Throughout December and into January the UK has experienced continued strike action, involving NHS nurses, royal mail the civil service, driving instructors, paramedics and national rail. This will continue to impact business in terms of disruption to normal business operations (post, business travel, medical aid), but will also cause disruption to the lives of employees. It is recommended that businesses consider and plan for the impact of these strikes as in 2023 industrial action will continue to loom large, beyond the end of this month.

Uncertainty over pay for employees prevented from working as a result of the strike action may well cause employees mental, physical or financial distress on top of the existing cost of living crisis. If the travel disruptions become long-term, businesses could see an influx of resignations.  To avoid risking losing goodwill of key workers, employers should look to be reasonably accommodating when it comes to navigating the strikes whilst balancing this with their own business impact. Here are some suggestions that may help:

How can Employers provide support through periods of strike action?

  •  Employers who do not currently offer working from home, may wish to consider allowing this when there are strikes on National rail and the London Underground, as a way of mitigating the impact of the disruption on productivity. For an employee, not needing to travel to work on these days will likely prove less stressful, especially those with family/caring responsibilities.
  • If working from home isn’t an option, consider if staggering start and finish times so that employees are not commuting to work at peak time when travelling on alternative modes of transport. Disruption for the employee would be minimised when travelling at quieter times and you can get them attending work, which ultimately is better than them not doing any work. You might also like to consider whether funding local overnight accommodation may be feasible in some circumstances.  If you are a customer facing service, then an announcement on reduced operating hours might be appropriate during periods of industrial action that affect your business.
  • If you operate a logging in system at the start and end of the day, then a temporary relaxation of disciplinary rules relating to lateness during the affected period would be appropriate. It also may be deemed unreasonable to discipline an employee who was prevented from attending work through no fault of their own (i.e. transport strikes).
  • Consider if you can accommodate requests for time off from work either as annual leave or just unpaid leave for the employee to avoid travel entirely. The usual holiday processes should be used so that requests can be dealt with fairly.
  • If your employees are prevented from working due to travel disruptions and this will be unpaid, it may be helpful to have a policy on this in your staff handbook. In a policy you can make it clear that employees will not be paid if they are not able to get to work and the steps that employees are required to take when faced with travel disruption. This might also include the option of enforcing annual leave – with correct notice – or asking staff to use accrued time off in lieu. This will reduce the risk of disputes arising between employers and employees if this situation arises.
  • Employers must also consider the impact of postal strikes, especially on legal documentation, such as those relating to grievance, disciplinary or appeal outcomes. As well as formal meeting invites or correspondence relating to redundancy. These are all vitally important documentation and must be delivered in a timely manner. Think about alternative methods for ensuring the correspondence is delivered safely and in a timely way e.g. read receipt emails.
  • If an employee of yours is taking place in industrial strikes personally (under a properly organised ballot) then they have that legal right to and can’t be legally forced to stay at, or go back to, work or dismissed because of being involved in strike action which complies with Government rules; but they probably will have been in breach of your employment contract and therefore you do not have to pay for the work they didn’t do when they took industrial action and you could also reduce the length of continuous service for that employee by the number of days they were on strike. In rare cases you may also be able to sue for breaking your contract.

 

If you require any further support with your business HR practices, please contact us, we are happy to help.