November 2026

Ben is a head chef at a busy hospitality group. Twelve years in the same kitchen. Worked every Christmas, every New Year, every double shift nobody else wanted. Last month a disagreement with a junior chef spilled over. Voices were raised. It got heated. Three days later Ben got a letter. No investigation. No disciplinary hearing. No opportunity to tell his side of the story. Just a letter telling him his employment was terminated for gross misconduct, effective immediately. Ben has now instructed a solicitor. This is one of the most avoidable tribunal claims in employment law. Before dismissing someone for gross misconduct, an employer must investigate the incident, invite the employee to a formal hearing, allow them to be accompanied and give them the right to appeal. Skipping any of these steps doesn’t just weaken your case. It hands Ben’s solicitor everything they need. ✅ 3 THINGS BEN’S EMPLOYER GOT WRONG 1. No investigation — even in cases of serious misconduct, the facts must be established before any decision is made. 2. No hearing — every employee has the right to put their case before a decision is reached. 3. No appeal — without one the process is procedurally unfair regardless of what actually happened. At People Vision HR we help businesses handle disciplinary procedures properly — the investigation, the hearing, the letters and the process that protects you if it ever goes further. Before Ben’s solicitor does it for you.

Sharon is a store manager at a busy retail chain. Fifteen years of solid performance, loyal customers and a team that respects her. Six months ago something shifted. Her concentration isn’t what it was. She’s exhausted in a way a good night’s sleep doesn’t fix. She’s been snapping at colleagues she’s worked alongside for years. Her last two performance reviews have slipped. Her line manager has written in his notes that Sharon seems to have lost interest. She hasn’t lost interest. She’s going through the menopause. And nobody has asked. Menopause is not a protected characteristic in its own right. But the symptoms — exhaustion, anxiety, difficulty concentrating — can amount to a disability under the Equality Act. Dismissing or performance managing someone without understanding what’s actually happening is a significant legal risk. ✅ 3 THINGS SHARON’S MANAGER SHOULD HAVE KNOWN 1. Symptoms can last years and affect performance, attendance and behaviour — without a single conversation, you’re managing the symptom not the cause. 2. Menopause-related dismissal or treatment has led to successful tribunal claims — ignorance is not a defence. 3. A menopause policy protects the employee and the employer — without one you’re exposed on both counts. At People Vision HR we provide menopause awareness training for managers and help businesses build policies that mean Sharon gets support instead of a performance plan. Before her line manager writes something in his notes that ends up in a tribunal bundle.

Marcus is a sales manager at Watkins & Co with a £200k annual fee target. He used to be the person who walked into a room and walked out with a new client. For the past six months he’s done everything by email. Calls avoided. Networking events declined. The phone on his desk barely touched. He tells himself it’s more efficient. His pipeline tells a different story. Six months of avoided conversations is potentially £100k of fees that haven’t landed. Sarah has noticed. What she hasn’t realised is that this isn’t a performance issue. It’s a confidence issue. And those don’t get fixed with a warning letter. AI gave Marcus the perfect place to hide. Coaching gives him a reason to come out. ✅ 3 SIGNS SOMEONE NEEDS COACHING, NOT MANAGING 1. Performance has slipped but attitude hasn’t — they still care, they’ve just lost their way 2. They’re avoiding what they used to do well — avoidance is almost always about confidence, not capability 3. A conversation hasn’t shifted anything — some people need a coach, not a manager Our executive coaching programme is six focused, confidential sessions built entirely around the individual.  Marcus was brilliant once. He can be again.

Isla is a project manager at a fast-growing tech startup. Good at her job, well-liked, no performance concerns. Last month she told her MD she was pregnant. Three weeks later she had her first ever performance review. Then another. Then a formal warning. Nothing had changed about Isla’s work. Everything had changed about how she was being treated. Isla hasn’t raised a grievance yet. But she’s been talking to ACAS. And she knows something the MD clearly doesn’t. You don’t need to have worked somewhere for two years to be protected. You need to have announced a pregnancy. The MD thinks he’s managing a performance issue. He’s walking into one of the most clear-cut discrimination claims in employment law. There is no cap on compensation. And timing is everything — tribunals notice it. ✅ 3 THINGS THE MD SHOULD HAVE KNOWN 1. Protection starts from the moment pregnancy is announced — not after a qualifying period, not after a scan, immediately2. Any negative treatment after an announcement will be scrutinised — tribunals look at what changed and when3. There is no cap on compensation for pregnancy discrimination — this is not a risk worth taking At People Vision HR we help businesses handle pregnancy and maternity properly — the right policies, the right process and the conversations that need to happen before Isla’s ACAS call becomes your tribunal date. Isla hasn’t filed yet. There’s still time to get this right.

Priya is a senior carer at a busy residential care home. Three months ago she flagged a serious concern about unsafe staffing levels on the night shift to her manager. Nothing happened. She raised it again. In writing this time. Her manager told her to stop making trouble. Last week Priya contacted the CQC directly. Priya didn’t go to the regulator first. She went to her manager. Twice. The owner had no idea any of this was happening because nobody built a process that made it safe for Priya to be heard internally. That’s how whistleblowing works. It doesn’t start with a regulator. It starts with an employee who tried to do the right thing and felt ignored. ✅ 3 THINGS EVERY EMPLOYER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT WHISTLEBLOWING 1. Employees who raise genuine safety concerns are legally protected from the moment they speak up – ignoring them is not just poor management, it’s a legal risk2. You need a whistleblowing policy that staff actually know about – not a paragraph buried in a handbook nobody reads3. Every concern must be investigated and responded to – silence is the fastest route to a regulator’s door At People Vision HR we draft whistleblowing policies, train managers to respond properly and make sure your people know they can speak up safely – so concerns are heard internally before they become external problems.

Salesforce open. Two screens. Always on a call. Marcus works in business development at a fast-growing tech company and he runs his own consultancy on the side. His employer has no idea. He takes client calls during office hours. Uses his work laptop. Built his client list from contacts made in his day job. Last week a client mentioned his name in a pitch meeting. The wrong pitch meeting. This isn’t just a disciplinary issue. Depending on what Marcus has done with company data it could be a GDPR matter. Depending on what his contract says, a breach of contract claim. And depending on how the employer handles it from here, an unfair dismissal case. ✅ 3 THINGS EVERY EMPLOYER NEEDS IN PLACE BEFORE MARCUS HAPPENS TO THEM 1. A secondary employment policy.  Employees should disclose outside work and seek approval where a conflict of interest could arise. 2. A data use policy covering personal devices, client contacts and use of company information outside working hours. 3. Contracts reviewed and updated.  A contract written before hybrid working and the gig economy is not fit for purpose in 2026. At People Vision HR we review employment contracts and workplace policies to make sure they reflect the way people actually work now — before a client drops a name in the wrong meeting.

Did you know that from January 2027, any independent trade union has the legal right to request access to your workplace? Not just businesses with existing union recognition. Any business with 21 or more workers including businesses that have never had a union anywhere near them. This is one of the most significant shifts in UK employment law in a generation, and most business owners haven’t heard of it yet. Here’s what it means in practice. A union can submit a formal written access request to meet, recruit, organise and represent your staff even if there’s been no union presence in your business to date. Once that request lands on your desk, you have just 15 working days to respond. If you don’t respond, or refuse without good reason, the union can refer the matter to the Central Arbitration Committee, which can impose access terms and financial penalties for non-compliance. And here’s the part that surprises most employers. Some of your staff may already be union members through previous roles, for example, a nurse or clinician who has joined from the NHS, a driver who was previously in a unionised logistics firm, or a graduate who joined while at university. They don’t need to tell you. And the union doesn’t need your permission to ask. There’s one more thing. From the same date, you will also be legally required to provide every worker with a written statement informing them of their right to join a trade union. Not optional. Not discretionary. Required. More and more employees across all sectors are joining unions. No business is immune. ✅ 3 THINGS EVERY EMPLOYER NEEDS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW 1. You have 15 working days to respond to a formal access request.  If you have no policy and no HR support, that window goes very fast. 2. Access isn’t just physical.  Unions can also request digital access through email, intranet or online meetings, and workers attending union meetings during working time must be paid in full. 3. From 30 October you must also give every worker a written statement about their right to join a union and most employers don’t know this is coming. At People Vision HR we help businesses understand their rights and obligations under the new access regime, respond to requests properly and put the policies in place before a letter arrives that requires an immediate response.

Jasmine is three months into her first job at a busy FMCG company. Last week her manager asked her to organise the Christmas party. 80 people. Open bar. December. She said yes because you always say yes in your first job. She’s chosen the venue, sorted the menu and built the playlist. What she hasn’t done is a risk assessment. Because nobody mentioned that was part of the job. A Christmas party isn’t just a night out. In law it’s a workplace event which means the employer is responsible for what happens, who feels included, what conduct is acceptable and what happens when it isn’t. The open bar, the mixed groups, the colleagues who’ve had a difficult year together, all of it happens on the employer’s watch. By Monday morning there was a formal complaint on the HR manager’s desk. Jasmine’s playlist was excellent. Everything else was a problem. ✅ 3 THINGS TO DO BEFORE THE PARTY — NOT AFTER 1. Carry out a risk assessment.  Off-site events need the same risk thinking as any workplace situation, including who might be vulnerable and what could go wrong. 2. Brief your team before they arrive.  A short message about expected behaviour is not a mood killer, it’s a legal necessity. 3. Have a plan for when something goes wrong because every year, somewhere, something does. At People Vision HR we can help with pre-event risk assessments, conduct policies for off-site events and the complaints that follow when nobody did either.  Get in touch and let’s talk through what you need. 26 years of helping businesses have a great Christmas party. And a quiet January.

Robert works in client services at a fast-growing tech company. He’s been there four years. Until eighteen months ago he was one of the best – responsive, client-facing, reliable. Then he stopped picking up the phone. Calls go to voicemail. Emails take days. Clients are complaining. His manager has asked him to come into the office twice and both times Robert found a reason not to. He’s present on paper. He’s absent in every way that matters. His manager has had enough. She wants him out. And she’s decided the cleanest way to do it is to make his role redundant. The role still exists. That’s not redundancy. What she actually has is a performance and capability issue and those require a completely different process. Using redundancy to avoid a difficult conversation isn’t a shortcut. It’s an unfair dismissal claim waiting to happen. ✅ 3 THINGS ROBERT’S MANAGER NEEDS TO KNOW 1. Redundancy means the role no longer exists. If someone else will do Robert’s job after he leaves, it isn’t redundancy. 2. Capability and performance issues have their own process – informal conversations, formal warnings, support plans and a fair hearing before any decision is made. 3. Getting this wrong is expensive. An employee with two or more years’ service can claim unfair dismissal. And a fabricated redundancy is one of the clearest ways to lose. At People Vision HR we help managers handle the situations they’ve been avoiding, properly. The right process, the right letters and the difficult conversation that needs to happen before Robert’s solicitor gets involved.  Because the shortcut always costs more than the process.

Charlotte is the office manager at a busy professional services firm. She’s spent six months planning the company **ski trip**. Thirty people. Deposits paid. Everybody’s excited. Charlotte has thought of everything. Except the **PEOPLE NOT SKIING**. There’s Maya, who has a mobility condition nobody asked about. There’s James, whose religion makes the après-ski bar culture deeply uncomfortable but felt he couldn’t say no. There’s Priya, who is eight weeks pregnant and hasn’t told anyone yet. And there’s Dev, who said yes because saying no felt like career suicide. By day two, none of them are on the slopes. They’re in the chalet. Together. Open bar. No structure. Nothing to do. By evening, something has happened that Charlotte never saw coming. Because Charlotte was too close to the excitement to see the risk. A work trip with 30 employees, alcohol, a remote location and people with undisclosed needs isn’t just a logistics challenge. It’s a situation nobody planned for and nobody’s ready for. And yes, the new harassment duty covers what happens off-site too. No risk assessment. No conduct policy. No pre-departure briefing. No defence. ✅ 3 THINGS CHARLOTTE SHOULD HAVE DONE BEFORE ANYONE PACKED THEIR SKIS 1. A proper risk assessment covering all attendees, not just the ones on the slopes, but the ones who won’t be, can’t be or shouldn’t be. 2. A pre-departure conduct briefing off-site – alcohol and mixed groups is exactly the environment the harassment duty was written for. 3. An anonymous needs assessment that give people a safe way to flag mobility issues, health concerns or cultural considerations before they feel they have no choice but to say yes. At People Vision HR we offer an independent review of your off-site event planning – the risk assessment, the policy and the questions that the person who planned the trip can’t also spot the gaps in. Because the outside view is the one that sees what Charlotte missed. We’re not here to stop the fun. We’re here to make sure it stays that way.