OUR BLOG 

 
Below are a number of posts containing useful tips and insights from the Directors of Auxil Limited, acknowledged industry experts and trusted advisors in the fields of Health & Safety and Human Resources, which will hopefully trigger some thoughts or ideas. 
 
Why not join the conversation? We would love to hear your views… 

Posts tagged “Employee Consultation”

With the ongoing cost of living crises it is important that employers look for ways to provide employees with cost savings that have little or no cost to the employer. 
 
One way of achieving this is through salary sacrifice schemes, well known schemes include childcare vouchers and cycle to work, there are also many other uses for salary sacrifice, in this article we cover some of the essential considerations when implementing an electric car leasing scheme. To implement a salary sacrifice scheme the employer needs to ensure the following: 
• Change the terms of the employee’s employment contract and employee needs to agree to this change. 
The changes should be clear and understandable. 
• The change in salary cannot be applied to the salary retrospectively 
• The changes should be shown on the employee’s payslip 
• Check with HMRC that the scheme has been implemented correctly and is approved 
• Consult with pension providers on the effect the salary sacrifice will have on pension contributions and 
particularly if the employee is near retirement 
• Ensure that participation in the scheme should not reduce an employee’s cash earnings (hourly rate) to 
below the National Minimum Wage 
• Clarify how other pay and benefit elements will be calculated e.g. overtime, pay rises, pensionable pay, 
ideally this should be notional pay (before the salary sacrifice came into effect) 
• Make it clear that the reduced salary level does have to be used for the calculations for an employee’s 
statutory payments (such as statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and sick pay) 
 
We can all agree that consultation with employees during difficult and changing times has always been important. Going forward, it will become even more important as we move toward to our new normal, with new and innovative ideas on how we can work and live our lives safely and securely. So, with this in mind we have put together a number points that will help employers achieve meaningful consultation to enable businesses to reap the associated benefits, such as, better decision-making and problem solving, cost reduction, improved innovation and productivity. 
 
• Be open and honest. Not only will it help build trust in decision- making, it will also help to create a culture where employees feel able to speak up. 
• Be proactive and involve employees in the design of information and consultation arrangements. 
• Ensure there is a strategic focus at all meetings and provide employees with training so they can correctly identify this type of strategic issue. 
No doubt you have heard about the BBC’s announcement that they intend to reduce the salaries of some of their male presenters by up to 30% to try and eradicate the gender pay gap. This is an extremely unusual step for an employer to take and may prove to be full of risks. 
The legal position is that an employer cannot impose a wage cut on their employees if they have an employment contract setting out details of their salary. Any such decision will have to be with the agreement of the employees concerned. They are not obliged to give their consent and may take legal action to prevent the change. 

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