Absolute Works

Directions Website

Absolute Works HR & Employment Law advice and support for SMEs Specialising in bespoke HR support & outsourcing solutions for small/medium sized businesses.

Retained Services, Recruitment, Coaching, Projects & Audits

If one of your employees is going through menopause and her symptoms are affecting her work, you have specific legal obl...
15/10/2026

If one of your employees is going through menopause and her symptoms are affecting her work, you have specific legal obligations as her employer.

Get this wrong and you could be facing a disability discrimination claim with uncapped compensation.

Tribunal claims citing menopause have more than tripled in the past two years and payouts are regularly exceeding £60,000.

Here's what you need to know as an employer:

⚖️ Menopause symptoms can qualify as a disability

Where symptoms are substantial and long-term, they can meet the legal threshold under the Equality Act 2010.

That gives your employee the right to reasonable adjustments and you a legal duty to provide them.

🔧 Adjustments are usually simple

Flexible hours, access to a cooler workspace, more frequent breaks, temporary changes to targets.

📋 Your absence policy might be the problem

If menopause-related absence triggers the same warnings as general sickness, that's potentially discriminatory.

Review your trigger points and consider recording it separately.

💬 Manager confidence is everything

If an employee raises the subject and their manager doesn't know how to respond, it can lead to grievances, resignations and tribunal claims.

Training your managers is one of the most protective things you can do.

It's World Menopause Day on 18 October.

If you're not sure whether your business is handling this properly, get in touch and we can talk it through.

UK employment law has changed more in the last 12 months than in the previous decade.If you're trying to manage all of i...
13/10/2026

UK employment law has changed more in the last 12 months than in the previous decade.

If you're trying to manage all of it on your own, you're almost certainly getting something wrong.

And the financial consequences of getting it wrong have never been higher.

Here's what's landed since late 2025:

📋 Unfair dismissal qualifying period dropping to 6 months

From January 2027, employees will qualify for unfair dismissal protection after just 6 months.

Anyone you hired on or after 1 July 2026 is already covered.

💰 Compensation cap removed entirely

From January 2027, there's no upper limit on what a tribunal can award for unfair dismissal.

The current cap is £123,543.

⏳ Tribunal time limits doubled

From October 2026, employees have 6 months to bring a claim instead of 3.

That's twice as long for workplace issues to come back as formal legal action.

🔍 The Fair Work Agency can investigate without a complaint

Launched in April 2026, this new enforcement body can proactively audit your records and processes.

⚖️ Stronger harassment duty and trade union access rights

Both arriving in October 2026. You'll need to prove you've taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and third-party harassment, and unions can now request access to your workplace whether you recognise one or not.

Every one of these changes needs a policy review, a process update or a conversation with your managers.

It's genuinely difficult to manage alone. A confidential conversation with an HR consultant costs nothing and could save you a lot.

Poor mental health costs UK employers around £51bn a year.You see: sick days.The reality: costs that go unnoticed but ha...
08/10/2026

Poor mental health costs UK employers around £51bn a year.

You see: sick days.

The reality: costs that go unnoticed but have a huge impact on your business.

You don't need a complex wellbeing programme to fix mental-health related absence in your workplace.

Train your managers to spot early signs and have real conversations.

Make sure that people know where to go for support before they hit crisis point.

Build a quick mental health check into your one-to-ones.

And stop treating it as something that only comes up when someone's already struggling.

World Mental Health Day is on 10 October. It's a good reminder to look at what you've actually got in place.

If you're not sure where to start, get in touch and we'll walk through it with you.

In small businesses, one person burning out can make everyone suffer.And that's the last thing you need as we head into ...
06/10/2026

In small businesses, one person burning out can make everyone suffer.

And that's the last thing you need as we head into the busiest part of the year.

National Work Life Week is 5-9 October. A good time to think about preventing burnout and how you can protect your team.

Here are 5 things you can do right now 👇

One toxic employee can wreck a team that took you years to build.It rarely starts as something obvious.It begins with sm...
28/07/2026

One toxic employee can wreck a team that took you years to build.

It rarely starts as something obvious.

It begins with small things. A comment here. A bit of negativity there. Someone quietly pushing boundaries.

And, over time, negativity spreads.

Bad behaviour becomes normalised.

Good people disengage or leave.

Team performance breaks down.

And then your time gets sucked up managing cultural issues

Instead of allowing one toxic employee to create all of the damage, early intervention is key.

Here is how to deal with it instead:

1: Start by naming the behaviour, not the person.

Be specific about what is happening rather than using labels like “difficult” or “toxic”.

2: Write down clear examples and the impact they are having on the team or the business.

This gives you something objective to work from.

3: Have the conversation early.

The earlier you address it, the more likely it is to change.

4: Set clear expectations.

Be explicit about what needs to improve, by when and what will happen if it does not.

5: If nothing changes, take appropriate action.

Do not avoid it or keep resetting the situation.

If you are dealing with a situation like this and are not sure how to approach it, I am happy to talk it through with you.

Workplace sexual harassment rules are getting more strict.From October 2026, if a client, customer or contractor harasse...
23/07/2026

Workplace sexual harassment rules are getting more strict.

From October 2026, if a client, customer or contractor harasses one of your employees and you can't show you took all reasonable steps to prevent it, you're on the hook.

Here's what "all reasonable steps" actually looks like in practice:

📋 An up-to-date policy that staff have read and acknowledged

🎓 Manager training on how to handle and report properly

📣 Clear reporting routes that employees know about and feel able to use

🔍 A written risk assessment for client-facing roles or anywhere third-party contact is likely

📁 Evidence you can produce quickly if you're ever challenged

If you're not sure whether your current setup covers the new standard, get in touch and we can talk it through.

Still handling all your employees' summer holiday requests in a spreadsheet?Skip the headache and use HR software instea...
21/07/2026

Still handling all your employees' summer holiday requests in a spreadsheet?

Skip the headache and use HR software instead.

Software doesn't need to be complicated. And it makes requests easy to manage: no need for you to chase, cross-reference or guess.

Employees request leave themselves, you approve it in one place and the team calendar does the rest.

Have a look at the difference between running holiday season with software versus without it.

👇

The rules around supporting working parents just changed.From April 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are ...
16/07/2026

The rules around supporting working parents just changed.

From April 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are day one rights.

No qualifying period, no waiting. Your newest employee can walk in on their first week and be eligible.

A lot of small business owners haven't updated their contracts or policies yet. Some don't even know that this has changed.

And it's not just leave. Flexible working has been a day one right since 2024. More changes are coming in 2027 that will make requests harder to turn down.

Here's what you need to know to stay on the right side of it all.

You used to have two years before an employee could claim unfair dismissal.From 1 January 2027, it's changing to six mon...
14/07/2026

You used to have two years before an employee could claim unfair dismissal.

From 1 January 2027, it's changing to six months.

That means anyone you hire from 1 July 2026 will be protected under the new rules.

Many small business owners aren't ready for the changes.

We've put together a checklist that covers exactly what you need to sort out so you're protected.

Read it below.

A new law was introduced in April stating that employers must keep “adequate records of annual leave and holiday pay”.Th...
09/07/2026

A new law was introduced in April stating that employers must keep “adequate records of annual leave and holiday pay”.

This is to prove that you're calculating and paying holiday correctly.

In practice, that means keeping records for up to six years (because that’s how long you could be challenged on it).

If you can’t evidence how holiday was calculated, you don’t have a defence.

This is where HR software becomes essential.

Not only does it help you to manage and automate annual leave and holiday pay, it also provides you with complete records.

If you're still managing employee documents and records in filing cabinets or on spreadsheets, it's now time to centralise everything within your chosen HR software.

To help you, we’ve put together a simple employer’s guide that breaks down:

What HR software actually does
Why this change matters now
How to choose the right system for a small business
You can read it below.

Address

Unit 1, The Barford Exchange, Wellesbourne Road, Barford
Warwick
CV358AQ

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Absolute Works posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share