Our second Human Resources (HR) network meeting of 2019 took place on the 20th June 2019 at our member premises, Shop Direct, in Speke, Liverpool. HR Network co-Chairs Sam Anderson, Employee Relations and Compliance Services Manager at Sodexo and Jenny Roberts, Interim Head of Group People Services at Places for People, put together a topical agenda, which attracted attendees from across our member companies. Colin Garside, HR systems and MI manager at Shop Direct, was an excellent host, and provided members with a lovely lunch and fabulous venue in the form of Shop Direct’s Cube conference space.
The morning began with an engaging and wide-ranging employment law update from Jane Eatock of Wilkin Chapman Solicitors, covering 2018 developments, worker status and IR35, the problems and pitfalls around references, handling SAR requests, settlement agreements and “gagging clauses”, redundancies and what to expect in 2019. A member noted it was an “excellent talk from Jane as always. Informative and always entertaining in her own unique style, really enjoyed it”.
This was followed by a working session, looking at what’s in and out of scope in different member HR shared service centres, and what might be coming into scope. Outputs from the session will help create a reference library that members can use when assessing their own scope of service and a means to connect with relevant people to ask for hints and tips. A second working session, focused on discussion and shared experiences around KPIs and SLAs in member organisations, will also provide the basis for the creation of reference material to help members when working on this topic.
Do join us at the next HR Network meeting, which will be on day 1 of our annual conference at Aintree, in Liverpool. Sam and Jenny have already put lots of thought into the agenda, which will link into the wider ‘Future Vision: Tomorrow Now’ conference theme and focus on future talent needs, apprenticeships and diverse generations in the workplace. We would love to see you there!
