Advice Saves Business Employment Tribunal Pain

Redundancy, lay-offs and business transfers are the biggest HR headaches for UK employers according to new research from employment relations service, Acas.

The independent survey of employees, employers and third parties who had made use of the Acas help line during 2006 found that the service had helped avert as many as 16,000 employment tribunals.  With figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimating an average cost to employers of £7,484 for each tribunal, the saving to business of avoiding this number of tribunals could be as much as £120 million.

The survey 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.

In addition, almost half of the employers who responded said that their call to the help line 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.

Any business that has experienced an employment tribunal will know how stressful, time-consuming and potentially costly it can be.  Acas is therefore encouraging businesses to take a prevention rather than cure approach, by identifying HR issues early and acting more swiftly to diffuse potentially negative situations.

Acas | employment | HR | tribunals |