risk legal action.
While an investigation should be completed as quickly as possible, it is important that the investigation is thorough and fair. Therefore, some investigations might take longer depending on the case and how many people need to give information.
A comprehensive and fair investigation will protect all parties as employees should feel they have been treated fairly and have had the opportunity to explain things from their point of view. In addition, employers will be confident in the fact that they have made an informed decision.
Whether formal or informal action is required following an investigation, we are here to help. If you would like support for effectively managing workplace investigations and following a fair procedure, please do not hesitate to get in contact with or your usual AAB People contact.
As part of the onboarding process right to work checks are a vital part of ensuring businesses are compliant with the law. So, what are right to work checks? They are checks employers carry out with new staff members to ensure they have legal authority to work in the country where they are to be employed. They should also be carried out throughout employment to ensure their right to work is still valid if they do not have a permanent right to work status.
There is a useful document on the government website which details what evidence is required. An employer’s guide to right to work checks: 6 April 2022 (accessible version) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). If the employee is from the UK, the right to work would be their valid UK passport and a document that details their national insurance number. This will differ for foreign employees and will usually require evidence of a visa; employers should keep in mind that employees from the EU may be part of the EU settlement scheme and should ask for evidence of this. It is important that all employees are treated the same no matter where they are from to avoid claims of discrimination. Right to work checks should be completed for all employees. Employers should then also carry out ongoing checks on their employees’ right to work, to make sure their visas or passports are in date. If an employee is waiting for confirmation of their visa/ national insurance number, documentation from government bodies evidencing they have applied can be used in the interim.
It is important to note that for all right to work checks, employers should sign and date a copy of the right to work documents to say they have seen the original. This should then be clearly labelled and securely stored on the employees’ personal file. Any updated documentation should also follow the same process.
It is a criminal offence to employ/ pay individuals who do not have appropriate right to work and so is vital employers keep on top of this. If employees are unable to provide accurate right to work, after a grace period to gain this, they should either have their offer of employment revoked or their employment terminated if they are unable to evidence that it will be obtained in a reasonable amount of time.
During the pandemic there were changes made to right to work checks to allow employers to check right to work remotely. The changes allowed employers to check right to work by arranging a video call with the employee and checking their scanned documents, if they were unable to check in person. As of 1st October 2022, these changes are no longer valid. Checks will now either need to be in person, or by appointing an Identification Service Provider (“IDSP”). The IDSP will then use Identification Document Verification Technology (“IDVT”) to check the passport of the British & Irish national on behalf of employers. If the employee does not have a passport, then you must see their documentation in person. Please be aware that this could be carried out before the first day of employment, such as at a second stage interview. If the applicant is outside of the UK and Ireland you can use the government checking service, which will require a share code that the employee will have been issued with. View a job applicant’s right to work details – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
If you have any queries about the right to work checks process or any questions about your HR & Employment Law processes please do not hesitate to get in contact with or a member of our HR & Employment Law Team.
