East Midlands HR Ltd

09/06/2026

Owning a small business often means awkward conversations about performance or office politics fall to you.

Not nice to deal with, we know.

But the longer you put it off, the worse the issues get and the more risk you put yourself in for formal disputes.

And with unfair dismissal rights kicking in at 6 months, you've got less runway than ever to let things drift.

So, what can you do about it?

Take a look below.

08/06/2026

🛠️ Love fixing problems? Prefer sites over screens? This role is for you.

We’re hiring an Operations Coordinator for Blue Bear Self Storage.
✔️ Hybrid role – home, office & on-site
✔️ Company vehicle + fuel card
✔️ £28K + up to £4K bonus
✔️ No two days the same

You’ll be:

🔧 Fixing small site issues
📍 Visiting multiple locations
👷 Managing contractors
🔐 Keeping sites secure and up to standard

Perfect if you’re currently in:
Facilities | Maintenance | Site Operations
👉 Must be hands-on, organised, and happy to travel.

Effortless people admin

05/06/2026

From 1 July 2026, fired employees can claim unfair dismissal after just 6 months of working for you.

If you're still hiring on gut feel, winging probation periods or relying on managers to "just handle it", this change might catch you out.

The good news is that you've still got time to get ready.

Here are 5 things to do before the deadline hits.

04/06/2026

Can you still dismiss someone during their first 6 months of employment?

Yes, you can. But...

If you recruit someone on or after 1 July 2026, the rules of the game change on 1 January 2027.

From that date, you won't be able to dismiss them informally and hope for the best.

The unfair dismissal qualifying period is dropping from 2 years to 6 months. That changes the game for how you manage new starters.

You used to have a long runway to figure out whether someone was working out. If it wasn't right, you could manage the exit with a quiet conversation and relatively low risk.

Not anymore.

Here's what you need to focus on now 👇

📋 You can still dismiss for fair reasons:

Like performance, conduct and capability. What's changed is that you need to evidence a fair process, even during probation.

📝 Document everything from day 1:

Raise concerns early and in writing. Record probation reviews. Send follow-up summaries. If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.

🔄 Structure your probation properly:

This includes regular check-ins, clear expectations and specific feedback. A 6-month probation with no structure is riskier than a 3-month one that's well documented.

⏰ Don't wait to act on problems:

Under the old rules, you could afford to let things drift. Now, delays in addressing performance create unnecessary exposure.

🤝 Train your managers:

Most issues we see start with a well-intentioned manager who avoided a difficult conversation. Make sure that anyone managing people knows what fair process looks like under the new rules.

And on probation length: nobody in the profession has landed on a single answer yet. Don't get fixated on the number. Focus on making whatever period you choose count.

If you're unsure whether your probation and dismissal processes are ready for 1 July, drop us a message and we can talk it through.

29/05/2026

How much time do you spend managing holiday requests?

If you don't have a clear process, it probably feels like more than it should. It's always down to you to scramble for cover and manage who should be working when.

Get it wrong and it can quickly become part of a bigger grievance. What feels like a minor scheduling issue can escalate when an employee feels that they've been treated unfairly.

But don't worry. A few simple changes can take the hassle out of it.

Below are 5 ways to get your holiday process working properly.

Take a look and if you need help with your holiday requests, we're always here to help.

26/05/2026

Do you know what the Employment Rights Act updates are and how they affect your business?

This isn't something business owners can sleep on.

New laws are being introduced that affect many areas, from training to workforce planning to tighter performance documentation.

Here's a summary of what you need to know, plus the actions you need to take and when.

📌 Milestone 1: Changes already in force

Protective awards in collective redundancy cases can now reach 6 months of pay.
Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave now start from Day 1.
Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave applies.
Statutory Sick Pay begins on Day 1 with no lower earnings limit.
Whistleblowing protections have expanded, including around sexual harassment.
Trade union recognition is now simpler.
The Fair Work Agency has been established.
Updated menopause and gender equality guidance applies.
What this means: Many employers now need updated policies, contracts, absence processes and manager training.

📌 Milestone 2: 6-month unfair dismissal rights

From 1 July 2026, new starters will qualify for unfair dismissal protection after 6 months of service.

What this means:

Probation management, early performance handling and documentation must be tighter. Informal or rushed dismissals now carry much higher risk.

📌 Milestone 3: October 2026 changes

A new duty to prevent sexual harassment.
Stronger trade union access.
Requirement to inform staff about their right to join a union.
Fair Pay Agreement body for Adult Social Care.
Tighter tipping rules.
Further recognition reforms.
What this means:

Stronger prevention measures, clearer reporting routes and updated onboarding and training will all be needed.

📌 Milestone 4: Changes in 2027

6-month unfair dismissal qualifying period fully applies.
Potential for uncapped compensatory awards.
Greater protection for pregnant employees and new mothers.
Changes to flexible working.
Statutory bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss.
New rules ending exploitative zero hours practices.
Regulation of umbrella companies.
Fire and rehire becoming automatically unfair in most cases.
What this means:

These changes will reshape workforce planning, dismissal handling, shift scheduling and how contractual changes are managed.

Which of these milestones will create the biggest shift for your business this year?

22/05/2026

Since April, sick pay is payable from day one and the lower earnings limit has been removed.

Have you updated your processes to reflect this?

For most small businesses, this means more people qualify for SSP and the cost starts sooner. If short-term absence is already something you deal with regularly, this change hits harder than it looks on paper.

Here's what to check now:

💷 Payroll setup

Make sure that your system reflects the removal of waiting days and the earnings threshold.

If it hasn't been updated, you could be underpaying or overpaying without knowing it.

📄 Your sickness absence policy

If it still references waiting days or a minimum earnings limit, it's out of date. Your managers and employees need to be working from the same current version.

🔄 Return-to-work conversations

A short, consistent check-in after every absence is one of the simplest tools you have. It doesn't need to be formal. It just needs to happen every time.

📊 Attendance tracking

You can't manage what you don't measure. If you're not recording absence consistently, you won't spot patterns until they've already become costly.

🗣️ Manager confidence

Your managers are the first to notice when absence increases. Make sure that they know how to have early conversations without avoiding them or escalating too quickly.

The changes aren't dramatic on their own, but if your processes haven't caught up, the costs add up quietly.

If you want to sense-check where your absence management sits right now, drop a comment or send us a message.

21/05/2026

You know that performance conversation you've been putting off with a member of your team?

The longer you leave it, the harder it gets to fix.

What started as a small issue becomes a pattern and, by the time you address it, you might be dealing with a formal process instead of a quick correction.

We know that giving feedback is something many business owners avoid. So, we've put together some advice on how to deliver feedback that's direct, fair and actually gets results.

Have a read below.

15/05/2026

Do you know the #1 reason why businesses overpay for new hires?

Most often, it's because the role was never clearly defined to begin with.

When the job ad is too broad, the wrong candidates apply. Salary expectations inflate because there's nothing anchoring them to what the job actually needs.

A level-based approach to your job adverts changes that.

Here's how:

📝 Define the role by output, not title

What will this person actually deliver? What decisions will they own? What does success look like after 3 months? Get specific and the right candidates start filtering themselves in.

💷 Let the advert do the work on salary

When candidates can see exactly what the role involves, the salary conversation starts from a grounded position. You're not negotiating against assumptions about seniority that your advert left wide open.

📊 Test the market at multiple levels

Not sure whether you need someone junior or senior? Advertise at more than one level with different expectations and salary ranges. You might find that a strong mid-level candidate delivers everything the business actually needs for less than you budgeted.

🏢 Sell what your business genuinely offers

Autonomy, direct impact, closeness to decision-making. For the right person, that can be more attractive than a bigger salary at a larger company. Don't undersell it.

Your job advert is the first filter in your hiring process. If it isn't doing its job, everything after it costs you more than it should.

If you want to sense-check how your adverts are working for you, drop us a message and we can talk it through.