Just to let everyone know I spent this Tuesday in Birmingham court house viewing a mock tribunal. It was really interesting and brought up so many different questions as to how we handle investigations and disciplinarys at work - I would highly recommend it.
Actors who are solicitors for Shakespeares solicitors in Birmingham played out a tribunal with a genuine judge. At different break out sessions you had the opportunity to vote and at the end the Judge when through why she had made the decision and quite interestingly said that she had never in 25 years experience seen a 'perfect tribunal' from any company point of view.
I pride myself on my processes and procedures with my department for HR issues and this straight away questioned the need for:
A social media policy
How a 'free bar' adversely affects peoples behaviour
The credability of the investigation, disciplinary and appeal officer
and other questions.
Listening throughout the morning I was on the side of the company and the Claimant was played by fantasically portraying everyones nightmare employee with attitude but as soon as the judge found the dismissal to be unfair the learnings from the case were very thought provoking and I definately will be more aware of how I conduct these challenges in the future.
Well worth while and they did a discount for CIPD members making the day £48 including vat.
I would highly recommend this to anyone.
Comments
Hi Alison
Its a shame we didn't know to look out for each other. Let me know if you hear of any others as like you said the actors in this were amazing and totally believable.
Let me know how you get on with the actual tribunal and if this is a true reflection
Thanks
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I too attended this Mock Tribunal and like you i was indeed in favor of the company. I think this was mainly due to the fact that the Actor who played Mr Mitchell was absolutely fantastic. My mind was constantly on him and how he had been caught out on his lies and the fact that he had a responsibility to himself as to how much he drank. It does make you realise however, that no stone can be left unturned and additional policies that may need to be put in place. I am attending a real Tribunal in may for unfair dismissal due to discrimination of which i am looking forward to.
Shakespear Solicitors are my company solitictors so i shall be looking out for more of these events.
Lunch was nice too.
Alli
Hi Mike
I dont have it electronicially and I dont have access to a scanner so I will give what I have to fiona on Tuesday and see if she can scan
Hi Sarah,
If you look at the top of the discussion you should see an options button and in the options button there is 'edit discussion' link. This will allow you to go back and edit the post and at the bottom you can add up to 3 attachments.
Be great if you could add the transcript in the main discussion to keep everything together :-)
I have a copy of everything Mike, what address do you want me to send it to?
Thanks
Thanks Sarah - it will be interesting to have a look at the transcript next week.
Some interesting thoughts about the need for policies on Social Media - I suspect when all else fails HR does have a tendency to reach for the policy template :) I have been wondering though whether HR needs to take a more active role in "training" people about how to use it responsibly, not just in a work context but in a personal life setting too. People seem to be prepared to say things that they may not otherwise do & where comments would have been just 2 friends chatting or a throw away remark down the pub now turn into "trolling" etc. Annabel Kaye wrote an excellent blog article last week about when feedback becomes bullying & the need to moderate our online behaviour - worth a look & some reflection.
Hi Sarah,
I think having a policy is important but how it is written, communicated and then brought to life if hugely important. It's a big area of interest for me so if you want to have a chat and throw some ideas around let me know.
Is there a chance you could post the transcript up here for ppl to take a look at. I'm sure it would be hugely beneficial
Thanks
Mike that link is great thanks, I am meeting with my head of HR next week to make sure we are covered and if not liaise with her to implement one.
Yes the tribunal involved alcohol and an 'aggressive event' it was really interesting.
Fiona - I have got the transcripts for you to have a look at next week if you want
Sounds like you had a really interesting day there Sarah - I look forward to hearing more when we get together in a couple of weeks. It's a real eye opener to see how, although your sympathies are with the company, the fact that they failed to carry out a credible investigation & disciplinary process make the dismissal unfair. A great lesson to be learnt :)
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